thinktoomuch

10 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

So I was a gym rat for a lot of my adult life. 

Ate all the 'right stuff', went to the gym every day, you know the drill

 

But now as I'm in my mid 60's, it's kinda come to a 'Ah fu**k' it moment.

Not overweight, fairly healthy, happy with my life in general, my middle aged wife is OK with how I look, so yeah time to let go I think

 

 

Don't stop!!!

Keep doing strength and resistance training and cardio. Also look at adding exercises that keep you supple, flexible and mobile.

Just don't be a gym rat. You don't have to beef up like a young Arnie.

It seems that exercise provides an enormous range of benefits. 

The latest research that I heard about this week, which admittedly I haven't read up on yet, is that muscle mass is one of the best indicators of successful outcomes for cancer treatments. Apparently those with higher muscle mass had sufficiency better outcomes than those without for it to be statistically significant. But as I said, I haven[t read up on that yet.

You say that you don't want a retirement visa but perhaps you should have said that you don't want to get a retirement extension.

If you are old enough to get a retirement visa and the wording of your original post implies that you are, then you could look at getting a Multiple Entry Non-Immigrant O visa based on retirement. 

You would get 90 days for each entry and the visa would be valid for 12 months. Stamp in just before expiry and you would get 15 months out of it.

This visa is available again from the London embassy. It costs the same as the METV.

If insurance is asked for, normal insurance from any company is usually enough because it only offers 90-day entries .

You would have to do a border run to stay longer than 90 days because as far as I am aware the only two extensions available from an entry on that visa are the 1-year retirement extension and the 60-day extension to visit Thai family.

There is also the Singe Entry Non-Immigrant O visa based on retirement, which is valid for 90 days and can only be used once. If the proposed 90-day tourist visa exemption goes ahead you could consider using the Singe Entry Non-Immigrant O visa plus a 90-day tourist visa exempt entry to get the time you need. That would probably be less risky than two 90-day tourist visa exempt entries back-to-back. However, I think that the safest option would be to get the Multiple Entry Non-Immigrant O visa that I mentioned earlier.

Post can be deleted. Double post because the text entry window didn't disappear after posting the first time.

If you don't want to chance using your METV again at another entry point with a male officer there may be a few options for you other than moving to a retirement extension.

You could get a reentry permit when you leave, which would allow you to enter again but you could only stay until the date of your current entry stamp, which I believe is the 2nd of April 2024.

You could get a single-entry non-Immigrant O visa based on retirement from the embassy in your home country, which will give one entry valid for 90 days. If you wanted to leave and return during that period you'd need a reentry permit to keep the entry stamp alive. That visa costs twice as much as an SETV.

Or, depending on your nationality you may be able to get a multiple-entry Non-Immigrant O visa based on retirement from the embassy in your home country. It is valid for a year and you will get stamped in for 90 days each time you enter. Some people get around 15 months (or 17 months with Thai family) out of them by entering again just before they expire. They cost the same as the METV you have now.

They were withdrawn from embassies some years ago as each embassy switched over to the  e-visa system but they seem to be back now.

I have heard that some embassies require insurance to get this visa now. However unlike the Non-Immigrant OA/OX visas, you can present insurance from any company in the world. I have heard about quite a few people using their standard travel insurance including insurance bundled with bank accounts, etc.

11 hours ago, SAcanman said:

Am I stressing unnecessarily?  HCMC appears to have negative reviews.  Is Hanoi a better option?  Or should i get the SETV and enter from somewhere like Laos or Cambodia?

 

Additional info:  I am under 50 and a Canadian citizen.  I have a new passport since I was last in Thailand.  I contacted a well known Elite Visa agent in Chiang Mai about obtaining an Elite visa but they said I would not qualify because my ED visa was issued in country.  They have not had 1 person approved in my situation since May 2023.

If you're stressing about it, get a visa in Laos and enter via land, which was one of the suggestions BrtiTim made.

Also, contact the Elite team directly instead of talking to an agent.  FYI, there is a thread on this forum about expected changes to the Elite memberships in the next few weeks, as well as expected price rises. So I'd talk to them directly, ASAP, if I were you.

