There are many crackdowns now on this kind of companies made for breaking the law.Wow you survived the Jacinda Regime when it was at its most fascistic
I was going to say I'm surprised you didn't leave earlier, but it was impossible.
This is the same basically everywhere.
You can do it via company structure. Find a decent lawyer and you can buy a house in Thailand without the horror story of your Thai girlfriend owning 51% of it and rinsing you.
I'd say Thailand is probably a good choice for you.