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

[beautifulthailand99]

On 4/18/2019 at 3:02 PM, MickeyDelux said:

This seems like a no-brainer. The folks who are knowingly and repeatedly breaking the immigration law are being 'purged' (using the OP's language) shouldn't be here in the first place. Chances are they are breaking other laws or are living in a manner dangerous to themselves or others. No doubt some are like parasites on unsuspecting or kind Thai's or Westerns. And what do they contribute to improve the quality of life of the community? Someone said they do their shopping at the small mom and pop stores which will miss their business once they're gone. Are you serious? This is a contribution? Having an income means I can support and improve my life and the life of my family. We live in and maintain a home, which supports the community and property values. We pay car tax, fuel tax, toll road tax, airfare tax which leads to improvements in the transportation infrastructure and jobs. We buy luxury goods which allows upscale property improvements such as shopping malls and requires international trade exchanges. We frequent fine dining restaurants which provide better job opportunities and pay for Thai people. Yes, we're only one household. But the Western who is living here in a cheap room, eating cheap food and wearing cheap clothes is really in need of help and not helping the economy. Please don't say you're living like a Thai. The Thai's that live in a cheap room, eat cheap food and wear cheap clothes are most likely trying to improve their situation or are in need of help themselves. The Western who has settled into this low lifestyle is showing the signs of mental illness.  And if you're living here and don't feel the need to be a contributing member of the community, then you should move to a place where you do. 

Crikey I'm not short of a bob or too but 5 minutes in your braying company I would seek out my tattooed , singlet wearing , Brexit loving nemeses . They still think you're an inadequate whoremonger back in your own country though - and wonder why you have settled to live in a world famous sex tourist destination - spoken or unspoken. And one day some psycho Thai high on farang hate and yaba might see your gilded ivory tower as a citadel worth 'purging'. 

[beautifulthailand99]

On 4/19/2019 at 12:04 PM, MickeyDelux said:

exclusionist

You're are entitled to your opinion. I choose to live differently than you and thankfully that is still allowed. What I truly enjoy about living here in Thailand is that with my humble income I'm able to help and improve the lives of people by spending money. What you call materialistic and exclusionistic , I see as giving back.  I've yet to hear anyone I've given money to as a gift or a business where I've made a purchase say they feel marginalized. Your thinking on the subject of money says a lot about you. I hope you can see that taking care of others is the best thing anyone can do in this life. I've been lucky enough to be living here for over 11 years while supporting a family (fyi - it isn't a farang family). We do a lot of traveling and while we've be to many nice places, ChiangMai even with it's smoke and the bitter farangs, is still our home. I hope you can find some peace in my words. God bless you.

I do a lot of work for 'charidee' but don't like to talk about it. Oh and you are poisoning your children in one of the most polluted cities on earth - but hey  you're taking care of them aren't you ? 

[beautifulthailand99]

On 4/22/2019 at 12:19 PM, MickeyDelux said:

I've heard many westerners give a disparaging evaluation of Thai Banks.

What I find curious is that these same people, having the advantage of living their entire working life in the west,  never managed their finances well enough to easily meet the Thai immigration requirements for retirement, yet they feel very confident in their evaluation of the Thai Banking system.

On a 5 year annual sojourn to find a place to retire too (we decided that 3/4 months would be more than enough in the end) CM was my initial 1st choice - I spent a month there back in 2012 and the smoke ,coughing and air quality quickly crossed that one off the list. I also thought there would be a better quality of farang there as well - but if you are typical of the expat CM retiree then that would have been an equal 1st reason not to live there. Have a condo in Jomtien now - never regretted that choice for 1 minute. I've bragged and brayed here as well to my shame but seeing your words and how I react to them has given me food for thought as to how to express myself on TVF without coming over as a cult. 

[CMNightRider]

16 hours ago, CMBob said:

Your constant negative attitude is rather amazing and, presuming you live here, one wonders why you continue to do so.

I don't agree at all with your premise.  Everybody I know here in Chiangmai finds CM Immigration requirements to be relatively easy to comply with.  As to your health insurance comment, nobody who is now in Thailand has to comply with it (it only applies to those who obtain an O-A visa in their home country after October 30th).

I find it hard to believe, you and your friends "find CM Immigration requirements to be relatively easy to comply with."  I don't know of any western expat who lives in Thailand, who doesn't think Thai Immigration requirements are over the top, with some of these requirements being actually idiotic. 

