GeorgeCross

2 minutes ago, Martyp said:

I’ve seen an interview with a couple of Pacific Cross agents. They confirmed that most of the higher price is due to the restricted pool of applicants over 50 years old. They would much rather sell you high value policies when the customer base is all age groups. 

yes as stated before if the risk pool is high risk, as in this case being all over 50 year olds, then the premium will be high too.

the whole idea of insurance is that the sum of claims paid out is equal (minus a profit for the insurance company*) to the sum of premiums taken in.

free market principles dictate where the profit margin sits unless a cartel has been formed.

15 minutes ago, LivinLOS said:

people arriving with a 1 year non imm OA multiple are being given 30 days to buy the insurance, its only logical that once they purchase the insurance tehy are given the further 11 months that thier entry suggests they should have. 

logical yes, but reports are saying they are getting visa-exempt stamps. so i guess we have to wait to see what the stamp says..

1 minute ago, LivinLOS said:

And when given 30 days to extend, do they 'only' need insurance or must money again be seasoned for 2/3 months ?? So a timeline longer than the 30 day period of stay admitted until. 

The implications of this mess keep growing.. 

not sure its even possible to extend a visa exempt?

3 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Very sad and disturbing story!

It confirms that the present practice in Suvarnabhumi Airport is that ALL holders of an OA Visa or a permission to stay based on an original OA Visa, irrespective when it was issued, are from now on required to meet the new health-insurance requirement.

And you have 2 options > either buy that required health-insurance on the spot OR enter Thailand Visa-exempt and sort it out later at an in-country IO after having bought thai-approved health insurance and get stamped in for the full year you were entitled to if you had met the HI requirement on entry. 

< or go for the Non Imm O Visa application, that does not require health insurance >

If the Suvarnabhumi case (several reports) is the official stance on how to deal with Non Imm OA Visas from now on, this means that ALL Non Imm OA Visa holders would be affected somewhere within the coming 12 months when a) entering or re-entering Thailand, or b) applying for an extension of a permission to stay.

 

I think it would be difficult to turn this practice back, now that the tone has been set.

Yes indeed, Amazing Thailand...

wouldn't it be ironic if local immigration offices refused to reactivate the OA (from the visa exempt) thus forcing applicants to local countries where they could ONLY get non-o's!!!

3 hours ago, johnny1966 said:

 For the OP........Savannakhet knocked you back on a multi because your documents were "scanned and printed rather than photocopied"? Wow. I find this unusual. Which documents were they?

do they not know how photocopiers actually work?

(hint: they scan and then print!)

38 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

It wasn't like the OP's case involved a single wild hair rogue officer at some distant outpost. Based on his account above, he was FIRST stopped by the regular entry processing officer at the international airport who had looked at his O-A stamp and didn't stamp him thru, and then SECOND sent to some other desk where he was told specifically by presumably a different officer that he needed to have health insurance.

 

Perhaps, Immigration does understand the instructions they've been given, and it's some folks here who don't!  Just saying, perhaps....

 

yeah i tend to agree, the idea that this has all been grandfathered in without actually having a grandfather clause is a tad presumptuous 

1 hour ago, ThaiBob said:

This sign is now at Jomtien immigration. They are telling non-OA visa holders that they must have health insurance from the Long Stay website for future annual extensions and for those that have done previous extensions. Of course, Jomtien immigration was telling people the 65k method was no good. What we need is a TV member with a history of extensions based on their non-OA visa to post their own personal experience as of Nov 1st. Just a note, Jomtien immigration extensions = retirement visa in their world. (Go to the PCEC FB page.) 

 

 

seriously how long are we going to keep believing "some immigration" officers have "misread" the order and actually accept WE misread the order and insurance is now mandatory for ALL retirement o-a extensions?

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

To get to a neighboring country he would have to enter it illegally, no stamp in his passport would show when he tries to exit through the airport, he would be arrested, do time for illegal entry then be sent back to Thailand.

and yet Yingluck made it all the way to London!

