Does Vietnam need foreigners that badly?
Thailandās economy is suffering because tourism is a huge sector, but theyāre terrified of disease-bearing foreigners. Thereās been some talk of a bubble with Vietnam and what not, but that seems to be proceeding at the same pace as ASEAN stuff in general (i.e. glacial).
There must be some sort of two-tier economy evolving in these economies with significant numbers of expats. I suppose it works economically, but what does it do to the fabric of the place.
My suggestion for countries that would like to expand their economiesā¦amend visa free policy from 30/90 days to 120/180.
This helps to reduce inequality in developing regions as tourism is the biggest transfer of wealth.
Southeast Asian countries would benefit immensely and immediately after the end of the present pandemic.
I think the wealth transfer is the reason why people on political extremes (left or right) are so against relaxed visa policies. They fear the wealth transfer will be mostly outbound, not inbound.
Stuff like tariff and import tax is actually detrimental. But they are in place because of protectionist interests.
People by and large still sees wealth and scarcity as a zero sum game, not positive sum (that the lack of border control and protectionist taxes would create more wealth than the sum of all countries combined, and the growth would also be more equal)
Dare to say they are at the epitome of their desires with all this closed borders thing and all foreigners out?
Thailand kind of has this, their elite visa see https://www.thailandelite.com/
You donāt need to have employer or anything, just pay 500,000THB(kind of the same in twd) and you get it for 5 years. Its got some pretty cool perks as well, perhaps the best being you can skip the queue att immigration.
Yeah, I know about the elite visa. I think the difference there is that it gives the holder zero permission to work, doesnāt alter their tax liability (it seems that holders are still liable for regular income tax etc. after >183 days, but not sure how seriously Thailand takes that), and is pretty expensive.
I think that scheme is mainly intended to attract rich long-term stayers who donāt intend to work, like retirees (who donāt want to go through the bureaucratic hassle of retiring there in the regular way). I donāt know about the technicalities of working while on an elite visa, but it seems itās not automatically legal and the scheme isnāt really intended for remote/digital/freelance workers.
Sounds like Bali may be working towards a similar program. Still in the works but they discuss including a special tax rate and an education sharing requirement of some sort.
My work is purely remote work now and even when I could travel there was no necessity to be in Taiwan. Family doesnāt make it easy to move around though. You have to think of schooling and visas for them too.
Well before the dawn of civilization it was borderless. Itāll be again, once Homo sapiens donāt inhabit here.
debatable, chimps have border patrols!
After WW3?
Georgia has 360 day visa free!