NorthernRyland

The requirements are very easy if you ask me. Get 500k in home bank account then signup for a cooking class, boom 5 years and you can come and go as much as you want. This is by far the easiest long term visa they've ever had.

But it's not, did you see the guy who posted above and said he paid an agent 95k for a DTV based on a cooking school? There's a "soft power" category too. If you have 500k in your home bank account and signup for a Muay Thai course that seems to be enough to get you a 5 year visa and you can enter in and out as much as you want.

Are you still in Thailand? Maybe you got scammed. If you hand over 95k baht to some people to file a visa for you in another country that sounds pretty dodgy.

it's more than just the room size what makes those troubling. I'm doing dental work every weekend now and this building is next to the clinic in Mae Jo. I'm guessing this is about 2500/month. It's a serious dive. Yes, if you get far outside the city then 2500 goes further but this is likely the kind of thing you're getting for 2500/month.

that's why they all come to Chiang Mai. The numbers have exploded. You can still live cheap enough (for now) and have your tourist ghetto with pizza and hamburgers. Once they get priced out of CM it's on to the "real" Thailand which most people can't hack.

What now? 2500 baht is basically a single room. Maybe it's clean and a newer building it's still just a concrete box. These are for students and the lowest rung of labor (like 7 11 workers).

It's in many ways a superior visa to the retirement or marriage extensions. No money moved into a Thai bank, no re-entry permits, no annual visit to immigration. It gives the impression they want long term tourists more than married or retired people. Very strange 180 they did here.

He probably had enough for a 3000 baht/month room and that's it. I saw on YouTube this guy (Walk about Wayne in Chiang Mai) and he showed his new apartment. Looks like he moved in to the one of those dives for students. 3000/month. This is a man in his 50s and he just got a DTV previously in Vietnam. I think him having a YouTube channel is enough to get a 5 year visa. Just save up the 500k baht one time and you're good to go for 5 years.

Yeah 5 weeks in a hotel is daunting. There was supposed to be 500,000 baht in the bank for the visa but maybe that's all they had and it was tied up. I'm surprised they even allow you to apply for them outside your home country. It sounds like people are coming on a tourist visa or exempt and then deciding they want to stay longer. In the past you'd have to do border runs but now they're just giving them a full 5 years. This was always the kind of people they were trying to keep out but now they're given special privileges (I wish I only had to apply for my visa once every 5 years).

How did they print this without raising eyebrows. So-called digital nomad arrives in a 3rd country then runs out of money after a mere 5 weeks of not being in Thailand. It's almost like his money was coming from *inside* Thailand. 🤔

Yeah just mentioned him in DM. I thought it was Kent but the accent may have thrown me off. He crashed? oh man. He was fast downhill too. Very impressive man.

Yeah I used to know him. I don't use Strava now so I don't follow him anymore. His way out of my league but we could go together when he just started and was still little chubby. 😂 We got to ride together before. In fact way back when I brought back a power meter for him on my annual trip to the US. Very nice guy.

yeah that's him, Robert. yes the Vegans. No idea how that started In Chiang Mai but I once met an Aussie guy on a ride who is known as the "Durian Rider" and has a social media presence. He was apparently a fruitarian. Very strong man as well. I wonder if he started the whole vegan thing in Chiang Mai.

This was 2013 I think. I did the Doi Inthanon race with him, he was in the top 10 and I got 19 despite him being nearly 50 and I was 30 then (sore back, I'd had to stop). 😂 His name was Bob, from California. Very strong man.

I had cycling friend in Chiang Mai many years ago that liked to go at speeds down mountains. Previously he was a runner but just got into cycling mountains since moving to Chiang Mai. He lasted a number of years until one day on a trip in Phetchabun on that famous mountain he was going down and had a big crash and woke up in the hospital. Thinks he hit a dog maybe but blacked out and couldn't remember the crash. This shook him so badly he quit cycling then and there and went back to running. Moved back down to Pattaya even where we lived before and owned a condo. I've managed to survive for 20 years on the bike in Thailand but it's only a matter of time. In fact the other day I saw the recent wreckage of a trailer carrying rocks that lost control around a steep sharp bend and crossed over the lane crashing into the side of the mountain. I bike up that road at least once a week and if I was coming up at the exact moment it would have been game over. No avoiding that one. Here is a picture of that exact location. Imagine biking slowly up that (it's about 10% grade) and seeing a trailer coming flying at you. That's the reality of biking in Thailand so do so at your own risk.

Sounds like a classic Thailand horror story with the usual suspects. You should write up your story and send it to "Thai talk with Dan" on YouTube. 😂

Well thanks to the Indian doctor you get the surgery. Problem is you had to wait for 3 years because of all the Indian patients. Winning?

You could be stopped, lose balance and get tangled up in the bike so you can't break the fall. If you hit the shoulder just right it on hard pavement this could easily happen, especially if you're older.

Debt is so insidious. The more debt in the system the higher people can raise prices in order to match the levels of debt. Housing is now more expensive than it should be and the winners are the banks and the property owners/developers.

You're playing silly rhetorical games. What was the state of CA in 1850? The Mexicans didn't start pouring over the border until over 100 years later when there was an entire city built up and government services etc... They are parasites on the Americans. If the US ever cedes that territory to the Mexico they should return it in the same state it was in 1850. Let the Mexicans have the the dirt and build back better.

That's because the original immigration policy in the US allowed only "white people of good character" which meant Europeans from a very narrow region of Europe. It's easy to have intermarriage and assimilation when everyone is the same race and looks familiar. Doesn't matter if they're hard working or nice people they're Mexicans and that's why they fly the Mexican flag. Americans maybe should reconsider inviting in the entire world because they're nice and work hard.

These people only came once it was settled and built up by Americans. if they ever turn over LA to Mexico they should raze the entire city to the ground and let them start from scratch.

Look at the LA police. All Mexicans, already conquered.

You go to such lengths to protect these foreigners even though they would never do the same for you. Nothing about this honorable or admirable. Just think about how you're treated in Thailand and try to have some perspective.

Oh yes I know. These people are so out of touch it boggles the mind. I'm from Boulder Colorado where that recent incident happened, in fact going back next month to visit my parents. They are the tip of the spear for liberal progressive nonsense and encouraged this at every step along the way. The only thing that has saved them so far is the insane housing prices but it's creeping closer and closer every year.