Long term tourists

[Gweiloman]

I have no idea, but if you came from Eastern Europe, or some Muslim country it should be easy.

I don't know what country you are from, but unlike Thailand, the bad far out weighs the good in the UK.

ie This tax and that tax, council tax, expensive annual TV licence, very high rate of income tax. Almost outnumbered by immigrants in lots of areas, dreadful weather most of the year, etc, etc. Still want to go and live in the UK?

 

On the other side of the coin, no dual pricing, 90 day reporting, TM30, NHS, smog free etc etc.

 

But unlike Thailand, I doubt that I would be allowed to live there like I am in Thailand. So really, Thailand is not such a bad deal after all.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

I have no idea, but if you came from Eastern Europe, or some Muslim country it should be easy.

I don't know what country you are from, but unlike Thailand, the bad far out weighs the good in the UK.

ie This tax and that tax, council tax, expensive annual TV licence, very high rate of income tax. Almost outnumbered by immigrants in lots of areas, dreadful weather most of the year, etc, etc. Still want to go and live in the UK?

 

Do you live here or in the UK?

[Caldera]

I cannot comment on the future because things are changing, but let me comment on the past 12+ years that I spent in Thailand as a long-term tourist. There's no other way to put it, I had a great time and I doubt other countries - all things considered - would have come close. Obviously that, too, is changing, 10 years ago Thailand's edge over other potential countries was huge compared to nowadays. From my personal perspective, at least.

 

The "hoops" were mostly border and visa runs - if you have plenty of time and like to travel, personally I don't think it's a big deal.

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Do you live here or in the UK?

Here.

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

On the other side of the coin, no dual pricing, 90 day reporting, TM30, NHS, smog free etc etc.

 

But unlike Thailand, I doubt that I would be allowed to live there like I am in Thailand. So really, Thailand is not such a bad deal after all.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

You have a point, so we can agree with each other.

[mokwit]

17 hours ago, jspill said:

Boomers made the West a really awful place to be, hence the flight of millennials / gen Z

Thailand used to be a PC free zone - then the people we left the West to get away from started showing up.

[NoshowJones]

12 hours ago, possum1931 said:

I have no idea, but if you came from Eastern Europe, or some Muslim country it should be easy.

I don't know what country you are from, but unlike Thailand, the bad far out weighs the good in the UK.

ie This tax and that tax, council tax, expensive annual TV licence, very high rate of income tax. Almost outnumbered by immigrants in lots of areas, dreadful weather most of the year, etc, etc. Still want to go and live in the UK?

 

Sorry Joecoolfrog, I seem to have made a mistake. The UK has very little immigrants, no TV licence like Thailand. no council tax like Thailand, lots of nice sunny weather, like Thailand, low income tax like Thailand.

Maybe I should go and shut myself in a dark cupboard.????

[Scutty]

19 hours ago, Too young to be old said:

hello

 

Where are you getting 7% ?

 

I like the sound of that.

Plenty of places do 7% on usd ....do your research .

[Scutty]

4 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Sorry Joecoolfrog, I seem to have made a mistake. The UK has very little immigrants, no TV licence like Thailand. no council tax like Thailand, lots of nice sunny weather, like Thailand, low income tax like Thailand.

Maybe I should go and shut myself in a dark cupboard.????

They will kick all the immigrants out when the National Front nazis take over after Brexit . - unfortunate as i like a good vindaloo . TV licence is worth it bcoz you actually get good stuff on telly there . It doesnt go over 40 degrees in summer so your not baking yer balls off and there is an expectance of respect and politeness shown by residents to each other . All in all UK beats Thailand hands down . 

[transam]

5 minutes ago, Scutty said:

They will kick all the immigrants out when the National Front nazis take over after Brexit . - unfortunate as i like a good vindaloo . TV licence is worth it bcoz you actually get good stuff on telly there . It doesnt go over 40 degrees in summer so your not baking yer balls off and there is an expectance of respect and politeness shown by residents to each other . All in all UK beats Thailand hands down . 

Sort of glad your still there....????

[Samulabar]

They may come from countries with very cold climate like Russia for example and love cheap things in Thaliland, and yes lot of them digital nomads living there, so it's totally understandable. I plan to visit Thailand very soon again, I really loved it, love all that ancient places.

[scorecard]

On 4/16/2019 at 2:43 PM, jackdd said:

Here on Thaivisa you see mostly the complaints, if everything is going well people don't post.

Staying here is not as difficult as it might seem. Currently i just use METVs, 9 months in Thailand, then back home for a week or two, visit the family and get a new visa before going back to Thailand.

The in/outs don't really trouble me, i like to ride motorbike, so when it's time for a visa run that's just a motorbike trip and hopping over the border and back takes less than an hour.

If i sum up all the costs, it's maybe 40k per year. An elite visa would cost me 50 or 100k per year, for 5 or 20 years upfront.

