Bailing Out / Jumpin Ship

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Captain 776 said:

Leaving for where?

The ever present dangers in Phils?

or

Perhaps the Wild West of Cambodia........where you can be shot in Phnom Phen in broad daylight with 50 witnesses and no ne saw anything?

please enlighten me.

Never had any problems in either country (or Vietnam).

Was drugged and mugged in Chiang Mai once, when I first arrived here.

And the Thai police try to steal from me almost every time I drive round the moat, or turn right onto the superhighway from Chang Puak Road. Drove through an illegal checkpoint on the road from Tesco to the moat on Friday, just picked me out of a crowd of Thais, as the only foreigner, but I just drove through (as I nearly always do these days).

Edited December 22, 2019 by BritManToo

[ThomasThBKK]

34 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

I have US Social Security at $1293 USD per month. So, half my funds are from my own savings. No, the US government cannot demand, under privacy rights to investigate and confirm my income and I would note the US retirement funds come from hundreds of sources. OK, so that is the US and Germany(assuming you are German and can speak to the German system which provides the minimum 65K baht income per month) we have dealt with. Now for the hundreds of other countries ...

 

You are telling us your that the US Embassy cannot notarize a copy of the official pension letter each year.

They don't want, all they want to do is notarize SIGNATURES/SWORN AFFIDAVIT - exactly the <deleted> everyone can just make up.

 

Every other country notarizes true copies. That's all the Thais want. They don't check the pension db or anything, they just check your pension letter is correct, but that seems to be too much for the 3 embassies. It's a standard procedure in the normal world, like it's also standard to use the metric system. 

 

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/notaries-public/certification-true-copies-documents/

 

Quote

We often get requests to certify true copies of educational transcripts or diplomas, bank statements, court documents, or other such official records. Unfortunately, our offices cannot ordinarily provide certified true copies of documents.

 

 

 

I not only speak for the german embassy, i also successfully notarized true copies bulgarian (tho the bulgarian embassy is now a soapy massage shop), czech and spanish documents here.

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

IMHO to retire, one merely requires to be old.

I personally defined 'old' as over 45, but am happy for others that want to hold out until 65.

Apparently not, According to Thai Immigration.. 

5 hours ago, yogi100 said:

Be real, Few people are ever gonna have the equivalent of $250k in assets and a pension or other income when they retire.

Perhaps you are confusing assets with liquid assets. If one owns a home paid for, in most markets one has assets of $250,000 

In the US , the average 401K account is worth  about $100k ,notice the note at the bottom of the graph.

https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/average-401k-balance-by-age/

One needs to make certain investments in life, have a bit of a plan. monitor the plan to see how it performs, make adequate adjustments . One does not does not blindly set out . bouncing of walls. and hope one will end up at a good place.   

   Don't think that I was not tempted to retire at an earlier age, but I was not ready. I often wonder and worry if I am ready now. It is a big decision, a final decision. 

 We all know Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper. 

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Don't think that I was not tempted to retire at an earlier age, but I was not ready. I often wonder and worry if I am ready now. It is a big decision, a final decision. 

Let's hope you have long enough time left to enjoy your retirement.

So many guys I know retire one year and die the next.

[moe666]

On Wed. renewed my extension of stay for marriage. Yes it was a bit of a head achebut all said and done not much harder than the past extensions. I did see plenty of people in immigration getting their extensions done and others picking up paper work for tomorrow. As someone said earlier that alot of people leaving where here on a shoe string and with the new changes could no longer meet the new requirements.

[HHTel]

4 hours ago, yogi100 said:

But a fair few of 'em have set up families who are partly or entirely dependent upon them. These expats are very important to them and IF the govt are bothered about these families they might be pressured into being a bit more hospitable towards these breadwinners.

I agree but I imagine you're mistaking this government of being one that cares.  Nah.  They don't and demonstrate it regularly.

[sirineou]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Let's hope you have long enough time left to enjoy your retirement.

So many guys I know retire one year and die the next.

That's always a danger, don't think I have not thought about that. IMO one needs to find the sweet spot between readiness to retire and amount of life remaining.  But that's another story.

  This story is about "Bailing out jumping ship" and the complains one hears about Thailand , and there are legitimate complains to be sure, but IMO , the 800K requirement is not a legitimate complaint. If one (for good reasons of their own) decided to take early retirement before one was financially ready, That is not the Thais problem.  

[Samuel Smith]

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Let's hope you have long enough time left to enjoy your retirement.

So many guys I know retire one year and die the next.

Retired at 33.  Living here since 1999.  Being a proper northerner, careful with my money...

[Deerculler]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I would leave if only I could sell my children ............

Only asking 5MBht for my daughter, University Educated, never worked in a bar, no previous boyfriends, etc., etc.

Everyone is entitled to say what they think and feel as long as there is no offence

[Deerculler]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

In Vietnam, a Viet spouse/child gets you a 5 year VISA for $50.

