Crash999

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for your fantastic replies. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. It's amazing how much contradictory or incomplete information there is on various websites out there.

It seems that given OA would be interesting as it can be issued right away (maybe... his nearest Thai embassy is Lisbon which is tiny and has little info online) but an issue is insurance given his age and the financial requirement which he hasn't done yet.

My thinking is as Max69xl suggested to have him enter on a 60-day tourist visa, open a bank account right away (which may take some hunting around), transfer money in, get a month's extension, and try to switch over to an O visa after two months have passed. Timing seems tight but otherwise I can't see a way for it to work. Then from the 3-month O visa get an extension based on retirement (aka retirement visa). Then during the year that is valid he goes back to Portugal for a few months break and comes back before the extended O visa expires so he can extend it again.

Does that sound workable?

I'm thinking we should get an agent to hold our hand through the process. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.

Regarding insurance, even if we get an O visa for him he will need to get coverage in case of emergencies. Totally agree that one can't rely on going back to Europe and getting things done there.

Hello everyone! My father has decided he wants to spend more time around the family and his grandchild and hopes to spend around 8-9 months out of the year in Thailand going forward.

In reviewing the process for obtaining a retirement visa it seems the biggest hurdle is the now-mandatory health insurance. From memory there was a list of government providers out there at one point though I can't seem to find the page. But I'm not sure that any provider had options for those above age 75 or so.

So where does that leave someone my father's age? He is actually in quite good health with no preexisting conditions aside from a stent around 7 years ago. I can see that there are international health insurance plans out there but from memory it had to be one of the Thai government's approved providers.

If retirement is a no-go then is Elite the only other option?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and experiences you can share.

Sounds like complete fiction. 
 

If they knew who it was they would have grabbed the guy already even if he was related to a local influential person. 
 

The guards of a much more influential person are personally involved and wouldn’t care about some local bigwig. 

For us younger guys what’s the difference between retirement and O-A?

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

Maybe, it might also make people think twice before coming on holiday to a country where foreigners are sentenced very differently to locals.

 

Then again maybe they won't care. It will be reported world wide anyway, that's for sure.

 

Two years supended prison sentence plus thousands of dollars in fines for mere graffiti - pathetic!

If it makes people think twice who are the type to spray graffiti then that’s a good thing. 

We don’t need more “Scousse Lee” and “B”. 

2 hours ago, sambum said:

Despite him making a habit of his "not very nice behaviour", you still feel sorry for him! :-

 

"The Cambodians couldn't handle all that "quality", so they had to arrest and deport him." you still feel sorry for him?

 

Oh. I get it, he needs help!

Surely those can't be real tattoos can they?

59 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Although he didnt react violently or overly abusive back , he just gave the same amount of verbal abuse back to the person who was being abusive towards him .

I'm about 15 pages of reading behind, but is there a longer clip where she was being abusive towards him?

2 hours ago, Tiredofglasshalfemptyexpat said:

I guess his British accent ... Why are you thinking he's not?

Message and ask him

https://www.facebook.com/roy.demeo.75

Does the 75 mean he is 43 years old?

He looks about 10 years older and trying to act like he’s 20 years younger. 

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

Sad but it's not surprising that many companies won't employ the no work experience MBA holders except in lower positions and at an appropriate salary for the lower job.

I used to be one of those people. Couldn’t find a job after graduating with a bachelor degree and no experience so I did an internship and went straight for an MBA after. 

Ended up taking a job in Thailand earning just 40k when I first started!

150 Baht is a good rate, especially for smaller transfers where there aren’t decent options. 

Am too lazy to check exchange rates but that’s often where money is made. 

11 hours ago, scorecard said:

Both examples way outside of your basic new graduate folks who are just wanting a job and hopefully security and very probably (not a criticism) starting at the bottom in a typical Thai company which doesn't encourage innovation etc, and regardless of language abilities and brain washed into simple replies and being very polite. 

 

OP is asking for an average idea of salary. Certainly agree that someone who is desperate for a job will take anything, but there's a 15k minimum for someone with a bachelor degree. We must pay more as we require a level of English and capability. If hiring for too low people will jump ship as soon as they get a better offer anyway. 

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

Had the guy had any bad intentions , he probably would have molester or robbed her .

There may have been some confusion about where her hostel was , did they actually go past her hostel or just a turning off or something ?

  Maybe he was going a quicker way or maybe he thought that she was staying somewhere else ?

  Could be that she fell off the bike drunk and exaggerated her story

Yeah if the guy wanted to rape her then her pretending to be unconscious wouldn’t have stopped him. In fact it might have made it easier for him. Like that terrible case in Krabi where the woman fell down the ravine and the guy molested her afterwards. 

She admits she was so drunk she was going to vomit. She can’t speak Thai. Probably was confusion where she was going or if she had a room or wanted him to help find one. 

I work in manufacturing and export. Thais without any experience can expect 15-20k rising to around 25-30k after 2 years or so if progressing well. Managers 50k-125k depending on position and capability. For some general management positions with niche skillsets Thais can command salaries similar to foreigners. 200-400k plus benefits. 

1 hour ago, CanterbrigianBangkoker said:

What a weak, anticlimactic story. 

 

What passes for 'journalism' these days is becoming more worrying by the hour.

I agree. She should have said it was Koh Tao instead of KP then there'd be far more drama and popcorn. 

On 10/26/2018 at 3:51 PM, jimmynewbie said:

The uk police did test but not announced anything , why do you think the family are not letting this go?

This DNA is on record, it will be kept on record thats how the UK work

Personally i think the family should have had an independent test done

There are still 2 more results not being spoken about like bernd?

His family have confirmed nothing heard , swept under the carpet?

 

If the UK tests had come back with something (assuming testing was done) then the family surely would have said something, wouldn’t they?

3 hours ago, JLCrab said:

Being a Yank and not wanting in the least to wade in on UK Police protocol, I will say that, if it turns out the UK Police did not test for DNA and the only testing was done by the Thais in Thailand, the only certain thing about this whole matter IMHO will be that there will be howls from certain parties that such DNA testing is completely unreliable and maybe even falsified and the whole case is far from being resolved.

Unless the testing supports the Death Island narrative. For example when the Thai police found no trace of the Burmese on the murder weapon. Then their DNA test was 100% accurate A++++ WOULD TEST AGAIN quality. 

1 hour ago, rkidlad said:

You said it’s very likely which would put you in the ‘you think the British tested for semen’. I never said you said ‘definitely’. Don’t misrepresent people’s posts.

You're leaving out the first part of my quote. I said, "It could be a test done in Thailand but it could also very likely be a test done in the UK as was planned." 

Meaning both are possible. 

For someone concerned about misrepresenting people's posts you do it an awful lot yourself!

17 minutes ago, pattayadude said:

I can think of one. Maybe it's because Koh Tao is one of those places that in the past some backpackers arrived vertical but left "horizontal"?

Pattaya is also a place where people arrive vertical but spend a lot of time horizontal. 

1 hour ago, rkidlad said:

‘It could also very likely be a test was done in the UK’

 

’Several people are already jumping to the conclusion that it must have been done in Thailand”

 

Now, can you stop asking where you said the British police tested the t-shirt. 

I have to assume here that English is your second or third language as nowhere above did I say the British police definitely tested. I was replying to you who said they did not test. I said we can’t be sure of that, it could also be very likely the test was done in the U.K.  

If you said X did not happen and someone says you can’t be sure of that, it doesn’t mean the person is saying X with certainty did happen. 

To put it in children’s terms, you are suggesting that an animal is a cat. I’m saying we can’t know that because we can’t see it. From that you are concluding I think it’s a dog.