Your first Thai girlfriend? There are some great stories about love, great sex, and commitment between a foreigner (farang) and a Thai woman. There are also some tragic horror stories. It is possible to find real love in Thailand, like you’ve never felt before. As long as you know what to avoid and what mistakes not to make. I want to help you to be aware of the errors made by many men here in Thailand. Errors that caused them severe heartache and financial loss. Sharing is caring, if you don’t know the pitfalls to avoid that’s an error of ignorance and understandable. Allow me to forewarn you, so you can truly be happy in the land of smiles. And you will be able to hold on to more of your hard earned savings for your well earned retirement or lifetime dreams.
When you first come to Thailand and meet and fall in love with one of the beautiful and caring women here,
you must bear certain things in mind before you make decisions that may not be reversible.
Decisions like getting married right away, or buying houses and cars. It is so important that you have some insight into the mentality of the women here. The women you might meet at a beer bar or GoGos are most times from the lower end of Thai Society. That means, girls from wholesome and wealthy families do not work in places like that. They also have lower levels of education. On average many people in Thailand, not just the girls, only attend school up to the age of 12 – 16. When a Thai girl you meet in these places dates you, and becomes your Thai girlfriend, quite often she has seen a friend or heard stories of how other women have been given houses and cars when they date and marry foreigners and she wants that too.
Mobility through the classes of status in Thai society are very difficult to cross.
High salaries of 100,000 baht per month are hard to find for the common folks. Adding to this, girls that work in beer bars or gogos have an even more difficult time moving through Thai society. This is because eligible young men from from wholesome and wealthy Thai families cannot bring a bar girl or GoGo dancer home to meet Momma, no matter how nice she is. Many of the girls have an agenda, and they will sex you very well, and wait on you hand and foot to achieve it. And when they acquire the goods they want they will leave you.
As I said in the beginning, there are great stories of how a foreign man and his Thai girlfriend have teamed up together and accomplished great things for each other and their families. But there are just as many stories and maybe more, where foreign men have been taken advantage of. Seeing themselves loose thousands of dollars and left emotionally devastated.
There are several factors that contribute to these heartbreaking events.
One is that girls that work in the bar or GoGos consider sex a business and remove their true emotions from their work. It is quite common for a girl in the bar or GoGo to proclaim her love for her boyfriend and have sex with another man for money if the boyfriend is out of the country and not around. Another factor that contributes to heartbreak are the immigration laws and national laws of Thailand. It is very difficult for foreigners under 50 years old to stay in Thailand for more than 3 months at a time before you are required to leave the country and obtain a new visa. Your Thai girlfriend knows that she will be free of you after 90 days. So her mission is to get you to fall in love with her within those 90 days so that when you have to leave you continue to support her. There are other avenues to stay longer than 90 days but they are challenging and explaining them all will be extremely time consuming for this particular thread. It is also unlawful for foreigners to own land or maintain a majority share of any business enterprise based in Thailand, to elaborate further without getting into the nuts and bolts of the corporate laws, simply put any business partnership has to be divided 51% Thai and 49% foreign.
These legal issues related to creating a business and staying for a lengthy period of time in Thailand influence many men,
new to the level of affection they receive from the women here, to commit 3 errors that usually have bad endings.
1 Marrying your Thai girlfriend too quickly.
2 Buying property in the name of your Thai girlfriend or wife.
3 Entering into a business relationship owned predominately by a person with little education and no experience in managing a business.
Marriage is a very serious commitment, emotionally and legally.
I advise anyone coming to Thailand not to pursue a hasty marriage as a means of staying with your loving girlfriend for evermore. Marriage is easy to enter, and very difficult to exit. So please take your time and be sure your girl is the right one for you.
Buying Property in the form of land in Thailand is not allowed unless you are a Thai national. A foreigner can own condominiums or town houses within a gated community. You will own the house only, not the land it’s built on. Just stating the facts here for us all, not the reasons why. If you buy any form of property in the name of a Thai national that property belongs to them. You have no legal recourse whatsoever if the relationship between you and that Thai national goes sour. Therefore take your time before buying property in Thailand, rents are reasonable enough. There isn’t any pressure for you to purchase a dwelling for you and your loved one unless you pressure yourself.
On a side note Thailand is huge. Please give yourself time to see all the beautiful places within the country before you settle down anywhere. There is a definitive language barrier as well once you leave the cities focused on tourism. If you choose to live in rural Thailand make sure you can communicate effectively in the Thai language. You may find yourself very lonely and longing to communicate with someone in your native language.
Entering into a business partnership can devastate you financially,
especially if you’re involved in an intimate relationship with your partner. Business partnerships with foreigners must be majority owned by a Thai national. Your Thai partner has to own at least 51% of the business. Many Thais, not just the women, have little experience running businesses. They may make critical errors if you are not available to supervise the operation. Another drawback is, your partner can do whatever they want with their share of the business without your permission. That alone has the seeds of disaster just waiting to bloom. So protect yourself and your investment. Do not rush into business ownership. Choose solid partners to be involved with you. You may even consider dividing the Thai side of your partnership between 2 or 3 individuals. This action will allow you to control a majority stake.
If you heed these warnings you should be fine while you test the waters of your new relationship. There are many wonderful stories of a foreign man and his Thai girlfriend living happily ever after. There are also some unbelievable horror stories. Therefore be mindful of the warnings I have shared with you and enjoy your time in this tropical paradise.