In the Philippines a Filipino spouse gets you a 1 year VISA free.

 

Thailand doesn't give a fig about families, and they sure let us know it.

The Philippines you can join Phil Health and the subscriptions are very reasonable.

Phil Health pays 50 percent you pay the other 50 percent.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Never had any problems in either country (or Vietnam).

Was drugged and mugged in Chiang Mai once, when I first arrived here.

And the Thai police try to steal from me almost every time I drive round the moat, or turn right onto the superhighway from Chang Puak Road. Drove through an illegal checkpoint on the road from Tesco to the moat on Friday, just picked me out of a crowd of Thais, as the only foreigner, but I just drove through (as I nearly always do these days).

 I've driven around the moat inside and out dozens of times, stopped a couple of times to check my scooter licence, end of story. Never had a shakedown in ten years. Got fined 200 baht once for going past a do not enter sign on Loi Kroh, cop was very pleasant and fair enough.

Never been drugged or mugged. Stay out of bars nowadays, most bargirls are well past their use-by date anyway.

Is there something in your appearance or demeanor that has the police targeting you? I've never had a problem.

 

[sirineou]

1 minute ago, Deerculler said:

The Philippines you can join Phil Health and the subscriptions are very reasonable.

Phil Health pays 50 percent you pay the other 50 percent.

Why can't Thailand have something similar, and at the same time solve the supposed hospital shortfall problem?  Because IMO this is not to solve some alleged shortfall problem but a money making opportunity. 

 

[Puchaiyank]

7 hours ago, jimn said:

And yet you are still glued to Thai Visa?

As an advocate for truth and clarity, I have a responsibility to the naive to bring a touch of reality to the fantasy that Thailand is the best place on earth...

 

If that upsets people like you...a Thai apologist...then my message is getting through...makes me happy when people like you complain...☺

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

You are telling us your that the US Embassy cannot notarize a copy of the official pension letter each year.

They don't want, all they want to do is notarize SIGNATURES/SWORN AFFIDAVIT - exactly the <deleted> everyone can just make up.

 

Every other country notarizes true copies. That's all the Thais want. They don't check the pension db or anything, they just check your pension letter is correct, but that seems to be too much for the 3 embassies. It's a standard procedure in the normal world, like it's also standard to use the metric system. 

 

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/notaries-public/certification-true-copies-documents/

 

 

 

 

I not only speak for the german embassy, i also successfully notarized true copies bulgarian (tho the bulgarian embassy is now a soapy massage shop), czech and spanish documents here.

What I am stating is  that I only have a government Social Security payment of $1293.00 USD per month that the US Embassy can verify from a government source. I am stating to any interested that I do not have any other “pension”. My funds are invested in the stock market and I am free to withdraw funds on my own decision amount. The US government does not have the right to verify how much I have available in total nor what I personally decide to withdraw. It is a different system than many European countries have in having only one government pension source. I am quite willing to state my retirement situation but please understand dealing with US citizen retirement would necessitate accessing thousands of records from various sources, which is forbidden under privacy rights laws.

Edited December 22, 2019 by wwest5829

[NordicDemon]

6 hours ago, baansgr said:

Lots are going to Vietnam but that's tedious with max three months...

I agree, it's possible for some to get a one-year visa though. One of the things Vietnam does right, in my opinion, is giving a foreign national the option of permanent residency when the person is the spouse, parent or child of a Vietnamese citizen residing permanently in Vietnam. The path towards citizenship is also fairly straight-forward as foreign nationals may apply for Vietnamese citizenship after being permanent residents for five years.

[Caine]

On 12/21/2019 at 4:30 PM, ezzra said:

Indeed, things got somewhat tougher in the past few years and some of the requirements got tedious and absurd, but whoever can fill those requirements, which by the way are fair and straight forward if you're a retiree and have some money put aside, those people can stay in the kingdom like for as long as they like, where's shoestings stayers will find it ever more difficult...

Load of <deleted> I could probably buy and sell you, but can't be doing with all the hoops we need to jump through and the obvious fact they are consumed with jealousy and hate the sight of us. Which happens to be mutual after many years of experiencing it. That's why I'm off.

[ThomasThBKK]

3 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

What I am stating is  that I only have a government Social Security payment of $1293.00 USD per month that the US Embassy can verify from a government source. I am stating to any interested that I do not have any other “pension”. My funds are invested in the stock market and I am free to withdraw funds on my own decision amount. The US government does not have the right to verify how much I have available in total nor what I personally decide to withdraw. It is a different system than many European countries have in having only one government pension source. I am quite willing to state my retirement situation but please understand dealing with US citizen retirement would necessitate accessing thousands of records from various sources, which is forbidden under privacy rights laws.

No it's the same.

 

We have tons of different pension systems from private to public too and only the classic government shemes can be attested by the german embassy.

