Feb10
Do you think Thailand immigration will ever get easier?
Author: bigbuddhaphuket | Category: immigration in thailand
Ekamai asked:
Ive always wanted to live permanently in Thailand (and own a house)…This is pretty much impossible as you all pretty much know. Do you think it will ever change and get easier?
February 12th, 2009 at 7:10 am
I don’t see it happening any time soon. But you can stay here indefinitely, as long as you keep paying the right people.
February 13th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Plan and simple answer is no. They are so afraid of foreigners owning Thai land that this will never happen. Lots of nationalism here as you can see with the Preah Vihear.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:47 am
No…if anything it will get more difficult…Ref new regulations and costs for work permits etc…
Think the biggest issue with immigration in Thailand is not the rules per se, but the number of times these rules change..
If you are under 50, ie retirement age, its is very difficult to live in Thailand long term, only real solution is the Thaielite card which at least gives the possibility of living there long term.
For someone under 50, without a job in Thailand, this is a viable option as not have to be doing visa runs all the time
As regards owning a house, this is not going to change, I personally would like to see a 99 year lease system they have for forgieners wanting to buy properties in countries like Cambodia and Vietnam and the second home program they have in Malaysia.
Personally think there should be some provision for people working/living here legally and paying their tax to buy a property…ie say lived in Thailand on a work permit/retirement visa for 3 years, paid taxes for that period would be allowed to buy a piece of land up to 1 Rai in size, think this would be a fair compromise.
Lets face it, Thai nationals can buy property and land in the UK and US without restriction…Ex-PM Taksin springs to mind, and he bought a football team…!!!!
EDIT
Khun B, you have the right idea about renting would do this for at least 12 months, if you do eventually buy, as I am sure you already know owning a condo is the only definitive way, with any form of legal recourse if things go wrong, which they do quite frequently in Thailand, if you are thinking of a condo as an investment, dont bother, unless its one of the upmarket and very expensive condos around BKK
The thing people get confused about is the there is nothing stopping you “owning” the house, the issue is the land it sit’s on.
EDIT
To add to James B comment about permanent residence in Thailand, its just not a case of living here legally for 3 years there are a lot of other conditions as well to be complyed with for PR, and PR in Thailand doesnt give you the right to own land or even work, persons with PR still need to apply for a WP. All basically PR does is takes away the hassles over visa’s thats all…..to get all rights you need to take out citizenship…the PR process is the first step and it takes many years to citizenship..
February 19th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Good question.
If Thailand is to develop beyond where it is now it will *have* to change its visa regulations. The problem is Thailand doesn’t *want* to open up to foreigners (although it wants their money). This is the seemingly unsolvable conundrum of the situation in Thailand. The country is stuck in a state of schizophrenia with regards foreigners.
If Thailand decides it wants to move with the big hitters, it will need to move to solve one of its biggest problems – skills shortage. It will not be able to meet this need organically – it needs to have a more sophisticated skills transfer programme. The sex-tourist/English teacher visa approach it has bungled along with for years won’t cut it. It will need to suck in highly skilled and experienced individuals, and to do that it will need to offer them a future – the ability to build a life, own land, a house and most especially end the ridiculous “visa run” shenanigans.
Of course, it is currently possible, by exploiting various laws (loopholes) to own land and property in Thailand. But such things are always subject to rule changes by the government – witness the recent “scrutiny” of the Foreign Business Act by Thai officials.
The current system is kind of broken and kind of working. In Thailand that is often seen as “good enough”. Knowing Thailand though I believe we will still be having this exact same discussion in 10 years time
February 20th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I wish it was easier too. I am moving to Thailand in a couple of months.
I visit Thaivisa.com a lot and participate in their forums.
Most guys on there live in Thailand and like to help others with questions like yours. Many are retirees and own condos or know how to get around the restrictions for foreigners to own real estate.
As far as I am concerned…I am going to rent for at least 6 months to a year. If I buy…it would probably be a condo.
I like condos.
Good luck
Check it out.
February 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Things are getting more difficult, but things in Thailand are still much easier to deal with than other countries.
You can live here permanently without much hassle. If you have lived here legally for three years, you can apply for permanent residence.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I doubt Thailand will ever ease its immigration and residency laws. The country does allow foreigners to retire in Thailand provided they meet certain criteria, which I believe, is fair enough. Thailand also allows residency rights to foreigners married to Thai nationals.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:18 am
if living in thailand permanently is what you want to do, you can do it. you just have to figure out how. (duh). if you have an outside income, like a pension, disability, investments etc, you can easily live there- even if you simply pay rent. if you don’t have outside income… well, it gets difficult. there are few jobs that a non-speaker can get in thailand. you can have a business, but that is not easy either. if you have a thai partner you trust- like a wife or husband, you can effectively own land and property- but the the key word there is trust. everything will be in her/his name. as long as you are together, it’s yours. you can get a long lease. when you can buy a whole house and land for 15 – 20 thousand dollars, it’s not like you are putting up your whole life like you do in the west. i am married to a thai women. see i sold all my stuff in the states and built us our own house (bedroom) next to her house, and i’m buying another house in south thailand for 12,000 USD. but i have to come back to the states to work, because i can’t make any money in thailand. even teaching english- which is very well paid (by thai standards) doesn’t pay enough to support my new family and buy property. so i have to commute.
chances are it will never change in thailand, as they country is doing just fine with the way things are now. *we* might argue that, but the thai’s don’t particularly. they want thailand for the thai people- not to be bought up by “rich” foreigners.
it’s not that easy for thai’s to (legally) come to america either. they have to be rich enough that the american immigration believes that they won’t just stay in the U.S. similar set-up in thailand, if you are rich enough to have all your support come from outside thailand- thousands of dollars in the bank and/or income, you can stay there as long as you like.