GeorgeCross

18 hours ago, Monomial said:

 

Not true. Many people who can afford 5 star resorts created their wealth by knowing how to spot good value for money. They care about all the things you've said, but they also want to feel they are getting it for a fraction of its true value. They may not worry about the price, but many are still influenced by it. 

 

Thailand has most definitely lost the perception of being good value for money. That is going to hurt no matter how it occurred. There is still a market niche for travellers who really do completely ignore price, but there is now a glut of businesses fighting for that much smaller crowd. And anyone who isn't absolutely the best of the best is going to suffer in that environment.

 

Thailand has only ever appealed, in volume, to cheap charlie westerners whether it be sex tourists after cheap girls, retirees and snowbirds after cheap living and winter sun or backpackers after cheap beaches and thrills.

affluent westerners, get their pick of European and Caribbean resorts which are miles ahead of anything Thailand has to offer.

so where are all the westerners? well the affluent never came in any numbers and aren't likely too in the future save a seismic shift in thailand's tourist offering and the cheapies value travellers have been priced out or found new travel locations

get a multiple entry non-o from savanakhet in laos, its only 200km from khon kaen and you don't need to show any money in a bank. lots of threads in this section describing how to do. you can extend it next year or after 90 days if you wish once you have 12 months of 40K transfers or 400K in the bank. no insurance requirements

one more for the ever growing pile:

got to say its been a quiet day news wise today. no reports here or on facebook one way or the other. 

normally no news is good news with stuff like this so i wonder if word is getting around and extensions are being grandfathered?

30 minutes ago, lapamita said:

No O-A  need heallthinsurance hmmm

 

and NON O extension dont need hmmmm

 

THE next thing will be the cancelation of all NON O  and NON O MULTI  Visas

 

and this followed byan ADD ON ..for grandaftherd Visas ( i had a nice add on in 2003)

 

..than everybody must apply with o-a , and everybody need special thai nonsens insurance ( 400k for hosiptal haahha 2 days could cost ou this already and a more stupid OPD w 40k)

 

welcome to thailand.........

 

 

 

but i'm married, not retired and under 50 - where do i apply?

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

It seems lots of people are still in denial of what is coming.

ooh ooh i'll take the bait!!

whats coming??!

this is all part of the plan.. make it so hard for westerners to apply for a visa they give up and go elsewhere! the evil geniuses!

** cue evil laugh **

13 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

My understanding is this only applies to any new Non-Immigrant Visa Class O-A issued after 31 October 2019, perhaps your client should go back to see the IO's at Hua Hin and discuss ?

all that red highlighting and october 31st is not even on this quoted page!!

can you please explain how this relates to "your understanding"?

thanks!

36 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

There is no such thing as a retirement visa.

i'm building up a collection of them, here's another possibly chiang mai

7 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Why do they need to be married to help support others? 

well of course you are free to support anyone you want married or otherwise but if you want to extend your visa on basis marriage well you kind of need to be married!

32 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

This would make sense wouldn't? But I'll keep my doubts for myself.

probably need to close the non-o loophole first without setting off a panic visa run to it!

9 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Unless we see a police order clearly stating that visas issued before 31.10. are exempt the situation isn't clear.

All we have is some evidence that IOs might treat it this way now, we don't know if this is based on a written order, or they just handled it like this. In the latter case we might see a report of somebody else who was denied entry on his OA visa issued before 31.10. due to a lack of insurance.

i agree and any calls to the contrary are irresponsible no matter how much face needs to be saved. 

clear details need to be clarified directly by immigration or in a new memorandum, as signs like this are still up at immigration offices (jomtien)

source: 

18 minutes ago, lkv said:

Fresh report. Third entry on the visa itself and no insurance requirement.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1395920320731833/permalink/2563545347302652/

 

its a good post and he makes some interesting points. if it is an application issue thats great news for anyone thats currently on an OA as they can come and go at their pleasure with no requests for insurance at the border.

it would seem someone at border immigration got a "tap on the shoulder" from higher up!

the one question remaining then would be whether an extension would be considered a fresh application and will a "tap" in that case be forthcoming too.

fingers crossed guys!

8 minutes ago, La Migra said:

post excogitato

sounds painful 

might want to edit your name out there Mr. *********

????

2 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Regardless, governments everywhere in the world can change immigration rules, more so in Thailand, so if your not prepared for the change or implementation regardless of what we all think, and in particular are not prepared to part with those funds for whatever reason, we have options to leave.

 

I have private health insurance for the family and myself with a pre-existing condition, it costs me 110,000 baht a year, money down the drain some say, sure, but you pay for it for peace of mind, it is not a visa requirement for me, and I am fortunate enough to be under 60, just to get it and always look at recouping it through investments.

 

Some not so fortunate, but we all make our beds, as for those to old to get insurance, one would think that immigration would be relaxed if funds were in an account in Thailand, but hey, I am not their advisor and I don't make up the rules, it is what it is, fair or unfair, we all have choices, no one in Thailand gives a rats and if you don't have a plan B, well your not a planner IMO.

i totally agree, i have insurance too and at my age its a pittance.

problem is it definitely won't be a pittance if i live to 85 or more. my coverage then will be north of 350K per year according to pacific cross.

and i'll be 85! not sure i'll be so good with the "investments" then lol

46 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

They are already well aware of what you call a loophole. But your conclusion may or may not be correct. Instead of including O based extensions in the insurance requirement they could simply STOP issuing 90 day O visas based on retirement, inside or outside of Thailand. Then the people with O based extensions will be grandfathered but there won't be any NEW ones.

yeah thats how they'd play it for sure. i remember 15 years ago the smart way to come to thailand, if under 50, was to go to Hull or Birmingham and get the non-o with reason "visiting friends" - they stopped issuing those, after a few years, without any new police or ministerial order, they just stopped accepting applications for them

1 hour ago, Momofarang said:

But seriously I can't understand why some people here won't see the reason why Marriages, and families deserve at least some caution from the authorities. Even a Thai civil servant may be able to see that there is a different benefit to risk ratio. If a 10000 "Cheap Charlie" retirees move to Laos, who cares? If thousands of families are torn apart there will be a cost to Thai society, and massive damage to country's reputation. This is exactly why I have never considered taking retirement extensions, even though there were less a burden to get, until a year ago.

married men on average are lower risk and live healthier lives than single men. fact

Quote

Where is the good news promised on TM6 and TM30?

queued up behind all the bad news ????