3 minutes ago, billd766 said:

If you don't know who I was addressing, and according to you it doesn't matter anyway, why are you still asking the same question and yet not answering mine.

 

If you don't like or understand my posts just skip my posts completely or put me on ignore. I promise I won't cry or throw my toys out of the pram.

 

 

I did answer your question. "I don't know," is an answer to your question. Perhaps you didn't realise that but it is.

I notice though, that you didn't answer any of the questions I asked you in my last three posts.

11 minutes ago, Kalasin Jo said:

When one exits on this visa can one just turn around at a land border such as the one at the Savanakhet Friendship bridge and return, getting another 90 day stamp? . Or is it wise to actually enter Laos and stay a night or two? If one flies out to a nearby country can you fly straight back the same day and get another 90 day stamp? If either is possible, how many times before eyebrows are raised or a refusal without at least a few days outside Thailand?

In the past some people did this for many  years before being told to get the proper visa at the airport (and in all cases I heard about still being admitted to the country by the IO who told them).

Nowadays, I don't know.

Unless someone else can help you with current information my suggestion would be to use land borders after the first few 90 day stamps, so you can just walk back to the other country if they deny you.

43 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Was I addressing the OP twice or the OP and another poster?

 

 

Why would you be telling the OP to forgive his wife and stay with her but be telling others who were questioning that advice that they shouldn't still be married to a wife they couldn't trust?

Edit: I said, "Your posts are contradictory," at the start of my previous post and they are.

An alternative could be to get a tourist visa before you fly => 60+30 days, with the extension, which also gives you some leeway in case there are issues when you try to leave.

I believe that some airlines aren't particularly concerned about onward tickets, if you have a valid visa.

Also, airlines like Emirates and Qatar are aware that the visa exempt and tourist visas can be extended for 30 days so they may allow it a return within the maximum time you can obtain without leaving Thailand.

Perhaps the first step would be to call them and ask them.

On 10/16/2020 at 12:12 AM, Otto2910 said:

Yes Hanse Merkur

Thanks.

2 hours ago, Otto2910 said:

Thanks everyone, I get the certificate from the insurance company and also a certificate for covid 19.

Good for you! Hopefully the process of entering Thailand is as smooth.

Did you use HanseMerkur?

The name on the Payee account now has to match the name you put into the Payee field when sending, or there could be problems.

Also, if a Sole trader is being paid you may have to use their actual name rather than the name of their business when transferring money to their business account. However, I'm not sure if that is the same when making payments to all the banks participating in the scheme or not.

On 9/19/2020 at 7:13 PM, krey said:

ah yes that did sound confusing it has been a while since I did it, I did a post about it in the past

1. I left Thailand in October of 2019 and came back at that point I got the 1 year stamp that brought me to Oct 2020, at that time I was happy with that as I was only planning on staying to the summer of 2020

2. My Thai Elite expired in February of 2020

3. I had one side saying that when the Thai Elite expires (the visa) then I would be on overstay even if I had a permission to stay stamp.  Thai Elite said this, visa agencies said this, some members in forums said this and even some immigration officers said it at the local office in chiang mai.  However, many people were doing it with no problems and some forum members said it was okay etc

4. So I left the day before my visa expired to basically test it out, I asked immigration in Chiang Mai airport if I leave now and return after my Thai Elite visa expires will my permission of stay to Oct 2020 still be vaild, they said it would and I would need a re entry permit because I was coming in on an expired Thai Elite,

5. So basically I was testing out if the permission of stay would work even with a Expired Visa and it turned out it did work, my back up plan was to get a on arrival tourist visa and extend it a couple of times, but did not have to do that.  Then covid hit and cancelled my flights etc and decided it was safer to stay here longer, and it got to a point where I decided I would like to stay another year but Problem now is changing over to a new visa inside the country I am still considered Thai Elite since it was my last valid visa so I got to follow the rules of that particular visa, so it was either buying another one, or leaving the country and coming back and getting a different type, which was and I believe still not possible.

Thanks for clarifying.

