Westerners rights in Thailand

[Guest lazyphil]

thailand has alot of growing up to do.

[Guest]

The tone of this whole topic is how much you Western squatters feel entitled to in Thailand. Just where do you get this sense of entitlement? Seems extraordinarilty self-centered to me. The Thai policies are trying to prevent the situation where foreigners own all the best properties in the Kingdom and Thais can't afford a home in their own country. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

 

Modern governments exist, at least ideally, to protect the interests of their citizens, certainly not to benefit foreigners. Where is it otherwise? Here in the US we have a tradition of immigration, but that policy didn't arise because of any particular generosity or any moral impulse toward foreigners. It arose because an underpopulated country had a perpetual labor shortage which they couldn't completely satisfy by enslaving Africans.

 

My wife and I may setlle in Thailand in a few years time, at least to try it out. If we do so, it will be because of a favorable exchange rate from which I would benefit entirely by luck rather than any effort of my own. I hope that I will remember that I am only a guest in someone else's country who will be tolerated as long as I can contribute some benefit, i.e. dollars. I will expect the Thai government to subsidize their citizens in various ways and not me. I understand that to secure a substantial economic benefit I will be forgoing the rights of citizenship which I can enjoy in only one place in the world, home.

 

Gentelemen, and not you Chocolate Steve in particular, please grow up.

 

Khun Pad Thai

[FIGJAM]

KhunPadThai said:

The tone of this whole topic is how much you Western squatters feel entitled to in Thailand.

Squatters don't build/pay for the places they squat in...

 

You seem not to understand we are talking about people bringing into Thailand their money made elsewhere.

You also seem not to understand/know there is practically no welfare state in Thailand, particularly for foreigners. So nobody is asking for nonexistent hand outs from the Thai govt nor is anybody going to be a burden on nonexistent Thai free housing, feeding, clothing, unemployment aids, health care and education services.

 

 

My wife and I may setlle in Thailand in a few years time, at least to try it out. If we do so, it will be because of a favorable exchange rate from which I would benefit entirely by luck rather than any effort of my own. I hope that I will remember that I am only a guest in someone else's country who will be tolerated as long as I can contribute some benefit, i.e. dollars. I will expect the Thai government to subsidize their citizens in various ways and not me.

[i assume that your wife lives with you in NYC] So, is it really that the way she feels living in the USA?

A "guest in someone else's country who will be tolerated as long as she can contribute some benefit, i.e. dollars"? (BTW, is she contributing some benefit to your country?)

 

I can assure you, having lived in the US myself, that is NOT the feeling I got from the place, its laws and its society. Nor that's the feeling my Thai wife gets from my home country, its laws and its society living with me in Italy from almost a year.

She has got, from day one, practically the same rights I enjoy as a citizen, has got permanent residence the day we got married and will become a citizen herself in about a year time.

 

Hell, over here even illegant immigrants have more rights than those Thailand grant me...

 

 

Gentelemen, and not you Chocolate Steve in particular, please grow up.

Try in Italy to call my wife (who is not yet "contributing" anything to my home country) a "squatter" and the civil and penal codes which are amongst the finest product of our western history and civilization will make you grow up very nicely and very quickly, sir.

[jitagawn]

:: :) :)

[..]

Damn fine job Figgy! In fact too good. I was itching to say something, but you tore him up so badly that you did not leave enough of him for me to run my sword through! Oh well...

 

Cheers,

SD

[Pescator]

FIGJAM said:

Hua Nguu said:

I agree.

However, in other situations it is quite the other way around.

Just about anybody is allowed 30 days stay in LOS, no question asked.

Plain false.

The countries whose citizens are allowed the 30 days (tourist) visa on arrival are the ones richer or economically comparable to Thailand.

 

Well, I did leave out that part didn`t I. When I said just about anybody I was referring to people that may not be so "desireable" due to low cash, criminal records or whatever reason.

But that doesn`t alter the fact that for westerners and other nationalities richer or economically comparable to LOS it is a breeze to enter LOS, but definitely not for thai people to enter the west, no?

 

Cheers

Hua Nguu

[BelgianBoy]

I do think that the only effective way to deal with it would be to make the situation known (at every chance, barred none) to the western public opinions (with plenty of real life examples, particularly when families/women/children are involved) and putting pressure on our politicians to reciprocate.

 

Thats a load of bollocks.

Remember 2 years ago when the US decided to impose pics and fingerprinting to anyone entering the US ?

Brazil reciprocated and it created a diplomatic war......

 

The US can decide what it wants, so does Brazil, but so does Thailand.

IMO of course.

 

When in Rome, do as.........

You should know that

 

BB

[ThaiHome]

I did notice you failed to address the main issue in KhunPadThai response, that being the main reason for the restrictive property laws is to keep foreigners from buying up the country.

On the other hand, I do think that Thailand could make it much easier for law abiding, productive foreigners to live long term or become permanent residents. For a person with a good job, or nice nest egg, it really isn't all that hard to get the visa extensions anyway.

TH

[..]

ThaiHome said:

I did notice you failed to address the main issue in KhunPadThai response, that being the main reason for the restrictive property laws is to keep foreigners from buying up the country.

On the other hand, I do think that Thailand could make it much easier for law abiding, productive foreigners to live long term or become permanent residents. For a person with a good job, or nice nest egg, it really isn't all that hard to get the visa extensions anyway.

Ya know, the restrictive property thing does not bother me. I can own a condo, that's enough. My wife can (now, since 1998) own land -- I do not care if it is not in my name as we will be together forever. Of course, there are certain bureaucrats who think in the past and have given her trouble about buying/registering land (one poor bastard in Ayuthaya comes to mind) who faced the intelligent rath of Mrs SD citing constitutional law and King's speeches which left them a blob of quivering flesh, stamping paperwork LOL .

 

Thailand could go a long way by simply having a useable PR scheme for foreign spouses and/or business owners. It is quite frankly a pain in the ass to go through all the paperwork each year and have the chance that some bureaucrat may be having a bad hair day and deny your application. It has happened to friends of mine (they eventually got their visas but it took 120+ days). It simply does not encourage investment as one is always walking that slippery slope.

 

Cheers,

SD

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"I did notice you failed to address the main issue in KhunPadThai response, that being the main reason for the restrictive property laws is to keep foreigners from buying up the country. "

 

Then why not put some restrictions on it? Say, foreigners are only allowed to by land in city zones (i.e. residential areas), no larger than 1 Rai (or even less as a 1/4 of that is definitely big enough to put a nice house on) and has to be used to build a house on.

 

That would hardly cause all the land to be bought up and would go a long way towards satisfying those foreigners interested in buying their own home here.

 

Sanuk!