LostinSEA

It depends on what kind of location you go to, my personal view (after having visited all but the Thai rural location)...

1. Capital City - Bangkok is much safer than Manila
2. "Monger" City - Pattaya is safer than Angeles City
3. Beach - Boracay is head and shoulders safer than Phuket
4. Major City - Davao is much safer than Chiang Mai
5. "Boonies" - Same Same, typically very safe to go if you're visiting with a "Friend"

YMMV

On 09/11/2017 at 10:28 AM, doggie1955 said:

If I had to pick one place in the P.I. it would be Cebu...But I think you should look at Vietnam or Cambodia first.

I love Cebu (but not Cebu City so it would be somewhere on the coast between CarCar & Oslob or on the other side of the Island around Moalbol) but I prefer Davao (somewhat biased as my GF of almost 8 years is from there but in general it's much more laid back & "Normal" than Cebu though that is changing rapidly as more "Poreigners" start to visit)

Just got back from a trip to Hanoi, wow the place blew my mind... what a lovely city & people, it would be very easy to see myself living there plus it's very cheap to do so... Only challenge is I don't know if the Visa situation is as easy as Thailand, Cambodia or the Philippines.

On 03/11/2017 at 11:13 AM, BernieOnTour said:

I would subscribe to most of what you wrote, but that one -sorry- is a only a public myth.

 

Their whole value system, their believes and their behavior is decidedly Asian. And that in a very specific Filipino way.

The "westerness" is only a thin veil, covering their deep Asian-Filipino "culture". (Real Culture is btw. something they -different to Thailand- are totally missing. Their history is just a bunch of independent, unrelated clans/tribes fighting each other, sometimes headhunting until 1920.)

 

"and English is their second (or sometimes first) language."

IMHO that advantage, if it ever existed, is deminishing. For 99% of the Filipinos, English is not their first language. Their local dialect is their first language. When they start to attend school, they learn the official Filipino (which in essence is the Tagalog dialect). In parallel, they start to learn English. Unless they pay for a private school, the governmental education is lacking. As a result, outside of big cities, you will meet a lot of Filipinos, who cannot really communicate in English... just check some of the dating websites, and you will notice, how good their English "abilities" are.

In Thailand, especially in the bigger cities, things have changed a lot. Especially the better educated, younger generation is able to communicate quite well in English... of cause, if one is concentrating on those Isaan rice farmer daughters (with the average Isaan IQ of 86) in the redlight districts - well, that's another question.

In my GFs case, English is her 3rd Language... 1st is Bisaya (local dialect of the Visaya Islands), then Tagalog (quite different in a lot of ways) & then English and it's notable how much her English diminishes after spending a month or 2 back home visiting her family (Mother & Father speak next to no English but in general she'll spend the whole time conversing in Bisaya as you would expect).

If I here "ano" (what's that) while she tries to remember the English word 1 more time I'll scream!!! 

On 03/11/2017 at 11:19 AM, steven100 said:

The Philippines is crap ....   you can have it all. 

Apologies if this isn't the case, but if you're saying that on the basis of having once visited Angeles City then I'd say you've only technically visited the Philippines (have the stamp in your passport), but you've never actually visited the Philippines - Go to Coron in Palawan & see what the Philippines is really like.   [NB Don't want to start a Philippines is better than Thailand debate, as I've repeated said if I had to choose 1, it would be Thailand every time]. 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I am not sure the UK embassy would accept income from working.

You can show gross income for your other income. They will accept a bank statement showing the money going into bank on a regular basis.

Thanks again Joe, I have a UK Tax Return from my accountant for 2016/2017 Tax year showing my Gross income but will wait until October when my next dividend payments are due & ask my UK Bank for statements showing the Rental/Dividend income being paid in.

Regards

LIS

44 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

That is what they ask for.

It can be a notarized statement from your embassy stating your are retired or a income letter showing even a small amount of income.

Thanks Joe,

For proof of income from my (UK) embassy, would you recommend showing 3-6 months worth of pay slips from current employer (exceeds the 65,000 THB per month) or showing passive income from the UK for the last tax year (Gross it exceeds the 65,000 per month but net it was more like 42,000 THB per month as I spent a lot of money "Refreshing" my house in the UK in between tenants).

