Bailing Out / Jumpin Ship

[mokwit]

Its not how things are currently for those of us who could cope with the extra financial requirements without selling a single shipping line or brewery and whose staff handle TM30 etc,  it's what changes might come in the future when we are less able to adapt or we get thrown a curve ball that is impossible to comply with - insurance mandatory but can't get it over 75 type things.

 

Extra tedium may also get too much - IMO what's coming:

3m in the bank and prove any you were allowed to take out spent in Thailand (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

Police clearance home country and Thailand (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

Insurance (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

 

 

[Bill97]

34 minutes ago, mokwit said:

Its not how things are currently for those of us who could cope with the extra financial requirements without selling a single shipping line or brewery and whose staff handle TM30 etc,  it's what changes might come in the future when we are less able to adapt or we get thrown a curve ball that is impossible to comply with - insurance mandatory but can't get it over 75 type things.

 

Extra tedium may also get too much - IMO what's coming:

3m in the bank and prove any you were allowed to take out spent in Thailand (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

Police clearance home country and Thailand (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

Insurance (already for OX so why not retirement extension)

 

 

And what does your Chrystal ball tell you the next winning lottery number will be?

[BoonToong]

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

[DannyCarlton]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

VISA/Extension is just too much effort in Thailand.

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.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by DannyCarlton

[DannyCarlton]

5 hours ago, Gonzo the Face said:

I just a few minutes ago had a conversation with an expat who has been here for many years.

Nationality?

[Destiny1990]

I had young friends doing ED visas but it became to strict and so they left.

I had friends doing border runs they all left. 

Majority of long term stayers that I know including myself have left during these last years . Their number one reason that made them relocating is newer more strict visa rules,TM30’s and secondly nearby other countries becoming more attractive. In 5 last years only rules been created to discourage long term staying hence the exodus !

[sirineou]

5 hours ago, Gonzo the Face said:

I just a few minutes ago had a conversation with an expat who has been here for many years. He informed me that he is on a retirement visa and this is his last renewal.

The Op  always start with "I have a friend who"...............

[DannyCarlton]

16 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Their number one reason that made them relocating is newer more strict visa rules,TM30’s

Not stricter in any way for me. Used to bring in more than 65k baht before, bring in more than 65k baht/month now. TM30s? What are they? Haven't seen one for years. Been abroad twice this year (including Vietnam - loved it, but not Thailand) and out of province too many times to count. Did my retirement extension last week, TM30 not mentioned.

 

Difference between you and me? I live in Pattaya, you live in Chiang Mai.

 

You don't need to move to Vietnam, just move to Pattaya where the air is clean and the IO's welcome you with open arms.

[Destiny1990]

2 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Not stricter in any way for me. Used to bring in more than 65k baht before, bring in more than 65k baht/month now. TM30s? What are they? Haven't seen one for years. Been abroad twice this year (including Vietnam - loved it, but not Thailand) and out of province too many times to count. Did my retirement extension last week, TM30 not mentioned.

 

Difference between you and me? I live in Pattaya, you live in Chiang Mai.

 

You don't need to move to Vietnam, just move to Pattaya where the air is clean and the IO's welcome you with open arms.

Why i would care whatever you claim by writing stuff here? I honestly said including examples why most my long term staying friends including myself have left.

TM30’s are a hassle for many foreigners especially if landlords not cooperate..Anyway  the whole visa proces is over the top(complicated) Did ur fortune teller told u that i lived in CM??

[impulse]

The changing health insurance requirements are scary enough for many folks.  As some others have stated, they're looking into the future when the only companies authorized by Immigration won't write a policy that covers them because of age or pre-existing condition.  Today, it's for O-A visas.  Tomorrow?

 

Rather than wait around until they get caught up personally, they're being proactive and moving elsewhere before it's too late. 

 

The flipside of much of the discussion so far is those guys who are so tied to Thailand that they can't afford to move out.  My heart goes out to all the guys and gals who will eventually find themselves between a rock and a hard place.  They won't be able to leave and they won't be able to stay...

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by impulse

[Traubert]

It is my firm belief that those who boast of leaving (and their plethora of 'friends and aquaintances/family/neighbours/Fred down the pub') are really crying in their beer in some god-forsaken backwater like Vietnam or Laos and feeling their heart strings inexorably tugging in the direction of Thailand. They only visit here seeking validation.

