It’s easy to see how an expat could be made to feel unwanted and/or insignificant to the Thai government with all the controls and provisions put in place just to maintain a retirement visa, but nothing could be farther from the truth.
The expats play a very significant role in Thailand’s economic landscape - with direct contributions that extend across almost all sectors of the economy, and don’t think for a minute that Thai Government Ministries aern’t aware of this.
There is an estimated 2-3 million foreigners living in Thailand (a dart toss), with around 30,000 retired American expats and 40,000 retired Brits. Let’s do the math:
American and British retired expats totaled 70,000 in 2023:
Using a very conservative estimate of 30,000 THB as the average an expat contributes directly to the Thai economy on a monthly basis – the total monthly contribution = 2.1 billion THB (70,000 expats X 30,000 THB). With an estimated annual contribution of 25.2 billion THB.
Regardless of how The Thai Ministries view people from other cultures residing here, they can certainly agree on one thing, and that’s how CRITICALLY IMPORTANT it is to keep them residing here.
Now, on a personal note:
After spending as many years as I have, both as visitor, and now as resident of Thailand, I have never once had a problem with Immigration. The minimum income requirement of 65,000 THB has been in place forever…they added to 800k bank option in 2008 which made it even easier for those who preferred this option…but as long as an expat complies with either of these options there is no reason why they should have any problems either.
As far as all this fear mongering going on regarding Thai tax law enforcement, this isn’t going to be a problem for expats either, as long as they aern’t trying to transfer, launder, or conceal income illegally. Sometimes I think the local newspapers simply run out of ideas for new articles to write which is really to blame for a lot of this nonsense.
The way I see it there isn’t a damned thing for an expat to worry about - because we’re here to spend the money – and they’re here to provide the honey.