28 minutes ago, kingdong said:

Many hundreds of banks failing in western countries,find that hard to believe,any links?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bank_failures_in_the_United_States_(2008–present)

1 hour ago, kingdong said:

Many hundreds of banks failing in western countries,find that hard to believe,any links?

https://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

 

....and i wrote, "bank failure in Asia", not Asian bank failure!

22 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

 The restrictions we have over us like having PR's almost impossible to get along with citizenship or the categories of what we can do or not are atrocious. 

You guys says this all the time when PR and Citizenship it not impossible to get. I have several friends that have received both PR and Citizenship. The last one got his citizenship in 2017 so it's still possible even under this govt!

57 minutes ago, ericthai said:

You guys says this all the time when PR and Citizenship it not impossible to get. I have several friends that have received both PR and Citizenship. The last one got his citizenship in 2017 so it's still possible even under this govt!

I'm willing to bet that most (if not all) of these friends are working/have worked in Thailand so the strong THB has much less of an impact on them than somebody who's income comes from UK, US, AU, EU, etc... 

 

The people who seem to be (considering) bailing are much more likely to be "Retirees", majority of which probably moved to Thailand after earning their money working elsewhere so have very (zero) chance of being able to meet the 3-Tax Year return requirement.

 

I'd be very interested to learn of anybody who got PR without having to show 3 years Thai Tax returns & how they went about doing it. 

 

PS. I'm strongly urging my friend who works in Thailand to apply for PR, but he tells me it costs approx 150-200,000 THB to apply for with no guarantees that you'll get it, that alone would put a lot of people off, especially given the low numbers that are granted each year (100?) 

 

 

 

On 12/21/2019 at 9:13 PM, BoonToong said:

I've lived in TL for 8 years. I'm now looking at other places to live for when my 'Retirement Visa' expires March 2020. A number of reasons, any of which in isolation would be kind ok, but when looked at as a whole, it's just a pain in the buttocks. Here are some of my reasons:

 

• The 'GF experience' doesn't seem to exist any more - I used to really enjoy that
• Increased alcohol prices
• Increased 'entertainment' prices (of the frolicking kind)
• Immigration woes
• Exchange rate
• A general feeling of animosity from the locals that I wasn't aware of before

Alternatives I'm looking at include Florida (I love Mickey Mouse), Philippines, Europe and West Africa

VERY good points you mention.  Florida is nice, but even better are all three of your other suggestions and in that order for me.   For me it has been the extreme Xenophobia and impossible Immigration process.  Just sheer lunacy!  Not the Elysium we all dreamed of or herd of when we came here.

9 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Have you seen the women where he comes from?

????????  Not lately, I stopped looking under rocks and in holes in the ground.

2 hours ago, ericthai said:

You guys says this all the time when PR and Citizenship it not impossible to get.

It's impossible to get for retired folk.

4 hours ago, ericthai said:

You guys says this all the time when PR and Citizenship it not impossible to get. I have several friends that have received both PR and Citizenship. The last one got his citizenship in 2017 so it's still possible even under this govt!

The 2014 coup govt made a gesture of granting a multiyear backlog of PR applications that had been frozen.

You just need money.

It’s going to cost you $50,000 untouchable  to be here.

Plus your annual charges .

That’s it.

The Americans have been able to get away with a dodgey system for a while but that’s over now.

 

 

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.

I reckon that most of them already had the 'proper visa' for many, many years. You seem to forget that the agents and their clients are still going like gangbusters; no change there for those that you claim "can't afford to live here anymore"

 

For those that stick to the straight-and-narrow, if there wasn't the need to transfer their nest egg to a Thai bank or seed lump sums for up to 6 months, they would have been able to stay in perpetuity. Their monthly pensions and other income easily afforded them a comfortable Thailand long-term stay but it's the new, up front payment demands in the shape of untouchable lump-sums that's the killer.

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

It's impossible to get for retired folk.

True!

15 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

I'm willing to bet that most (if not all) of these friends are working/have worked in Thailand so the strong THB has much less of an impact on them than somebody who's income comes from UK, US, AU, EU, etc... 

