I’ve been lucky enough to live in Southeast Asia for over 9 years now, having lived in Indonesia, Malaysia & Thailand. I’m lucky in the sense that I did my homework & found companies to work for that offered visa sponsorship (& work permits).
I’m now on my third year in Thailand on a valid visa & work permit but I can’t work out how so many YouTubers who confess themselves that “Thailand is home” are able to stay without the proper documentation. They post videos about how much they earn but seldom go into detail about the actual visa they’re on in order to not just stay in Thailand but also generate revenue in the country (before even going into any tax implications). Am I being stupid or is it one of the following for most of them:
- DTV visa - but don’t you need proper documents from your employer to prove you’re okay to work digitally/remotely…but most YouTubers I’d imagine are freelancers?
- Education visa - I’m assuming there’s a few abusing the education visa which again is annoying for people who genuinely want to utilize that visa
- Setting up a business themselves in Thailand but that requires hiring staff & capital upfront
I’m not throwing shade I just don’t understand how they get away with publicly flaunting the fact Thailand is their “home” but yet half of them seem to be here illegally or operating within a massive grey area 🤷♂️.
I also don’t buy into the idea that “because they promote Thailand & potentially increase tourism, not paying their share of tax is okay”.