
Four-year professional visas get green light in Thailand - fazkan
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/business/2017/08/18/4-year-professional-visas-get-green-light/
======
WordSkill
This article is a good example of the primary form of click-bait used by
websites catering to the Thai expat / digital nomad market. No new visa has
been introduced, and it is unlikely that anything along these lines ever will
be, no matter how many times it is suggested in expat forums or Facebook
groups for digital nomads. All the expat websites know this, but they keep
pumping out these articles because they are, by far, their most reliable
source of traffic.

Every foreigner who spends time in Thailand indulges in the fantasy that their
bizarre visa system will, somehow, be fixed to allow "good" visitors to spend
longer there. It seems obvious that this _should_ happen, that the Thai people
would benefit financially, but it would not be in the interests of the Thai
elite, and that is the only things that currently matters.

~~~
dreamfactored
"was endorsed Friday by the Cabinet"

~~~
WordSkill
It was not endorsed in the legal sense, the writer is using that word to
justify his claim, in the title, that the plan has the "green light".

Endorsed, in this context, means that it was mentioned in cabinet, and the
soldiers present agreed that it sounded like a fine idea. This is no different
from all the other times it has been discussed, but nothing has actually been
drafted, given the go-ahead or any sort of actual green light. This is just
the usual spit-balling and bullshit.

The best way to tell when a Thai expat website is trying to magic up a story
out of nothing is that none of the other major expat websites have bothered to
mention it. When a real new visa is introduced, such as the current 10-year
visa for retirees, you will see it being discussed on all the sites.

~~~
stephenr
Why is it referenced from the PM's Delivery Unit Facebook page?

------
sremani
I am mystified probably coming from South Asia, what makes Thailand so
attractive? when you can do similar cost arbitrage with many places in Carib
and Latin America, while being in the same time zones and probably better way
to get in touch with US based clients.

~~~
nandreev
Food, safety, proximity to other Asian destinations, low cost, fast Internet,
everything close by (e.g. one can take a break from Bangkok with a quick
flight to the south)... it goes on.

~~~
zdkl
Everything you listed bar the connection to asian countries you can find in
latin america

~~~
xiaoma
The internet in Latin America sucks compared to east Asia.

It's not even remotely close. I say this having used 130 gigs of high speed
mobile data over the past month, tethering wherever I felt like it, and
spending under $30 USD for the privilege.

~~~
hackerboos
South East Asia != East Asia

~~~
xiaoma
I have been mostly bouncing between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, but even so,
what Latin American city offers internet service at a similar speed and price
as you could get in Chiang Mai, Saigon or Singapore? I sure haven't seen one.

------
EternalData
Southeast Asia is a really interesting case study for me when it comes to
political ideals vs. optimizing for life situations. There's a growing creep
of authoritarianism in different nations -- given what we know of the military
regime in Thailand and their propensity to arrest people for expression, it
would be somewhat ironic to preach for the "open Internet" while living there.
The tradeoff, of course, is much lower costs, higher security as others have
pointed out. But I do wonder about the greater costs involved -- those perhaps
not weighed on foreign workers, of accepting that this is the way things
happen to be there.

~~~
drawnwren
This is certainly a very real part of living in Thailand. There are certain
subjects (i.e. the monarchy and Buddhism) that you can not be negative about.
It's possible that you could be arrested if you are overheard speaking
negatively about these things. Practically, this isn't an issue. You are as
likely to talk about the Thai Monarchy and Buddhism as you are here in
America. That said, it is certainly surreal when a conversation veers that
direction and it the group collectively realizes they need to stop talking
about that for fear of imprisonment.

------
Canada
Great move Thailand! I expect the kingdom will be loose with these as it has
been in allowing this class of foreigner use tourist, ed and extensions when
they know full well what's really going on.

The previous system was essentially a checkpoint to allow for the removal of
party goer types who have become more trouble than they're worth.

------
shokasg
Would be great if you're eligible - no more visa runs or "self-defense" ED
visas, but not that much info is provided at this moment. The visa should
roll-out in January 2018 according to FB page...

------
justonepost
Sadly, there are no details yet. What constitutes investor or highly skilled?

~~~
charlesdm
We're probably not talking crazy money to be qualified as an investor in a
developing country. But there might be a requirement to invest a certain
amount into the local economy.

~~~
mikekchar
As a point of reference, you can get a business visa in Japan by starting a
company with about $50K in capital. The idea is that the company has enough
money to pay your salary for a year or so (the $50K is a minimum and depends
on whether or not they think the company can look after you as an employee). I
have heard that similar kinds of visas can be obtained in some SE Asian
countries, so I'm guessing that Thailand will introduce something similar --
so a few tens of thousands of dollars (I'm not entirely sure what the cost of
living is like there, but it's probably lower than Japan).

~~~
kawera
Very interesting. Where did you find the $50K figure for Japan?

~~~
ranebo
It's 5 million yen. I actually did this back in 2012. It's a complicated
procedure but plenty of Japan based lawyers can help you out.

I did it myself, without lawyer help but you will absolutely need someone
fluent in Japanese. The paperwork is suffocating. In retrospect I should have
just married my then girlfriend, now wife.

~~~
kawera
Thank you! I will investigate this possibility as a third of my clients are in
Japan so... ( btw, my daughter loves EasyBeats! )

------
nnd
Any idea how would they evaluate highly skilled professionals?