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You should have no problem getting another multiple entry non-o visa Penang if you can show the financial proof. They are wanting proof you are retired if only using the money in the bank for it,

KL does not issue multiple entry visas. For retirement Penang is the only nearby location that will issue one.

Hi Joe, can you please expand on the "Proof of Retirement" part?

I'm over 50 & comfortably meet the finance requirements in UK & Singapore bank accounts, but plan to continue to work for the next 6 months (during which I'm trying/hoping to sort out Visas, Bank Accounts, Place to live etc...) so wouldn't be able to prove the "Retired" part.

Thanks

LIS

1 hour ago, partington said:

Property on sale in UK that I assumed would be sold by then (with huge tax benefit from being non-UK resident)

Are you sure that you get tax benefits on the sale of your house, I thought they'd changed the rules a few years back & you're still liable for Capital Gains on the sale of your house even if you are a non-resident for Tax purposes.

Happy to be told I'm wrong :)

6 hours ago, jimster said:

Or a 1000 CHF bill, which is currently equivalent to around THB 35000.

 

I wouldn't bother with EUR 500 bills, because the ECB is apparently going to be taking those out of circulation soon, making the 200 EUR bill the largest around. So if you don't travel much and just keep this bill in your wallet for years, you'll suddenly find yourself with a worthless piece of paper that will be even less useful than Nepalese Rupees with the only place you will then be able to exchange such bills being the European Central Bank. To that person who mentioned the USD 1000 bill, those were taken out of circulation decades ago and now there is even some talk about the USD 100 being demonetized sometime in the future. In many parts of Europe, they won't even exchange USD 100 bills anymore.

I would definitely be getting shut of 500 Euro notes as they've either become or likely to become unusable because of the clamp down on Money laundering... 

As an aside I got poleaxed by India suddenly canceling the 500 Rupee notes & am sat on 40,000+ INR that's basically worthless...

Top Tip, if you want to buy duty free in Mumbai Airport you can use any currency except INR!!! - Idiot here took out 40,000 to pick up a couple of presents for my gf''s birthday (which I'd missed because I was in India for work) get to the counter & "We don't take Rupees Sir", had to use all my Singapore Dollars and a few NZ$s I had left over from a previous trip...

Quick Update, I emailed Jim through the address listed above & got an auto reply (am sure he won't mind me posting the details here as anybody emailing him at the above address would receive the same)... 

Thanks for your email - if you need a response or information for your visa please contact me on -

FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/jim.tachinamurthy

Messenger or WhatsApp  +60 166536963

 

Have a bombastic day!

I don't do F*c*book so have pinged him on Whatsapp, will update when he replies.

Thanks again for all of the advice

LIS

Thanks again UbonJoe & thanks (here's hoping you're not really ) PoorSucker :), I'll send "Jim" a message and see what he says...

Much Appreciated Guys... 

LIS

12 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The proof of retirement is needed if you are showing 800k baht in the bank.

If income only you would need to show the equivalent of 65k baht. Not sure about the letter from the UK embassy in Singapore. A bank statement showing the incoming might be better.

If only to prove retirement a notarized statement stating you are retired would be accepted.

Thanks UbonJoe, I'll reach out to the Thai Embassy in Penang to see if they will accept Proof Income from the UK Embassy in Singapore or whether I need to get one from an Embassy in Malaysia... 

Excuse my ignorance but I've seen "Jim" mentioned a few times wrt getting Thai Visas in Penang, I'm assuming he's a well known Visa Agent there, does anybody have more details? Is there a website I can check?

Thanks

LIS

29 minutes ago, mngmn said:

Where did you get the SGD 1,000 note? Easy to get out not?

Very easy if you have a bank account here, just go in to the branch, take out > s$1,000+ & ask for one.

If you're in Singapore a lot but don't have a bank account here, I'll happily swap you mine for smaller s$ notes or 24,500 THB which is roughly today's rate... Obviously if it's in 1 months time & the rate changes we can agree a rate, I typically work on the rate from http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1000&From=SGD&To=THB 

That's how I get most of my THB nowadays as I have a few mates that work in Bangkok who visit Singapore on a semi-regular basis for work so they just bring Baht in & when we meet up I give them whatever the xe.com rate is at that time so we both win, they'd never get as many SGD as I give them & I'd never get as many THB as they give me.

