Geez, you're really off base on a lot of these comments. But to start somewhere: > $1,200 in tax from 4,000 digital nomads is...$5,000,000. Thailand's economy

Geez, you're really off base on a lot of these comments. But to start somewhere: > $1,200 in tax from 4,000 digital nomads is...$5,000,000. Thailand's economy generates $500,000,000,000 a year. How are you only measuring direct tax income? They're spending foreign earned income on Airbnbs, hostels, bars, restaurants, likely multiples more than the average local, to the point that many successful businesses in Southeast Asia would cease to exist without a steady stream of these people. > want to optimize for people who want to stay long term, adopt their values, become part of the social fabric These countries don't want these people as permanent residents. As other posters pointed out, part of the unspoken contract is that they're leaving at some point. They come, they spend, and they leave before they get old and sick. If they were really taking more in services than they spent into GDP, the visa situations would change very quickly. > What's more, the arguments all have a whiff of colonialism to them. Please go travel to an immigration office in a third world country and see if you feel like you're exercising your white privilege. Officials in these countries tolerate travelers to the point that they're making out economically, but know they are in control. There's no subservience. > there are effectively zero digital nomads who aren't white men Sounds like you need to get involved in different social circles. I've seen the split to be about 50/50 gender-wise.