Most importantly, a lot of people living in Thailand have an offshore source
of income (a business or a freelancing contract), those people don’t need a
regular work visa as they are don’t participate in the Thai Labor market. Is
this law somehow applicable to those people?

~~~
stephenr
> those people don’t need a regular work visa as they are don’t participate in
> the Thai Labor market

Sorry that isn't how the law works. Unless those people travel out of the
country to conduct their work, they're breaking Thai law - it doesn't matter
where the company is, what matters is that they're _doing work_ in Thailand.

~~~
spraak
Can you please cite sources for that? I really don't think that's the case.

~~~
rtpg
Not sure for Thailand but I've heard the same for Japan.

The counterfactual would be that if this were possible, every foreigner in
Thailand would be made an employee of a company in Ireland or something to
avoid dealing with visa issues (or tax issues )

~~~
patio11
You can't licitly work for a foreign company from Japan without a work-capable
visa, though Japan won't work too hard to detect and penalize this given that
you're keeping your nose clean. I'd strongly recommend keeping it legal; it
starts to matter a lot more as you put down roots and get asked "So what were
you doing last N years?" by various authorities.

~~~
Dowwie
hey, I tried emailing you at the address in your profile but didn't get a
response , so am assuming you didn't get the message

------
justonepost
The biggest problem is the weather. It gets brutal hot march to June.

~~~
peller
Can you comment on the air quality? Is it as big an issue as some people make
it out to be?

~~~
WordSkill
Chiang Mai is the nicest city but all of Northern Thailand is affected by
terrible air pollution in March and April, you simply get out of town during
those months.

The confusion about whether or not it is "as big an issue as some people make
it out to people" is because influential members in the various forums and
Facebook groups have a vested interest in down-playing it, their business in
some way benefits from having a steady stream of nomad newbies arriving
throughout the year. They try to shout down any mention of it, and will
outright lie when someone asks a question such as yours.

Do real research on particulate pollution and look at the stats. The haze is
genuinely bad for your health long before it becomes as visually obvious as it
does in those months. A year in which the smoke season is considered to be
"not so bad" can actually do more damage, because people are inclined to spend
more time outdoors.

My opinion is that, although Chiang Mai is relatively cheap, no-one should
move here unless they can also afford to spend those two months elsewhere in
Thailand or South East Asia. Most Westerners on tourist visas have to spend
stretches of time away from Thailand anyway, so, I treat the smoke season as
an opportunity to spend time in Vietnam or The Philippines.

~~~
vram22
I was speaking recently to a student of mine who lives in Singapore (for the
last 4 years) and asked him about this air pollution / haze issue; he said it
is has become less bad over the last few years.

~~~
jpatokal
The haze in Thailand is different from the one in Singapore.

In Northern Thailand it's locally generated in the dry season around March-
April (forest fires plus farmers burning fields on purpose) and considerably
worsened by the topography (no ocean, mountains on three sides).

In Singapore it's forest fire smoke from Indonesia blowing in with the winds,
and it's usually during the summer (June to October, peaking around August).

~~~
kungito
So is there no way to address this problem? I always thought of places with
polluted air to be in that situation because of lack of regulation of
factories or car emissions

------
thinbeige
Slightly OT: Everytime there's a discussion about living in SE Asia or
Thailand people give many good reasons to go.

Very rarely to never one dares to mention girls there as a reason. In this
thread there's one person only who does mention girls.

Since I have never been to Thailand or SE Asia I am just wondering how much
weight does this factor have in decisions to live in SE Asia (this is a
serious question).

 _Edit: Fyi, this post got so many downvotes and I just don 't understand why.
People try to hide the truth and want us to believe that everybody goes to
Thailand because of all these amenities, good Internet but not the one reason
I mentioned? If downvoters keep on this hypocrisis I will delete the post
again. This is ridiculous. I would like to see one downvoter replying and
explaining why he downvoted.

Guys, keep on downvoting. I think the downvoters are exactly those who visit
Thailand just because of this one reason._

~~~
pentae
It wasn't a factor for me, because I am more attracted to European/Caucasian
women. And sure enough Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful
Thai lady, I dare say could possibly be out of my league in the US or
Australia. However this was not by design.

I came mainly for the tax benefits base and low cost of living of setting up
an office in Thailand. There's quite a lot of annoying bureaucracy involved
but a good agent can handle that. It's also a great place to self fund a
startup as your team can all live quite cheaply giving you double the runway.

Anything else I can add has probably already been said.

~~~
djrogers
> Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady

I’m not sure what our think Murphy’s Law says, but it doesn’t result in
someone finding a soulmate.

In a nutshell, Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong, will”. It
is sometimes decorated with the add-on “and at the worst possible time”.

~~~
pentae
Yeah you're right, I'm quite jet lagged right now and it was a poor choice of
phrasing. oops

------
thinbeige
I am not sure if this is ao good for your personality and character
devlopment.

Just compare two guys: One lives in a country where his personal purchasing
power is much much higher than in his home country and his ethnicity signals a
high status and value to locals as well (e.g. American in Thailand).

The other guy lives in a super expensive hub with high competition and just
finding a flat and paying the rent ia already a huge challenge (eg some guy in
New York or SF).

I could imagine that the first guy will degenerate over time (like animals in
the zoo) while the other one has to fight night and day for everything and
gets thougher.

~~~
mars4rp
high level of stress will kill you young, it doesn't matter how much you think
your character developed when you are dead!

~~~
SXX
Even without factor of stress lifestyle of many people in IT is not too
healthy to begin with. And it's certainly easier to remain healthy while live
in SEA countries.

