Thailand drops in ranking of best places for expats - but which country is number 1?

[mikebell]

On 9/6/2019 at 12:59 PM, bkk6060 said:

That is you talking about you.

It has become too expensive for you, the guest.

I still find it quite inexpensive 1/4 of my home country costs.

Not sure where your home country is.  Just back from my UK annual visit; the weather was rubbish but the cost of/quality of living was far superior to Thailand.

[Max69xl]

22 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Not sure where your home country is.  Just back from my UK annual visit; the weather was rubbish but the cost of/quality of living was far superior to Thailand.

Then you should maybe upgrade your living standards if you can afford it. Don't stay in a dump if it doesn't meet your requirements.

[Momofarang]

43 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

We can give credit to Thai Immigration for imposing further archaic rules to live long term in their country.

 

I am less and less inclined to blame to blame TI for the most recent exactions we are being submitted to. They have been sitting on the dumb TM30 for 40 years, and for good reasons. So this utter stupidity can only be explained by an order from above, or some ambitious inside idiot who want to please some greater idiot above.

[Melbun]

1 hour ago, CMNightRider said:

It's certainly no surprise Thailand has plummeted in popularity with western expats since the first of the year.  We can give credit to Thai Immigration for imposing further archaic rules to live long term in their country.  At this rate, it won't be long before Thailand falls to the ranking just above North Korea for best places to live.  Great job ????   

Bottom line. They don't care about expats. They have 30+ million tourists annually to keep the place buoyant.

[BillyB2008]

        Great choice, in my opinion. I am planning to check Portugal very soon. After almost 20 years in Thailand I am finally packing up. Bars and their chrome pole polisher are not appealing to me any more. 

What really turns me down in Thailand are the pollution and the constant changes in policies. Cost of living is no longer outweighing the other factors. The health insurance I had to pay for years in my home country is accepted in Portugal. Weather is great, no hassle with immigration, free to work if I wanted, can buy and own property in my name....

 

Don‘t get me wrong. I had a great time in Thailand. But the good relationship seems to end now. It is like in a marriage were one of the partners turned unfaithful. 

 

Sayonara Thailand. Good luck for the future. You might need it. ????

[Max69xl]

52 minutes ago, Melbun said:

Bottom line. They don't care about expats. They have 30+ million tourists annually to keep the place buoyant.

Immigration has nothing to do with crappy exchange rates, especially for the £. And it seems like some of you here on TVF still don't know about the reasons for 3 embassies not issuing income letters since 20190101. The rest of the embassies still issues them as usual. So instead of whining, blame the embassies. 

[ThomasThBKK]

Here's a list for retirees and other lazy beach bums like me who don't need to work here: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to-retire/

 

Thailand Nr2 in Asia, only Malaysia better. Vietnam far off.

 

 

[Melbun]

15 minutes ago, BillyB2008 said:

        Great choice, in my opinion. I am planning to check Portugal very soon. After almost 20 years in Thailand I am finally packing up. Bars and their chrome pole polisher are not appealing to me any more. 

What really turns me down in Thailand are the pollution and the constant changes in policies. Cost of living is no longer outweighing the other factors. The health insurance I had to pay for years in my home country is accepted in Portugal. Weather is great, no hassle with immigration, free to work if I wanted, can buy and own property in my name....

 

Don‘t get me wrong. I had a great time in Thailand. But the good relationship seems to end now. It is like in a marriage were one of the partners turned unfaithful. 

 

Sayonara Thailand. Good luck for the future. You might need it. ????

It's definitely a case of familiarity breeding contempt. You don't even like the women. Back pedal 20 years and it would be as exciting as it is for the current tourists. Thailand hasn't changed - you have . It's evolved and it doesn't suit you now.  Simple as that. Don't worry - keep chasing your dream.

