Kaoboi Bebobp

What's next in the program to "bring happiness to the people?" 

I've never been to Hua Hin but that is a certifiable ghost town. Only two people staring into the emptiness and a motorcycle on a tourist street in a country renowned as a tourist magnet. 

Looks like a very flexible new policy in which you can change your visa status from, say, an e-visa (basic entry) into a proper business visa and work permit in-country. But don't get too excited because it does not become effective until July 1, 2020.

Quote

The amended law is expected to make it easier for foreigners to stay in Vietnam to learn about the market and look for jobs and investment opportunities without wasting time and money on immigration procedures, according to Vo Trong Viet, chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Committee on National Defense and Security.

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20191126/vietnam-passes-law-allowing-foreigners-to-change-visa-status-without-leaving-country/51997.html

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The consulate in Penang will issue a non-o visa for being 50 or over. Only the embassy in KL will not issue one.

Penang has the same requirements as Savannakhet.

It appears as though the Thai consulate in Ho Chi Minh, sadly, does not offer the non-imm O based on being over 50. Their web page only specifies three categories of non-imm O: supporting Thai children, married to a Thai and voluntary position in Thailand. 

The only non-imm O visa is for volunteers on the pages of the Hanoi embassy, plus the O-A. 

Hanging over all of this is the possibility they remove the "over 50" category everywhere or expand the health care requirement to the Os. You have to not only have a Plan B, but a Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, Plan F. . . Think I might go with Plan F. 

4 hours ago, deej said:

Not being sarcastic????

The medical Insurance for O-A  visa.s etc  has been on the wall .since the police order was introduced and to take effect  1/11/2019

very simple

That's all very well, but think of all the "crackdowns" announced 197 days a year. Until it happens, I don't believe it. The reports have been coming in only in the last few hours to confirm the police order on health insurance is indeed being enforced. That's what many people have been waiting for, which is the proof. 

Summary of first and second-hand reports rolling in now that at the next O-A based extension, you will require health insurance:

First hand:

sirwilly in Chiang Mai

Maxx58 at Nonthaburi

MeePeemai at Chiang Khan

MangoBob at Ratchaburi (he doesn't mention the place but his avatar shows location as Ratchaburi)

saengd at Chiang Mai (reconfirms his earlier report)

Pib at Bangkok Chang Wattana - CW officers confirm need for insurance on next extension renewal 

Second-hand from Transam:

Friend in Ubon. TA says friend refused extension because of no insurance. 

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Alas, the writing is on the wall. 

Good point, lamyai3. Maybe the generous O-A program has outlived its useful life (drawing tens of thousands of monied expats to fatten the Thai treasury and cure herds of sick buffalos) and they are slowly devaluing it.

Or maybe the simplest explanation: I can imagine, without straining myself too much, that there's "something in it" for Thai immigration off the top of the insurance industry's income stream. 

I was just thinking that he might be able to lay his hands on an army AK47 or some such and just shoot the place up during one of his wilder moods. Leave.  

My visa/extension vitals: Original O-A in 2010, extensions based on retirement every year since. Next renewal, Aug 2020. 

Just checking. I think I have read every post in this thread over the 16 days since it was begun. Am I correct in saying, we still don't know if those of us facing renewals this year and next will need to show a Thai health insurance policy at the next renewal application? That's those of us who started out with O-As.

I am aware of reports that some embassies have sent or are planning to send diplomatic notes asking that the health insurance requirement be not made retroactive to holders of original O-A visas.  

1 hour ago, holy cow cm said:

Yeah and it is true. Thailand is a full rip off now. And the beer is so much more better than Thailand. Vung Tau is fun for a free day’s. Great seafood 

During a recent week in Pattaya, had some absolutely awful Tiger beer, much of it three to six months old, going by the fill date. The Viet Tiger is usually pretty good, as is the 333. Plus, if you're into craft beers, had some good ones in the many brew pubs of Saigon. And way WAY more affordable. The Saigon pub regular beers are "pricier" but still only 65 baht/50,000 VND. Good imported wines are absolutely giveaway cheap compared to the staggeringly over-priced wines on offer in Thailand. So I'm sure the tourists were happy.

@terrywI agree with your views of Thailand and Vietnam. The "quick profit" VN culture is a killer of return tourists. 

56 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

Strange indeed, I live in Bangkok on Soi 11.

 

Out running errands yesterday I was quite surprised at the number of "western" tourists around, generally 20 to 35, many female, many couples. 

 

Thai wakepark is chocker with visiting foreign  wakeboarders, and I have more friends through this season than in recent years. 

 

Tourist come, but not for Pattaya it seems

 

Seems that way. I shop in Villa and Emporium sometimes, after coming in from Phra Khanong. There seems to be quite an uptick in the number of tourist faces on Suk from Asok to Phrom Pong. Lots more of those faces on the BTS, particularly families. Also, an English bar and an Aussie bar on Pridi 2, near where I live, have livened up considerably just in the last week.

I posted in another thread after a recent week spent in Pattaya how much more lively it was in certain bars on LK and Buakhao. I do think some month-long visitors are back. But I also think it will be a short burst. 

24 minutes ago, mike44 said:

Thanks for the responses but I want to know the price. I am currently in VN but returning to BKK in a few days and I want to know whether it is better to buy in VN or TH. The price of a generic equivalent in Hanoi is About 800THB for 30 tablets.

 

 

Uroflow brand of Tamsulosin is 690 baht at SC Drugs on Rama 4, just past the Crowne Plaza, Silom District, Bangkok. I paid almost the same in Vung Tau, VN, 500,000 VND, I believe (exchange rate worse now). Harnal brand is nearly double that in VN and something like 50% more in Thailand. Some other pharmacies I checked in BKK and Pats were sometimes hundreds of baht more for Uroflow. 

48 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

Does someone have a list of Thai insurance companies accepted by immigration? I think I saw one before but using forum search wasn't helpful.

 

Just want to see how painful it would be compared to other options assuming extension renewal is blocked.

 

of course even if it isn't an issue this year, by next year it could become more problematic and even include those who started out on a non Imm O.

Here you go. 

Approved O-A compliant Thai insurance companies

12 minutes ago, Leaver said:

No argument from me about Scooters, Triangle, and I would also add Billabong bar and Cafe Racer.  I actually expected you to name these exact bars, before I posted.

 

The thing is, there are hundreds of bars and restaurants in this area, but the ones you name are the only ones that are busy.  This equates to a high percentage of very quiet, if not dead, establishments. 

 

Did you go into a gogo bar on LK?  Very few customers in them. 

I never go into go-go bars. It's been over 7 years since the last one. Anyway, yeah, the good bars always have customers.

10 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Can you name some of the bars you went to in this area, because other than a few well know bars, mainly for their price point and / or band, I only see empty bars, or bars with one or two customers, which doesn't even pay the salaries, yet alone the rent. 

Harry's, Scooters on LK, another smaller bar on LK,  some massage shop/bar on Chaiyaphum maybe Admon (?) (across the road Triangle was jammed), Scooters on Buakhao, Tiger on New Plaza, which was fairly busy all round. Also it was a very pleasantly coolish night.