After the Purge is Complete, Will CM be Better or Worse for Those Retirees Who Remain?

[Kelsall]

Lots of people 50+ yo are leaving CM due to the changes in the Immigration laws.  So for those of us who remain, will things be better or worse?  I could see things getting better once those who are living essentially at the poverty line leave.  Some I know spend their days complaining about the cost of things and trying to squeeze the Thais for every last baht, thus giving us all a bad name.  OTOH, those of us who remain may end up worrying about when the next shoe will fall.  Will Immigration raise the financial requirements from 800000 THB to a million, or two?  It could happen and one might ask why wouldn't it happen?

 

So will CM improve or get worse for retirees?

[observer90210]

If the 1 million bill is more then a rumour, better start either saving or packing....

[Peterw42]

There is another thread going where a poster is talking about how easy a recent extension was, in CM. No new rules or seasoning. Post 303 onwards

 

 

[quandow]

13 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Lots of people 50+ yo are leaving CM

Where's your evidence? I don't know a single person leaving. I scared up the money, others are using the "I know a guy who knows a guy" method. Nothing has changed.

[Peterw42]

18 minutes ago, quandow said:

Where's your evidence? I don't know a single person leaving. I scared up the money, others are using the "I know a guy who knows a guy" method. Nothing has changed.

Yes, I have been asking the same in other threads. Everyone is leaving, the tourists have stopped coming and the Thai economy is about to collapse, a guy in a bar told me. 

I dont know anyone leaving, and I know a guy who knows a guy, and he doesn't know anyone either.

[holy cow cm]

The being able to see outcome of who can make the cut will be after this year for the current requirements, and for the most part we will not be able to tell on the whole of who was affected unless immigration releases the stats. But my guess is the real clincher will be the next implementations of rules smacked at the foreign retiree and long term stayers to come might be the real one that creates an exodus for the ones just mid par to barely holding on.. 

[Pattaya46]

53 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Lots of people 50+ yo are leaving CM due to the changes in the Immigration laws. //

Ok. I stopped reading the OP right after the first sentence. Way to many BS topics recently on ThaiVisa 

BTW I personally know one guy who left Chiang Mai (or a bit North of it) after 6 years living there. The reason has nothing to do with Immigration but with Pollution.

[Kelsall]

Sorry, gang I know several and I don't know that many people overall.  People are leaving.

[marcusarelus]

Why not ask the expat club if a lot less people at the meetings?

[moe666]

The only guys I know who cannot qualify are brits and that is mostly due to the exchange rate. It still boils down to those who were cheating on the money ar the ones in trouble those who were legal will make ajustments.

[Gecko123]

Things will so much better!!!

 

We'll no longer need to jump off the sidewalk at the approach of these ginormous, lumbering, Shrek-like, junk food subsisting creatures. We'll no longer need to carry handkerchiefs and bottles of menthol nose spray to mask the stench emanating from their unwashed armpits and crotches. Once this underclass has been purged from our midst, social relations between foreigners will dramatically improve because our confidence will be restored that those select few foreigners who remain will at least have met these higher minimum qualifications to be here.

 

I can hardly contain myself at the thought of all the condos which will be going on the market after the exodus happens. I'm planning on making a killing picking up these properties at fire sale prices!

 

And what about all these Thai women who were hooked up with these Cheap Charlies? They'll probably be looking for a new sugar daddy to latch onto, won't they? Let the Hunger Games begin! Ladies, I'm available! With all my money, I might even be able to have my very own harem!

 

Sure, there may be one or two skint friends who I'm probably going to miss, but other than that, all I see is upside, upside, and more upside! And to those people who worry about how those people who get deported will fare when they return home I say, don't you worry your pretty little head, they'll be just fine.

 

 

 

[madmen]

Clicked the thread because of the dramatic head line. .. nothing to see here folks , move along now

[bert bloggs]

I dont know one person who is leaving , but most of my friends are married men with family ,homes ,cars  etc etc ,and as for Thais looking down on us , maybe they do to some of us ,but then what do you think of the guy in a wife beater t shirt with a young hooker on his arm and smelling of sweat (I know ,some of us will be jealous ,of the girl that is.,) ,but most treat decent falangs with decent wives very well.

[NancyL]

I know several people who are leaving, but it's due to a combination of the changing immigration rules (i.e. not wanting to tie up their money in a Thai bank), the pollution and maybe the traffic. They've just had enough.  In every case, they are either expat/expat couples who were probably getting a little bored with Chiang Mai anyway, rented their homes and decided to try out a different location or single guys who have been here for just a few years and somehow avoided getting themselves tied down with a Thai girlfriend.  In those cases, the guys also still own homes in their home country and decided their little fling in Thailand was over.  

 

The ones who are living on the edge have cut their ties to their home country and/or are invested in Thailand with wives/GF, houses, etc and are jumping thru hoops figuring out how to stay.  Those are the ones who can end up in hospital with large bills they can't pay -- exactly the people the new rules were intended to drive out.  I wonder if the visa agents who "arrange" for these guys to stay will volunteer to pay their medical bills when it's discovered they really don't have 400,000 baht on deposit in a Thai bank or monthly income of 65,000 baht.

[CMBob]

Like a few others, I don't know a single person leaving because of the new immigration rules.  The OP's comment of "lots" seems rather fanciful to me.  The air pollution is driving a few friends away but, so far, only temporarily for a month or two,

[sfokevin]

Most likely the last nail in the coffin for KSK... 

[CMNightRider]

1 hour ago, Kelsall said:

Sorry, gang I know several and I don't know that many people overall.  People are leaving.

I know several westerners who have already left along with those who will leave once their visa extensions come due.  There are many who are not buying into immigrations Thai banking scheme.