[ThomasThBKK]

Just now, Max69xl said:

Immigration has nothing to do with crappy exchange rates, especially for the £. And it seems like some of you here on TVF still don't know about the reasons for 3 embassies not issuing income letters since 20190101. The rest of the embassies still issues them as usual. So instead of whining, blame the embassies. 

What's the official reason?

 

Imho i think the reason is because of those countries complex pension systems, there's a mess of 401k, Roth, IRA, private pensions etc in the USA that is impossible for an embassy to check.

Meanwhile all european countries have a simple state pension system and those embassies can just look and printout what you get from the state pension.

That's the only thing the german embassy does, if you have private pensions in germany they can't verify that either.

[ThaiBunny]

Just now, ThomasThBKK said:

Imho i think the reason is because of those countries complex pension systems, there's a mess of 401k, Roth, IRA, private pensions etc in the USA that is impossible for an embassy to check.

And that's not even going anywhere near the people who have lived and worked in a number of countries so have pensions or part-pensions from two or more countries. I've a friend who has four pensions from two different countries

[Max69xl]

5 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

What's the official reason?

 

Imho i think the reason is because of those countries complex pension systems, there's a mess of 401k, Roth, IRA, private pensions etc in the USA that is impossible for an embassy to check.

Meanwhile all european countries have a simple state pension system and those embassies can just look and printout what you get from the state pension.

That's the only thing the german embassy does, if you have private pensions in germany they can't verify that either.

In many western countries you have a part of the pension from insurance companies and private retirement funds in banks. Those companies and banks issues stamped and signed statements which are 100% reliable,and the embassies and consulates knows that,hence no problem what so ever when issuing the income letters. There has been sworn affidavits from the 3 embassies instead of stamped and signed statements. Immigration told them to produce reliable income letters like some other embassies. For some strange reasons they didn't comply. Go figure. The UK Embassy said late last year "they weren't experts in verifying documents". What does that mean? 

[Max69xl]

10 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

And that's not even going anywhere near the people who have lived and worked in a number of countries so have pensions or part-pensions from two or more countries. I've a friend who has four pensions from two different countries

That's not very unusual. If it's inside the EU, it's not a big problem. You should be able to get the statements from the other country. If it's Bulgaria, ok, then you might have a problem.

[Max69xl]

51 minutes ago, BillyB2008 said:

        Great choice, in my opinion. I am planning to check Portugal very soon. After almost 20 years in Thailand I am finally packing up. Bars and their chrome pole polisher are not appealing to me any more. 

What really turns me down in Thailand are the pollution and the constant changes in policies. Cost of living is no longer outweighing the other factors. The health insurance I had to pay for years in my home country is accepted in Portugal. Weather is great, no hassle with immigration, free to work if I wanted, can buy and own property in my name....

 

Don‘t get me wrong. I had a great time in Thailand. But the good relationship seems to end now. It is like in a marriage were one of the partners turned unfaithful. 

 

Sayonara Thailand. Good luck for the future. You might need it. ????

If you come from within the EU,you don't need a private health insurance when staying in Portugal. 

[ThomasThBKK]

9 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

That's not very unusual. If it's inside the EU, it's not a big problem. You should be able to get the statements from the other country. If it's Bulgaria, ok, then you might have a problem.

Yes indeed, you need to go to Hanoi because they replaced the Bulgarian embassy here with a soapy massage and the honorary consul is a truck seller that is only interested in selling you farming gear.

 

 

[Max69xl]

4 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Yes indeed, you need to go to Hanoi because they replaced the Bulgarian embassy here with a soapy massage and the honorary consul is a truck seller that is only interested in selling you farming gear.

 

 

I have never seen tourists from Romania or Bulgaria here in Thailand. There must be some of them of course,all of them can't be poor. But they only get a 15 days Visa On Arrival at the airport. 

[ThomasThBKK]

11 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

If you come from within the EU,you don't need a private health insurance when staying in Portugal. 

Only if you are in your home countries health care system which most here prolly aren't anymore, at least i am not.

