Mike Teavee

6 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

You are not, as you say, extending a visa. The visa finishes. later you get an extension of stay.

 

Thai immigration doesn't issue renew or extend Visa's. (exception being a temp O visa as part of a conversion to an extension)

Thai immigration issues 2 things, permit to stay stamps and extension of stay stamps.

 

 

Exactly... and the original announcement spoke to Issuing/Renewing Non-OA Visa at Thai Immigration... Neither of which are (officially) possible.

Most reasonable people would accept that by Renew they mean Extend (the Permit to Stay) but by same yardstick most people would accept that renewing an extension to stay on the basis of being over 50 for 1 year carries the same "Risks" whether your original Visa said Non-OA or Non-O

An argument could be made that it's the same with Non-O for Marriage.... even 1 year granted as part of a Thai Elite... 

14 minutes ago, madmen said:

HH guy is just  confirming it. The original announcement came from higher up. You've been told twice now but still prefer your crystal ball?

I prefer to apply logic & think beyond what is printed into the news.... 

There's a pile of sand over there to bury your head into if you choose to do otherwise.

Edit to add he was wrong off the bat... these regs 1st came in for the Non-OX so how can anybody believe they only apply to a Non-OA... 

7 hours ago, anchadian said:

From day one this applied only to non-immigrant visa O-A.

 

Too much speculation.

From day 1 this applied to the O-X & at that time there was speculation it would apply to Non-OA/Non-O Visas....

So I guess the speculation was at least partially correct... 

3 minutes ago, malagateddy said:

£600,000.annually..crying all the way to the bank..boohoo..poor teresa

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

If that's all she walks away with she will be crying... look at Blair... 

7 hours ago, Changoverandout said:

As has been stated oftentimes before 

O-A only!

If you believe that then I have a bridge for sale... 

Joking aside, how can anybody say that it makes any kind of sense for somebody to prove they have insurance when applying for the Visa (In their own country) but not when extending it... and if this were the case why would the Thai Companies get involved (Can you purchase 1 of the approved policies if you don't live in Thailand)? 

Or are we saying that people who get a Non-OA in their own country have to have insurance & maintain this when they get their yearly Extensions but insurance is not mandatory for people who are on a 1 year non O ME Visa (like me) when they get their 1 year extensions?

Sorry, you may believe the word of the guy in Hua Hin but I'd put good money that by the end of the year he is proven wrong.

6 hours ago, DILLIGAD said:

I couldn’t last out longer than 10 minutes of Blood&Treasure. I thought the acting was as realistic as the pyramids!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Enjoyed Lost Gold of World War 2 (Hopefully there will be a Season 2) & Lost Gold of the Civil War (Currently on Season 2) both currently on cliff-hangers

Waiting for next season of Curse of Oak Island, sucker for the Buried Treasure kind of narrative...

On 5/8/2019 at 8:36 PM, Joe Mcseismic said:

All episodes of Lucifer season 4 have now been released.

Were there only 10 episodes for S4? 

59 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

How long ago did you do this as nothing I read and the agent I employed did not agree with you?

2014/2015 I did back-2-back visa exempt for 15 months in KL, but I was travelling in & out a lot (e.g. I went to the UK for 2 weeks, came back for 5 days then went to Aus/NZ for 2 weeks, came back for 2 days then Thailand for a month, back for 4 days, Bali for 1 month etc...) - Longest I ever spent in-country was probably 2, maybe 2.5 weeks

There is Philippine Addicts  

3 hours ago, madmen said:

What's worse is they claim no stitches and still charged you 15k.

You check to see if the bandage is gold plated?

Plus 3 visits from Dr at 1,000 a time

Personal experience from a "Trip" last night... 

Tripped coming out of the BTS & banged my head (lots of blood), trip to Sukumvit hospital, no passport no questions/checks on insurance, just treated & guided to the cashier on exit (15K paid on my credit card).

Head hurts like a bitch this morning & despite me repeatedly telling them "No Stitches" I can feel where they've given me 2-3 

7 hours ago, haymanpl said:

Costs 46000 baht for 1 years cover for a 52 year old. Would much rather put in bank an extra 400,000 baht making it 1.2 million deposit rather than pay 46000 a year which will only increase in age.

As a 52 year old you may want to consider getting a Thailand Elite visa 1Million THB for 20 years is 50,000 pa (46,200 if you get 21 years by doing a border bounce at the end).

19 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Extensive dental work over 5 year period ... amazing wonderful ????????

bangkokdentalspa.com

Ditto.... 1/3rd of the way through 640K of Dental treatment & am very happy with the results so far ????

