Visa for Cambodia, Vietnam or Philippines

[Steve80]

I am 40 (41 soon) and live in the UK. I have a income from UK property, so finance is not an issue.

 

I had been planning on moving to Thailand on the 5 year Elite Visa, but it is a lot of money and I have been considering other options too.

 

From what I have read there is no long term visa options in Cambodia or Vietnam at this time for someone in my position, and the only real other option could be the Philippines (looking at Cebu) where I have read it is easy to get a 6 month visa, but would need to leave and re-enter every 16 months.

 

Does anyone know anything more about this or have any other recommendations of where else I might be able to go?

 

My main requirements are somewhere affordable (cheap), near the beach and restaurants, where I can rent a small condo, good internet, vegetarian food available. At the moment Pattaya is on my shortlist as it meets all these requirements, but I have concerns at the predicted strength of the Baht against the Pound over the next five years, and the cost of the Elite Visa.

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, Steve80 said:

From what I have read there is no long term visa options in Cambodia or Vietnam at this time for someone in my position, and the only real other option could be the Philippines (looking at Cebu) where I have read it is easy to get a 6 month visa, but would need to leave and re-enter every 16 months.

Nah, you can rock up and stay for 3 years without leaving the PI.

Arrive on 30 day VISA waiver, then just extend, you don't even need to make any effort, a travel agent will do it all for you.

They don't even seem to care if you work while you're there, as long as you don't cause trouble.

 

After 3 years, you need to leave for 1 night, then you can stay for another 3 years.

Edited January 19, 2020 by BritManToo

[Jingthing]

14 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Nah, you can rock up and stay for 3 years without leaving the PI.

Arrive on 30 day VISA waiver, then just extend, you don't even need to make any effort, a travel agent will do it all for you.

They don't even seem to care if you work while you're there, as long as you don't cause trouble.

 

After 3 years, you need to leave for 1 night, then you can stay for another 3 years.

Yes but there is the hassle of very frequent extensions but yes that is definitely a thing in the Philippines going on for several years. 

A 40 year old that can afford an Elite card also has the option of a SRRV visa and that would cut out the extensions and visa runs. 

 

Maybe Mactan Island near Cebu City? 

[Steve80]

I was looking at the Long Stay Visitor Visa as described here: https://www.wandergogo.com/the-philippines-long-term-stay-visa-finally-getting-easier/

[ThomasThBKK]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Nah, you can rock up and stay for 3 years without leaving the PI.

Arrive on 30 day VISA waiver, then just extend, you don't even need to make any effort, a travel agent will do it all for you.

They don't even seem to care if you work while you're there, as long as you don't cause trouble.

 

After 3 years, you need to leave for 1 night, then you can stay for another 3 years.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3032315/philippine-police-arrest-542-foreigners-mostly-chinese

 

They crack down hard since 2 years on working there.... these are daily news...

[BritManToo]

12 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yes but there is the hassle of very frequent extensions but yes that is definitely a thing in the Philippines going on for several years.

No hassle at all, you leave your passport with an agent, they keep it in their safe, and do the extensions for you.

No need to ever see an immigration officer, unless you want to do it yourself

[Sterling]

There have been reports on other expat forums of Philippine immigration officers starting to question long term expats who apply for 6 month extensions after they've been there for over a year. I dont recall anyone being denied an extension as of now, but before, nobody ever asked questions and now the IOs seem to be wanting to know why "tourists" are wanting to stay more than a year.

 

The SRRV seems to be pretty good deal and seems to have some nice benefits.

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No hassle at all, you leave your passport with an agent, they keep it in their safe, and do the extensions for you.

No need to ever see an immigration officer, unless you want to do it yourself

Well for some reason lots of people do the extension applications themselves. I don't really understand why except to save a little money, but there might be other reasons.

 

Also there are actual real hassles with the process. For example the need for exit permits if you've been there awhile which you may need to travel to another island for. Also new passports are a bigger hassle than in Thailand.

 

That all said I think it's very cool that it's possible to stay there for many years perhaps even decades without ever getting an actual formal visa. 

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, Sterling said:

There have been reports on other expat forums of Philippine immigration officers starting to question long term expats who apply for 6 month extensions after they've been there for over a year. I dont recall anyone being denied an extension as of now, but before, nobody ever asked questions and now the IOs seem to be wanting to know why "tourists" are wanting to stay more than a year.

 

The SRRV seems to be pretty good deal and seems to have some nice benefits.

I'm hearing about some people generally under pension age being questioned on entry after a three year stay and then visa run. Apparently being able to show evidence of income from abroad is what they want to see. Older people are assumed to have pensions. 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Jingthing

[BritManToo]

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Also new passports are a bigger hassle than in Thailand.

I always fly back to the UK for a new passport, might need one more, might not.

Don't like my government having copies of my old one, they don't need to know where I've been.

Edited January 20, 2020 by BritManToo

[pmarlowe]

The cost of a five year Thai elite would pay for a lot of cheap flight/hotel visa runs to all the places you'd want to visit in SEA and beyond. Yeah it might be a hassle for some but if you want to see and do things in Asia, it's worth a thought. (Especially if you are not sure of where you ultimately want to end up.)

[Roy Baht]