Currently have approx 23,000 THB just waiting for my next trip to Bangkok in mid September :)

Edit: Alternatively you could go in to a branch with s$1,000 in smaller bills or a bank/money changer with the necessary Thai Baht/other currency and ask to exchange it for one, most will accommodate you but I'd recommend Change Alley near Raffles Place MRT for best rates if you're changing currency.

On 25/10/2016 at 8:27 AM, ubonjoe said:

 

It does not have to prove sufficient income to get the visa, They want something to prove a person is retired. If a person was on a pension something proving that might be accepted.

Hi UbonJoe,

Can you please confirm that they want to see proof of retirement only I was thinking of going to Penang to get a Non-O based on being over 50 but I haven't retired yet so was hoping to use proof of income from UK Embassy in Singapore based on my income from working here.

Thanks

LIS

3 hours ago, OJAS said:

Penang might be your best bet from Singapore. Useful info contained in this thread (and the one linked in post #8);

 

 

Thanks... Penang is one of my favorite places to visit so will definitely check it out 

On 7/25/2017 at 5:58 PM, mngmn said:

Thanks for that.  Didn't realise the USD 1,000 note was no longer in circulation. Apparently it was taken out of circulation as a precaution against money laundering.  Got me thinking about how much you can actually bring into Thailand.  The maximum is 50k THB (20k USD equivalent in currency without need to declare).  So we have a real Goldilocks situation as far as THB are concerned.  Less than 20k is too little, more than 50k is too much, anything in between is "just right".

 

Mentioned this because there is a real danger that some of the posters on other threads who regularly spend 10K+ on a night out in Pattaya might pull out their wad of 100k planning on a week-long binge and find that it gets confiscated.

 

SGD 1,000 sound good (they actually used to have a SGD 10,000 note).  Not so worried about spending it other than eventually exchanging it at a bank (or money lender).  The amount of traveling I do means it is more or less a permanent requirement to have THB 20k (or equivalent) on me.  On reflection its probably not such a good idea to staple it to my passport as it would probably serve as a magnet for all sorts of "special fees" that would need to be paid.

I do exactly this & carry a s$1,000 SGD note in my wallet whenever I travel, though more for emergencies than to be able to show proof of funds.

Can confirm that I had no problem changing 1 in Thailand when my ATM card got swallowed by a machine, but it was funny seeing the young girls face in the exchange booth & she must have checked it against her little book 1,000 times before handing me the 24,000+ Baht (possibly more than a months salary to her so I can understand her nervousness) 

Hi All,

Long term reader of the forum but couldn't find this specific question in previous threads so thought I'd start a new Topic - Mods, if it has already been done to death then please share the link and feel free to close this one down

I'm working in Singapore and looking to get things in place for retirement in Thailand whilst I'm still working here and would like to start by getting a Non-O based on being over 50 & using proof of income in Singapore, I know I can't get it in Singapore as I don't have Permanent Residency so was hoping that there would be a nearby country that I could travel to for a day or two to get one.

Background:-

1. Originally from UK, already over 50 & my income exceeds the 65,000 THB per month that they ask for - So I believe I meet all of their criteria
2. For the next 6-9 months I'm struggling for holiday days as most spoken for so would like to get things arranged using the smallest number of working days as possible
3. I am going back to the UK for 10 days in October so I could arrange things there if that was my only option, but Ideally I would like to avoid a trip to London 

So my questions are:-

1. Can I get a non-O from a neighboring country using Proof of Income & if I can, can I use the British Embassy in Singapore to provide it or would I need to get it from that country?
2. If I can't get it from a neighboring country, can I get one in Thailand without having to spend more than a couple of days there? I could probably do a trip using the Public Holiday on Fri 1st Sept & take a day off 2-3 weeks later to collect the visa if that's possible.  Again, would I be able to use the British Embassy in Singapore for proof of income or would I need to go to the one in Bangkok?
3. If it can't be done and I do need to get one from the UK, can I get a Non-O / Non-OA without visiting London using either Proof of Income or Savings in the UK/Singapore?

Apologies if it sounds like I'm making this more complicated than it is, I'm trying to get as much sorted out as I can whilst using up as few holiday days as possible as all-but 4 days this year are committed to the trip to the UK and a close friend's wedding in the Philippines.

Thanks for any advise...

Regards

LIS