If Thailand is getting tougher for expats, how about Vietnam?

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Disagree.

Loads of Chinese criminals doing all sorts of naughty stuff over here, and the Thai government loves them.

Many Chinese are intertwined into Thailand, there are many Thais Chinese so that has nothing to do with expats. 

I'm wanted to know what's OP's tough on expats is all about. 

[Jiggo]

2 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Recently left Da Nang after 2 years, lived in 5 different lodgings in 2 Districts/3 or 4 Wards.

 

Never heard anyone speaking Russian, never noticed a strong Chinese presence.

 I don't recall ever being aware of someone being specifically Chinese.

 

(Strong Korean presence in some of Son Tra District - at least pre-Covid - so what?

Only a positive effect - provided some very good convenience store markets).

 

Tourist Visas for up to 1 year available pre-Covid - no trouble at all to obtain.

 

Language barrier solved by Translate app, the same as everywhere else in the world.

And if someone wanted to really have it a lot like an English speaking home, simply live in "Crackertown" aka My An Ward.

 

I have detested tobacco smoke for my adult life, had no problem there.

Lodgings all No Smoking.

So has the tourist visa requirements changed, when I went as i said pre covid, only USA passport holders could have them (the 1 year visa) enquired about residency almost impossible unless you paid an agent 2000 usd i think.

I stayed in Vang Tau....about 3 years ago...a guy who travelled from Nah Traing who lived there said the expat bars had gone, taken over by mainly Chinese.

[Leaver]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

How much for that dodgy card?

If expensive I'd say very risky as VN has a record of massive crackdowns on large categories of expats.

 

Just like using an agent here for a retirement visa / extension, the TRC in Vietnam was not dodgy, it was a real TRC, just the method in which it was purchased is dodgy, just like here.

 

I haven't been back to Vietnam since covid, so not sure if the agents there are still working their magic, but when I was there last, they were available.  They were for 2 or 3 years, and prices were very reasonable. 

 

[Jiggo]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I got 2 weeks on arrival every time I went, no VISA required.

Didn't see any Russians in 7 visits.

Never had a problems ordering food or beer, and the ladies I encountered all spoke English.

Two week visa, not really useful if you are considering relocating  from Thailand as the topic is about moving there not just visiting girly bars.

[BritManToo]

Just now, Jiggo said:

Two week visa, not really useful if you are considering relocating  from Thailand as the topic is about moving there not just visiting girly bars.

Long enough to find a Viet wife.

Then staying there is easy.

[Leaver]

7 hours ago, Henryford said:

I get more interest from thai bank account 0.9% than i would in the UK. 1900 baht is a cheap visa in my opinion. Only 1000 baht a visit if you want to leave.

 

My 800k baht equivalent is in a fund in my home country earning around 6%. 

 

I've costed it out in other posts, in other threads.  You are losing around 5%, or more, by being forced to have 800k baht in a Thai bank, solely for the sake of qualifying for an extension, but of course, your visa only costs 1900 baht.  Right?  ????

 

800k baht x 5% = 40k baht.  Agents vary in price, but say 20k baht, and you don't need to show up and queue. 

 

The way I figure it, your 800k baht is at risk in a 3rd World Country's banking system, you have to go to immigration, and you are paying 1900 baht a year for the privilege, where as my money is working harder in my home country, with some risk, but it's not an aggressive fund, and I'm around 18,100 baht better off, if not more. 

[Jingthing]

24 minutes ago, Leaver said:

 

Just like using an agent here for a retirement visa / extension, the TRC in Vietnam was not dodgy, it was a real TRC, just the method in which it was purchased is dodgy, just like here.

 

I haven't been back to Vietnam since covid, so not sure if the agents there are still working their magic, but when I was there last, they were available.  They were for 2 or 3 years, and prices were very reasonable. 

 

So you don't know the current options.

Perhaps someone else does.

[Leaver]

3 hours ago, peter zwart said:

There you have a point ????

 

I dare say the sharp rise in the cost of living in Thailand will bring such a point to the fore here for many in the near future.  

[Leaver]

34 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

So you don't know the current options.

Perhaps someone else does.

