Are Foreigners Still Welcome in Thailand?

I’ve been coming to Thailand since the 1990s. I’ve lived here for years, and I’ve probably spent more of my adult life traveling backwards and forwards to Thailand than anywhere else outside the UK.

But I’m seeing this question asked more and more. You see comments online saying Thailand doesn’t want foreigners anymore.

People point towards changes in visa rules, immigration requirements, taxation, rising prices, dual pricing, property restrictions, and all the hoops foreigners sometimes have to jump through just to stay here.

And every time Thailand announces another rule, or somebody has a problem at immigration, you’ll see the same comment, Thailand doesn’t want us anymore.

But is that actually true? Well, I think the answer is a little more complicated. Because first of all, when somebody says Thailand doesn’t want foreigners, I always ask myself, who exactly is Thailand? Are we talking about the Thai government, immigration, businesses, hotels, restaurants, or are we talking about ordinary Thai people? Because those are completely different things.

On a personal level, after all these years, I certainly don’t walk around Thailand feeling unwanted. Quite the opposite. Most of my day-to-day interactions with Thai people are perfectly normal. I go into restaurants, shops, markets, petrol stations, hospitals, wherever it might be, and generally, I’m treated perfectly well.

I live in a Thai village now. I’m not tucked away in some foreigner compound where everybody around me is either British, Australian, or American. And I don’t wake up every morning thinking they don’t want me here. I’ve never felt that.

Thailand Has Developed Since the 1990s

But at the same time, I can understand why some foreigners do feel Thailand‘s attitude towards us has changed. And perhaps it has.

When I first started coming here in the 1990s, Thailand felt very different. Foreign tourism was growing rapidly. A Western visitor often had considerably more spending power than they do today. It was incredibly cheap for us. You could arrive with foreign currency and feel quite wealthy. Hotels were cheap as were nights out.

Foreigners were a very important source of money. They still are, of course. Tourism remains enormously important to Thailand, but Thailand itself has developed.

Bangkok today is nothing like the Bangkok I remember from the 1990s. There are enormous shopping centers, luxury condominiums, expensive restaurants, world-class hospitals, international schools, and Thai people with serious amounts of money.

Thailand doesn’t need to treat every Western foreigner as though he’s some wealthy VIP simply because he got off an airplane carrying a foreign passport. And I think some foreigners struggle with that.

There are still people who arrive here with the attitude that because they have a few thousand pounds in the bank and a pension coming in every month, Thailand should somehow be grateful to have them. I don’t think it works like that anymore. And why should it?

Thailand is a country of roughly 70 to 80 million people. It isn’t an enormous retirement home built for Westerners. We are guests here.

But unless you’re a Thai citizen, ultimately, you’re here under whatever immigration status allows you to remain. That’s simply the reality.

Immigration and Permission to Stay

And this brings us on to immigration because I think this is where a lot of the feeling that foreigners aren’t welcome actually comes from.

Thailand can be bureaucratic. Anybody who has lived here for any length of time knows that. You’ve got visas, extensions, 90-day reporting, address reporting, and different requirements depending on what type of visa you have.

Sometimes you go to one immigration office and hear one thing; somebody else goes into another office and gets told something slightly different. That can be frustrating.

And when you’ve lived somewhere for 10, 15, or 20 years, perhaps you own a car, you’ve got a home, you’ve got a Thai partner or a family here, I can understand why people get annoyed at still having to prove they qualify to stay.

They think, “I’ve been here for 20 years. Surely by now they know who I am.”

I understand that argument, but there’s another side to it. Thailand has never really pretended that a retirement extension is permanent residency. It’s permission to stay under certain conditions.

If we choose to live under those conditions, we can’t really act surprised when Thailand expects us to comply with them.

We might not like every rule. I certainly don’t like every rule, but there’s a difference between saying, “This rule is irritating.” and saying, “Thailand doesn’t want foreigners any longer.” They’re not the same thing.

Rising Prices and Dual Pricing

Then you’ve got money. This is another big one. Thailand isn’t as cheap as it used to be.

I hear this all the time. Thailand‘s getting expensive. Yes, some things have become considerably more expensive, but so have England, Australia, and America. So has virtually everywhere.

The Thailand I first visited more than 30 years ago doesn’t exist anymore, but neither does the England I left behind. You can’t freeze one country in 1994 and expect it to stay there just because you enjoyed paying 20 baht for something.

And I think sometimes foreigners confuse Thailand becoming wealthier and more expensive with Thailand becoming less welcoming. They’re two different things.

There’s also the issue of dual pricing. That annoys a lot of foreigners. A Thai person pays one price, a foreigner pays another.

Personally, I understand why people dislike it. If you’ve lived here for years, paid taxes here, spent money, and perhaps supported a Thai family, being told that you have to pay considerably more simply because you’re a foreigner can leave a bad taste in your mouth. I understand that completely.

But does it mean Thailand hates foreigners? No. It means Thailand has a dual pricing system in certain places that many foreigners don’t like. Again, those are two different statements.

Social Media and Respect Works Both Ways

And then we have social media. I think social media has massively distorted how people view Thailand.

If you spend enough time in Facebook groups and online forums, you could convince yourself Thailand is about to collapse. Every Thai woman is trying to steal your house, immigration is waiting at the airport to deport you, and every foreigner living here is absolutely miserable.

Yet strangely enough, millions of people continue arriving here each year. And plenty of foreigners continue choosing to live here. The people happily getting on with their lives generally aren’t posting about it every 6 hours. The angry ones are.

