Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing so-called repatriation loans. What are we talking about here? Well and there is kind of a "myth" associated with this one and there is a reason that "myth" was put in quotation marks in the title and I will get into both reasons right now. In the past, the notion of a repatriation loan was considered somewhat ludicrous by anybody that had ever been an expat for any particular period of time or anybody that had ever dealt with Embassies and Consulates and I happen to be somebody that did that quite frequently and quite early on. So within a couple of years out here I realized the repatriation loan is really very much a myth.

What are we talking about a repatriation loan? Well the story used to go, and I actually remember I had a college professor who actually told me and this would have been my first year of college so this is going back a long way, longer than I like to admit, but I remember being in college and a professor telling me, "oh if you are abroad and you get stranded and you run out of money, you can go to the Embassy and they can give you a loan to get a plane ticket home and then they will take your passport and you can't have it back until you pay back the loan." Yeah that sounds really interesting but that's not how it works and I never, ever had seen a repatriation loan ever issued. Folks that I had ever spoken with from Department of State would talk about it like "oh yeah that's like a great white buffalo or a unicorn or something, it just doesn't happen." 

Now, the reason myth in the title of this video is in quotation marks is because during COVID they actually started doing it, which I remember when it started happening I was like, "Whoa, this is really obviously something big is going on because you never see folks or you would never see the Embassy even discussing repatriation loans and lo and behold, I remember seeing the email ALERTS go out where they in fact were discussing it. It is my understanding, I have talked to a few people at the time and since that did take Uncle Sam if you will, the US Government up on that offer. They got some money to get a plane ticket and they went home and presumably they had to pay it back. I don't know how all that worked. 

The reason for the video today, that is some background there, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the title is: The worsening trend of Brits unable to pay their bills in Thailand. This primarily looks at things from kind of a British context, British expats, but there is insight here not only across the board but also for Americans specifically just because I have seen this kind of play out similarly for them as well, and that is who I primarily deal with especially when it comes to dealing with Embassies, I primarily deal with the US Embassy or Thai Embassies outside of Thailand. Quoting directly: "Understandably, victims and their relatives turn to the British Embassy. Not much joy there. British Government websites make it abundantly clear that there is no cash hand out or even a loan no matter how desperate the situation." Now this is me talking here. I have to say when it comes to the American context, that couldn't be any truer and yeah it is pretty much a hard NO. Again exceptions during the pandemic that was kind of an odd circumstance but yeah the notion of repatriation loans in the entirety of my 10 year out as an expat, as a lawyer abroad, it has just always been something that it was always just a non-starter. Quoting further: "Diplomatic posts will offer a list of hospitals, translators and morticians and even phone relatives with bad news but there is a concrete zero budget for hard luck stories no matter how grim. To be fair, other Embassies sing from the same hymn sheet." Sing from the same hymn sheet - yeah that is a fair point. The Americans are going to go the same way there too, very similar. Quoting further: "Although a few, notably the Norwegian, offer far better counseling and care." Well I can't really speak to that. I will say, I have found the American Citizen Services folks over the years to be pretty good at their job, I mean in fact very good at their job. I have never seen them remiss in their diligence or in their assiduousness but at the same time again there is really no budget out there for any type of repatriation loans; I would love to know the budget behind the repatriation loans during the pandemic. I suspect it probably emanated from the Cares Act although that is speculation on my part, I have never really dug into that. But yeah, up until then I had never seen it. When I saw it, it caused me to become flabbergasted and then in the aftermath I am sitting here saying I highly doubt we are going to see that happen anytime soon.