GeorgeCross

15 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

They might want millionaires, but millionaires would not settle in Thailand because of countless reasons regarding infrastructure, road safety, law enforcement and so on. Thailand is a third class country wanting to attract first class people, with citizens and officials believing that Thailand is the best country in the world that everyone would jump at the chance to live in. They are wrong. On the list of desirable places to live for people of means, it is probably as low down the list as Thai's proficiency in English - 74th out of 100.

the millionaires i know are heading or thinking of heading back to the developed world to cash in their currency gains.

a case of so long and thanx for all the free tax ???? 

of course they may keep a holiday home, or two lol, but thats it forget the investments

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yes of course not necessarily. Happy to hear that your exit plan is working out for you. 

thanks and if i'm honest i cheated a bit and started rebuilding bridges after the retirement financials were not grandfathered. the change of tone was clear to me then and the illusion of 'grandfathering' shattered along with the realisation that long stay visitor means exactly that. all the retirement stuff is pure BS, we are only ever 1 year away from a trip home no matter how integrated we think we are.

i must say it feels awesome to regain control of my families future again. any anxiety we had over our future here is now long gone

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

OP hit it on the head. Potential new people should think twice and then think again. 

 

People already here if you're unencumbered with assets especially housing and or close relationships can breathe easier as they can more easily leave on short notice.

 

More encumbered people also the very aged with not much in the home country to go back to are potentially in this deep. 

not necessarily i am was heavily encumbered but so far we've sold 2 of our properties here with just one to go and i've already started building up my assets back home. in the meantime gonna milk as much global tax free income out of this country as i can then cash it all in with a very tidy currency exchange rate to boot ????

gotta know when its time to cash in those chips, thailand its been a blast but you are just looking a bit tatty these days honey..

42 minutes ago, Beggar said:

How can anybody retire in a country where you might not be able to fulfill the visa requirements because of health insurance reasons? The name "retirement visa" or "retirement extension" is misleading. It should be called long stay visa. 

more importantly how can anyone leave their long term security in the hands of a for-profit private company. if they stop renewing your insurance after a certain age.. its home time. and i'm damn sure there will be a clause in the fine print saying they can do exactly that

1 minute ago, Sophon said:

However, the OP is not a new user, he signed up to ThaiVisa three years ago.

 

Sophon

he's been planning this troll heist for 3 years damn it!

3 hours ago, Ellis said:

This new hard line by airport officials is causing a lot of drama and I think immigration is going to be forced to clarify the rules before too long. Not least by the front line airport staff who can't be happy about the vagueness of the rules they've been forced to implement and the fact that practically everyone they call out on it is going be complaining. 

seems to me they have clarified the rules and its expats that are in denial.

they are saying: if you want to enter on a non-oa you will need the mandated insurance.

sorry but everybody in immigration is telling you this, you said so yourself.

1 hour ago, saengd said:

The possibility of contagion is really important, the fact that only O-X and O-A visa holders are affected at present doesn't mean O visa holders won't be affected later. For a person who is say 70 year old currently, the choice is whether to gamble that O visa's will never be included and to not enrol for health insurance now. If they make the wrong call and O visa's are included later, it may not be possible to enrol for health insurance or if they can, only at a cost that is so high as to be prohibitive. It's kinda scary for many, I'm 70 in four months time and I'm planning on moving to an O visa based on marriage. But what if in three years time they close the net to include everyone, that leaves some of us with only a single choice of a very pricey Pacific Cross policy and precious few options.

i've thought about this a lot the last few days and i personally feel the o visa will be safe for one specific reason, its a 90 day visa and no-one with a straight face can demand a 1 year insurance policy for a 90 day entrance. so with that 'assumed' i'd say the only way the o would be enforced is if insurance companies started offering 90 day policies in the same light as travel insurance can and does.

it's a possibility but i feel a long way off.

what i'd be more worried about is extensions of stay. with them it is a 1 year term so insurance could certainly be required. i'd expect the policy to be rolled out to all extensions except work based sometime these next few years starting with retirement then out to marriage and possibly beyond. wouldn't be feeling too safe on an elite either for the exact same reasoning

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Consider buying a Thai qualifying insurance that has a large deductible on it. Apparently they are out there now. An insurance broker like AA might help. The deductible will bring the cost down. Your USA insurance would be the defacto one, the Thai one, simply to enable the retirement extension. You may find a policy where the two can work together too.

Thanks for useful feedback. 

so to summarise, keep the real insurance for your health needs but buy the sham thai insurance to stay here

this country gets more eff'd up by the day

6 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

For someone who is purely a retiree the answer seems obvious to me: move out to a place where you can manage a decent life end. For those like me who have strong family ties I'd expect more humanity. At least I'd have an opportunity to expose Thai inhumanity, or would it be just the epitome of xenophobia?

trust me there are retirement homes that look after the infirm, those recovering from strokes/diabetes/cancer/heart attacks and those with dementia. the majority of these expats are near to or over 75. there is a number of these places in hua hin alone.

what is to become of them?

shall they be wheeled in their beds to IDC? because they won't be popping to the border for a non-O ????

i really hope if it comes to that someone is there to document it.

it is shameful.

6 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

I'm no expert but it seems to me that the requirement for OA visa health insurance is because no money is kept in Thailand as with other visas.. the Non O with no money in Thailand could become a problem wait and see.  Visas that have a deposit requirement inside Thailand are probably ok for the foreseeable future.. that is my take anyway.. 

it doesn't matter if the money is kept in thailand or not, a hospital can't just request it from a local bank on the event of an expat's death and an unpaid hospital bill and expect it transferred in the morning!

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No point in me buying insurance, everything I'm likely to suffer from is already excluded.

 

call me a cynic but i dont believe this "insurance" is actually to pay for you to get better from anything.. its just to clear any potential hospital bill in your last few days. a cost they cannot currently claw back.

if they wanted to help us pay our medical bills they would have introduced a fair priced insurance with decent coverage or allowed us access to thai social care at a reasonable cost.