Maybe next year i decide i don't like Thailand anymore, for whatever reason. Currently i would just sell my motorbike and could be gone next week. If i paid 400k or 900k already for the visa, that would be a much tougher decision.

 

The effective costs are actually way lower than the 40k, i would make motorbike trips anyway, so effectively it costs me just the 30 USD for the visa on arrival in Laos and an hour of my time for a visa run. When i come back from Germany i always buy lots of stuff for which i pay half the price in Germany compared to Thailand, be it stuff like food or makeup for my girlfriend, or whatever. I might pay 25k for the ticket, but in my luggage i will have stuff worth 20-30k in Thailand which i bought for 10-15k in Europe.

 

Living in another country, pretty much any other country (except countries which are probably not that attractive to most but you can easily buy citizenship etc.) requires regular documentation, visits to various authorities etc. Surely all of that is quite normal and to be expected.

 

Read a little more widely and you'll find plenty of comments indicating that living in many other countries requires similar levels of processes / documentation etc compared to Thailand and some even much more.  

 

 

[BritManToo]

56 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Living in another country, pretty much any other country (except countries which are probably not that attractive to most but you can easily buy citizenship etc.) requires regular documentation, visits to various authorities etc. Surely all of that is quite normal and to be expected.

No visits to 'authorities' or documents (apart from a passport/application form/money) required in the Philippines, Cambodia or Vietnam for (up to) 1 year stays and it wasn't the norm in Thailand either until recently. My first 1 year VISA for Thailand (2009) cost me 120gbp and an application form/passport posted to the Thai consulate in Birmingham (returned within 3 working days).

[BritManToo]

On 4/17/2019 at 11:27 AM, Scutty said:

It doesnt go over 40 degrees in summer so your not baking yer balls off and there 

I prefer my balls baked rather than soaked and/or frozen.

Personal choice you understand.

[South]

On 4/16/2019 at 5:43 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Thanks for the offer... 

Even though I'm well under 50 I'm still covered from a few angles now....

 

- Married with a Child in School - So I could get the Type O visa based on a dependent or Marriage.

- I also have the Life Long Thai Elite Visa.

 

 

The topic I was trying to cover was for single guys under 50 years old... 

I first 'moved' here at 23 yrs of age, the initial 2 years being 3 months on/3 off, so 25 .... and a half when I settled here permanently (pre-internet days) , 56 now btw. Never, ever had a problem with visas, Non 'O' is what I have been on in all that time with multiple work permits. Why someone, would pay 'stupid' money (and I am not a poor guy) to get an Elite visa goes way over my head.  Less than 7k a year and all my visa/re-entries etc are all sorted. An 'elite' visa is how much nowadays? I don't need spa's or fancy golf clubs nor do I need limousines from the airport, my airline supplies them ..... 

[jackdd]

6 hours ago, South said:

Never, ever had a problem with visas, Non 'O' is what I have been on in all that time

Not everybody is married or has Thai children

[gentlemanjackdarby]

On 4/16/2019 at 8:43 AM, Kenchamp said:

Think you might find mass immigration of muslims and blacks had something to do with it too

Gave you a 'like' on this and couldn't agree more, but the 'Baby Boomers' can't be given all the blame on this - the 'groundwork' for a lot of America's problems, which started to 'sprout' in the mid 60s through the '70s and hit full-flower in the '90s, was started by the generation before; the earlier baby boomers only came of an age to begin filling senior policy and 'thought' positions around the late '80s (first baby boomers were born in 1946)

 

As a 'late Boomer'; it saddens me that my end of the Boom, (early '60s) has, and seems to want to, continue(d) the well-intentioned but misguided thinking of the so-called 'greatest generation'

[Naam]

On 4/16/2019 at 6:13 PM, need to escape said:

I’ve lived here a long time and I don’t understand why anyone would want to live here. There’s nothing to make you want to spend more than 2 days here. 

then why did you live here a long time?

[Vacuum]

On 4/16/2019 at 9:03 AM, Too young to be old said:

hello

 

Where are you getting 7% ?

 

I like the sound of that.

I even like the sound of the 2.4%.

[toast1]

Isn't it the new tourists?

Tourists used to come from polite and friendly cultures. 
I saw courtesy and decency even from the scruffiest Sexpat, people were not rude, and were generally respectful (apart from the odd idiot).

Now look at who's in BKK.
Rude, demanding, loud, arrogant and unpleasant tourists.
We have all seen them. They shout at staff, stuff their faces at buffets, demand discounts and generally make everyone unhappy.
They push in line, shout at each other in massage parlours and NEVER tip.

They treat Thailand with no respect.

If I were a Thai I'd be annoyed too.
 

Tourism has changed because of who is visiting. 
Come back Sexpats, all is forgiven.