Turned 50s, and will apply for retirement visa.

[paz]

Read: will NOT apply.

Now that the milestone has arrived, while I remember my dad humbly celebrating his half centurty wiqth a wine bottle at home with us the boys, I am now here with the notion that I could become some sort of semi-permanently, resident of the Kingdom, joining the ranks of many other' thousands.

Of course, without enjoying any real right or certainty in status.

Well, I have decided against, I will not exercise the subservient dedication to produce the paperwork and will not lock up funds into a fixed rate account of questionable profitability in this country.

Even if the idea had crossed my mind before, I will not bow to immigration officers scrutining my paperwork looking for way to invalidate it against any common sense. It has to be said however that is not the only thing I will not do in Thailand. I won't marry, I won't support a mistress, will not drown my liver in beer, will not buy property in whoever's name, and I will not waste my time and dignity in bars or similar foreigners gathering.

Anything else that is enjoable to do here, I will do, as I did since few years already. I will sweat in boxe training, be elated in riding bikes,play my chances in chasing ladies and be frustrated at learning Thai. And I will proudly do nothing all the remaining time. I will travel here as I please as long money permits and will keep my home overseas for as long is convenient to do. I will exploit the immigration regulations to the fullest, but they will not see me bowing.

This is my vowing for turning 50 when in or about Thailand.

Edited December 7, 2013 by paz

[Aussieroaming]

Good...I'm sure everyone feels a lot better now that you've made your plans clear.

Happy birthday

[David48]

Amen ... Good Luck with all that.

I hope you achieve what is important to you.

Maybe it's just me but it has a New Year's Eve Promise feeling to it all.

.

[NeverSure]

Wow. I could have written that. My sentiments exactly. I love to visit Thailand for a few months for the reasons you mentioned, but I will never give up my home in my home country, or buy a house, car and buffalo for an Isaan gal.

I own my land <deleted>. I have a right to be here and move around without someone's permission. I am not a farang, I have massive consumer protection, cheap Medicare medical insurance and many other freedoms and benefits that I would never have in Thailand.

I love Thailand and I love visiting, but I always feel relieved when I step off that plane back onto my own country's soil where I have rights and protections.

People talk about "freedom" in Thailand and I feel the opposite. I don't trust the police or the courts or even a street vendor. I'm constantly having to comply with some rule such as do a border run. If it wasn't for the pretty women (and I don't do bar girls) I wouldn't go there.

But here's to the beautiful women.

[krisb]

That's nice.

Op,curious, if immigration relaxed their rules, and owning land rule changed, hypothetically speaking of course, would your view change then?

Neversure, it sounds like you don't like Thailand mate. Seriously you say you feel relief getting off the plane back home. Like it was a lucky escape from all the shonky Thais. Not sure I would go to Thailand if I felt like this.

quick edit, I feel the exact opposite when I get back home. It's all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Edited December 7, 2013 by krisb

[JLCrab]

I never looked at the retirement extension as bowing rather a game of wits as I learned from Communist Party officials in PR China 25 years ago. If you get established here in the right mode,you won't have to chase the ladies -- the ladies will chase you.

[NeverSure]

Neversure, it sounds like you don't like Thailand mate. Seriously you say you feel relief getting off the plane back home. Like it was a lucky escape from all the shonky Thais. Not sure I would go to Thailand if I felt like this.

quick edit, I feel the exact opposite when I get back home. It's all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

If my home was Australia, then I'd feel just as you do.

</JOKING>

[krisb]

Neversure, it sounds like you don't like Thailand mate. Seriously you say you feel relief getting off the plane back home. Like it was a lucky escape from all the shonky Thais. Not sure I would go to Thailand if I felt like this.

quick edit, I feel the exact opposite when I get back home. It's all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

If my home was Australia, then I'd feel just as you do.

</JOKING>

Oooowwwww, to bite or not to bite? that is the question...

Lucky you, born in Eutopia.

[Jasun]

"I will not waste my time and dignity in bars or similar foreigners gathering."

In that case, i'll say my happy birthday's right here, as there is little chance we'll ever cross paths.

[JLCrab]

As long as this is now a thread on things I will not do, I have decided not to make a booking reservation (for now) on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

[jpinx]

The "Not Doing" thread

I will Not go through the hassle of getting tourist visas to prolong my stay - just use a simple retirement visa extensions -- with no money in any Thai bank.

I will Not eat Som Tam.

I will Not vote for Scotland to stay in UK

I will Not drive a car or bike here - someone else can have the hassle when there's a scrape.

I will Not post too much in TV 'cos people love to read the history and then jump on you for some perceived inconsistency.

I will Not give in to every lovely lady that bats her eyes at me.

I will Not "invest" in property here -- why buy when renting is so cheap? I'm talking about apartments/houses now

[kikoman]

Wow. I could have written that. My sentiments exactly. I love to visit Thailand for a few months for the reasons you mentioned, but I will never give up my home in my home country, or buy a house, car and buffalo for an Isaan gal.

I own my land &lt;deleted&gt;. I have a right to be here and move around without someone's permission. I am not a farang, I have massive consumer protection, cheap Medicare medical insurance and many other freedoms and benefits that I would never have in Thailand.