But my best use of money has to be the 20K Thailand Longstay Membership (1 year) which gets me fast track arrival/departure at Swampy... Waste of money for guys who live here full time & don't travel much, but I'm in & out 1-2 times a month so a god send for me 

Sorry but It's myopic or naive to believe that the mandatory health insurance won't be applied to (almost?) everybody who's over 50 & is on a long term (1 year) visa  

Think about it... the (Perceived) "Problem" is long term stayers over 50 running up unpaid medical bills, so what difference does it make whether they're on a Non-OA or extension of it or extension of a Non-O (>50 or Retirement) or even on a Thai Elite visa?

The only exception I can see that makes sense is for people who use the money in the bank method, why would you need to be able to prove you have 400k/40k of Insurance coverage when you show that you have that in the Bank 

15 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

 

 

With an METV you can get almost 9 months, most i got was 8 months 3 weeks. But not as easy to get as a SETV, depending how strict the consulate is

 

Thanks, I forgot that you can extend the last 60 days by 30 & get a re-entry permit so you can get the extra month ????

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

At age 76, I am unlikely to get the new mandated health insurance IF it passes into law. AND Immigration insists on applying it to retirement visa extensions of stay. I have top level private health cover in Australia, which is presumably worth nothing in the eyes of Thai officialdom. One size fits all.

So that raises a few questions, such as:

1/ Can I get a different visa, and go back to border hopping? Without insurance and the 800K deposit BS?

2/ If my extension of stay is denied, how long would I have to get out of Thailand?

3/ What kind of lead time should I allow to sell my possessions here? E.g. Car, Scooter etc.?

4/ Most importantly, what is the best way to remove the cash I have here back to Australia? Or to a more retiree-friendly country?

 

Constructive suggestions welcome.

1. You could get an METV from Australia which would give you 3 x 60 days, extend the 1st 2 by 30 days & do a Border bounce just before the end of the last 60 days & you'll get almost 8 months, an SETV from one of the neighboring countries can get you another 90 days & you're entitled to 2 Land Entry 30 day visa exempts which would more than cover the year.

2. 7 Days - Any rejection for an extension results in getting a 7 day extension to give you time to leave the county

3. How long is a piece of string? All depends on price, am sure you could firesale them quite quickly but a reasonable price might take much longer

4. DeeMoney - https://www.dee.money 

2 hours ago, rott said:

So exactly how many Hospital Bill dodgers are there (westerners only please) and what is the annual cost? Source required naturally.

 

I keep asking but all the govt apologists who know all about it seem unable to respond. Now you seem made of the right stuff, I like the cut of your jib etc, surely you can answer a simple question.

It doesn't matter whether it was 1 or 1,000, the simple answer is enough to make the Thai government to believe that it's a problem and feel the need to introduce compulsory health insurance for all of us

P.S. I don't know how many people were abusing Visa Exempts either, but my answer would be the same, I.E.  Enough...   

1 minute ago, Small Joke said:

I'm not going to let this descend to a dick measuring contest.

 

If you want my heartfelt opinion, I really wanted to make the PI work in my favour!

 

I didn't leave here to go on a 'bashing tour' of other expat hangouts.

 

My main reasons for going walkabout was the ridiculous immigration bullshit here, and rising costs.

 

I wanted to be the guy sitting in Colombia or Mexico, or Angeles, or Iloilo (yes I stayed a month there too, Boracay off the northern coast, I remember now) going 'neener neener' to the sad sacks in LOS.

 

The truth is (and places can change often drastically for the worse, very quickly) Thailand lured me back. 

 

Whether it was, insane crime levels (to me) in the Americas, and let's not forget the Philippines is a land of barbed wire, and armed guards BTW!

 

Or the lack of civilised amenities, (I was born in a British slum suburb, done my time) thank you very much!

 

Or the even worse government overreach, Du30 makes Uncle Tu and the gang look like snowflakes.

 

The end result was, Thailand for me at least, could not be bettered. I spent a lot of precious 'rainy day's money trying to prove otherwise.

 

If you have found the goldilocks situation in the PI, then I genuinely wish you a long and happy life there.

 

I could not make it work for me.

 

Those on the bleachers can draw their own conclusions.

 

It's also a bit unfair, even sadistic,  if you happen to be a dollar multi millionaire, plugging a beachside lifestyle many on this forum just cannot aspire to, even in the Philippines, while pretending you're one of the GFC/Brexit financial 'refugees' who, fair play, just want to better their lot, which is more commendable than their hopeless countrymen, who will whine back home, but never budge.