I can understand them not wanting to renew an expired membership without the applicant going through the full process again but It's a shame that from some reports they now seem to be actively trying to stop people from receiving the full term of their final 1 year entry stamp if it exceeds the end date of the visa.

If they succeed then, to the best of my knowledge, this would be the only Thai visa that operates this way (although the O-A visa is now only supposed to allow people to enter for the validity of their insurance, which in some cases has no end date).

2 hours ago, krey said:

Anyway I left country and came back with the assumption if it failed I would just get a tourist visa.  In Chiang mai where I left I got a re entry permit and talked to the local immigration at the airport and they said you can do no problem.. So left and flew back into the country into Bangkok  Gave them my passport and right away got the puzzled look and the no you cannot do, I explained situation and they gave it to another immigration, no can do, then talked to the supervisor and he asked why not get another 5 year elite? explained I did not want to commit to 5 years right now, will be going home this year and might get the elite in the future, then he said okay and stamped it

Why did you buy the re-entry permit on the way out? Weren't you trying to return and get an extra one year stamp?

Perhaps the re-entry permit caused some confusion because that just stops the permission to stay that you already have from being automatically cancelled when you leave the country.

It's after you retuned and got your sixth year on the five year visa that you'd need the re-entry permit if you left again.

Is the sequence of events you posted correct or did I miss / misunderstand something?

2 minutes ago, genericptr said:

They've never been willing to make a visa on the premise "you're not married or 50+ and you can afford to live in Thailand for months/years on end because you have money or an income stream which originates outside of the country" so it stands to reason they don't want to allow this now.

Isn't that what the Elite visa is?

Apparently the 270 day (90+90+90) long-stay tourist visa has been approved, according to some newspapers.

<removed>

14-day quarantine is apparently one of the requirements. We'll have to wait and see what the others are.

The same sources also say that the program will only cater to 1,200 visitors per month.

4 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

 

Thank you for the images you posted after I asked my questiond. This has cleared matters up.

 

1. What you first called your "visa" that "literally has the word 'Retirement' written on it" is in fact your retirement extension and this "visa", which is not a visa, does not have the word visa on it.

 

2. Your visa, as per your photo, has "visa" on it, but not "Retirement"

 

3. Your extension, as per your photo, has the word "Retirement" on on it, but not "Visa"

 

These were the puzzles that I needed to get solved.

 

Furthermore, I know now that your visa was not an O-A visa and that your post was therefore off-topic in this thread.

 

I appreciate the effort you made to clear all this up.

Most of your response doesn't seem to match the only photo I can see that was posted by Roy Baht.

As he said his visa does have the word "Retirement" on it (and also the word "visa").

The image he posted is an image of a Non-Immigrant O multiple entry visa with the word "Retirement" written on it.

I think you may have been looking at images from other posters and an image he quoted in a reply.

5 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Again most health insurance policies do alloe you to have othet insurance and there will be language in the policy which specifically addresses this to insure no double billing. You will also usually be asked the details of any other coverage at time of application.

This is what I have seen in my limited experience with insurance. The companies I have dealt with have some language about diving the cost of any claim between the various insurers if there is more than one.

However, I also understand the principle of not being able to receive double the payout because you have two insurance policies (haven't heard it for a long time though). It make me wonder if these companies are a bit old-school or if this is something that may be more prevalent in some countries but not in others.

4 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

No copyright infringement here, refer to #63 perhaps that will concur my thoughts

Haha. Thanks for that, I actually missed post #63.

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Makes  no sense to put re entry permit in this category. It does not confer a new permission to stay or extension.

 

Not a single case reported of someone entering on a re entry permit being asked to show insurance. Nor 800k in the bank or 65k/ month for same reason. You have already met the criteria for your existing permission to stay and  no new permissio  to stay   or extension is being given.

You misunderstood my point. The order that was quoted said that an existing permission to stay remained valid.

I consider a re-entry permit to be an existing permission to stay so it is unaffected by the new order.

Therefore I would NOT expect anyone on a re-entry permit to be asked for insurance since they are on an existing permission to stay.

