Browsing a certain forum, the newbie section now contains a very high number of young guys who's goal it is to make a long term existence in Thailand. The disturbing point is, hardly any of them have a decent wedge of cash in the bank or any credentials. Ok, a few are heading for a Thailand based teaching course, fair enough, but where's the sense in relocating and knowing that the potential for becoming destitute is a matter of weeks away should they not gain decent employment?

Some are advised to walk the pavements offering themselves to government schools, (Bloody hell, who'd wanna do that?) many will obviously send bulk identical resume spam emails to all they can on a teaching jobs page, and a few will get lucky and quickly gain decent employment within a corporate environment, probably due to them having a few friends already working in this potentially lucrative area, and doing decent preparation beforehand.

Most don't mind that they will also exploring the dark unknown by requesting info on cheap apartment rooms in the 3-5k area, in areas of Bangkok they have never ventured to, cheaper areas amongst the hustle and bustle of a nearby traffic clogged main road and a sweaty 15 minute walk to a nearest train stop. Never mind the possible dangers of what lurks on those sois at night.

I'm not making fun of them nor judging, as many I know have successfully got along doing this, but that was back in 2002. Now, ten years on, the numbers of potential wannabe teachers is probably 20-30 times higher.

Most of them admitted that they had only spent a matter of 2-4 weeks in the country prior to their decision, another good few admitted that they were in low wage jobs back home, so they'd save up their hard earned cash, obviously.

So what is bringing them to Thailand? Are they encapsulated by just the culture? Have they been grabbed by the balls emotionally and financially by a girl they have had a liason with (Yawn..)? Another thing is that many are around the 25-29 year old age bracket which is also surprising. When I did it, nearly all the teachers I met were late 30s upwards.

One explanation could be that are they the offspring of the expats who moved to Thailand 10-15 years back? They went to visit dad in Thailand and loved it so much?

I don't honestly believe that Thai folks would favour this influx if they were aware of it, as they'll offer virtually nothing to the economy, and spoken english sure won't improve in Thailand even with all these extra ajarns.

Should someone tip off the Thai authorities on these wannabe useless long termers? Would they initiate a crackdown?