I love Thailand and I love visiting, but I always feel relieved when I step off that plane back onto my own country's soil where I have rights and protections.

People talk about "freedom" in Thailand and I feel the opposite. I don't trust the police or the courts or even a street vendor. I'm constantly having to comply with some rule such as do a border run. If it wasn't for the pretty women (and I don't do bar girls) I wouldn't go there.

But here's to the beautiful women.

I am one of those that talk about freedom in Thailand much more freedom than in Lee Greenwood's USA

why do we from the same country feel so different, It is because you are a Farang in Thailand (A foriegner of European origin's) and I am considered a Farang in the USA despite being a citizen of that country because my parent's are Mexican American;s ( I am treated in the US as those farang here complain about being treated in Thailand).

I do not trust the Police or the court system in the US, as the over representation of minorities in US prisons, a great example of dual justice are the laws on using cocaine (powder cocaine used mostly by white's are treated with very lenient sentences and crack cocaine used primarily by minorities have a mandatory 5-10 prison sentence). there are many more examples but this is a forum about life in Thailand.

Thailand has never claimed to be the free-est country in the world as my home country has, Life to me is much free-er here, the BIB have never been a problem to me as I do not live in the tourist centers, do not hang around the bars, drinking my life away, getting blind drunk and acting like a fool. I also do not look down on the Thai's in the belief that I am better than they are, I see them as a great people that are my equals. Most Falang's fail to understand this is Thailand, home of the Thai people they did not chose to live with you, it was you that chose to live with them.

The OP's logic only identifies him as that, of only a sex-tourist, a least he is honest about why he comes to Thailand, to fulfilled his sexual needs with younger women, the age of women that would not give him the time of day in his home country, but he is attempting to state he is on the moral high ground, which he is not. There is no morality in what he claims.

Life in Thailand is much better to me as I have the freedom, I did not have in my home country, where the BIB do not stop you on the street to check on your immigration status, or come to your house because of the length of your grass, or tell you what you can or can not do on your property.

Cheers

[beachproperty]

Hey ....Nothing wrong with just being a "Tourist"

Happy Birthday!

[mickjn]

Bravo Sir well done if that is what you want to do,do it.If I could ask you one question.What is the longest period of time do you think you would spend in LOS before returning to your home???

[paz]

Kikoman, the easyness with wich you identify people that you don't know into rough categories of pre-determined morality only show your need to resolve yourself better before exercising judgment by proxy.

Cheers to the other that have spoken without preconceptions and bitterness.

And the guy that gets retirement extensions without having money in the bank is welcome to write about in the visa forum, to me that us just a detail of a system that I refuse in full.

[paz]

Bravo Sir well done if that is what you want to do,do it.If I could ask you one question.What is the longest period of time do you think you would spend in LOS before returning to your home???

One single time I've stayed three months on a tourist visa. Life goes quickly and I don't know or worry about what I will do in the future. Edited December 8, 2013 by paz

[aveabeeror2]

Good...I'm sure everyone feels a lot better now that you've made your plans clear.

Happy birthday

Assier., I recon the op would be about as much fun as a bag full of cut snakes. He can never leave Thailand because he says he wont do paper work.

[johnmarhall]

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday
Happy birthday
Happy birthday
Ooh yeah
Happy birthday

great thinking just do not get caught

[paz]

Good...I'm sure everyone feels a lot better now that you've made your plans clear.Happy birthday

Assier., I recon the op would be about as much fun as a bag full of cut snakes. He can never leave Thailand because he says he wont do paper work.

Not sure in which part of my posting you're reading that, to the contrary I said I will travel as I please, always legally, just as I did in the past. Not overstaying and not even discussing that, sorry if that spoils your reptilian humor. Edited December 8, 2013 by paz

[simon43]

Um .. it's not compulsory to apply for a retirement visa when you turn 50....

Simon (> 50 years old, living in Thailand since 2002, no retirement visa, no investment visa, not married, not working, but legally staying here!)

[harrry]

Um .. it's not compulsory to apply for a retirement visa when you turn 50....

Simon (> 50 years old, living in Thailand since 2002, no retirement visa, no investment visa, not married, not working, but legally staying here!)

Simon......who should get a supporters visa for supporting multiple wives....(serially)

[californiabeachboy]

I had a retirement visa, and let it die a painless and merciful death.

I discovered that for me, Thailand is like a beautiful woman that you have no real connection with (back many years ago when I was younger and better-looking and could actually date a beautiful woman). After 30 days, I would say "why am I with this woman??. That is the way I feel about Thailand. I love the food, the Thai people, the ability to deal with hardship and still smile (sanuk?), and many other things about Thailand.

But after several weeks, I discover that the chaos, the soi dogs chasing me during my walks, hearing the motorcycles roaring up behind me on the sidewalk, and that &lt;deleted&gt; humidity, just get to me, and I say to myself "why am I still here?.

I have a couple of farang friends who have made a good life for themselves in Thailand. But as they say, find your bliss. For me that is several visits a year with beautiful Thailand, then back home.