 

You can get 2 year healthcare there subsidised/free portuguese healthcare filling out this form, called S1: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/social-security-forms/index_en.htm

 

After that you need to pay into the SNS (Portugals NHS), but it only covers a percentage, you have to pay quite a lot for treatments. if you have ongoing health issues then private healt care is cheaper in portugal...but they also don't want you once you are too old over 70, if you are over 55 then it's even hard to get into the private healthcare system, same as here.

 

If you are self employed u need to register with the SSI, then go to a local healt centre... You need residence permit, tax number, proof of address etc...

i found it way more expensive there compared to my thai health insurance, keep that in mind...

 

[ThomasThBKK]

4 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

I have never seen tourists from Romania or Bulgaria here in Thailand. There must be some of them of course,all of them can't be poor. But they only get a 15 days Visa On Arrival at the airport. 

I have a company in bulgaria, that's why i have to deal with the embassys, and always have to go to hanoi, embassy doesnt exist here anymore.

That was my first hand experience, all entries for bulgarian embassy here on google maps are now soapy massage places.

 

 

 

[Max69xl]

5 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Only if you are in your home countries health care system which most here prolly aren't anymore, at least i am not.

 

You can get 2 year healthcare there subsidised/free portuguese healthcare filling out this form, called S1: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/social-security-forms/index_en.htm

 

After that you need to pay into the SNS (Portugals NHS), but it only covers a percentage, you have to pay quite a lot for treatments. if you have ongoing health issues then private healt care is cheaper in portugal...but they also don't want you once you are too old over 70, if you are over 55 then it's even hard to get into the private healthcare system, same as here.

 

If you are self employed u need to register with the SSI, then go to a local healt centre... You need residence permit, tax number, proof of address etc...

i found it way more expensive there compared to my thai health insurance, keep that in mind...

 

If you're living within in EU, with a free EU health insurance card you will get free necessary health care within EU,EES + a few other European countries.

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=559

[Max69xl]

12 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

I have a company in bulgaria, that's why i have to deal with the embassys, and always have to go to hanoi, embassy doesnt exist here anymore.

That was my first hand experience, all entries for bulgarian embassy here on google maps are now soapy massage places.

 

 

 

I'd guess with no established companies in Thailand or any tourists they won't need an embassy. Sometimes a neighboring country helps out when citizens needs help. 

[mindfulness]

won’t be long now until the tourism really begins to dry up. All those years it took to build up the long term stayers and tourism. Totally ruined over the past 5 years. Somewhat like the coral reefs, it will be a long time to recoup the numbers. 

Karmic ! 

 

Ph uk’ tards ! 

[Melbun]

13 minutes ago, mindfulness said:

won’t be long now until the tourism really begins to dry up. All those years it took to build up the long term stayers and tourism. Totally ruined over the past 5 years. Somewhat like the coral reefs, it will be a long time to recoup the numbers. 

Karmic ! 

 

Ph uk’ tards ! 

Coral reefs ??? LOL you mean old barnacles. Thais are busy scraping all the hangers on - the old barnacles hehehe.

[Max69xl]

14 minutes ago, mindfulness said:

won’t be long now until the tourism really begins to dry up. All those years it took to build up the long term stayers and tourism. Totally ruined over the past 5 years. Somewhat like the coral reefs, it will be a long time to recoup the numbers. 

Karmic ! 

 

Ph uk’ tards ! 

"totally ruined over the past 5 years" ??

The only expats that I know of with real financial problems comes from the UK,and many of them blame Brexit for the weak £ starting 2016. Then BoJo made the £ fall another 5 baht when he became PM. Tourism started to go down last year when many currencies fell against the baht,and it's worse now. Expats from the UK got more problems when they couldn't get income letters from 20190101.

So I don't know what you are talking about when you say "totally ruined over the past 5 years". 

