Moving to Thailand

Moving to Thailand

Reasons to move to Thailand 

There are several reasons for foreigners to migrate to Thailand, the weather is nice, there are friendly people and the food is just so delicious. Basically there are three different kind of groups of foreigners that have moved to their favorite country in the world. The first one consists of expats. These are people living in mostly Bangkok because of their work. They are probably working for an international oriented company and are only stationed in Thailand for a few years. The second group consists of foreigners that are looking for a new life. They want to build a career in a new country, you could think of young adventurers that think ‘hey, let’s see what will cross my path’. The third group consists of people that have generally done well in life, they’ve retired early and are enjoying the rest of their life in a better climate. Some of them are ‘partially migrated’, they’ll live a few months in their country of origin, mostly in the summer, and then they will fly black to Thailand during the winter.

Some things you’ll have to think through

1. Cots of Housing: Where do you want to live? And how much are you willing to spend on housing? Living on the country side isn’t that expensive, but if you choose to live in Bangkok you’ll have to spend a lot more. Do you want to live in an apartment or in a villa? Everything has its price, also in Thailand.
2. Costs of living: A lot of expats make the mistake that living in Thailand is a lot cheaper; therefor they spend money more easily than in their country of origin. The great thing about the costs of living in Thailand is: you can spend a hundred bucks a day, but you can also live for a few dollars a day. You can eat in restaurants daily, or make some food at home; it’s your choice and your budget.
3. Visa: The most common visa is a non-migrant visa, which is only valid for three months. If you choose to move to Thailand you’ll need a permanent visa. If you are 50+ years old, than you can change your visa in to a retirement visa. If you would like to do work you will need a working permit.

The downside of moving to Thailand 

There is a chance that you will get lonely. Most foreigners do not speak the language fluently and therefor they are not able to connect with many people. They are only able to have a basic conversation with local Thai. Another part of the downside is that foreigners tend to become alcoholics, they open up their first beer at 10 AM in the morning and finish their last one at night. Therefor life expectancy is a lot lower for foreigners in Thailand than in their country of origin. Some of them are wasting their livers and decide to drive under influence in Thai traffic. Which is NOT a good idea.