Top 10 hard truths of living as an expat in Thailand

[reader]

The Thaiger today published an all-encompassing collection of the trials and tribulations of the expat community. It's too long to post in its entirety but if you're a member of the group, or considering it, you may find it of interest.

From The Thaiger

By Tim Newton

There will be bumps along the way between your visits to the beach, bar and immigration office (sometimes the bumps will be at the beach, bar and immigration office). Expat life is what you make of it here in the Land of Smiles. Moaning about it never helps but accepting the bumps is part of the adventure. Here are our Top Ten Hard Truths for expats in Thailand.

https://thethaiger.com/travel/top-10-hard-truths-living-expat-thailand

[PeterRS]

An interesting bunch of comments but none that have not been discussed at some time on this and other Thailand chat rooms. Without going through each one, as a longish-time resident in Bangkok I have recently decided that the constant visits to Immigration at Chaengwattana for 90 day reporting and annual visa/re-entry permit renewals is such a pain that I purchased a Thailand Elite membership.

A 20 years visa for 1 million baht is obviously a lot more expensive than having either 65,000 remitted monthly or the other ridiculous method of having 400,000/800,000 tied up unspent in a savings account. But it is vastly more convenient for those who can afford it. Of course you will not get your 1 million back at the end of the term whereas that 800,000 is yours once you die! I am just delighted that Chaengwattana will be a distant memory once I can travel again (travel outside the country just once a year and you never need return there). But even if you never travel, the once-a-year visit to Immigration is a breeze because there is a young lady there to help you and a special counter. Last year I had an appointment at 11:00 am and was out by 11:20. Before getting the Elite visa, I'd have to be there around 7:30 am and was rarely out much before noon thanks to huge queues. Now I rarely have to queue. Even once I start travelling again, Elite members can use the dedicated first/business class lanes. (In that regard, over 70s also can use these lanes.)

The paperwork in this country is just plain ridiculous. Bar girls/boys not loving you is again just something everyone has to have at the front of their minds. Of course there are exceptions, but these are mostly few and far between. Two-tier pricing has never bothered me, but it seems to strike a nerve with some posters who are incensed by it. I have never understood why! It is not that this is unique to Thailand because it isn't. And during my career before coming to Thailand I have earned a lot more than the vast majority of Thais. Plus it's their country.

What bothered me most when I first settled here is the endemic corruption. It pervades virtually every aspect of life in Thailand. For a time it drove me nuts. But like living anywhere that is not your home country, there are certain issues that will always piss you off. As with all cops being on the take, you have no option other than get used to it - or move to another country. 

(Note: my comments above refer to Bangkok. I understand Immigration can be a lot easier in places like Pattaya, Chiang Mai etc.)

[Ruthrieston]

The Immigration office in Pattaya can be very busy, but I have taken over the past eighteen months or so to going late, 3.30pm (they close at 4.30pm) and I have avoided the queues. In fact the office has usually been empty. As to the 800,000 locked up in my account, I view it as the money I shall use to travel to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland when it is time to leave. The worst part for me is the exchange rate for the UK pound, The day before the vote to leave the EU I got 56 Baht to the pound, the day after it went down to 36. Now we are struggling to hold around 43, so the loss of almost 30% of my income over these five or more years has been really painful. Another two and a half years till I receive my state pension, but that should help. More than ten years since I retired early and came to live in Thailand and I don't regret it at all. 

[anddy]

On 2/24/2022 at 6:58 PM, reader said:

Here are our Top Ten Hard Truths for expats in Thailand.

https://thethaiger.com/travel/top-10-hard-truths-living-expat-thailand

Error 404!

The page you requested does not exist or has moved.

[anddy]

On 2/25/2022 at 11:13 AM, PeterRS said:

I have recently decided that the constant visits to Immigration at Chaengwattana for 90 day reporting and annual visa/re-entry permit renewals is such a pain that I purchased a Thailand Elite membership.

I did the same a year ago. Convenience and peace of mind has a lot of value, so I don't regret the expense at all. 

However, it does not absolve us from the idiotic 90 day reporting. But that is WAY less of a nuisance than all the other stuff, as it can be done online in a matter of a couple of minutes. I've done it since it became relevant for me with covid and has worked like a charm (except one time when the system was down for some weeks or even month. The new system they introduced I think in December is even much much easier to use than the old one, so doing that is even more convenient than the other option to avoid an unnecessary trip to Chaengwattana, i.e. have the Elite people do it for you, That involves a trip too (to their office, twice). When the system was down last year I had them do it, but for me that trip is negligible as it is a 3 minute walk from me 😉

Anyway online is THE way to go with that. 2 minutes on the couch.

[PeterRS]

I'm also very close to the Elite office on Sathorn so it is easy to deliver and pick up the passport and combine it with other things. The only other thing I found to do after the long trek out to Chaengwattana was a massage at a spa I had recently heard about. Hardly any English spoken but the massage was good and the ending as good.  But I will try the online service if it is working well now.

[reader]

From The Thaiger

Thailand has always been popular as a country to come to live and retire. Many foreign retirees could come to Thailand and live a pretty good life. However, since the exchange rate has tightened up and the covid 19 pandemic, how has that effected retirees living in Thailand? Tim sits with Ben Hart from Integrity legal to find out more about Retirees and Retiring in Thailand.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national

[Guest]

1 hour ago, reader said:

 since the exchange rate has tightened up and the covid 19 pandemic, how has that effected retirees living in Thailand

Ideally anyone planning to retire to Thailand would stress test their finances to see how things look under a range of exchange rate scenarios.   -25%, -50% etc.

I suspect many do not.

[vinapu]

I think minimum planning for such stress is -50 i.e,  rate will halve , anything less it's just adventurism with one's future

[Guest]

23 hours ago, vinapu said:

I think minimum planning for such stress is -50 i.e,  rate will halve , anything less it's just adventurism with one's future

Agreed.

Just in case anyone things we're over doing this,  the GBP:THB rate has ranged between about 36 and 76 in the last 20 years.    

Things can get far worse than that.    In the last 25 years, the RUB:THB rate has ranged between 7 and 0.3.   

Now someone might point out there have been a few political and economic crises during that time.   

That's correct and when our own countries are swimming in debt, don't think we have a divine right to avoid crises.

[anddy]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:05 AM, PeterRS said:

I'm also very close to the Elite office on Sathorn so it is easy to deliver and pick up the passport and combine it with other things. The only other thing I found to do after the long trek out to Chaengwattana was a massage at a spa I had recently heard about. Hardly any English spoken but the massage was good and the ending as good.  But I will try the online service if it is working well now.

@PeterRS I really really recommend online over the somewhat convenient 90day service by Elite, because Elite require you to provide a truckload of paper documents, including a TM30 confirmation, which in reality nobody cares about AT ALL at immigration, especially not for 90day. In the (new) online system you need virtually nothing, not even the TM6 landing card number (as in the old online system). It really couldn't be any easier. 

One has to register for the system once, gets a non-changeable password to login and from there it's all smooth sailing.