Advice sought please on 69yr old moving to Thailand with Thai wife

[cliveshep]

To all of you - thank you so much for your interest and helpful comments. What we have gleaned so far is:-

To apply for a 90 day visa in the UK

To sell the boat here and not attempt to take it with us

To send everything in my wife's name

To either use Maersk for a container we load, which would need a forwarding agent at the other end or.......

To us a shipper for door to door, Seven Seas was recommended and I found Britannia Movers also recommended elsewhere on another thread.

So today I am meeting with a rep from Britannia, and have already contacted Seven Seas. So we should soon have more ideas on costs etc.

You can bet your bottom baht we have more questions but I'll put them on the general forum. But once again, thank you so much.

[AyG]

I'd suggest also contacting Bishop's Move. They handled the transfer of my possessions here and I was very happy with their service. (The container was actually shipped by Maersk.)

Have you also considered the climate? When my mother visited, who then was of a similar age yet in excellent health, really struggled and collapsed a few times. I rather doubt from what you've written that you'll have enough spare cash to spent on oodles of air conditioning. (Electricity prices here are high.)

[oldsailor35]

I am in my 70's and have been living in Thailand for 8 years. I am on a non imm O visa and go home every 15 mths to renew. I have to do border run every 90 days, but it suits me.

In my opinion, unless you have something which is valuable to you, the best thing is to have a sale and come with just a suitcase. I think that you should consider renting your home for the first twelve months until you are settled here, if you are going to the country you should be able to get adequate accommodation quite cheaply. I have met many who have sold houses before coming and have regretted it. With the rent you will get, you could live very comfortably here. I live on Koh Samui and find my electricity quite cheap. Jan was Bht 260, but has been Bht 400. depending on use of a/con.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Edited February 28, 2014 by oldsailor35

[oldsailor35]

I understand boats are actually duty free but you must pay a sales tax of 7% of their estimated value which will be high.

You do not seem to have accounted at all for health care costs which can be high here.

Depends where you go for treatment, yes it can be expensive. But last year i had bad chest infection. Went to local government hospital, had 2 xrays saw 2 doctors walked out with medicine about ten english quid. I could have gone to one of the top hospitals but would have paid many hundreds.

Up to you ..........as they say !

[oldsailor35]

There is a very important question that you failed to ask: how will you pay for health care for yourself?

At 69 you will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to get health insurance. As a Thai citizen your wife will be eligible for coverage under Thailand's "30 baht" (AKA "gold card" scheme) but you will not be.

Costs of medical care, even at government hospitals, can easily run to over a hundred thousand pounds in the event of a catastrophic illness or accident.

And, you may lose eligibility for care under the NHS back home.

Please give this serious thought as it does not sound like you are in a position to self-insure. If any members know of an insurance co. willing to issue new policies to someone of this age, please chime in.

Have you not heard of the new health insurance for farang. It is very basic, but you will be covered if needed. You have to go to local govt hospital, pay Bht 2000 and fill in forms, you then get a card and bingo. This has been brought in to cover the many farang who are too old to be able to afford the expensive health insurances on offer once one gets to 60 plus.

[oldsailor35]

I may have missed it, but where in Thailand are you going to live.

[samran]

I may have missed it, but where in Thailand are you going to live.

Somewhere which is prone to flooding... Seriously.

[kimbathewhitelion]

This post has been here for days now, can only guess, either the old guy has his answer by now or is dead.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[AyG]

Have you not heard of the new health insurance for farang.

It's not for farang, it's for migrant workers.

Westerners who've registered and tried to use the service have been rejected. See for example http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/706549-thai-gov-health-plan-for-farangs-totally-kaput/

And yes, Sheryl is perfectly aware of the scheme, having posted at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/683276-government-insurance-scheme-for-expats/ and elsewhere. (Not that she needs me to defend her.)

[cliveshep]

I'm not dead and have some answers oz893 - sorry!

I have my card from Central General already - I've had x-rays, treatments, and they are pretty cheap. In fact getting the dog treated in BKK cost a whole lot more!

Apropos heat - I seriously doubt it's any worse than Agoo, Pangasinan, Manila etc in the Philippines. You just learn to moderate inclinations to run marathons - well, that's my excuse for being a bit lazy. We had no air-con there and lived like the locals. Even coming from December cold in the UK it only takes a month or so to acclimatise. I'm not a complete nonce you know, just someone who wants to move to Thailand with his Thai wife.

Initially we'll live in the town house in Khu Khot in Lamlukka, Patham Thani, we were aiming for Kanjanaburi although prices are rising there, so might go up the middle a bit, maybe Nahkon Nayok or Nahkon Patham area.

[cliveshep]

I may have missed it, but where in Thailand are you going to live.

Somewhere which is prone to flooding... Seriously.

We want to build new, and on stilts/columns, and I'm into boats anyway even if i need to build a new one in Thailand. We reckon land prone to flooding might be cheaper? Houses in the outskirts of BKK where they were under water for 3 months a couple of years ago are very hard to sell the family say - so that was where we got that idea from.

Of course - like all best-laid plans.......................????