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?

I found mine on the ThaiFriendly website. She's a very pretty 20-year-old university student, from a somewhat poor family of food vendors in an outer Bangkok suburb. I'm 64 (but I l don't look a day over 63.) I'm not especially handsome, so to compensate, I pay her handsomely. (I pay her by the visit, by the way - which helps to keep her motivated. I think it would be crazy to pay for such a service once a month in advance. And we don't go out on "dates". All of our time together is spent in my apartment, where she is comfortable enough to stay all night every time.) I've been seeing her once a week for about a year now. SHE always calls ME to see if I'm available when she has a day off, and the sex is great - at least for me, and apparently for her as well - since, as I said, she's always calling me to see if I'm available for her to visit. Or maybe she just likes the good money for the not terribly unpleasant sex. Because she's new at this (I am her first sugar daddy/first farang), she still does it like she enjoys it. I keep expecting her to slack off, but she hasn't yet. Since I've been taking care of her, I have noticed that her lifestyle has improved considerably (new iPhone, nice new clothes, etc.), which is the whole point of the relationship for her. I am happy to see her life getting better, and she certainly makes my life better. She has another year left with her studies, and I get the feeling that she would like to continue our arrangement at least until she graduates. From my perspective, I'm satisfied enough with the arrangement that I'm in no hurry to end it.

He knows what he has to say to please his masters.

The money is coming from us. That's why they need to tax our transfers of money into Thailand from next year.

According to this website, which appears to be the official site for applying for the Vietnam e-visa, it says that it takes three days to process it. https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu

I just found this, which says that this recently approved e-visa is valid for citizens of all countries. I still don't know how to apply for it, though. https://www.vietnamimmigration.org/vietnam-officially-grants-90-day-e-visas-to-citizens-of-all-countries-and-territories/

Is this an e-visa? Who is eligible to apply, and can you provide a link to the website where it is possible to apply? I want to go there multiple times within a 90-day period. Thanks.

No there aren't. The world's population is at its highest level ever. And yet prosperity is also at its highest level ever. We are FAR from the earth's carrying capacity. Besides, it's a self-regulating mechanism. However, if you really think there are too many people in the world, you can immediately reduce the number by one.

Veganism is not a diet. It's an ideology.

You know as well as I do that Trump beat Biden in a landslide in the last election, you "obvious evidence denier".

You are breaking the rules of this forum by quoting a pseudo-scientific, conspiracy theory source.