 

The people who seem to be (considering) bailing are much more likely to be "Retirees", majority of which probably moved to Thailand after earning their money working elsewhere so have very (zero) chance of being able to meet the 3-Tax Year return requirement.

 

I'd be very interested to learn of anybody who got PR without having to show 3 years Thai Tax returns & how they went about doing it. 

 

PS. I'm strongly urging my friend who works in Thailand to apply for PR, but he tells me it costs approx 150-200,000 THB to apply for with no guarantees that you'll get it, that alone would put a lot of people off, especially given the low numbers that are granted each year (100?) 

 

 

 

Yes, all my friends work, so correct.   The cost is high about what you stated and it takes time. The quota is 100 per country, per year, not 100 total. 

18 hours ago, saengd said:

https://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

 

....and i wrote, "bank failure in Asia", not Asian bank failure!

And I didn,t mention bank failure in asia,I merely pointed out barings who were a British bank.is knowing everything a blessing or a curse?

5 hours ago, ericthai said:

Yes, all my friends work, so correct.   The cost is high about what you stated and it takes time. The quota is 100 per country, per year, not 100 total. 

Do they still give continuous visa extensions while PR is under consideration no matter how long in years it takes?

The AQI was over 160 tonight. What’s not to love?

On 12/22/2019 at 3:33 PM, simon43 said:

 

 

 

I left Thailand in August, now very happily settled in Luang Prabang, north Laos (see the photo and arrow to the house I rent).  One year, multiple-entry business visa and work permit for my online teaching costs me about $600 a year.  No savings required, no 90 day reports, no TM30, no police or immigration visits, no medical insurance required, (but sensibly I have a $1M+ expat policy anyway).

 

I wasn't forced out of Thailand by lack of money.  I had a 5-year Elite visa and a 120,000 THB+ monthly income from my online teaching.  I moved because of the uncertainly about what stupid rule the Thai authorities would implement next to inconvenience me. ????

 

Bottom Line: Who benefits from all the Insane Rules ?

And please spare me from the "Thailand can make their own rules BS", they said much the same when Pol Pot was ruining Cambodia.

Please for one moment, use your Brain, and think about why Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, have Visa's with little to no red tape, where you pay once a year with no other hassles.

Can anyone say, Because the Corruption leads to supporting the Banking and Insurance Cronies ?

Do these Rules in any way Help the Thai People ?

Money Locked in a Bank does not help the local economy,

where it could be used as a positive factor.

Now we see the Insurance which is no real Insurance at all, only a clever way to extract more money from those held hostage by Mr Big and his Cronies.

Not to mention all the "Where are you" stupidity,

that does nothing but create makeshift paper work, because real criminals will never follow this.

 

So wake up and get real, or continue down the road of Insanity.

Make a real solution for Health Care by putting everyone coming into Thailand, onto the Thai SS system, with monthly payments into the system, based on length of stay.

Make all Visa and Extensions a Pay and forget system, like all the other countries, and get rid of all the other Red Tape make work BS.

 

Do just these two things, and see how Thailand can start to Smile again.

 

 

 

On 12/22/2019 at 11:13 AM, mokwit said:

Perhaps this should be posted in the thread about buying property in Thailand.

why 

1 hour ago, WhatupThailand said:

Please for one moment, use your Brain, and think about why Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, have Visa's with little to no red tape, where you pay once a year with no other hassles.

Because the countries you mentioned don't have nearly 40 million tourist arrivals and they're trying to encourage people to come there. 

 

But, I suspect that if we take a look at Vietnam in, say, 10 or 20 years, it's likely they will also start making it more difficult for foreigners. 

 

I think you can follow that trend anywhere in the world.  Nations often welcome expats and tourists with open arms when it benefits their economy/citizens (and they are in need), but, eventually, once they hit a certain point of economic prosperity, they start to tighten the rules. 

 

Quote

Do these Rules in any way Help the Thai People ?

Depends on how you look at it. 

 

If you could have 1,000 expats that spend 800,000 baht a year (each) in Thailand or you could choose to have 500 expats that spent 1.6 million baht a year (each), which would you choose? 

