Sponsor Relationship
A sponsor relationship is an ongoing monthly financial arrangement between a foreigner and a partner in Thailand, understood by both sides but rarely discussed outside the relationship itself. It sits somewhere between a gift and a formal arrangement: a fixed sum sent every month, sometimes alongside a partner who still works, sometimes as the reason she stops. Several stories on this site describe this dynamic directly — some where it was handled with complete transparency, and some where the foreigner discovered, often by accident, that he was one of several men doing the same thing at once.
Frequently asked questions
Is a sponsor relationship the same as a scam?
Not necessarily. The stories on this site show both outcomes — arrangements handled honestly by everyone involved, and cases where the foreigner later discovered several sponsors existed at once.
How much does a typical sponsor arrangement involve?
It varies enormously across our stories, from a modest amount that supplements a partner's own income to a full monthly salary replacement — there's no fixed norm.
How is it different from paying sin sod?
Sin sod is a one-time dowry paid around a wedding; a sponsor arrangement is an ongoing monthly payment, usually with no marriage involved at all.
Stories related to Sponsor Relationship
I followed her one day instead of believing her story about the family visits. She didn't go to the bus station — she walked into a hotel with another man.
Retired in Pattaya since 2017, a 55-year-old Polish man falls for Apple, a 32-year-old bar girl with three kids to support. For months he believes he's the only man helping her out financially. One day he decides to follow her instead of believing the usual excuse, and discovers he was just one of several sponsors supporting her at the same time.
She'd step outside to take calls from other guys. At least she was honest about it.
A Portuguese man used the Phuket Sandbox for a no-strings escape and ended up with Som, 32, three months of hidden beaches and one clear rule from day one. Four months later he understood she'd never really stopped keeping her options open.
I kept coming back to Pattaya for thirteen years. In the third bar on Soi Honey I met Jib.
A 42-year-old Dutchman started visiting Pattaya in 2010 and never stopped coming back every January. In 2022, in a bar on Soi Honey, he met Jib, from Isaan. Two years later he bought land from her family, fully aware of what that meant.
I gave her 400,000 baht and two years of my life. One day she went to a temple and never spoke to me again.
A 51-year-old Canadian recounts how he went from a tense relationship in Pattaya to supporting Lek for two years as she built a food stall in her village near Prakhon Chai, until she vanished without explanation after a temple retreat.
She told me once she has a man's heart, she can get anything from him. I fell for it anyway.
A 52-year-old American looks back on his ten-month relationship with Tan, a Phuket bar girl who was honest from day one about how it worked. Knowing exactly what he was getting into, he fell anyway, until she told him she was marrying someone else.