 

Correct.  I do not know what is currently available in Vietnam.  I have not been there since covid hit. 

 

It's possible the use of agents may not be available, ever again, but I somehow doubt that. 

 

Just like immigration in Thailand, they purposely leave a back door open for corrupt money to be made. 

 

[whereyougo]

Vietnam has recently started to purge long term expats. I feel sorry for the guys that built a life there but what would you expect from a Communist regime?!? 

[BritManToo]

47 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

So you don't know the current options.

Perhaps someone else does.

$50 for a 5 year Viet marriage (or kid) VISA.

[Leaver]

16 minutes ago, whereyougo said:

Vietnam has recently started to purge long term expats. I feel sorry for the guys that built a life there but what would you expect from a Communist regime?!? 

 

How did they purge them?

 

I read they emptied the country of people on covid extensions, but so did Thailand. 

 

I have friends still living there on 5 year marriage visas. 

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, Leaver said:

How did they purge them?

They checked if the business they were running (for their business VISA) actually existed.

[Leaver]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

They checked if the business they were running (for their business VISA) actually existed.

 

Ok.  Once again, I expect things to go back to the way it was, but should they not, and no long stay visa is available, then Vietnam is off the table.

 

The point I am making is, just because there is no official visa call a retirement visa, that doesn't mean a retired expat can not live there. (pre covid) 

 

Will have to wait and see what happens.

[whereyougo]

16 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Ok.  Once again, I expect things to go back to the way it was, but should they not, and no long stay visa is available, then Vietnam is off the table.

 

The point I am making is, just because there is no official visa call a retirement visa, that doesn't mean a retired expat can not live there. (pre covid) 

 

Will have to wait and see what happens.

Just call it a long term visa. Before covid even they stopped renewals. Imagine if you are in China right now you would be permanently locked down you don't get a free pass because you are white. 

Point being stay away from communism. 

[QPRFC]

Obtaining a visa for more than 30 days is a nightmare, you either need to work at a company willing to sponsor you or get married to a local. Investment visas require billions of vnd now as the rules changed last year.

There's no student / educational or retirement visas. 

[Leaver]

3 hours ago, whereyougo said:

Just call it a long term visa. Before covid even they stopped renewals. Imagine if you are in China right now you would be permanently locked down you don't get a free pass because you are white. 

Point being stay away from communism. 

 

Well, Thailand has a military government that is masquerading as a democracy, and with no reasonable pathway to permanent residency here, we are all more or less living here on a 1 year tourist visa which gives us permission to live here, not a right to live here.  There is a big difference.

 

I don't see much difference. 

[Lemsta69]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:28 AM, Flink said:

I think you misunderstand the OP's point. It's not that he doesn't like foreigners. What, I believe, the OP is getting at is how foreigners arriving in their home country are changing it in ways that are not necessarily for the better. When you live in a foreign country, like Vietnam, you expect not to be able to read the road signs, find shops catering only to people of a different ethnicity/nationality to you. When those things begin to happen in your own country it begins to show you that the foreigners in your own country are getting the upper hand. Case in point, the recent furore over the new signs appearing at Whitechapel Underground station. When a council decides to change the some of the name boards at an international airport or arrivals hub to a foreign language we understand the logic. Lots of foreign tourists so make it easier for them to understand. When it is happening at a local underground station it conveys the notion that the area is no longer an area dominated by the natives. When you fancy a "City Break" with the wife for a weekend but find it hard to book a hotel because they've been block booked by the government to house people who entered the country illegally. When you see churches closing down but more and more mosques being built month after month. When you find yourself being accosted in the street by men in strange costumes calling your wife unspeakable things because she is wearing a sleeveless summer dress on a hot day. THAT is the "too many foreigners" people don't like. It is not a xenophonic thing, more a feeling of losing your own national identity.

absolutely spot on.

[Lemsta69]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:36 AM, Jingthing said:

So living abroad where you're a tiny minority is the solution. Interesting. I find the phenom of expat / xenophobes to be delicious. 

re your first para, that was my main motivation for retiring to Thailand as soon as I was able.