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Your correct, it wasn't on the previous page, glad you raised it, see below

 

I created those images to answer a question.

They don't say that the order in question only applies to visas issued before the 31st of October 2019.

The images you posted say that if you have already obtained a permission to stay before the effective date of October 31st 2019 your permission to stay is not invalidated by this new order. i.e you will not suddenly require insurance for your current permission to stay.

However, after the effective date when seeking a new permission to stay, the new order applies.

This is how the order reads (to me) and how it appears many immigration offices are *currently* interpreting it.

My interpretation of permission to stay includes an extension of stay, a re-entry permit or an entry stamp. It also includes an under consideration stamp but who knows how each immigration office would handle the subsequent granting of the extension of stay - they may consider these to be two different permissions to stay.

Unfortunately, from memory, the only thing in any of the orders that is stated to ONLY apply to new visas is the requirement to take out insurance when applying for a brand new O-A visa from the 31st of October 2019.

There are several orders from different agencies and I think that some people here are reading the orders as if they were a single order instead of a bunch of distinct orders related to O-A visa holders aimed at different parts of the state (embassies, borders and immigration offices). I think that people are also applying common sense to the situation and assuming that all the immigration officers will do the same.

Taking this into account it is easy to see why some don't believe that immigration will demand insurance for an 80 year old doing their tenth O-A extension or believe that someone with a current O-A visa going for a weekend trip to Singapore will be required to buy insurance on their return

It may be that over time common sense will prevail. We are already seeing some variance where people are being stamped in for a full year regardless of when their insurance expires i.e. immigration have so far opted not to implement the order stating that O-A visa holders should only be stamped in to the end of the insurance period (in all the reports I've seen so far). Also not everyone entering with an O-A visa or seeking an extension of one is being asked for insurance.

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

I think a lot of people are getting ahead of themselves when it comes to any future health insurance changes for retirees and those married to a Thai.

 

The way I see it is, the government recently put in changes with regard to the retirement extension, i.e. as usual, have your 800,000 in the bank 3 months beforehand, but now you cannot touch 400,000 of it, from my understanding for 6 months, that said, it appears that they have done this to show that if anyone gets ill, it doesn't fall back on the Thai government, so one has to have enough money in the bank to cover oneself for hospital treatment.

You need 800,000 in the bank for 5 months and 400,000 in the bank for the remaining 7 months, although some immigration offices may want a 6 and 6 split, or an income of 65,000 per month or a combination of money in the bank and income.

I think that people are worried that these changes will come to other visa classes because: 

1) Government officials are publicly saying that they want anyone over 50 on a long stay visa to have insurance.

2) Anyone getting an O-A visa for the purposes of retirement IS now forced to have insurance. 

3) People now on O-A visas who later get a retirement extension are required to have both the money in the bank AND insurance (as per the new immigration orders).

4) We have multiple immigration offices (including Division 1) saying that anyone with an O-A visa who then moves to a retirement extension will have to have insurance (as per the new immigration orders).

5) In addition we have multiple immigration offices saying that even people who are already on a retirement extension based on an O-A visa will have to get insurance **BUT** I have yet to see reports of this happening.

So the question in many people's minds is, why do all this if there is an easy out? Why do all this for so few people (just O-A visa holders) if the intention is not to expand it to as many people as possible?

If points (3, 4 and 5) didn't exist then I think that far fewer people would be worried since they would assume that being required to keep money in the bank in Thailand was the backstop should someone not have not have insurance or the free funds to pay for any treatment they were to receive in Thailand.

This may well be a pilot project (and I believe I read somewhere that it was just that) for making sure as many people over 50 as possible who are on long stay visas have insurance.

When I look at other long stay visa classes, with the exception of tourist visas, I see insurance requirements for most, if not all of them.

So people on other extensions to stay are right to be worried, especially since this change, which upends some people's lives, was announced with something like 20 days notice.

There may be changes that come out of this "pilot" such as recognising foreign insurance beyond the first year and foreign perpetual insurance, etc, which could lead to the creation of appropriate better priced products by foreign companies. We shall see.