MichaelHunt

4 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

There might be different rules and a different attitude depending on what country you are from. As you bizarrely want to keep that a secret from us there is only limited advice that can be given.

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?

2 hours ago, jasonsamui55 said:

Making lots of bookings on booking.com works just fine to get the visa and keep them all active until you actually arrive in Europe. Then change or cancel them. Maybe eat the first night at the first destination because if you said one hotel on your application and then when you arrive the border agent might also call to confirm that the reservation is still valid. But once you clear immigration feel free to cancel them all. Just choose ones that are no payment until check in and only pay if you cancel with less than 24 hours notice. I have a passport from a Schengen visa territory so no problem for me but had to go through all the same BS because I wanted to take my maid with us to see our home and life there, and she was going to stay at our house, but since we lived in Thailand, we didn’t have proof of residence and banks and all that. So we did the booking.com route and canceled after clearing immigration and took our holiday and went back to Thailand. Stupid rules deserve stupid responses. It’s not like it’s reality and actually keeping good guys in and bad guys out but more like those tests you took in high school to see who can follow directions and jump through hoops.

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.

15 minutes ago, retarius said:

I did it last year. Pretty straight forward in all respects. They made a big fuss about one thing, and that was that my host sent the invitation on email....they said email wasn't allowed and the invitation had to be a handwritten letter. Because we were then short of time,  we got stung for DHL fees both ways. 

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.

3 hours ago, Muhendis said:

The flexibility of the English language is really quite amazing.

With so many different dialects and accents and yet we all understand what is meant.

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

53 minutes ago, borderhopper2005 said:

Hello, 

Pretty interesting comment.

Could I possibly ask you which kind of visa you currently have for your long term stay in Viet Nam?

 

I thought Viet Nam does not have any retirement visa unlike Thailand, Cambodia, and some other SEA countries.

 

More than a decade ago, I have come across an American early retiree  in Thailand.

He said that he usually lives  in Viet Nam on tourist visa.

Then he added that he can have his stay permit  extended for indefinite period with the help of local travel agent.     

No further details were not disclosed though.

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.

10 minutes ago, Northstar1 said:

New 90 day visa, no money in bank required, rinse and repeat every 3 months!

easy

any other questions?

that will be the day I leave $800,000 baht in a Thailand bank

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.

23 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I fancy taking a look at Zanzibar I like a bit of milk chocolate, 

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

On 10/17/2023 at 1:37 PM, 2baht said:

I'll bet you won't lose it again! 

He can't. It's already gone.

5 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

The tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December, the tax return must be filed the FOLLOWING January through March.

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 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.

On 9/18/2023 at 7:50 AM, koolkarl said:

Already there are far too many people in this world.

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. 

How long was he planning on living in Korea on a million baht? For the rest of his life?

5 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

According to joint polls published by CNN and the SSRS Institute: A majority of Americans support stricter gun control law; and 64% of Americans support stricter gun control laws, while 36% oppose it.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_opinion_on_gun_control_in_the_United_States

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