Germans who don't have the 65k THB monthly in one of the two government shemes never had the chance to just claim they do, that's why you don't hear them complaining, they are simply not affected. They either had the 65k before that already and nothing changed or they use the other bank method, or they never even made it into thailand.

 

 

 

But from what i understand even the 1293 USD you have cannot be notarized at the embassy anymore, even if it was above 65k THB. That's the difference. The thays no longer accept the sworn affidavit rubbish, they want a notarization like every other embassy does.

[BritManToo]

42 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Is there something in your appearance or demeanor that has the police targeting you?

Maybe they don't like my Liverpool football shirt.

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, Caine said:

Load of <deleted> I could probably buy and sell you, but can't be doing with all the hoops we need to jump through and the obvious fact they are consumed with jealousy and hate the sight of us. Which happens to be mutual after many years of experiencing it. That's why I'm off.

I agree with you, can't understand all the apologists saying it's all so easy and reasonable.

There'd be rioting on the streets if UK immigration tried all this nonsense with foreigners in the UK. 

[DaRoadrunner]

23 hours ago, DannyCarlton said:

Took me 20 minutes last week. Didn't have to show any "savings/insurance, or queue in any immigration offices at all". Cheaper than last year too.

Could you enlighten us as to how this was achieved?

[Suradit69]

On 12/21/2019 at 3:52 PM, FritsSikkink said:

I think they didn't have the means to get a proper visa for many years and now that there are stricter controls, they can't afford to live here anymore.

Yes, all the recent changes in the process for renewal have been a pain in the derriere, but essentially for retirement extensions you need Baht 800,000 in the bank or proof of at least Baht 65,000 in incoming deposits from overseas per month.  "Proof" is a little less easy for the latter, but the amounts remain the same as before. The only significant change is that you have to bring the money into the country each month rather than just claiming that the income is available somewhere.

 

The insurance issue that  does not impact those on marriage extensions and only some (including me) retirees is irksome. I think it's sensible for anyone here to be covered, especially those who are older (including me). But since I have perfectly adequate medical insurance that I've been using here for more than a decade, being forced to buy an expensive policy locally is a kick in the wallet.

 

Still, the issue about proving income was instigated by three embassies in Bangkok, not initially by the Thai government. The insurance issue was largely based on farang who ran up large medical bills they had no way of paying.

 

Being unable to produce proof of the income you've been claiming you had for many year  or possessing no way to pay large medical bills, isn't really the fault of the Thai government. 

 

 

[simon43]

So many guys I know retire one year and die the next.

 

I have no plans at all to retire, at least not until I'm 100.....

[madmen]

On 12/21/2019 at 7:18 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Yours is a vastly oversimplified post and comment. Yes, the loss of income affidavits caught some folks out. But there were/are many others who had previously used the income affidavits and DO have the monthly income, but may also have expenses in their home country, may have their income arrive irregularly instead of exactly monthly, may not like the hassles and expense of having to do exactly 12 monthly international transfers, and then have Immigration say NO because one of them fell on the 31st of the month instead of the 1st, etc etc.

They would be the minority that have the income but couldn't be arsed. The very vast majority never had the 800k or the 65k eg Australia and the UK were NEVER EVER 65k. This is proven to be absolute and undeniable fact since ALL of the exodus threads started straight after the embassies shut it all down. Just a massive coincidence? I doooont think so matey !!

 

Pensioners came to Thailand to stretch their pension and the embassy loophole was to good to be true and you know what that means. 

 

 

[Solinvictus]

I haven't read through all the pages, but normally on TV there should be comment something like this in the thread:

 

"Don't let the door hit them on the way out."

 

What happened this time? Or maybe I missed it.

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, possum1931 said:

I don't believe that any expats who have lived here for a few years is leaving because they can't afford it.

If they are having problems buying booze, they can get it cheap in 7-11s.

 

They don't even need a bank account, there are plenty of agents to deal with their immigration needs.

You mean paying bribes to get your visa under false pretenses.

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

You mean paying bribes to get your visa under false pretenses.

and what is the problem with that?

[DaRoadrunner]

17 hours ago, Teak said:

He has no money and was transferred to a Government hospital where he is receiving great care for free.

Even the Govt hospital is not free, so how did he pull this off?

[Puchaiyank]

1 hour ago, Solinvictus said:

I haven't read through all the pages, but normally on TV there should be comment something like this in the thread:

 

"Don't let the door hit them on the way out."

 

What happened this time? Or maybe I missed it.

The posters who loved to say: " Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"...have now left Thailand...☺

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

You mean paying bribes to get your visa under false pretenses.

What a load of nonsense.

[Scouse123]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Maybe they don't like my Liverpool football shirt.

 

Hey, be nice!

 

You are close to blasphemy! ????????????????

 

We are now the FIFA world cup champions as well as Champions league and this year premier league champions!