 

that, and I couldn't wait to get away from my backwards suburb in SW Sydney; got tired of living in the 7th century if you know what I mean.

[whereyougo]

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

 

Well, Thailand has a military government that is masquerading as a democracy, and with no reasonable pathway to permanent residency here, we are all more or less living here on a 1 year tourist visa which gives us permission to live here, not a right to live here.  There is a big difference.

 

I don't see much difference. 

Thailand is in no way terminating long term visas. Comparison to commie Vietnam is zero in that regards 

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, Leaver said:

 

Well, Thailand has a military government that is masquerading as a democracy, and with no reasonable pathway to permanent residency here, we are all more or less living here on a 1 year tourist visa which gives us permission to live here, not a right to live here.  There is a big difference.

 

I don't see much difference. 

So why the flinging L are you still here for it's not like you cannot go. 

[Leaver]

46 minutes ago, whereyougo said:

Thailand is in no way terminating long term visas. Comparison to commie Vietnam is zero in that regards 

 

I haven't read or heard any reports of them doing so in the near future, but I am simply pointing out that they can, just as easily as a communist government can.  What can farang do, sign a petition?  ????  

 

In my opinion, it's only a matter of time before the 800k goes to something like 1.2 million, and the 400k goes to something like 700k.  It can't stay at the present figure forever.

 

Whilst that may be no problem for many, it may also pose a problem for many. 

 

So, they don't change the visa, just change the criteria to get the visa.

 

Of course, they may decide to tidy Thailand up and make it only for higher net wealth individuals, and make it 3 million and 2 million.  Who knows?

 

All of this can be done with the stroke of a pen in the corridors of power in Bangkok. 

[Leaver]

51 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

So why the flinging L are you still here for it's not like you cannot go. 

 

I like it here.  It's the best adult nightlife in the world.   I'll continue to stay here so long as Thailand suits me.  I give as much loyalty to Thailand as Thailand gives to farang, which is zero. 

 

Unlike others, I can leave at any time, and I will, when it suits me, or when Thailand decides I am no longer wanted or needed. 

 

I have said Vietnam is my Plan B.  It's no secret. 

[Adumbration]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:17 AM, NorthernRyland said:

If that's how the feel then there is probably a deeper cultural problem which is going to surface in other areas. Are you going to get pulled over and harassed by the police like in China (so I'm told) if you go off the beaten path? Do you need to notify the police if you leave your city for more than 24-hours?

So the same as Thailand then?

[Adumbration]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:17 AM, NorthernRyland said:

If that's how the feel then there is probably a deeper cultural problem which is going to surface in other areas. Are you going to get pulled over and harassed by the police like in China (so I'm told) if you go off the beaten path? Do you need to notify the police if you leave your city for more than 24-hours?

So the same as Thailand then?

[Iamfalang]

On 4/22/2022 at 2:09 AM, webfact said:

Ninety-three percent of foreigners living and working in Vietnam said they have enough or more money than they need to cover their lives.

so 7% don't have enough money to cover their lives?

 

are they dead?  

 

S. 'nam is much closer to America than Bangkok, in terms of being capitalists.  

 

women in Vietnam are pretty, pretty women in every country.   even pretty girls get boring if you see the same ones every day.

 

I thought Vietnam was more expensive, but I'm a super high-roller and when I visited I was a two-week millionaire.  good times.  women good, food good, but I can tell they also love money and are not afraid to really go after it.  much more aggressive than LOS.

[metisdead]

Some off topic trolling posts and the replies have been removed. 

[Leaver]

20 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

good times.  women good, food good, but I can tell they also love money and are not afraid to really go after it.  much more aggressive than LOS.

 

In Vietnam, the girls go after your money.  In Thailand, EVERYONE goes after your money.  ???? 

[JimTripper]

It's fun for awhile, but live there over 6 months and things get really, really irritating ????‍♂️.

 

The constant spitting everywhere is one thing I remember disliking in particular.

[Leaver]

17 hours ago, JimTripper said:

It's fun for awhile, but live there over 6 months and things get really, really irritating ????‍♂️.

 

The constant spitting everywhere is one thing I remember disliking in particular.

 

Is spitting really a deal breaker?