Thailand Visa Problems continue
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For many years living in Thailand was pretty straight-forward and easy: Don't break any laws and you can stay pretty much as long as you want to. There were ways of making each individual visa longer in duration but no one who wasn't wanted by the FBI or Interpol was denied visas. It all seemed to be working wonderfully for everyone: Thailand enjoyed the influx of foreigner money and investment and the foreigners enjoyed being able to live in a country where it is never cold and is generally cheaper than Western countries. Those days are far behind us.
These days it is exceptionally difficult to acquire a visa for any sort of long-term stay without a work-permit... and getting one of those is an entirely different and incredibly difficult journey.
People who have lived here for many years are getting fed up and leaving, and taking all of their assets with them. I truly believe that the Thai government will eventually regret this decision as their actions are already seeing negative results such as a "reverse housing crisis" that is already beginning in Chiang Mai (Chiang Mai is about 10% expats and there is a mass exodus going on at the moment, resulting in thousands of rental properties becoming vacant at once.)
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Whatever, i've already talked about that in great length. Let's talk about the new workaround that people who want to stay are pursuing for the time being and this too will almost certainly be a door that will quickly get closed.
The Volunteer Visa
Sounds innocent enough right? Who wouldn't love to do some volunteer work for a good cause right? I know that I would certainly be down with doing that and of course do so for free - which is what they expect of you - it's actually criminal for payment of any sort to be offered to people doing this.
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The idea is that you will work for poor schools teaching English or perhaps even donate your time to things like Habitat for Humanity type projects. Fantastic ideas abound until you take a look at the massive amount of paperwork that needs to be completed and then you have to pay for the visa as well and all of this is fine.
However, the "not-so-fine" aspects of this visa exist as well: Not only do they want you to work for free, they expect you to pay them for the privilege. The amount can vary, but as more and more people pursue this visa, the "rates" keep increasing. My friend just went through the process that was so complicated he hired an agency to do the process for him, then they wanted money "under the table" or what they call "tea money" for officials in order to approve his documents.
All in all, his volunteer visa is going to cost him more than $1000. Then he will finally be allowed to travel (on his own dime) to rural schools to go and teach English for 6 hours a week. I suppose that isn't that bad but by making the process so difficult they are discouraging people out of actually doing this.
There are also reports in the past of volunteers turning up at these "poor schools" only to discover that the children are all being dropped off by parents in brand new cars, some of which are luxury brands like Mercedes. The schools were never poor to begin with, but the corruption exists on both ends of this situation.
Dont want to pay the "tea money?" Well, a lot of people have had that attitude and a vast majority of them end up getting their visas denied.
More and more people are ending up with the same opinion as I now have: I've had enough and although it makes me sad to have to leave the country I have called home for 15 years in the rear-view mirror, I don't really want to play anymore.
This is a sad episode in Thai history!
When will they ever learn?!
Bad leadership with stupid crony often lead to failure and disastrous outcome!
as we have discussed before I think they will only learn once the bridge is already burned. They spent years chasing away Korean tourists (because Korea has a special visa situation where they get all their visas for free) then when the money stopped coming in because of chasing them away the Tourism Authority spent millions in advertising basically begging the Koreans to come back.
I suspect the same thing will happen to the Digital Nomad population and retirees that these new visa laws are inconveniencing to the point where they all just pack up and leave.
no matter! There are plenty of other countries that would love to have a group of people who don't cause any trouble and spend a ton of money on stuff!
Good informative post
Gostei deste post.
Muitas vezes, esse tipo de coisa acontece quando o governo ou o estado fica muito ganancioso e corrupto. Este é o resultado da imposição de muitas regras e leis sem sentido.
I translated your response but yes, once a government becomes corrupt (are there any that aren't) they start to make a whole mess of laws to either protect their own interests, or to create the illusion that they actually care about the public. However, the old statement of "follow the money" is normally the best way to get to the bottom of things.
Thailand started making long-term visas very difficult to get once they created this new "Elite" visa where people with money can pay $15,000 to never have to worry about visas ever again. Not many people signed up... so now they are eliminating all other choices one-by-one.
Come live in Canada! Taxes are rather high and the corruption gets taken over by a new party every 6 years or so!
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lol, yeah. it's everywhere. At least over here once you've accepted the corruption you can live quite well for $1000 a month.
I would never pay for that volunteer visa, just not worth it unless one really needs to be in Thailand. That's just sad. Thailand's economy grew fast because of tourism, they will surely regret this in the end.
I think other countries are just as awesome, and you can always come back. I'll just do a one month extension :)
I know that my fear of moving to another country was motivated by being here for a long time. I got comfortable even though there was never really anything holding me here after I sold my business. I had just been here so long that it seemed like home so if i was going to put a silver lining on this cloud I would say that it kicked me in the ass to get moving on to a new destination... and that is precisely what is about to happen.
What an odd concept - the volunteer visa. How on earth do they expect you to survive? lol And you must pay THEM for the privilege of doing a good deed and getting absolutely nothing in return? lol... sounds legit. haha!!! Is nothing sacred anymore? We have ridiculous amounts of corruption in government here in SA too as you no doubt know. but this concept is simply ludicrous!
And as for pissing off the people that have been adding value to their economy... that is just plain stupid, although again - EXACTLY the same thing happens here.
We have been planning a holiday to Thailand - hopefully soon! Would be nice to meet... assuming you are still there haha!
speaking of SA. A South African friend of mine is desperately trying to maintain a Thai visa because of his Thai fiance. He is having even more trouble than most people because of the fact that he is from Africa.
recently on a visa trip to Vietnam (for a Thai visa) he was told that all people from Africa have to apply at Thai embassies in their home countries and are not eligible for visas to Thailand in Vietnam. This is not at all true but has simply been adapted by the consulates / embassies in Vietnam on their own decision. Crazy.
Oh man how utterly FRUSTRATING!!! And to add to that, we probably have the most inefficient home affairs department on the planet!!! lol! I wish I had some knowledge which would be able to steer him in the right direction, but sadly I don't as I have never traveled anywhere that required a visa. Hope he manages to get it right soon! It really can get to a point where you want to tear your hair out with those people and their procedures!
Corruption is nuts and just ends up ruining what good people are doing. I am sure they will regret this in the long term as no one will want to travel there.
Yeah, it sounds like it is time to move along. The good thing is it seems like you should be able to put your vast skillset to use no matter where you go. Indeed Thailand is going to find them in a very difficult position when all of the money they have been counting on is no longer around. It will probably take a bigger toll on the native population than it already is. What kind of pinch are they starting to feel with all of this going on. Besides the lack of rental income that you already mentioned.