50 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

Really love your style Mate...

yeah he's an utter p rick

8 minutes ago, PETERHOF said:

letter from embassy as proof of retirement

what is this and how can a UK citizen acquire (we have no bkk embassy anymore?)

10 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I had to go with a friend to hospital one night and there was about 20 beds all in a line full of Chinese and everyone was a motor bike accident 

wow they must have gone down as a group ????

28 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

"Pacific Cross Insurance is part of Pacific Cross International, a group with operating entities in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia."

yeah thats what i thought - kind of blows the whole "thai insurance money grab" conspiracy theory out of the water

10 minutes ago, mngmn said:

The Thai authorities don't care a hoot about a bunch of uppity 'mia falangs'.

lol of course not - all publicity is good publicity for "teflon thailand" eh?

* cough tm30 cough *

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

So where are we now in relation to Jomtien and extensions based on an original O-A permission, 2 saying insurance not required and 1 saying it is? And will I need to dig out my old passport with the original  O-Visa from 13 years ago when I apply to do my extension soon, to confirm I did not have an O-A? Or is it explicit in the transfer stamp, which says Non-Imm-O.

 

And fond memories I have of it being easily obtained from Hull, that Non-Imm-O Multi Entry, for just under 100 quid with hardly any requirements!

multiple reports on facebook thai visa advice groups now saying they have been refused extensions at jomtien on existing (pre oct31) non-oa's without insurance.

not sure allowed to link the groups here but search on facebook and you will find them

1 minute ago, gk10002000 said:

Some authorities do grasp the potential issues of this new insurance policy and what its affects may be on local marriages to expats, families, dependent children if the expat just has to leave.  It is a money grab. And at the moment, the insurance industry and its backers had the biggest hammer.  And this may be a pet project of one of the bigwigs in the government and things will just have to  run their course for a while before some other agency or office or big official rules otherwise.

i was thinking about this money grab thing yesterday and not so sure how effective it will be. surely 90%+ of all applicants will just go with pacific cross as they seem to be the only one with (good!) english speaking representatives. all the others will pick up the crumbs left over.

i used to be a broker and can tell you all 10% of 80K retirees is <deleted> all market in the insurance world, its peanuts.

or is pacific cross a 100% thai owned company?

1 hour ago, Aforek said:

Can we imagine that foreigner with thai wife visa will have to pay a Thai insurance ? 

the wives will gather and kick off for sure and the authorities cannot deport THEM.

try telling your wife housekeeping 100K baht short this year - oh my days ????

5 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Nonsense.. it's 'designed' as a long stay Visa and is almost identical to a non immigrant o. The fact it has a few more obstacles to obtain explains its 1 year entry advantage.  

non-o is a 90 day visa. how can ask for 1 YEAR insurance for 90 DAY stay?!

i mean why stop there? if over 50 may as well ask for insurance for 30 day tourist visa and VOA too 

1 year extensions may however be treated differently but if they do non-o/b/ed they will have to do elite as well because anyone who thinks they will be here more than 10 years will just buy that and sign up for real insurance (5M baht + 200K+ deductible, no out-patient) or self-insure

21 minutes ago, Langkawee said:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cat+ba+beaches&client=tablet-android-samsung&prmd=imnv&sxsrf=ACYBGNTBEam6vvrNNqZj12N4PkMB5YaxRQ:1572600536159&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiX8dLC2cjlAhXNdd4KHYiYBHYQ_AUoAXoECA8QAQ

think i'll give it a miss, chinese found it 

38 minutes ago, sathornlover said:

If I may correct that. The numbers have ranged from 100 million unpaid to 500 million unpaid.

BANGKOK (Reuters) OCTOBER 9, 2019

wow, thats like 12.5 baht per tourist visitor!

totally worth risking your 48 billion baht expat market over * 

* based on 80000 retirees spending 600K per year