[kikoman]

Kikoman, the easyness with wich you identify people that you don't know into rough categories of pre-determined morality only show your need to resolve yourself better before exercising judgment by proxy.

Cheers to the other that have spoken without preconceptions and bitterness.

And the guy that gets retirement extensions without having money in the bank is welcome to write about in the visa forum, to me that us just a detail of a system that I refuse in full.

Your post and the wording you used"subservient dedication", "bowing to", I understood as you stating that is what we do by being willing to do the things you would not do. I do not have to know you personally to critic your post as you did not have to know me personally to find fault in the decisions I made to live and abide by the laws of Thailand.

I do not need to do or resolve anything before I exercises my judgement of your post, by your placing on a public forum, you placed your thoughts in the public for a response.

As I was not answering your post only another posters comments about "People talk about freedom in Thailand" and just mentioned my thoughts about your post. all the thing's you stated you do here, can be done anywhere else on earth, on the "play my chances in chasing the ladies" was the only activity you mentioned that many come to Thailand to enjoy.

I saw your post as attempting to take the moral high ground on things you would not be subservient or bow to that those of us who chose to live in Thailand must do to maintain our residence here. Simply stating there was no moral high ground to coming to Thailand only to abuse its women, with out as you state you would not make any commitment to them.

Cheers

I live in Thailand based on my monthly income, and have never placed any funds in the bank for immigration purposes.

[899cc]

Not sure what your trying to tell us op, it seems from your statement being 50 now is no different from being 49 etc for YOU???

[harrry]

In some ways I sympathise. On a tourist visa you can go where you like and stay where you like. Retirement should be a time where you can forget the clock and come and go as you wish. On a retirement visa here you have to report at the same place every 90 days and cannot just at say day 70 decide you are going to have a few weeks in the south or vice versa. Also the lack of consistency in the application of the rules does cause a certain amount of stress which the freedom of coming and going when you want to eliminates.

[jpinx]

In some ways I sympathise. On a tourist visa you can go where you like and stay where you like. Retirement should be a time where you can forget the clock and come and go as you wish. On a retirement visa here you have to report at the same place every 90 days and cannot just at say day 70 decide you are going to have a few weeks in the south or vice versa. Also the lack of consistency in the application of the rules does cause a certain amount of stress which the freedom of coming and going when you want to eliminates.

You do not have to report every movement - that would be ridiculous. You need to have a "main base" address which you can report by post every 90 days regardless of where you wander off to for a week or so.

[harrry]

In some ways I sympathise. On a tourist visa you can go where you like and stay where you like. Retirement should be a time where you can forget the clock and come and go as you wish. On a retirement visa here you have to report at the same place every 90 days and cannot just at say day 70 decide you are going to have a few weeks in the south or vice versa. Also the lack of consistency in the application of the rules does cause a certain amount of stress which the freedom of coming and going when you want to eliminates.

You do not have to report every movement - that would be ridiculous. You need to have a "main base" address which you can report by post every 90 days regardless of where you wander off to for a week or so.

Many places will not accept the 90 day by mail. Also by law you have to report if you stay in a location over 24 hours. By rights you have to report back to immigration when you return from a trip to another district. Hotels report and some individuals have been fined for not doing so.

[jpinx]

In some ways I sympathise. On a tourist visa you can go where you like and stay where you like. Retirement should be a time where you can forget the clock and come and go as you wish. On a retirement visa here you have to report at the same place every 90 days and cannot just at say day 70 decide you are going to have a few weeks in the south or vice versa. Also the lack of consistency in the application of the rules does cause a certain amount of stress which the freedom of coming and going when you want to eliminates.

You do not have to report every movement - that would be ridiculous. You need to have a "main base" address which you can report by post every 90 days regardless of where you wander off to for a week or so.

Many places will not accept the 90 day by mail. Also by law you have to report if you stay in a location over 24 hours. By rights you have to report back to immigration when you return from a trip to another district. Hotels report and some individuals have been fined for not doing so.

I don't want to be accused of hi-jacking this thread, but a link to the immigration rule about 24 hour reporting would be useful

[nickmanchester2]

i was just waiting for the post saying 'retirement visa does not exist, its a entitlement to stay on an extension of a non-immigrant type-y visa'

[harrry]

In some ways I sympathise. On a tourist visa you can go where you like and stay where you like. Retirement should be a time where you can forget the clock and come and go as you wish. On a retirement visa here you have to report at the same place every 90 days and cannot just at say day 70 decide you are going to have a few weeks in the south or vice versa. Also the lack of consistency in the application of the rules does cause a certain amount of stress which the freedom of coming and going when you want to eliminates.

You do not have to report every movement - that would be ridiculous. You need to have a "main base" address which you can report by post every 90 days regardless of where you wander off to for a week or so.

Many places will not accept the 90 day by mail. Also by law you have to report if you stay in a location over 24 hours. By rights you have to report back to immigration when you return from a trip to another district. Hotels report and some individuals have been fined for not doing so.

I don't want to be accused of hi-jacking this thread, but a link to the immigration rule about 24 hour reporting would be useful

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=alienstay