 

Thais have obviously chosen less expats but are attempting to get expats likely to spend more money. 

 

I'm not saying that their plan is working, or that it's fair, but it's a possible alternative to the one you've presented. 

 

I think you also need to acknowledge the fact that the 800K requirement has remained unchanged for something like 20+ years (I don't know, it could be much longer but that's as far back as I could find references to 800K for a retirement visa). 

 

800K 20 years ago was a lot more money than it is today.  If the retirement visa requirements had been inflation adjusted, according to this website, retirees should have to put over 1.1 million in the bank today. 

 

So, to your question as to who benefits, it looks like any retiree today that couldn't afford to bank 1.1 million. 

 

The guy that can't leave 800K in the bank probably isn't spending 1.1 million in the local economy anyway. 

 

Quote

Now we see the Insurance which is no real Insurance at all, only a clever way to extract more money from those held hostage by Mr Big and his Cronies.

True that their first crack at this has resulted in poor choices to choose from, but, it is also true that a lot of expats barely have two satang to rub together and they get sick and die here with no way to pay for their medical treatment or death. 

 

Personally, I couldn't imagine living in Thailand without health insurance or the ability to fund my own health care (and I do think a lot of people saying they "self-insure" are actually just spinning a roulette wheel and hoping for the best). 
 

Quote

 

Not to mention all the "Where are you" stupidity,

that does nothing but create makeshift paper work, because real criminals will never follow this.

 

 

Agreed, many of these rules are a hassle and take up too much time and effort.  However, based on reports from other TV members, the TM30 is not enforced strictly everywhere, and may eventually just die a quiet death given all of the negative backlash.  And the 90-day reporting has at least gone online which means you can avoid having go to immigration every 90 days. 

 

Quote

Make a real solution for Health Care by putting everyone coming into Thailand, onto the Thai SS system, with monthly payments into the system, based on length of stay.

 

I like that idea, however, I do think I can already see some problems.  What about the six-month a year retiree?  The guy that comes here on a 1-year visa but only stays about six-months out of the year and spends the other six either in another country or back in their own country.  Won't TV have threads talking about insanely stupid this is and how they're getting ripped off paying for a full year and how the government is just trying to milk them? 

 

And if you mean that you only pay while you are actually in the country, how would you prevent people like the part-time retiree from abusing the system by returning to Thailand only when they needed major medical procedures.  For instance, you're living part-time in Bali and you find out that you have early stage cancer and you fly back to Thailand for treatment and stick Thai SS with the bill?

 

What kind of convoluted rules would you need to come up with to implement such a plan?  How many TV threads would there be from innocent people caught up in those convoluted rules? 

 

The devil is always in the details and once you get into the details, that's where you start having to make hard decisions. 

 

I'd be very interested to learn of anybody who got PR without having to show 3 years Thai Tax returns & how they went about doing it. 

 

PS. I'm strongly urging my friend who works in Thailand to apply for PR, but he tells me it costs approx 150-200,000 THB to apply for with no guarantees that you'll get it, that alone would put a lot of people off, especially given the low numbers that are granted each year (100?) 

 

My understanding is that you only pay the high fee IF your PR application is successful.

 

As for getting PR in Thailand, and the need to have paid 3 years of Thai tax, why not come over to Laos?  You can get PR without paying any taxes or having worked.  The waiting period is longer (10 years), but there are ways to reduce that period.  For example, as a scientist, I should be able to get PR after 5 years.

If not for the Mrs I would be on the first plane back home, it's not just the immigration changes but the change in Thais attitude to us over the past 20 years

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

If not for the Mrs I would be on the first plane back home, it's not just the immigration changes but the change in Thais attitude to us over the past 20 years

That's what's keeping many of us here...I don't mean your Mrs., I mean our respective spouses!!! ????

On 12/21/2019 at 11:23 PM, BestB said:

To be honest I do not think it’s government regulations but more to do they can no longer afford living here with rising prices and their pensions falling due to strong currency .

 

Most have lost 30% of their pension due to bad exchange rate and prices keep rising .

