whats your biggest fear/worry  of retiring in thailand
it has to be immigration every year extension on a o visa is never the same
this year 20th time being 70 year old is no different 
bank need 2 letters 
1 statement for 1 year from head office  7 days to take 200 baht
2 letter to say i have the money  100 baht 
make an appointment 
plus extra forms to fill in 
what next time 
blood test to see im not a drugie
full insureance cover 
an app on a phone for covit jab 

Every shifting sands of red tape, unstable politics, unreliable and totally inconsistent across the Kingdom. Its ALL a concern as you age.

Immigration no bother more paperwork as I do marriage if they want something else I get for them they have to do what there head office tells them they are just doing there job. 

My biggest fear is the the thought of being retired in UK.                        A lot of my old friends retired in UK are struggling, there only one I know who isn't but he has always been rich and he don't spend a lot of time in UK anyway. ????????

 

Air pollution, particularly in the North. Seems to be getting worse each year. We now know that the long term impact on every organ of the body, including the brain, is pretty bad.

Nonsensical and ever-changing immigration bureaucracy.

I worry that insurance will be both mandatory for retirement extensions but unavailable to me past a certain age. Do I then have to leave?

 

Medical cover, ever changing  immigration rules and Immigration inconsistency.

Oh, and black algae in my pool. 

42 minutes ago, bedbugy said:

whats your biggest fear/worry  of retiring in thailand

Thailand!

The immigration situation could change at any time, but I don't see any sign of significant change so far.  

Pollution could drive us out.  

17 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Air pollution, particularly in the North. Seems to be getting worse each year. We now know that the long term impact on every organ of the body, including the brain, is pretty bad.

 

Have you seen stats showing it's getting worse the last say 40 years? I doubt it's getting worse over the long term, in the past slash and burn was perfectly fine

41 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Immigration no bother more paperwork as I do marriage if they want something else I get for them they have to do what there head office tells them they are just doing there job. 

My biggest fear is the the thought of being retired in UK.                        A lot of my old friends retired in UK are struggling, there only one I know who isn't but he has always been rich and he don't spend a lot of time in UK anyway. ????????

 

Yeah that awful UK with its inflation linked state pension and free healthcare and vibrant culture.Who would want to retire there?

Much better to stick it out in Thailand with its pollution, ever increasing cost of living, political clusterfxxx, thinly masked xenophobia and immigration insecurity.

Just now, scubascuba3 said:

Have you seen stats showing it's getting worse the last say 40 years? I doubt it's getting worse over the long term, in the past slash and burn was perfectly fine

I am only aware that, over the past decade or so, there have been several years that the media have said are the worst on record so far, and then that record gets beaten a few years later.

I don't think it is slash and burn alone. There are many contributing factors.

Anecdotally, expats who have been there for three or four decades agree that the normal "burning season" used to be far shorter but has now expanded to take up much of the first half of the year.

Just to be clear, I like the North, I find the pace of life lovely. I would like to retire there but the air over the last few years in particular is a deal-breaker.
 

Prison! There is no reason for me to go to prison, I don't do illegal things, but there it is. I wouldn't want to spend 20 minutes in a Thai prison.

11 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Yeah that awful UK with its inflation linked state pension and free healthcare and vibrant culture.Who would want to retire there?

Much better to stick it out in Thailand with its pollution, ever increasing cost of living, political clusterfxxx, thinly masked xenophobia and immigration insecurity.

You forgot to mention the weather,freezing their @rses off,

while I am sitting at the keyboard with only a sarong on,

that's the main reason i am here.

regards Worgeordie

34 minutes ago, donnacha said:

I worry that insurance will be both mandatory for retirement extensions but unavailable to me past a certain age. Do I then have to leave?

 

That would be a disrupting requirement for Thailand to impose.

Wonder how the administration at the time would deal with the issue of family separations?

There's no guarantee all Home Countries will allow for the  immigration of a spouse and family.

1 hour ago, bedbugy said:

1 statement for 1 year from head office  7 days to take 200 baht
2 letter to say i have the money  100 baht 

If 300 baht is a problem, then you do have worries..

For me, everything at Imm is pretty much the same over 20 years..

