It’s Time to leave Thailand
This website promotes the most debaucherous behavior in Thailand it's amazing its' still online but somehow it is and everyday i'm sure there's some little idea that comes from this site that causes some knucklehead to come to Thailand. You know millions of people come to Thailand every year and for the majority of those people they don't have any problems and then there are people who actually have problems. But there is this small percentage of just human waste that makes their way to Thailand.
Not all these people are rubbish, there are genuinely good people that might come to Thailand and just because of their own ignorance or simple stupidity do they end up on overstay. There's been a lot of news lately about the Authorities cracking down on the border runners and comments abound how Thai's are shooting themselves in the foot and "not caring" about tourism and other such rubbish. Total BS.
When planning a trip to Thailand (or any country) anyone with a brain knows you must check the visa requirements and I doubt very much anyone would travel overseas without doing their due diligence. There are going to be some people who get caught out while travelling not keeping up with the latest info that's totally understandable. But apart from just a big inconvenience it's not such a big deal at all. (for legitimate tourists).
I mentioned on a friends Facebook page the other day and I still think it true today that the real reason they are cracking down is because the people using the loophole to live in Thailand for years whilst paying only the minimal amount possible. Actually most people I know who live here did this same run when they got here in the begging so they could avoid having to pay the conventional means like starting a company, joining a school, or working for a legitimate company.
If you don't have the means or the ability to go the proper way then don't come to live here and this is the message I'm seeing because a tourists planning their trip would just plan their trip around whatever the damn requirements there are and would have little complaints about it. Those people are not going to care one iota what stupid border crackdowns might happen.
Another group are the thousands of illegal teachers in Thailand. Actually today's latest crackdown email from Thai Visa claims that the new rules are going to hurt Thailand's ability to speak English because all the unqualified teachers no longer have the means to stay in Thailand. What a load of crap and have you ever thought that maybe Thai's English are poor because of all these teachers who really aren't qualified? I bet you $1000 dollars I could even get a TEFL certificate and start teaching English! Imagine that! Me teaching English. Lol what a joke. Those unqualified teachers are keeping "real" teachers salaries low, the news is welcomed by "real teachers" with "real qualifications".
The biggest problem I've seen with these border runners are the ones who just don't get it. These people are the human waste I was talking about earlier. I actually had to deal with one the other week. To cut a long story short he had to pay a 20,000 baht overstay fine then he still ended up in jail cause he didn't have the money to pay the guesthouse he was staying at. Nor did he have a ticket home and no one in his family or friends was willing to help him out. This is the kind of people the crackdown is aimed at and I hope they push hard.
You kinda wonder how a person like that even made it onto the plane in the first place, but he did, and after looking for a job as an English teacher in Pattaya he ends up in Chiang Mai with no money. There's no sob story here guys this is how dumb people are. Look if you're running out of money and have no options and no one to help you it's time to leave Thailand!
Awesome, True Words, that’s Why we Love ya Man.
Keep up, Kicking.. A–se.
Cheers
Baron
Thanks bro. The dream just got better with these kinda people leaving Thailand.
What most people fail to realize is, people who break the law will ALWAYS break the law. “These kind of people” will always be here.
I agree with this comment. However these laws about border runners and stuff are the same rules most countries have. I know in the US I can only visit for 180 days before having to fly out and fly back in. Same thing (actually it’s not the same as the USA is much more difficult). This is not a THAI THING. It’s a global issue and most countries have the same sorts of rules. In Australia you get caught illegally you’ll go straight to the detention camp, you can’t pay a fine then be allowed to fly out fly back in, doesn’t work like that and neither should it in Thailand.
It seems that if foreigners stay in Thailand the laws of that country are always shit if it not suit them.
But they forget that their home country follow the same rules for illegals.
For me this people fit in the same group as the guys that live in Thailand without any healthinsurance or atleast have some money to cover medical treatment if they are well over 50.
I love thailand but i would never think about take the move on a minium income, then its just a cruel place to be.
I agree completely, none of these TEFL teachers have any health insurance either. I’m so glad i’m not the only person who is sick of these people bitching about immigration rules. Hell I got a green card in America damn thing took years and thousands and thousands of dollars. if I didn’t complain about that these fools shouldn’t be complaining either.