 

[madmen]

34 minutes ago, mindfulness said:

won’t be long now until the tourism really begins to dry up. All those years it took to build up the long term stayers and tourism. Totally ruined over the past 5 years. Somewhat like the coral reefs, it will be a long time to recoup the numbers. 

Karmic ! 

 

Ph uk’ tards ! 

huh? You're in dreamland. The Ozzie pension is now 35k and POM's are worse. None obviously have any insurance, not on those numbers. Thailand never " built " them up they don'teven register when 30 million are coming in !!!

[Melbun]

20 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

"totally ruined over the past 5 years" ??

The only expats that I know of with real financial problems comes from the UK,and many of them blame Brexit for the weak £ starting 2016. Then BoJo made the £ fall another 5 baht when he became PM. Tourism started to go down last year when many currencies fell against the baht,and it's worse now. Expats from the UK got more problems when they couldn't get income letters from 20190101.

So I don't know what you are talking about when you say "totally ruined over the past 5 years". 

 

"Totally ruined over the last 5 years" ?? This joker is being all weepy and emotional. Just 1 month ago I was over in BKK. And for a country totally ruined, there were thousands in Terminal 21 alone and most soi's were busy -as were the service providers. The BTS & MRT were packed as usual with Thai's and Anglo's alike going about there business - as usual. Did not witness any Thais's weeping about there ruined country.

[madmen]

6 minutes ago, Melbun said:

"Totally ruined over the last 5 years" ?? This joker is being all weepy and emotional. Just 1 month ago I was over in BKK. And for a country totally ruined, there were thousands in Terminal 21 alone and most soi's were busy -as were the service providers. The BTS & MRT were packed as usual with Thai's and Anglo's alike going about there business - as usual. Did not witness any Thais's weeping about there ruined country.

Yes I live lower sukhumvit and confirm your post is true. Also Master card just released stats confirming Bangkok is the most visited city on the planet 3 years in a row!! with average 4.7 nights stay..just goes to prove imbicile basher's are clueless

 

 

[Catoni]

On 9/6/2019 at 4:29 AM, EricTh said:

Take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Thailand at 25 is still better than USA at 45 but why do so many people want to migrate to USA?

    I’ll assume you’re just joking that you don’t know. 

[Catoni]

19 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Here's a list for retirees and other lazy beach bums like me who don't need to work here: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/best-countries-to-retire/

 

Thailand Nr2 in Asia, only Malaysia better. Vietnam far off.

 

 

What’s so great about Malaysia? I would assume Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos would be better. 

[FruitPudding]

On 9/6/2019 at 5:30 AM, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

 

Vietnam rocks.

[quadperfect]

On 9/6/2019 at 11:30 AM, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

I am also surprised as my gf is viet and she cant live here in thailand anymore. Though she would prefer. I have been to viet 3 times. Thats it no more the place has zero apeal. Its hotter,wetter,dirtyier,crowded,boring,more expensive with big brother in youre face.

Give me thailand with all its problems any day.

[ThomasThBKK]

5 hours ago, Catoni said:

What’s so great about Malaysia? I would assume Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos would be better. 

 

About the country itself, well for me it isn't a place.

But the list shows why it's ranked high:

 

Safe Visa and Healthcare, stuff Vietnam is absolutely lacking.

 

Their visa sheme? Well it's quite close to a permanent residency, 10 year visas once granted and renewable without issues but you lock up 80-160k USD in a fixed deposit account.

 

Personally, honestly think thai elite 20 years, retirement, marriage visa shemes here are way better value for money.

 

Vietnam, Cambo and Laos don't have any of these shemes at all, do they? So what's better there long term?

If your priorities isn't cheap cheap cheap then none of those countries have anything over thailand and malaysia.

 

I want stability and security, decent health system and a secure visas, that's far more important then the price difference of a beer in a bar.

 

 singapore, korea, japan or portugal, spain, greece would be something to look at for me. 

 

The least i want is to live in an even more messed up country, each to his own i guess.