1 hour ago, bedbugy said:

blood test to see im not a drugie

Does this bother you? 

 

I think nobody likes any red tape, but if you qualify, why all the worries.. 

As someone planning to to retire at least half the time in Thailand I worry about:

• feeling separate from friends and family;
• that it's going to be too hot and uncomfortable;
• though I like Thai food that it will be hard to get the foods I like;
• That it will be difficult to find somewhere to live that ticks all the boxes - near fun things, good shopping, not noisy or polluted, near nature or a beach etc.

Lots of positives to offset those concerns.

Not worried about immigration. The retirement visa doesn't see that hard to live by. 

 

1 hour ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

That it will be difficult to find somewhere to live that ticks all the boxes - near fun things, good shopping, not noisy or polluted, near nature or a beach etc.

I live in just such a place, with shops within a radius of  30km from my house, and many much nearer, where I am yet to be in a position where I want a UK brand, or a food (western) but can't find it.   Just don't live in the sticks; easy. 

Thailand is a fantastic place if it were not for the government, constant coups and the nationalism. We are all hoping the new generation will change that eventually. 

2 hours ago, jayboy said:

Yeah that awful UK with its inflation linked state pension and free healthcare and vibrant culture.Who would want to retire there?

Much better to stick it out in Thailand with its pollution, ever increasing cost of living, political clusterfxxx, thinly masked xenophobia and immigration insecurity.

Yeah well I've had a few beers today so better not reply to baiting plonkers.

See you in the next car park. ????

The exchange rate.

My beer gets warm if I don't drink it quickly enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thailand is a developing country always subject to change and totally unsuitable for grumpy old men who can't handle it 

1ST World is far more consistent. So future retirees need to take this into account 

I really am concerned that the good old days of endless romps in the mud holes will never return.   Of course i realize that i am not the young bull i was ,  when i could run down the hill and bag me a few.   Now i just mooooozy on down and happy enough to get a baaahhhy, hmmmph or two .   Anything further and its always the  " i don't feel so good today" story.

Getting old ain't fun .  Sometimes the days drag on ,  i want to get out but its too darn hot for me nowadays.   And the lack of rain !  Used to be the mudholes were full of water and we would all hang out,  sipping our beers and talking of last nights activities.  Now ?   Dry and drier,  and all the good holes have been taken by those new breeds like digitless wanderers and wannabe expats experts.  You know,  those BIG buffalos with their samart pads ,  too lazy to go out for some grASS ,   just order it online.    

I think i'm done.  Forgot my 90 day,  can't figure out the difference between upload and download........ just know it was a bigggg load.   That much hasn't changed .  At the end of the day,  its still the same old kwaidoo .   Good fertilizer,  if you're into that.

 

spending decades here....smiling at everyone.....spending 100 million baht...

and then realizing nobody really cares about you at all......if your money runs out

zero real friends after 100-years.  

and then china takes over and your property and bank accounts are taken

i'm not retiring here...

3 hours ago, jayboy said:

Yeah that awful UK with its inflation linked state pension and free healthcare and vibrant culture.Who would want to retire there?

Bars and restaurants have been closed for most of the past year. You aren't even supposed to leave your home for leisure purposes, or visit anyone else's home. it wasn't a lot of fun for me.

My only fear in Thailand is I'll fail the test, and they won't let me out of the hotel next week.

Price of beer

Getting caught (again).

My biggest fear is having a stroke or scooter accident that leaves me helpless.

I have no fear of Immigration, Chiang Rai is an  office which has handled my extensions et. efficiently thus far.

I enjoy life here. If I remember correctly, Roosevelt in his inaugural address said " We have nothing to fear but fear itself".

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

 

If I remember correctly, Roosevelt in his inaugural address said " We have nothing to fear but fear itself".........

........and strokes and motorcycle accidents.......

My biggest fear is that they keep moving the goal posts with regards to visas to the point where I have no option but to leave.

19 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

........and strokes and motorcycle accidents.......

Taking aspirin and driving carefully helps alleviate the fear.

Being in unbearable pain (physical or mentally) at the end, with no possibility to humanely end it.