 

You people must vacation in North Korea, to think Thai Immigration requirements are reasonable.  Hang on Bobby Boy, because I don't believe immigration is finished with coming up with more loony ideas to impose on westerners living in Thailand. ????   

[Gweiloman]

I find it hard to believe, you and your friends "find CM Immigration requirements to be relatively easy to comply with."  I don't know of any western expat who lives in Thailand, who doesn't think Thai Immigration requirements are over the top, with some of these requirements being actually idiotic. 
 
You people must vacation in North Korea, to think Thai Immigration requirements are reasonable.  Hang on Bobby Boy, because I don't believe immigration is finished with coming up with more loony ideas to impose on westerners living in Thailand. [emoji846]   

Thai immigration requirements are, as you said, over the top and idiotic. That however is not the fault of CM immigration.
I find CM immigration easy to deal with and all in all, less painful than Jomtien, mainly because of less foreigners and more space.


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[EricTh]

I went to the Thai restaurant in Nimman several times this month and the shop was mostly empty unlike in the past where there are tons of people there waiting for their food.

 

I told the lady manager of the restaurant that it's awfully quiet and she nodded.

 

Mind you, this isn't the hot weather low season.

 

Is this a sign that the farangs and Chinese tourist have left Thailand for greener pastures?

 

[MiNombreEsFicticious]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:37 PM, likerdup1 said:

 They sell a very consistent western menu of two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese on a sesame seed bun.

Hello, pickles? What about onions? Get with program, man. 

[johnmcc6]

I know 5 who have left. A couple are very wealthy so it is not just about  the money.Needing 800k in the bank is flat out extortion. If there are only 100 using this method it means the banks have eighty million on deposit earning stuff  all interest (which is taxed) that they can then lend out at 7% to car and condo buyers. I wonder who the banks share the free money with?

[johnmcc6]

On 10/10/2019 at 7:10 PM, beautifulthailand99 said:

On a 5 year annual sojourn to find a place to retire too (we decided that 3/4 months would be more than enough in the end) CM was my initial 1st choice - I spent a month there back in 2012 and the smoke ,coughing and air quality quickly crossed that one off the list. I also thought there would be a better quality of farang there as well - but if you are typical of the expat CM retiree then that would have been an equal 1st reason not to live there. Have a condo in Jomtien now - never regretted that choice for 1 minute. I've bragged and brayed here as well to my shame but seeing your words and how I react to them has given me food for thought as to how to express myself on TVF without coming over as a cult. 

99 you forget many people got wiped out by illness or accident. Glad you made it unscathed,

[Gweiloman]

I know 5 who have left. A couple are very wealthy so it is not just about  the money.Needing 800k in the bank is flat out extortion. If there are only 100 using this method it means the banks have eighty million on deposit earning stuff  all interest (which is taxed) that they can then lend out at 7% to car and condo buyers. I wonder who the banks share the free money with?

Strange couple. I am not very wealthy yet I keep more than Thb800k in the bank as it’s just prudent to have cash reserves for emergencies. Also, I earn interest on it (2%) which in my opinion is not too bad, considering where I used to park my cash.


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[Dante99]

2 hours ago, johnmcc6 said:

Needing 800k in the bank is flat out extortion. 

No it is not John but enjoy your drama.

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed.  

 

[stament]

Purge? How boring... thought it was like the film where we would really get to reduce numbers????

[Kelsall]

The purge keeps on keepin' on....

 

 

[Gweiloman]

2 hours ago, Kelsall said:

The purge keeps on keepin' on....

 

 

CM immigration is renewing their efforts by trying to revert to their old practice of forcing foreigners to start queuing at 3 am. 

[Sparkles]

3 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

CM immigration is renewing their efforts by trying to revert to their old practice of forcing foreigners to start queuing at 3 am. 

I was at Immigration for retirement extension at 8.30 am last Wednesday, got ticket number 31 Had found out late the night before a new Imm boss was in town and was insisting a bank statement (using 800,000 b fixed term account method) was required as well as the normal bank letter showing balance the day before plus of course the passbook and photocopies of pages

 

I took of for BB, KSK and waited for them to open ,got the statement, another 100 baht and was back at Imm by 11.15 am .By then no 25 was being processed.Got out by 1.15pm so no where as bad as the days at Promenada.

 

Re entry & 90 day reporting queues were turning over very quickly and counters were staffed during lunch time.

 

Doesn't guarantee it will continue to be efficient but no comparison to 2 years back

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/18/2019 at 12:45 PM, Kelsall said:

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?

I always expected a rise to a million, permanently in the bank. Easy way to remove the riff raff.