 

Never jump before you're pushed.

Edited December 21, 2019 by Traubert
Addition

[DannyCarlton]

13 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

I honestly said including examples why most my long term staying friends including myself have left.

You gave no examples just vague references to "newer stricter visa rules". What stricter visa rules? You mean not being able to go to the US Embassy  and holding your hand up and saying, "I earn more than 65k baht/month, honest injun." Yes many Americans were living a lie for years and have been caught out.

 

Most long term residents, like myself, aren't affected by the tightening up of TM30s, not the end of the world if we were.

[DannyCarlton]

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

Today, it's for O-A visas.  Tomorrow?

Tomorrow O-A visa only. Paranoid scaremongering with zero evidence.

[Destiny1990]

2 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

You gave no examples just vague references to "newer stricter visa rules". What stricter visa rules? You mean not being able to go to the US Embassy  and holding your hand up and saying, "I earn more than 65k baht/month, honest injun." Yes many Americans were living a lie for years and have been caught out. Stop whining.

 

Most long term residents, like myself, aren't affected by the tightening up of TM30s, not the end of the world if we were.

All the best.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, DannyCarlton said:

Tomorrow O-A visa only. Paranoid scaremongering with zero evidence.

 

If you add up all the changes since 2014, only a fool would extrapolate it to clear sailing ahead.

 

[DannyCarlton]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

If you add up all the changes since 2014, only a fool would extrapolate it to clear sailing ahead.

 

I see no logic in that comment whatsoever and I'm no fool.

[impulse]

Just now, DannyCarlton said:

I see no logic in that comment whatsoever and I'm no fool.

 

I've met dozens of guys no longer able to live in Thailand who felt the same way. 

 

Until the changes caught up with their situation.

 

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, impulse said:

 

I've met dozens of guys no longer able to live in Thailand who felt the same way. 

 

Until the changes caught up with their situation.

 

What changes? The only change I know of is citizens of certain countries no longer being able to lie about their incomes. The amounts required are exactly the same as they were in 2014.

[Puchaiyank]

3 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

So why read Thai Visa ?  I left England and have made my home here , my 400,000 B is in the bank . I don't read any , not one English newspaper , I don't need to know how cold it is , how much more a ticket costs to get into the city . Why are so many complaining on here today ?

I read ThaiVisa for the same reason you do...if you do not like ex-expats posting here...stop coming here to complain about it.

[BarnicaleBob]

After living in the Chiang Mai area for 10 years on a retirement visa, my wife and I moved to Florida this September.  I have more money than is required but have always kept it in my US bank account.  My income is about three times what Thai  Immigration requires, our house in my wife's name is paid for in full but we decided to leave anyway.  We are keeping our Thai house and paying our live-in maid to take care of it for us in hope that someday things will change and for my wife to retire to after I die.  We may also take one or two month vacations back to our home in Thailand every year, but living there full time is over for me.

1.  The paperwork to continue to live in Thailand is annoying, time consuming and drives me nuts.  

2.  I do not like to keep large sums of my money in a Thai bank or being told how I have to maintain it if I did.  It's my money. 

3.  We found that it is a whole lot easier for my wife to deal with US Immigration than for me to deal with Thai.  Now that my wife is in America, she does not need to be bothered with immigration for the next 10 years unless we move or some other major change.  

4.  Since we paid cash for our home in Florida, our cost of living isn't really much more than what it was in Thailand.  

5.  Better and free healthcare for me in Florida due to my past planning and military disabilities. 

There are more reasons than the above but I feel like going out into my back yard and relaxing right now, later everyone.  

[Puchaiyank]

3 hours ago, madmen said:

Lets cut the BS gents. The 500 exodus threads all started after the embassies shat on their own citizens and BOOM the thousands that built their future based on a house cards based upon a scribble signature on a BS  affidavit saw it collapse and are now very very upset and angry .

 

No sympathy from me or any of my expat friends. Good riddance and thanks for making Immigration suspicious of even the good guys

 

You reap what you sow 

Nice try hotshot! You may be right about a hand full of expats gaming the system until the embassy letters were discontinued.  But you are wrong to extend the lack of funds reason to all expats that have left or are leaving.  Thailand has many problems...as expressed here already...many leave for a more healthy environment, ease of visas and quality of life.

