As the official flipped contemptuously through page after passport page of triangular Thai departure stamps, he sighed wearily, before launching into a stern lecture.
It ended with the border-crosser – who had been anticipating a 15-minute saunter into Cambodia and back – being told to proceed to the royal Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh. He was also warned that if he simply returned later in the day at the same border-crossing would “be sent to the detention room”.
The days of Thailand being a Nirvana for feckless border-run drifters – as well as other types, some worthy some not – are now a thing of the past.
In recent years, particularity here in Phuket, there has been an increase in crimes committed by foreigners, often in dire financial straits. That kind of visitor with no visible means of support will now find Thailand less “the Land of Smiles” and more the land of “Sort your life out, instead of exporting your problems and yourself here.”
But there is another kind of long-term visitor. The entrepreneurial and/or honestly hard-working kind. So many nations’ economies have benefited from the skills and work ethic of economic migrants – the US, the UK and, closer to home, Singapore and Hong Kong, come to mind – that perhaps the time has come for the Thai government to bring about positive change for them.
The bureaucracy facing foreigners who wish to work here is more onerous than those of most other nations in the region, and other middle-income nations in general.
But skilled foreign manpower (and “womanpower” of course) would benefit the Kingdom economically as well as bringing the kind of diversity that characterises vibrant economies the world over.
As for that wastrel who was collared at the Thai-Cambodian border, we learned that he got a job and a work permit to go with it. Just in the nick of time, he jests, when recounting his turnaround in fortunes.
Thailand has always welcomed foreigners. Now that it has addressed the bottom end of the immigration issue, we look forward to a liberalization of business regulations for higher-quality foreigners. This would allow those with marketable skills and services to contribute to the Kingdom.