Somebody goes to immigration, gets his extension, everything goes smoothly, and he goes home. He probably doesn’t post, “Breaking news, went to immigration today, everything was fine.”

But if something goes wrong, you’ll hear about it. And before long, one person’s bad experience becomes evidence that Thailand no longer wants foreigners. I don’t buy that.

There is another uncomfortable part of this conversation as well. Sometimes the problem isn’t Thailand. Sometimes it’s us.

I’ve seen foreigners come here and behave in ways they would never behave back home. They’re rude to restaurant staff. They lose their temper because somebody doesn’t speak English. They walk around without a shirt on, nowhere near a beach. They get drunk and cause trouble. They treat Thai people as though they’re somehow beneath them. And then when somebody reacts badly to them, suddenly Thailand is unfriendly.

Well, perhaps Thailand isn’t the problem. If I moved back to England tomorrow and behaved badly everywhere I went, eventually people in England wouldn’t particularly like me either.

Respect works both ways. You don’t have to become Thai. I’m certainly not pretending to be Thai. I’m British. I’ve got British habits, British opinions, and probably plenty of British faults. But I’m living in somebody else’s country. There has to be a degree of respect for that. And I think the vast majority of foreigners who understand that have very few problems here.

Criticism and Long-Term Foreign Residents

That doesn’t mean Thailand should be immune from criticism. Absolutely not. I sometimes see this other extreme. If you mention something you don’t like, somebody immediately says, “Well, go home then.”

I think that’s ridiculous as well. You can love living somewhere and still criticize aspects of it. Thai people criticize Thailand. Foreigners criticize their own countries all the time. Living here doesn’t mean you have to pretend everything is perfect.

There are things Thailand could make easier for long-term foreign residents. There are bureaucratic procedures that could probably be modernized. There are rules that sometimes seem unnecessarily complicated.

And I do think there’s a reasonable argument that somebody who has lived here legally for 10 or 20 years should perhaps have a clearer route towards a more secure long-term status. That’s a perfectly legitimate discussion.

But overall, do I personally feel less welcome in Thailand today than when I first arrived? No.

What I would say is that the relationship has changed. 30 years ago, the Western tourist with foreign currency was perhaps a much bigger deal than he is today.

Today, Thailand has visitors and residents from all over the world. You’ve got Chinese, Russians, Indians, Europeans, Americans, Australians, Middle Eastern visitors, and people from across Asia. The Western expat isn’t the center of Thailand‘s universe, and maybe we never should have thought we were.

A Quieter Life in Hua Hin

There’s another thing worth remembering. Thailand isn’t forcing any of us to stay. That might sound harsh, but it’s important. Every year I see foreigners online saying they absolutely hate what Thailand has become and I sometimes wonder why they are still here.

Life is too short to spend your retirement living somewhere you despise. If Thailand stopped working for me, I’d have to seriously consider whether I wanted to continue living here.

But right now, it does work for me. I’ve moved away from Bangkok. I live down in Hua Hin now. My lifestyle is completely different from what it was years ago.

And perhaps that’s another point. Thailand changes, but so do we. What I wanted from Thailand when I was younger isn’t necessarily what I want from Thailand approaching 67.

Years ago, being close to nightlife, restaurants, and everything happening in Bangkok was important. Today, I’m perfectly happy having a house, a bit of grass to worry about, somewhere to park the car, and a quieter life. Thailand didn’t necessarily change in the wrong direction. Maybe I changed direction as well.

And that’s why I think asking, “Does Thailand still want foreigners?” might actually be the wrong question. Perhaps the better question is, “Does Thailand still offer you the life that you want?” Because that’s what really matters.

For somebody in England who’s cold, fed up, looking at gray skies, and dreaming about retiring to Thailand, Thailand can still offer an enormous amount. Warm weather, good food, excellent private health care if you can afford it, beaches, cities, and countryside, a relatively comfortable lifestyle, and for many people, a sense of freedom and enjoyment they simply don’t have back home.

Realistic Expectations and an Exchange with Thailand

But come here with realistic expectations. Thailand doesn’t owe you anything because you’re a foreigner. Your pension doesn’t make you royalty, and spending money in a bar or a restaurant doesn’t mean the country should rewrite its immigration system around you.

At the same time, Thailand benefits enormously from foreigners. We spend money, we buy and rent property, we eat in restaurants, drink in bars, and we stay in hotels.

Many foreigners support Thai partners and extended families. Others invest here or run businesses.

So this relationship works both ways. Thailand gets something from us and we get something from Thailand. And perhaps that’s the healthiest way of looking at it. Not “Thailand should be grateful I’m here” and not “I should be grateful Thailand allows me to exist.” It’s an exchange.

So are foreigners still welcome in Thailand? From my experience, yes, absolutely. But perhaps we’re no longer put on the pedestal that some foreigners remember from decades ago. And personally, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Thailand has grown up. It has developed. It has become wealthier. The world has changed and the foreigner living here has to change with it.

For me, after all these years, Thailand still feels like home. I don’t expect Thailand to bend over backwards because I’m British. I don’t expect everything to work the way it does in England. In fact, if I wanted everything to work exactly like in England, there wouldn’t have been much point moving halfway around the world in the first place.

Thailand isn’t perfect. It never was. But I’m still welcome here. I certainly feel that I am. And after all, perhaps that’s the answer that matters.