Why the hell should you care if an individual living legally in Thailand retired or otherwise has personal health insurance or not? How is it any of your business? How does that affect you? That’s someones personal choice. What are you judge and jury on how someone lives THEIR life?You seem to be an arrogant asshole.Mind your own fkn business.
How does it affect me? It affects everyone dumbass. Why you think Thailand’s cracking down on people who can’t afford to live here? Cause they get into an accident and can’t pay their medical bills and the Thai people end up paying for it. That’s messed up. I don’t care how people live their lives as long as it doesn’t affect the rest of us and if it does and I have an opinion about it i’ll post it here. Thanks for reading.
The problem is, while trying to get rid of the low life guys you speak of, they are getting rid of a LOT of good people who POUR money into the local economy. Thailand (and every other country) will always have bottom feeders. That’s just how the world works. But causing pain for everyone while trying to rid Thailand of people they will never get rid of, is Thai nonsense at its finest. FACT: Immigration is in on the visa runs and ways to dupe your visa. That is how the visa shops operate. So long as immigration is in on it, they will find a way around whatever law is created.
The entire world has these issues. Problem is, as usual, Thailand thinks it is special. Rather than create problems for everyone, round up the dead beats and deport them. Oh yea, who will pay for the plane right out?
Not to mention, Thailand has allowed for this to continue for decades. They allowed people to put down roots via their own system that allowed border runners. Now they are pulling the rug out from under those who built a life based on the rules Thailand gave them to play by.
I have a legit visa so I’m not stressed. However, I do think what they are doing is wrong, as they created the situation in the first place.
I respect your comment but I don’t agree. People who “POUR” money into this country are not worried about extending a tourist visa by walking over the border.
I don’t know what you’re doing tonight, but I’m going to Summer fest, a street festival near the University.
Arrested Development is the headline band. The price? Free.
Now, when was the last time you saw a Grammy winning Hip hop band in Chiang Mai…for free?
How about 100+ local bands…again, for free?
Surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of drunk young people?
Believe it or not, Thailand does not have “everything”.
You are right, Thailand doesn’t have everything certainly that’s true. Summer fest isn’t free you still gotta pay admission even if that’s not the point you know that’s great but imagine living in Milwaukie, hey maybe you do, that’s cool man great, i’d prefer to be here. Also I’m not sure how you’re going tonight I thought it started in a few days from now but whatever man have fun.
Maybe these broke guys should read your book on how to make money in Thailand. I’m sure they will be swimming in cash in no time (sarcasm intended). Newsflash: you cannot make money selling trinkets on ebay anymore. That game is 10 years past expiration.
10 years? so how was I making $500 a day selling on ebay up until 3 years ago? I personally don’t do it anymore because I hate the idea now of physical products. I like when I hear this stuff cause it makes me chuckle. What do you do in Thailand, teacher?
Do you have a legitimate business visa for your website in Thailand? 😉 Something tells me that would be impossible, so that means you are breaking the law as well.
How am i breaking the law for owning a website this or any? Im affraid your misinformed. Its illegal to work.
It is an online business, that is considered work. I am not misinformed but immigration does not much care.
Owning a business any business is not considered work, when you work that’s considered work. I own this site actually I own hundreds of sites, they are called “investments”. It’s also possible to own a hotel/bar/restaurant in Thailand without working even if you call the shots. I believe immigration do care but like with all judicial processes the bourdon is on proof. There is no way to prove that I even wrote this comment let alone wrote anything on this site or any site I own. This site isn’t hosted in Thailand therefore Thailand has no jurisdiction over it (except for access to it within Thailand) and would require a court order in America which would be virtually impossible if the reason was for “working illegally in Thailand”. Sorry if I led you into that question, I’m sure you don’t care either way but someone else reading this who does “work online” should know that if any official asks that you simply tell them your an investor and don’t ever let them tricking you into confessing that you “work online”.
I don’t know why the cencensus of the border runners are so bad. This was the LEGAL loophole Thailand gave them and they were just using it as so. It was a cheaper option for people so some took it. Working online such as running this website IS considered illegal here as it is WORKING online. Thought immigration doesn’t really care please inform yourself since you run a Thailand info website.
