MichaelHunt

That would be my preferred option - to tell them that I will be staying with my friend, but that I will be supporting myself. (I have more than enough resources to support myself, not only for the duration of this trip, but for the rest of my life.) If that's not enough, then I just won't go. I will call the visa processing center today to ask if I can pursue this option without needing to submit my friend's bank statement. Thanks.

I didn't think it mattered. I thought that either a person needs a visa - or doesn't. And I do. Anyway, I spent my first 50 years as a (U.S.) American citizen, but I have renounced that citizenship and now I am a citizen of Belize. Does that change anything?

Excellent Jason! Thanks very much. This is very helpful. By the way, I totally agree with your comment about them letting in (not to mention paying to support) millions of unassimilable Third World nation wreckers, while giving people like me who can fund their own stays a hard time. Thanks again. I'll start jumping through the hoops now.

And did your host have to provide his financial statements as well as the invitation letter? Here are the relevant parts of the list of required documents that I was provided with: ☐ Private invitation letter + legal residence of invitor + bank statement of inviter ☐ Letter of intent from the inviter stating purpose of travel, plan trip, relationship between the inviter and the applicant ☐ Bank statement for last 3 months – savings is also accepted, preferably where we can see the salary As I said, my friend is not willing to provide her bank statement - so I guess that leaves just the "book a hotel and cancel it after I get the visa" option for me.

I am a Westerner living in Bangkok on a "retirement" visa. I am a citizen of a country for which a visa is necessary to enter the Schengen area. I have a friend in Europe with whom I plan to stay (as a base for travels to other parts of Europe). So my first inclination was to apply under the category of "visiting a friend, who would then sponsor me - and for which I would not need a hotel booking. However, to apply in this way, it is necessary to provide copies of my friend's bank statement (as well as mine), but my friend is understandably reluctant to do this. But if I go as an ordinary tourist, then I will need to provide a hotel booking for the duration of my planned trip (nearly two months). It would be easy enough for me to book a hotel for a couple of months on booking.com and then to cancel the booking if and when I get the visa. But my travel agent here in Bangkok told me that the immigration officers in Europe sometimes call the hotel that you say you have booked - to check if they have a reservation for you. So is this strategy viable - to book on booking.com and then to cancel after getting the visa, and then stay with my friend? As an alternative, would it be possible for my friend to say that she is renting me an apartment in her home (she actually has a separate apartment in her home that she uses for guests). Maybe she could provide a letter/contract saying that i will rent her apartment for the duration of my stay, for X amount? Or is it not possible to use a private apartment as accommodation for the purpose of the Schengen visa? Or must it be something booked on a known accommodation booking platform? Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

This does not bode well for real estate values going forward.

Unlike Thai, which, if you get the tone slightly wrong you end up with a totally different word.

I moved back to Thailand in December of 2021, after working in Vietnam for seven years, due to being unable to remain employed there without being vaccinated. (I am an anti-vaxxer.) While I was there, I got visas through my employer. I had heard of people being able to renew visas through local travel agents, but I think that was quite some time ago. Things change, and I think that's one thing that has changed. It would be great if Vietnam would see the light and offer retirement visas. I'd be back there in a minute if there were such a visa. And without such a visa, I wouldn't even consider going back. I need a certain amount of stability in my life.

Are you sure that it's possible to renew those 90-day visas indefinitely? I'm not saying that it's impossible. It just seems improbable to me. If I were to retire there, I'd live in the beach resort city of Nha Trang, and take trips to nearby Dalat every time I felt the need to experience cool weather.

The east coast of Zanzibar has the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen in my life.

I lived in the south of Vietnam, and my friends there told me that even they don't find the northerners very friendly. Once I met a very friendly and helpful guy at the reception of my hotel in Sapa (his name was Mr. Thai, to my surprise), and it turns out that he was from the deep south of Vietnam. He told me that even he gets overcharged in Hanoi because they can hear that he has a southern accent. So maybe a strategy would be to live in the south and only visit the north for short periods.

Easy visa for a long stay? That's not the impression that I have. Please elaborate.

He can't. It's already gone.

So are you suggesting that a tax would be withheld on all inward remittances, and it would be up to the individual "taxpayer" to file a return to try to get it back if no taxes were actually due?

I wonder how this would work in practice. It could not be based on the number of days you spent in the country in the CURRENT year, right? Because if that were the case, one could transfer money into Thailand tax free during the first 179 days of the year because one can't spend more than 180 days in the country in less than 180 days. So it would have to be based on whether you spent 180 days in the country in the PREVIOUS year. Or am I missing something? How do other people see this?