Frustrations of Thailand

[mogo51]

After 8 years, my SO and I are  moving to Philippines in July.  She is a teacher here and her contract will expire end March.  

Over the past 12 months or more, the authorities here are making it increasingly more difficult to live and work here.  My SO has been teaching for 8 years and at her current school for 4.  They are treated very poorly by the Educations system here (Filipinos especially).  

In their 'wisdom' they have decided that where a person on a working visa is renting a property, the owner of the property MUST appear at Immigration Office with the tenant/visa seeker, part of the requirements!  Many people own property here in Pattaya but live o/s as is the case  with our landlord.

They really did not think that one out, but being Thai will not backtrack when realising their mistakes.  So come end of March she may be out of a job as we will not pay any underhand money and will leave when we have to if her visa is refused.  

I am very keen to leave here anyway and start our new life in North Luzon (maybe I will think differently when I experience my first cyclone)???

Immigration is defying all initiatives to solve the problem ie. a letter from the Condo Management confirming residency, letter from Real Estate doing same would clearly suffice.

The feeling of 'persona non gratia' is rising ever large in this country and I am keen to see the 'front door' in July or maybe sooner.

Have any members had such feelings whilst in Philippines, am I looking through 'rose coloured glasses' in thinking I will be more welcome there?

[frosty (chris)]

36 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

 am I looking through 'rose coloured glasses' in thinking I will be more welcome there?

One of the very few places I don't have a problem with here is the Immigration Bureau, before the forms you filled in were easy enough now they have streamlined the process so it now takes less than a minute to fill it out. I can be in and out with a new visa 20 minutes tops.

      Dealing with bureaucracy at any level here can become very frustrating most times so best to find an office filled with some good looking eye candy to pass the time.

[jpbago]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

The feeling of 'persona non gratia' is rising ever large in this country

I have read that from others who have been living in Thailand and playing online poker. They are moving to Cambodia, Manila, and Vietnam.

[Old55]

What is the root cause do you think? Nationalist extremism or?

[virginprune]

Not only is the form shorter now, the ladies in Gensan give me the form for next time to fill in before I arrive, last time I was in and out in 8 minutes. I have also noticed that the past 3 extensions have been P400 cheaper than my first year here!

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

Have any members had such feelings whilst in Philippines, am I looking through 'rose coloured glasses' in thinking I will be more welcome there?

You will be "more welcome" here than you describe but it ain't perfect. As more foreigners come to Philipines over the last 9 years I have been here I notice more concern from the locals.  Not all the locals but some.  The two sentiments that I have noticed growing recently are jealousy over foreigners having so much and they don't see us working for it (they did not see us at work for 30 years) and resentment over foreigners driving up prices (pure supply and demand as more people with money pushes prices up).

So far this has not reached critical mass to be a general problem but the seeds are there and the foreigner population is still growing.  Get here and enjoy while you still can :-)

[sonjack2847]

2 hours ago, mogo51 said:

After 8 years, my SO and I are  moving to Philippines in July.  She is a teacher here and her contract will expire end March.  

Over the past 12 months or more, the authorities here are making it increasingly more difficult to live and work here.  My SO has been teaching for 8 years and at her current school for 4.  They are treated very poorly by the Educations system here (Filipinos especially).  

In their 'wisdom' they have decided that where a person on a working visa is renting a property, the owner of the property MUST appear at Immigration Office with the tenant/visa seeker, part of the requirements!  Many people own property here in Pattaya but live o/s as is the case  with our landlord.

They really did not think that one out, but being Thai will not backtrack when realising their mistakes.  So come end of March she may be out of a job as we will not pay any underhand money and will leave when we have to if her visa is refused.  

I am very keen to leave here anyway and start our new life in North Luzon (maybe I will think differently when I experience my first cyclone)???

Immigration is defying all initiatives to solve the problem ie. a letter from the Condo Management confirming residency, letter from Real Estate doing same would clearly suffice.

The feeling of 'persona non gratia' is rising ever large in this country and I am keen to see the 'front door' in July or maybe sooner.

Have any members had such feelings whilst in Philippines, am I looking through 'rose coloured glasses' in thinking I will be more welcome there?

You and P should just leave and have done with it.Small minded people don`t have the capacity to see their mistakes and Thai immigration is one of them.You might get frustrated over here with all the photocopies some BI offices want.

[afathertobe]

I experienced and heard the same about Thailand. Immigration officers at the airport are often shockingly rude and unprofessional, much better here. I think they have a clear policy to only allow in well-heeled tourists for short amounts of time and discourage expats to live and work in the country, similar to China, with which coincidentally they share ever cozier bonds. In that regard the Phils are much easier to deal with from my limited experience.

But there are also clear drawbacks compared to Thailand. Renting, banking, services, retail, just about everything is much less developed here and often more expensive. Housing more expensive/quality much lower, food no comparison, much more poverty and associated problems, crime, lack of professionalism even compared to Thailand, underdeveloped transportation system and infrastructure in general... I think if Thailand made it easier to live there and English was more widely spoken few people would really consider the Philippines. You can live a real lavish, luxurious life in Thailand, or easily get by with 500 USD/m outside of Bangkok, both things are more difficult in the Philippines.  

Those are all rather objective criteria, at the end of the day some people just feel more comfortable in one culture or the other, so you might love or hate it, really depends on the person. 

Edited January 19, 2017 by afathertobe

[barryneves]

Agree with the above poster 100 percent! I lived in Thailand for around 7 years and have just clocked up my 12th here in the Phils. TRhat speaks volumes. And I used to dread visits to the Thai immigration for all the reasons mentioned above. Although bureaucracy here can also be frustrating I find it pales into insignificance when compared with dealing with Thai government officials.

[mogo51]

8 hours ago, jpbago said:

I have read that from others who have been living in Thailand and playing online poker. They are moving to Cambodia, Manila, and Vietnam.

In large numbers, including those who have been in Thailand for many years.