 

Other countries may appeal better but grass is always greener on the other side. 

While one can keep 800,000 in the bank all year, just for extension, and use an agent, there is no problem. An agent also does 90 days included in the price.

 

I only left as I can't get pension in LOS at all, and I could not afford health insurance as well as living costs. Once I started using the 800,000 my goose was cooked.

14 hours ago, kingdong said:

And I didn,t mention bank failure in asia,I merely pointed out barings who were a British bank.is knowing everything a blessing or a curse?

In person, it's better to pretend you're as stupid as everyone else.

 

It's odd really,

if someone has bigger muscles, nobody's bothered.

if someone has a bigger brain, everyone despises them.

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

If not for the Mrs I would be on the first plane back home, it's not just the immigration changes but the change in Thais attitude to us over the past 20 years

I didn't notice any change in attitude, but I didn't live in Pattaya or Hua Hin or Bkk.

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

I didn't notice any change in attitude, but I didn't live in Pattaya or Hua Hin or Bkk.

I didn't notice any change in attitude either, but then I don't interact with Thais beyond simple commerce.

(apart from the ones I'm sleeping with, but they probably come under 'simple commerce')

WOW !!!!  I created this thread 4 days ago  and due to season busy-ness didn't think about it til earlier today.  ....then to see 350 replies ????   Do you know how long it takes to read 350 replies??? Thanks for all the contribution gang.  Sincerely

21 hours ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

My understanding is that you only pay the high fee IF your PR application is successful.

 

As for getting PR in Thailand, and the need to have paid 3 years of Thai tax, why not come over to Laos?  You can get PR without paying any taxes or having worked.  The waiting period is longer (10 years), but there are ways to reduce that period.  For example, as a scientist, I should be able to get PR after 5 years.

Thanks, I'll let my mate know... But if I wanted a PR in Asia, I'd head to the Philippines to get an SRR Visa, which can be got in a couple of weeks & guarantees you the right to stay in Philippines as long as you retain the VIsa (yes you need to renew it each year, but it's a very straight forward process no jumping though hoops)...

 

Qualification is much easier than Thailand's Non-O/OA Visas...  

   - Over 50 - $10,000 deposited in the bank + >$800 pm Pension or $20,000 deposited in the bank

   - Over 50 & Ex-Military with ties to PI, e.g. US) - $1,500 deposited & > $1,000 pm pension 

   - Over 35 - $50,000 deposited in the bank

   - Over 35 & need "Terminal" Care - £10,000 deposited in the bank + >$1,500 pm income

https://pra.gov.ph/srrv/

 

If you're married to a Filipina, it's even easier... 

  - 1 year stamp on arrival (have to be travelling with her) every time you enter the country

  - Apply for a 13A Visa in-country, no financial requirements 

 

Or you can do what most people do & enter on a 30 day visa exempt, extend this in chunks of 3/6 months for 3 years, exit for 1 night, come back & do it all again (obviously when the clamp downs happen, this will be the 1st to go)   

 

I don't want to get into debates about which country is better, I've spent a lot of time in Philippines (Used to have a house in Kapalong, which is 1.5-2hr drive north of Davao City) & I actually like the place, I just prefer Thailand so will remain here until I no longer prefer it or am "pushed" & then will land in LATAM or Vietnam or Portugal (my current favourite Plan "B"s ???? ). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, Gonzo the Face said:

WOW !!!!  I created this thread 4 days ago  and due to season busy-ness didn't think about it til earlier today.  ....then to see 350 replies ????   Do you know how long it takes to read 350 replies??? Thanks for all the contribution gang.  Sincerely

I think there are a lot of posters looking for a thread to post on as the variety of threads seems to have reduced significantly in the past 3 years'

I have a theory as to why but forum rules say I can't post it.

 

with the strength of the baht,

it is simply logical to move on...

if you can cope with relocating and possible visa runs that is,

i would likely have moved to vietnam if i wasnt so ridden with pain

On 12/25/2019 at 1:09 PM, BritManToo said:

it's better to pretend you're as stupid as everyone else.

That’s difficult to do. They have reached new levels of stupidity.