 

I'm somewhere in between the poorest and the richest, but having done the hard yards, I owe nothing to the silver spoon <deleted> who had life handed to them on a plate. 

 

Whatever else your argument. I hope you bootstrapped that island life from a working class kick start.

 

 

 

 

You're from the UK, I'm from Warrington (Orford) Born & Bred so yes, bootstrapped my life from a Working Class Kick Start & though on paper maybe a dollar millionaire, reality is that's pensions & life insurance so certainly don't have that spending to splash about... 

I didn't mean to plug a millionaire lifestyle, 10 Pesos on a ferry will get you from Davao City to Samal Island & though I prefer Filippinas I still prefer Thailand as a place to live.

Would love to hear more about your time in Colombia, have to say I'm very tempted to spend some time in LATAM before finally setting down somewhere to retire (I'm 53, retired twice already & 3rd time is a charm target is 2 days before my 54th birthday) but at the moment... the place to retire is Thailand for me, I've resigned myself to the less than great beaches ???? 

NB I'm very defensive about the Philippines having spent 10 years with my Ex-GF travelling around there & meeting "Real" people, Davao City (Because of DU30) was probably once one of the safest cities in Asia... I've certainly never felt unsafe there (Queue stories about kidnapping in Mindanao, even Pearl Farm on Samal Island) - Spent a lot of time round there & felt safer than I do in Warrington Town Center on a Saturday Night... 

23 minutes ago, pbonline said:

as usual they didn´t think when they decided this.

40.000 in outpatient !!!......

 

Anyone found an 400/40k insurance?

Don´t think so...

Page 1, Post 11... https://longstay.tgia.org/

20 minutes ago, Small Joke said:

AC don't have a beach.

 

But that aside, and based on anecdote alone, I'd suggest that Thais are less litter prone in general, than the PI.

 

Or maybe Thai sanitation is more organised? Either way, the results are what count.

 

While Du30 famously shut down some tiny Island, flew in twice -but  I can't remember the name now, for 6 months spring cleaning (a good thing in my book) you will know there are 7000 plus islands there, and most are really hard to get to en masse, vs Thailand's easy to get to coast.

 

You also fail to mention many of these beaches are 'gated' and charge a fee for non-resort residents, most Thai beaches can still be strolled on for free. Which means litter, sadly.

 

Pattaya is not representative of most Thai beaches. Comparing Manila Bay to Pattaya is the only fair comparison. And Manila Bay is a global disgrace, I'd drink Pattaya seawater before I'd swim in Manila Bay!

 

Furthermore, foreign tourists to Thailand must bear some blame, they are often low class litterbugs, the.news stories here of their other charming antics bear that out! and the PI is just too far/costly a flight,  for many of them, so they dump on Thailand instead.

 

I'm not denying there are some lovely beaches there, but you're being a little economical with the reasons why they're beautiful, in spite of the locals best attempts to literally shit on their own doorsteps.

And how many of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines have you visited? (Yeah, I bought the T-Shirt on my 1st visit ???? ).

World class beaches in Boracay are free to visit (BTW, it was Boracay that D30 closed for 6 months to clean-up) but I have only ever paid to visit a beach in the Philippines when visiting a private resort (that I obviously wasn't staying at) or as part of a boat trip (Where I'm pretty sure the payment was to the crew not to the beach).

Public beaches are free to enter everywhere in Visayas & Palawan.... 

Edit: It's great to see that Thailand is following DU30's lead & closing Maya Bay (To 2021) to restore some of the damage caused by excessive tourism

21 minutes ago, hwt said:

The premiums should not be this high.

 

In neighboring country Malaysia, a medical insurance with 1m-1.5m THB of annual coverage, and 50k-100k THB of annual deductible, costs about 3k THB a year for age 50, to 5k THB for age 70.

 

There is really no need to cover every single medical visit.  The person has shown he/she has 800k THB, why is there a need to get an insurance company to pay for 10k, 20k THB of medical treatments?

 

With a deductible of 50k-100k THB a year, the insurance company probably will never receive a claim from may be 90 percent of customers.  In this way, the premiums will be much lower than the current published figures.

One option that would sort of make sense is to limit it to people using the Income method, i.e. forcing everybody to keep a minimum of 400k in a Thai Bank Account or have insurance to this amount

NB  I'm not saying I agree with this, but if you're forcing the "Money in the Bank" guys to maintain 400,000 in the Bank then why force them to have insurance of this amount when.... they have the money in the bank to cover it.