 

However, back in the real world, the requirements for health insurance might send more on their way than a rise in the financial requirement. I don't know why it wasn't always a requirement for a non O or OA visa.

[ben2talk]

I fail to see how another retiree staying or leaving would make any difference to any other retiree staying...

 

One thing I do see is that for anyone forced to leave, there's a high chance that a family could be broken up for no apparently good reason - it's not as if they'll be claiming any kind of benefits by staying here.

[Gweiloman]

18 hours ago, Sparkles said:

I was at Immigration for retirement extension at 8.30 am last Wednesday, got ticket number 31 Had found out late the night before a new Imm boss was in town and was insisting a bank statement (using 800,000 b fixed term account method) was required as well as the normal bank letter showing balance the day before plus of course the passbook and photocopies of pages

 

I took of for BB, KSK and waited for them to open ,got the statement, another 100 baht and was back at Imm by 11.15 am .By then no 25 was being processed.Got out by 1.15pm so no where as bad as the days at Promenada.

 

Re entry & 90 day reporting queues were turning over very quickly and counters were staffed during lunch time.

 

Doesn't guarantee it will continue to be efficient but no comparison to 2 years back

I was no. 24 on that same day lol. I started queuing at 7.30 am. This was only my 2nd extension in CM so can’t compare it to the Promenada days but it was definitely less good than last year. Last year, I went in the afternoon and it was no issue getting a ticket etc and being processed the same day. 

[Gweiloman]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I always expected a rise to a million, permanently in the bank. Easy way to remove the riff raff.

 

However, back in the real world, the requirements for health insurance might send more on their way than a rise in the financial requirement. I don't know why it wasn't always a requirement for a non O or OA visa.

Logical thinking is alien to Thai mentality.
If health insurance becomes mandatory for non O, then I will not be able to qualify for future extensions due to a pre-existing condition. I will then sadly be forced to sell off my assets and retire to another country or my home country. Not that big a deal, will just have to accept some financial loss. 

[Sparkles]

33 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

I was no. 24 on that same day lol. I started queuing at 7.30 am. This was only my 2nd extension in CM so can’t compare it to the Promenada days but it was definitely less good than last year. Last year, I went in the afternoon and it was no issue getting a ticket etc and being processed the same day. 

It's a bit pot luck.I always avoid weeks with public holidays and Mondays and Fridays doesn't leave a lot left. The old thread has gone but at Promenada people were sleeping in their cars overnight or hiring a line sitter, for 300 baht, who spent the night there.It was like a refugee camp.

[Sparkles]

36 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Logical thinking is alien to Thai mentality.
If health insurance becomes mandatory for non O, then I will not be able to qualify for future extensions due to a pre-existing condition. I will then sadly be forced to sell off my assets and retire to another country or my home country. Not that big a deal, will just have to accept some financial loss. 

I'm in the same boat at 78 with pre existing conditions but very happily married for 15 years to my lovely Thai wife, then it gets really complicated. Apparently I fall into thaibeachlovers riff raff category as 1 m is beyond me

[daveAustin]

Yes, surprised they haven't gone with the 1M + mandatory insurance yet. Guess they'll get to eventually once their done with Pattaya. 

[Odysseus123]

14 hours ago, Sparkles said:

I'm in the same boat at 78 with pre existing conditions but very happily married for 15 years to my lovely Thai wife, then it gets really complicated. Apparently I fall into thaibeachlovers riff raff category as 1 m is beyond me

"thaibeachlovers riff raff category"

..which apparently includes himself as he has stated a number of times on this forum that lack of funds forced him to return to his home country..wherever that is.

 

I love the smell of grandiosity in the morning.

[rott]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:22 PM, mngmn said:

Please share! Where does one find these 'fine dining restaurants'?

MickeyDelux only lasted three months on here, so perhaps he couldn't find any either. 

 

It's his birthday a week on Friday, I wonder if he's found anywhere good enough to go to. 

[BritManToo]

On 12/23/2019 at 8:44 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

I always expected a rise to a million, permanently in the bank. Easy way to remove the riff raff.

 

However, back in the real world, the requirements for health insurance might send more on their way than a rise in the financial requirement. I don't know why it wasn't always a requirement for a non O or OA visa.

I don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with health insurance.

Learn to die with dignity when your time comes, Thai surgeons cutting you open in your old age won't cure anything.

[Crossy]

This is a pretty old thread and many things have changed.

 

So closed, for now.

 

If anyone has a REALLY good reason to re-open feel free to PM myself or any online Mod with your case.