 

Thailand is not that wonderful anymore...IMHO.

 

[tabarin]

I can clearly tell that there are quite a few that left but there is also many who do still live here BUT with a very tight budget at current exchange rates. 
Many of them now often host dinners and party's at their homes as well. For young ones, most forcefully left as of visa situation (95% i knew is gone).

Edited December 21, 2019 by tabarin

[Ron jeremy]

1 hour ago, DannyCarlton said:

Not stricter in any way for me. Used to bring in more than 65k baht before, bring in more than 65k baht/month now. TM30s? What are they? Haven't seen one for years. Been abroad twice this year (including Vietnam - loved it, but not Thailand) and out of province too many times to count. Did my retirement extension last week, TM30 not mentioned.

 

Difference between you and me? I live in Pattaya, you live in Chiang Mai.

 

You don't need to move to Vietnam, just move to Pattaya where the air is clean and the IO's welcome you with open arms.

Where the air is clean?.? Dannyi strongly suggest you brush up on your English skills and read the countless threads and news on the terrible air quality in pattaya.

enjoy enjoy danny BOY

[FritsSikkink]

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

It's been a succession of mounting things....

 

--the end of income affidavits for US and UK residents, two of the largest western expat groups here.

 

--the resulting and pretty arbitrary and unfriendly rules Immigration adopted as a replacement governing monthly foreign bank transfers, the transfers having to be coded just so, not accepting deposit averaging over the year, and coming at a time when BKKB U.S. was curtailing their easy international transfers method.

 

--Along with, the increased requirements for holding time on people using the bank deposits method for extensions, including the new requirement that at least 400K of a retirement extension's 800K bank deposit must be kept untouched yearround, and the full amount must be kept untouched 5-6 months of the year.

 

--followed by the latest and VERY poorly thought thru health insurance requirement for current and past O-A visa holders -- which pretty much doesn't allow for home country insurance even when it provides full coverage in Thailand, and a companion Thai insurance industry market that simply won't write affordable policies, or any policies, as people get older -- which pretty much defeats the purpose of having an O-A RETIREMENT visa program.

 

So after all that, a lot of folks are looking down the road and saying what's going to be next?

Yes, it was much easier before for people who got these affidavits from their embassy without any control: Yes sir / madam, I swear I REALLY have enough money. Now there are people who can't actually proof that they do and blame it on Thai immigration.

[Ron jeremy]

I also have read and spoke to countless people who can't leave. Cut ties back home, Thai wife and family, big home they can't sell, 

insufficient funds to setup somewhere else etc etc etc.

many many say if they knew then what they know now they would have never done it. And if they had the means they would be gone in a heartbeat. 

Dont get me wrong, some have great lives here.f

a huge complaint ID the 800 k in the bank, many have the funds, but refuse to leave it there, 

if they have health coverage, why the 800?

Edited December 21, 2019 by Ron jeremy

[hmficc]

We moved to Florida. Been back three times. The air quality is awful in CM. It is sewer life. 

[Ron jeremy]

5 minutes ago, hmficc said:

We moved to Florida. Been back three times. The air quality is awful in CM. It is sewer life. 

 

[amykat]

3 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

So why read Thai Visa ?  I left England and have made my home here , my 400,000 B is in the bank . I don't read any , not one English newspaper , I don't need to know how cold it is , how much more a ticket costs to get into the city . Why are so many complaining on here today ?

If you stay here long enough, I suppose you will learn the answer to your question.

[ThomasThBKK]

28 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

a huge complaint ID the 800 k in the bank, many have the funds, but refuse to leave it there, 

 

That's really just their own arrogance.

You can't demand to go to a random country and live there forever without proofing you have the means to do so. That doesn't fly anywhere in the more or less civilized world.

Yeah the paperwork is annoying but it's really only a few hours of work per day.

 

How serious of an expat can one be if that's too much?

[Denim]

Can't understand why those who choose to leave feel the need to shout it from the rooftops ?

 

 It's not a crime to decide to check out somewhere else ?

 

If you want to move it shouldn't be an issue , just a personal choice.