Also Thailand is shooting itself in the foot. All the digital entrepreneurs and IT freelancers who make way more than any teacher spend serious money here. They are the ones with the 20k baht condos and go out to the pricier restaurants. They definitely spend more in a month than many Thais spend in 5. I agree its good to get rid of the grimy types here and the over stayers but anyone who says they aren’t shooting themselves in the foot is just a fool.
Teachers here (qualified or not) spend their money here and stay here for the love of the country. If they wanted to make Cash they would go to China or Korea.
Also what about someone with ample funds to retire here, but they are only 45 so they can’t get a proper retired visa? I’m sure they spend more money than you here. Are they scumbags also for living on back to back tourist visas?
I love loopholes and this is why I love Thailand cause there’s always some loophole and if in the end nothing works that’s when you have to leave. It’s the people whining and complaining about the end of such a loophole are the ones who are ticking me off especially. There are still ways to live here and genuine people are going to do whatever is the next level loophole and not cry about it. It’s a shame that there are genuine people using that loophole, but generally no one genuine lives on it for years and years and years unless you lived your previous life out of a car and showered at the gym to save money on rent.
My last thoughts on this:
* Unqualified loser teachers will end up with unqualified loser students
* Anyone with an income of at least 20,000 baht a month or more could (and still can) live here without doing border runs that’s pretty minimum dude so is Thailand shooting itself in the foot? NO!
* Can tourists still spend months and months in Thailand? Yes! Shot in the Foot? No!
* Anyone who is angry and threatening to leave Thailand because of this I have this to say. Fuck Off! The less Farang living here the better the more girls for me!
I make an average of around 200,000 THB per month and have been living in Thailand for the last four years on back to back tourist visas while working/running a business online, probably spending around 60,000 THB a month in Thailand and saving/investing the rest (mostly in Thai mutual funds and Thai fixed deposit accounts). I’m sure some users think I am posting this to brag or lying but I am not, my reason for mentioning this is to second what user “k” says above.
Frankly, I am tired of the over-commercialization and xenophobic culture in Thailand, despite having spent almost two years learning to speak and read Thai to a fairly high level. Learning to speak Thai made me see this xenophobic streak a lot more clearly. I have recently moved on to another Asian country which also has a fairly low cost of living and is more open to foreigners. I’m glad to let Chris and the others have the Thai girls because I have had enough.
It doesn’t mean I am fully down on Thailand but to me the tourist visa thing was the last nail in the coffin for living there on a permanent basis, at least for now. I am sure I will be back since I invested my money in the country and my time in the language and there are indeed some good things about it. Fortunately, I can be a “digital nomad” so there is no reason for me to just stay in Thailand.
Thanks for the story David, I could have done the whole border thing too but my time is worth more than that and it sounds like yours is too and you had a choice for other options, therefore your distaste for Thailand I’m sure has very little do to do with the Visa.
Thailand isn’t for everyone and I’m glad you know it’s not for you, why live in a place you don’t like!
(For people reading)
My total time spent dealing with visa’s including travel over 6 years (the rules for me still havn’t changed): About 5 days total hours, which includes 90 day checkins, visa extentions 2 days travel to loas AND I didn’t do anything there as I paid some guy 2000 baht to handle it all so it really only took me 5min really.
Border runners? It’s a 16 hour round trip to the border from chiang mai. You do the math.
I would like to learn more about what kind of online business you do. Can you send me imformation please
You are quite misinformed about the teaching situation in Thailand. Most teachers do a very good job. There is a lot of competition, which makes it very much harder for the low quality teachers than in many other countries. Less experienced teachers usually only teach kindergarten age children, where the skill level doesn’t need to be as high.
The main reason Thais aren’t good at English is because not enough foreign teachers are employed here. Most schools have Thai teachers. Non-native speaking English teachers are never as good as native speaking English teachers. Part of this has to do with Thais placing not enough value on English language, and also on Thais helping Thais get work. Another factor is that it’s cheaper to employ Thais.
So you see, it won’t increase the wage for more qualified teachers for less qualified teachers to be deported, as Thai teachers will still take the lower paying jobs.
Most Thais don’t plan on living outside of Thailand, and so they don’t value English and don’t try very hard to learn it.