 

For those who are willing to accept immigrations latest nonsensical requirements, then good for you.  It's unbelieavble so many posters can't see this purge of western retirees.  

 

Maybe many of these people live in secluded moo baans, and spend all their time composing nonsensical messages praising Thai Immigration. I see many bragging about how easy it was to get their one year visa extensions because they deposited 800,000 baht into a Thai bank.  I bet many immigration officers are surprised about foreigners falling for this scheme, lol.

 

As far as those retirees who are left, I doubt their lives will be affected.  Thai's who own small businesses where westerners once shopped, and have left the country will feel the void.  

 

Those who married Thai women who got caught up in this purge will have many sad stories to tell, much to the amusement of the few smug posters who praise immigrations nonsense. ???? 

 

 

[jonwilly]

I asked about Medical insurance with respect to the O/A VISA and it proposed financial requirements and it was pointed out to me that a O/A visa is only issued outside Thailand and that I am on a O/R (RETIREMENT).

Sensible talk about taking out Medical Insurance and he checking up with 7 other companies about just what is on offer.

 

john 

[Puchaiyank]

Is it coincidental that "thai-visa-services" keeps popping up at the top of the page?

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, quandow said:

Where's your evidence? I don't know a single person leaving. I scared up the money, others are using the "I know a guy who knows a guy" method. Nothing has changed.

Went to Phnom Penh last week, was drinking with five or six other expats.

1 left from CM when his pension fell below 65k (exchange rates), 2 left when the Junta overthrew the elected government.

Most of them seemed happy enough living with much younger Cambodian girls, all moved over from Thailand.

I'm the last guy I know (out of my group) left in CM ..... only because of my two Thai children, the others already moved on.

[BritManToo]

4 hours ago, Kelsall said:

So will CM improve or get worse for retirees?

I'm thinking under the current government it will only get worst for white men trying to live here.

[madmen]

The truth is the expats that have left never could meet the 65k (not even close) . The rest is just noise.

No big loss to the economy there.

 

 

[jak2002003]

20 minutes ago, madmen said:

The truth is the expats that have left never could meet the 65k (not even close) . The rest is just noise.

No big loss to the economy there.

 

 

You are correct.  Most of the people who have to leave are just poor losers and social misfits, or a few that have made poor life decisions.  They puff themselves up with importance, thinking they are somehow vital to the Thai economy and by marring their bar girl wife they are doing some kind of charity work in this poor deprived 3rd world country. They are always the victims and never to blame for their own messed up lonely lives.   You could not believe the stuff I have heard such people spout.

 

The fact is if they can't afford to even deposit this money into a bank account they need to go back to their own country and sort out their lives, and realise the world (and Thailand) does not owe them a free easy living.  

 

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

You are correct.  Most of the people who have to leave are just poor losers and social misfits, or a few that have made poor life decisions.  They puff themselves up with importance, thinking they are somehow vital to the Thai economy and by marring their bar girl wife they are doing some kind of charity work in this poor deprived 3rd world country. They are always the victims and never to blame for their own messed up lonely lives.   You could not believe the stuff I have heard such people spout.

I would say exactly the opposite, the ones that I know who left have enough money to live where they like.

Only those of us stupid enough to have bought a house/wife/child and lacking enough to move them back to the west have stayed.

 

Don't know any really wealthy white guys that came to live here.

[Naam]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I would say exactly the opposite, the ones that I know who left have enough money to live where they like.

Only those of us stupid enough to have bought a house/wife/child and lacking enough to move them back to the west have stayed.

 

Don't know any really wealthy white guys that came to live here.

i know a fistful of very well off chaps, assuming you meant "caucasians" when writing "white" guys.

[Naam]

6 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

You are correct.  Most of the people who have to leave are just poor losers and social misfits, or a few that have made poor life decisions.  They puff themselves up with importance, thinking they are somehow vital to the Thai economy and by marring their bar girl wife they are doing some kind of charity work in this poor deprived 3rd world country. They are always the victims and never to blame for their own messed up lonely lives.   You could not believe the stuff I have heard such people spout.

 

The fact is if they can't afford to even deposit this money into a bank account they need to go back to their own country and sort out their lives, and realise the world (and Thailand) does not owe them a free easy living. 

i mught have given you a like were it not for the unfair statement

Quote

Most of the people who have to leave are just poor losers and social misfits, or a few that have made poor life decisions. 

 

[Naam]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

11 hours ago, Kelsall said:

So will CM improve or get worse for retirees?

I'm thinking under the current government it will only get worst for white men trying to live here.

being a German i don't consider myself "white". does that mean it won't get worse for me and i'll live happily ever after the already good 14 years i spent in Thailand? 

[Destiny1990]

For those farangs who haven’t left CM  yet by their plan A : more complicated visa laws will now be targeted with their plan B : which means to be smoked out. 

[marcusarelus]

I heard it is so bad even BJ is leaving.

[likerdup1]

I doubt there will be much difference. Remember there is a "high" season here in Thailand so there are a boat load of people who visit the country for the European and North American winters. Purge? Nah, likely a small dent in the population of expats.

 

That being said, I am sick of the Immigration hassle myself and have been exploring alternatives. I can afford the money for my 1 year extension of stay but I simply don't want to go through the hassle of making one more monetary commitment to the country. I'm getting tired of seeing how my hard earned cash gets kicked up to the top of the food chain and not really bettering the lives of many of the working people... I'll spend my money elsewhere I think. We'll see how it shakes out...

 

It would be nice to see a huge change after the retirement visa policies go into to place and Pattaya and Chang Mai and Bangkok suddenly take a huge leap back in the past when there were far fewer Russians, Chinese and overall foreigners around.. but sadly this is a PIPE DREAM ... there is no purge happening, just a simple small shuffling ... that will hardly make a dent in the tourism and expat numbers in country.