Visa fee increases and an alternative .....

[alykev8892]

I have been very concerned about visa fee and related increases coming up. I can understand an increase from 500 to 1000 baht for the normal tourist visa though it is a big increase at one time. But what about the visa extension from 500 to 1,900 baht ........... I cannot comprehend that at all and to me it is a message from the Thai government saying they do not want me here. Why not just slap me in the face instead ....

I have been in Thailand for over 2 years now and have fully supported a Thai national and at times her mother also. I have spent an average of 50,000 baht per month, every single month for 2 years straight. Not exactly a huge figure but it has helped many small mom and pop shops at times when I go shopping. I am sure there are many other foreigners here who also support Thai girl friends as I do but who do not qualify for retirement visas for one reason or another. With the retirement visa income requirement going from 800,000 to 1,500,000 I will have no recourse but to marry my Thai girl friend but I am hesitant to take such a course of action with the changes going on regarding immigration. Do the government officials not realize what we provide in terms of financial input into the local communities or do they simply not care ...

What is an alternative ......... personally I am looking into the Philippines. I was there in 1985 for 6 weeks but it has changed since, perhaps for worse, I do not know. But I can say that visa expenses are less there than here. I was married before to a Filipina lady and my impression is that expats are more welcome in the Philippines than here in Thailand. The ladies will certainly speak more English because English and Tagalog are the 2 official languages. And from the input I have received from expats there, it seems the cost of living is less than here. While the baht is down to 41.18 (my last ATM withdraw), the peso over 54 now so the USD may go further there. You can check out an expat forum at www.livinginthephilippines.com and there are tons of Filipina girls at www.blossoms.com.

I hope this may help someone here. If someone else has another alternative destination, I would surely love to hear about it and perhaps some other expats here as well. In my case, the one who would hurt the most if I move to a more friendly country is the very Thai lady I have supported all these months. But it is very hard to remain here where I feel unwelcomed now. Such is life ..................

[KenUdon]

An in a very similar situation, and agree wholeheartedly with your view. An accumulation of things has contributed to my decision to consider other options, and I am just one of many in my area doing the same thing. No idea if the retirement Visa criteria will increase to 1.5m, but even if not, 800k is in my opinion, now too much to entrust to a Thai bank, or the Thai Govt. I think the latest changes are just the start of things to come, and you can be pretty certain that nothing in the future Thai Govt. thinking will be be good for farangs.

The Phillippines are my focus at the moment, but I am getting conflicting opinions about costs of living relative to Thailand. Some say that the costs there are considerably higher than Thailand, but others have actually indicated things being cheaper, or the same. Hard to get specifics. Many people saying it is cheaper there, then go on to quote figures that are way higher than my expenditure here.

Maybe some more informed info will come as a result of this thread. Would be very useful at this point to many farangs here.

[Roger13]

I am also looking at Philipines

alykev8892,

Thanks for that private Website:

http://www.livinginthephilippines.com

It mentions that the US$50,000 deposit

is not the only way to Retire there ...

An alternative is to extend 59 day Tourist Visas

at $40 a time for up to a year when an overseas

visa trip becomes neccessary.

Has anyone any experience of this please?

Roger

[KenUdon]

Roger, The 59 day visa is apparently the best way of doing it, and is no hassle at all. Very easy to do, and a foregone conclusion. The retirement visa thing is under review at the moment, as it is not proving to be attractive to retirees. This Yahoo Group is very helpful in this respect.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LivingInThePhilippines2/ Might be an idea for us to liase on info re:- Pi in the future. Am sure we can find out more that way. Let me know.

[Roger13]

Roger, The 59 day visa is apparently the best way of doing it, and is no hassle at all. Very easy to do, and a foregone conclusion.

Hi KenUdon,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you know if the Regulations detail

how to qualify for 59 day extentions upto a year?

Or is it very much a Discretionary matter?

Is it just for Retirement Age persons?

Is it limited to particular Nationalities?

Do you know of an Official website

that gives such details?

Sorry for the list of Qs

and thanks for the Yahoo groups link.

Roger

[KenUdon]

Hi Roger.

From what I am TOLD, there is very little restriction on the 59day visa, and seems to be available to any nationality, with no requirement for the sort of hoops that Thailand expects. This is only what I have been able to glean from the Yahoo Groups website. There are some really helpful people who post there, and they all seem to regard this type of visa as the best to go for at the moment, assuming you are not married to a Filipino National. I am still in the early stages of fact finding myself, so more informed info on the site I think. The main problem I have at the moment, is deciding exactly where to start looking there. There are 7000 islands, so quite confusing.

[alykev8892]

Manila is crowded, polluted, traffic jams, (like Los Angeles?)and my X's aunts complained about it every time they came back from a trip. Maybe try Cebu which is smaller than Manila, or Dumaguete, or Davao. Mindanao in general is supposed to be a no-no because of militants but even the Manila area has such things at times. Regarding Davao, it is cheaper than Cebu or Manila as I understand and it was voted the best city of something or other once upon a time ....... maybe find a Davao City website? About expenses, it seems to me from what I have learned is that the Phil is similar to here and perhaps less in some respects. If  a room rents for 4000 baht here and 4000 pesoes there, it is actually less in US dollars there .... 41 baht to $1 compared to 54? pesoes to $1.

[alykev8892]

Try this website, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs at www.dfa.gov.ph.

You might also try www.itravelphilippines.com

[PK2]

But what about the visa extension from 500 to 1,900 baht ........... I cannot comprehend that at all a.........While the baht is down to 41.18 (my last ATM withdraw), the peso over 54 now so the USD may go further there. .....

Personally I wouldn't consider moving countries just because of a visa price hike. That is nothing compared to all the other expenses here not to mention the attachment one may have developed to the country. These visa prices haven't changed for many years and hopefully won't again for many years to come.  

Also I don't understand the logic of the Thai and Philippine exchange rate comparisons. These are floating currencies on world markets and more pesos than baht to the dollar has no bearing on the cost of living in the Philippines versus Thailand.

Cheers

[alykev8892]

I am not considering moving to the Phil simply because of visa fee increases. And I understand the visa fees have not changed for many years but why go from 500 to 1000 for the visa fee and then from 500 to 1,900 for the visa extension. And then there is the retirement visa requirement going from 800,000 to 1,500,000, a huge increase. In my case, I was short of the 800,000 by 210,000 baht in savings. My fault for buying so many movies and music. Add the increase of 700,000 to it and the retirement visa may well be out of reach for many foreigners now, leaving them to tourist visa runs. These are many parts of the overall picture to consider. Never mind about the exchange rate thing ... it is certainly unscientific at best but based on my spending habits and comparing the cost of things I buy here to the cost of the same things in the Philippines, my living expenses would probably be less there. I plan to confirm that in the months ahead with a trip to Manila and Cebu. And someone mentioned Panama as being the best place. So that is worth a look as well since I am shopping for friendlier retirement places.