Jingthing

This is a facts based topic. Not fear mongering.

Good point. But the issue isn't about this month but about next month. The situation if it happened would need to drag on quite a while to effect other groups of recipients.

Home country locations are not valid answers for this topic.

Update on this. The deadline to prevent this debt default is probably October 18. It still isn't resolved. If the U.S. defaults on its debt it would be the first time in history. This topic is about any concerns about delays in social security checks for Thai visa qualification. Information about that can be found in this link which indicates specifically that social security payments COULD (not would, COULD) be delayed for people with birthdates between the 11th and 20th. That would be one of the early stage delays with the assumption being that this would be fixed earlier than later. If the U.S. defaults on its debt, Social Security, tax refunds, other payments are at risk - Washington Post

This is a pet peeve of mine. People saying they're interested in moving to country permanently without considering whether that's even possible or if so, if they're even qualified. Like people saying they want to retire in the USA if they're not Americans. Good luck with that one unless you're OK living there six months out of the year or massively wealthy (because you can basically buy residence there in that case).

Yes, there are advantages to marriage. I was talking about someone strictly attempting to "retire" without such connections. There are also good options for wanted special skills WORKERS. Giving secure status to foreign non-working "retirees" is clearly not something Vietnam wants and based on my reading of the culture, I doubt that they ever will.

Vietnam. No retirement visa. No prospects of a future retirement visa. Fairly recent massive expulsion of expats using loopholes such as dodgy business visas. IF you can go there now as a so called "retiree" all you can possibly get is a short term TOURIST VISA. If interested check current Covid policies. From there check the current rules on extending, whether you can do in country or need to do constant tedious visa runs. Even if you did that, they could start saying no more at any time on your next extension attempt/visa run. That's how they easily expelled so many recently, allow stuff and then just stop allowing it, easy for them, a nightmare for expats. If you're complaining about lack of residency security in Thailand, I think it would totally crazy to try to "retire" in Vietnam. That is no way for an elder to live. For someone in your situation, older age, health issues, all three of my top choices are totally doable with clear paths to permanent residency, in some cases very quickly. (Colombia, Mexico, and the Philippines.)

Please include what you would do in these countries. Such as: Retirement Working Digital Nomad etc.

You should probably check out Queretaro too as long as you're going to be in that general central Mexican area.

Thank you very very much. That was quite helpful especially the detail that you only sent Page 2 and that was accepted. Now I don't have to worry about merging multiple scans into one PDF file. I need to use the email method as I've procrastinated on this and can't risk physically mailing. I don't know about other people but I've found the international pandemic mail service here to be very unreliable, in some cases nonexistent. What gets me about the communication with the FBU is that you know they've been dealing with these forms for many years. Why don't they have a template text to send people to give them technical guidelines? I guess it's a do the minimum kind of thing.

That is NOT true.

For future reference this is what FBU Manila is asking for these days in email communcations:

Perhaps someone can help me. Communicating with Manila but the info they send is limited. They sent me PDF attachment of CMS-40B.pdf APPLICATION FOR ENROLLMENT IN MEDICARE PART B (MEDICAL INSURANCE) and said send it back by email but there are some issues. APPLICATION FOR ENROLLMENT IN MEDICARE PART B (MEDICAL INSURANCE) (cms.gov) I did ask them about the foreign address and phone number not being supported on the form and they didn't bother to answer. Well, I'll just figure out a way to get the information in there and note they are foreign in the remarks section. If that isn't OK, they can tell me later. As the form needs to be SIGNED (it's not an online filing) I assume that I need to print it out sign it, and then I can scan the finished form and attach by email. Sounds right? The form is four pages. Only page two is actually fit it out stuff. The first page is intro and page three and four are messages and instructions? Can I send back only page two or do I need to send back all four? Is it OK if it's four separate PDF scans or does it need to be a PDF scan including all four pages? Thanks for any help.

I could care less.

Being born there was bad enough. I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday. W. C. Fields

2013? How about 1976? Sporter's Bar Boston

I think anywhere in Asean could get very unpleasant if there is an escalated conflict between China and the U.S. Its a good point to look at the impact of climate change. Apparently South America has already been dramatically impacted. I'm looking at regions in Mexico and Colombia with near perfect weather. For how long? Younger people may consider buying into frigid Buffalo New York as a center for climate refugees. As humans we can only plan so much. Then there is fate.

Depends where in Colombia. Attitudes like yours are a gift to those willing to look beyond dated stereotypes. I wouldn't recommend Cartegena or Medellin though and certainly not Cali.

I don't want to leave Thailand. My interest in other options is in case I'm squeezed out as have so many retirees here over the years. All three of my choices offer residency security to retired expats. Push comes to shove I could leave my condo here to rot and still be able to live comfortably in either of my three picks. It would be better to sell it of course. In that case I would consider buying a condo in Colombia with the proceeds. Real estate looks very attractive there now price wise in top neighborhoods in the less well known cities I mentioned. Like a three bedroom condo in a modern luxury high rise with full amenities for 60k usd.

My choices for retirement. . Colombia Armenia, Manizales, or Bucaramanga Mexico Queretaro, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, Mazatlan, or Puerto Vallarta. Philippines Tagaytay, Iloilo City, others

Oh I forgot to mention that it would be good to mention if your intention is retirement, working, or something else.

If you're American the USA is off topic.

In recent years Costa Rica has the reputation as being expensive.

The title says it. Suppose you left Thailand whether by choice or force, which countries OTHER than your home country would you want to move to? Name your top three RANKED but if you only have one or two that's fine too. This is open to all expats, working and retired. Preferably name countries that you could legally move to long term. For example Vietnam, a working expat could, a retired expat couldn't. Optionally post the reasons for your choices. I considered doing a poll but by including all kinds of expats the list of choices would just be too long. That could have worked if it was limited to retired expats but it isn't.

He's long dead.