You’d be better off to speak on things you know, or you will come across as one of the old codgers who gets his jollys off on the misfortune of others such as can be found over at thaivisa.com. Nobody enjoys whining…
And yes… legally you are being hypocritical in the fact that you too are working illegally with your internet based businesses… deny all you like… nobody is fooled…
There is a huge percentage of Thai’s 30% + who rarely speak the official language “Thai”, also a large percentage who can’t read and write. Yet somehow they are expected to speak English. I’m misinformed? You can’t even make a straight argument. First you say that Thai’s aren’t good at English because there are not enough foreign teachers, then you say they can’t speak English because they don’t value English enough.
What’s the point of learning English if you’re going into Thai Law? Or if you’re to become a bricklayer, absolutely nothing! Thai’s are wasting their time learning a language they will never use. Kinda like the hundreds of hours I had to sit in a class learning French and German for which I’ll never use! English is useful around the world but for the majority of people here it’s a “nice to know” not a “need to know”.
Here’s what I know, learning English is pointless for the majority of Thai people. There is no evidence to suggest that foreign English teachers are improving the Thai’s English, none! Please point me to a study that can prove me otherwise. Again you make out like this is fact but have no evidence to back it up.
My argument is Myanmar students score higher than Thai’s in English proficiency, both countries have the same population yet Myanmar has far fewer Foreign English teachers. That’s fact and the basis for my argument yet you just dismiss my facts for your opinion without making a logical argument.
Plenty of people working here illegally, 10’s of thousands of them, in fact most of the people I personally know work here illegally, but none of those people are complaining about border runs. Actually I met a teacher the other day and he told me how he did border runs every 15 days for 2 years. I asked him why he did that he told me the truth (I didn’t know any better). If these are the kinds of morons teaching students here no wonder they can’t speak English.
I don’t have a personal problem with people working illegally as long as it’s not taking jobs away from Thai’s and yes illegal teachers take Thai jobs, I do have a problem with illegal teachers mostly because I wouldn’t want my kids learning from someone who doesn’t have the right qualifications and that I don’t care what teacher you put in the room, if learning English means nothing to someone you could be the best teacher in the world it’s still not going to sink into those kids. It sounds like in your response that you agree with that at least.
You claim I don’t know what i’m talking about….I went to school here almost 20 years ago, a Thai school I was the only farang. My peers could read and write English better than I could! They never even met a foreigner before! They were poor on speaking but as I’ve already stated as fact, having a white teacher isn’t helping anyway. Half of my school mates speak English very well now after being in the workforce and interacting with foreigners, school was a good foundation to learn grammar and all that stuff. The other half never used English again for the next 20 years.
Again please post some facts to dispute my claims and perhaps you won’t come across as the fool.
While it is arguable whether Thai teachers do a good job, the notion
that native speakers are better English teachers simply because they
are native speakers is categorically false. There are plenty of
excellent non-native language teachers in the world and there are
plenty of terrible native speaking language “teachers” who just became
that way by being backpackers, wanting to travel and not having the
means, etc. Doesn’t mean all teachers who are not “fully qualified” by
a certifying body are bad either; personality and passion for teaching
go a long way.
That being said, most of Thai English speakers English level is
terrible, at least from what I have encountered. Their use of grammar
is truly awful and that is probably why many Thai people speak
“Tinglish” and think they speak English well, because this is how they
have been taught.
As for English being important for Thai people, I do not think it
should be. Foreigners should learn Thai, as both Chris and I have, not
the other way around. In most other countries I have lived, foreigners
must learn the language of the host country; in Thailand, that’s not
the case. I’m not totally sure why that is but to say that in
Thailand, despite being able to speak the local language well, you are
still not truly accepted by the local population, whereas in many
other countries you will be accepted and can integrate once you are
proficient in the language.
That’s why I said “teachers”, and not ‘backpackers pretending to be teachers’. 🙂
There’s no point to learn Thai unless you really need it. It doesn’t help in any other part of the world, as English does. Most foreigners don’t have time to waste learning Thai, because they don’t plan on living here permanently, or for long enough to get any meaningful advantage from it.
So I gather you have a non-immigration Type B visa and a work permit Chris? Tell you what, I can arrange an interview with the head of the Thai Royal Police, that is after I’ve got an accurate translation of your website.
Now I wonder what the top-cop would think of your attitude towards Thai people?
If you didn’t have anything to hide you wouldn’t have registered domain by proxy.
The head of the Thai Royal Police is the general himself, you can get an interview with him, wow man your like the biggest keyboard warrior I’ve ever seen 😉