A System Where You Simply Can't Just Earn Money

Over the past year, I moved from Europe to Thailand. Everything seemed perfect - a new country, new experiences, lower living costs, better climate. Until it came to the simplest thing: earning money. I wanted to work remotely for companies from my home country, while living legally in Thailand. Simple? Theoretically, yes. In practice - impossible. My visa allows me to stay here legally, and there's a double taxation treaty between both countries. Logically, there should be no problem. But it quickly turned out that the financial and tax systems of the 21st century were not designed for people like me - mobile, independent, remote. They were designed for those who stay put, pay taxes in the same office their whole life, and never try to step outside the box.

A Company Without a Bank Account Is a Fiction

Registering a company? Of course - formally, I can. I fill out the forms, pay the registration fee - done. But what's the point, if a company without a bank account simply doesn't exist? And that's where the absurdity begins. Banks have become the actual gatekeepers of the global economy. Governments have outsourced verification duties to them, and now banks decide who gets to run a business and who doesn't. KYC, AML, CFT, FATCA, CRS, CDD, UNODC and dozens of other acronyms create a dense bureaucratic web. Formally, it's meant to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing, but in practice it turns ordinary people into perpetual suspects while leaving corporations completely untouched. Banks can refuse to open an account without explanation. If your profile doesn't match their risk scoring - it's over. You live in Asia? Denied. Your clients are in Europe? Denied. Your IP address doesn't match your address? Denied. No appeals, no recourse, no workaround.

Proof of Address? No, We Need a Residency Certificate

One of the most grotesque requirements is proof of address. You might think a lease agreement, a utility bill, or a landlord's declaration would be enough. They aren't. Banks and government agencies demand formal, government-issued certificates - residency certificates, tax residency letters, official registration documents - documents that simply don't exist in many countries. You can have a legal visa, pay rent, have utility bills, a local phone number, and still be told, "this does not meet the procedure requirements". The system does not accept life as it exists. It accepts only life formatted to its template. This is where the absurdity of modern finance is revealed: reality is secondary; forms and stamps are everything.

VAT, Tax Representatives, and the Economic Absurdity

VAT registration is another chapter in this farce. In my home country, the law is clear: non-residents living outside Europe must register for VAT and appoint a so-called tax representative. In practice, this person does almost nothing besides submitting your financial documents to the tax office. Yet their fees are astronomical - thousands of euros a year for a service that consists mainly of forwarding your paperwork. This system is not designed to facilitate entrepreneurship. It is designed to generate revenue for bureaucratic intermediaries and maintain control over anyone trying to act independently. The regulations exist not to protect, not to enable, but to filter, slow down, and monetize those outside the "accepted" system.

Big Corporations Can Do Everything

This is the crux of the matter. All of these regulations, procedures, controls, and requirements exist for people like me - ordinary individuals trying to operate legally from abroad. Meanwhile, billionaires, investment funds, and multinational corporations can establish companies, open bank accounts, register for VAT, and move billions across borders without a problem. For them, KYC is a formality. Banks create dedicated verification paths. Tax offices find "solutions" magically. The powerful are always accommodated, because their money is too large to block. Ordinary people are monitored, delayed, and rejected. This is not about honesty or security; it is about maintaining a hierarchy. Big companies get freedom; small people get forms, refusals, and fees. A small business trying to invoice a few hundred euros faces endless bureaucracy, while corporations pass through global regulations almost unnoticed.

Freedom on Paper, Dependence in Practice

On paper, the world is open. We can travel, work remotely, live where we want. In practice, this freedom ends the moment you try to use it. You can travel the world with a backpack, but you cannot issue an invoice. You can have a visa, legal residence, internet, and a laptop, but you cannot have a bank account. The system doesn't know what to do with you, so it treats you as a problem. Corporations don't have to prove anything. They don't need a local address, a tax representative, or residency documentation. Their structures are too complex to challenge. The system is not designed to police them - it is designed to police us.

A System That Doesn't Want You Independent

And this is the paradox of modern life: the world has never given people more opportunity, and has never done more to take it away. States and banks have created a structure where independence is suspicious and mobility is a risk. The system does not want you free. It wants you dependent, predictable, and compliant. Freedom ends where the forms begin. In this world, you can be a tourist, a consumer, or a cog in a corporation, but you cannot be an independent person who simply wants to work, earn, and live on their own terms.

MEOW