Snubbed middle-income retirees look beyond Thailand to SE Asia

[Martinoo]

, but whose to say that at some point in the future they won’t make medical insurance compulsory for everyone on a long-term visa?

That would be the best thing to happen for many visa holders
And the whole thing is not very difficult to arrange, but for some reason they are skipping the issue, while acknowledging that 'unpaid hospital bills' force them to increase the price of each arrival with 1-2-300 thb....TIT

[Martinoo]

If they all have the same pros and cons it will be a difficult choice....
I have no rose-tinted glasses and don't see Thailand as Utopia, I travelled and worked in the countries you mention, apart from Japan, and never found it better, au contraire....
Anyway I wish you and your family all the best in your search for your Utopia

[Big Boy]

Is it really just 2 hours a year? Don't you have to go into the bank every month to get paperwork, and now multiple trips back and forward to the tax office and a new bureaucratic nightmare? I really fail to see how things are getting easier here.

Tax is a different subject, and was a real balls ache this year finding a way through the system - yes, I did waste a lot of time on tax, but currently does not fall into the visa bracket. If/when it does, that will definitely be a new, time consuming task that didn't exist in 2012. However, hopefully the initial reporting/learning the system was the hard bit, and a journey into the unknown - it should get easier.

I do go to the bank most months, just out of routine, and to keep on top of things. It is part of my monthly ritual of paying AIS, so I'm in the area anyway. AIS and my bank are about 50 yards from each other. I could phone the bank from home to order my Credit Advice, which arrives by e-mail anyway, but choose to let the bank take the strain.

[buksida]

If they all have the same pros and cons it will be a difficult choice....
I have no rose-tinted glasses and don't see Thailand as Utopia, I travelled and worked in the countries you mention, apart from Japan, and never found it better, au contraire....
Anyway I wish you and your family all the best in your search for your Utopia

I didn't say the all have the same pros and cons, I said they all have pros and cons. I just see the cons growing here, when there were more pros when I first moved to Thailand in the 1990s. Not to say that won't happen elsewhere, but as reported in the article, other countries do appear to be opening up to long-term residents, so the options for retirement are increasing ... which is a good thing.

[Dannie Boy]

, but whose to say that at some point in the future they won’t make medical insurance compulsory for everyone on a long-term visa?

That would be the best thing to happen for many visa holders
And the whole thing is not very difficult to arrange, but for some reason they are skipping the issue, while acknowledging that 'unpaid hospital bills' force them to increase the price of each arrival with 1-2-300 thb....TIT

The main reason why many expats, particularly those in their 60’s and 70’s, avoid comprehensive medical insurance is simply because it’s very expensive. Depending on age and existing medical conditions you could easily pay ฿100-200,000 per annum

[Martinoo]

I understand and am aware of the issue. A few Dutch expats returned home for that reason....and one or two had wives...sad stuff

[Martinoo]

If they all have the same pros and cons it will be a difficult choice....
I have no rose-tinted glasses and don't see Thailand as Utopia, I travelled and worked in the countries you mention, apart from Japan, and never found it better, au contraire....
Anyway I wish you and your family all the best in your search for your Utopia

I didn't say the all have the same pros and cons, I said they all have pros and cons. I just see the cons growing here, when there were more pros when I first moved to Thailand in the 1990s. Not to say that won't happen elsewhere, but as reported in the article, other countries do appear to be opening up to long-term residents, so the options for retirement are increasing ... which is a good thing.

pretty sure you will land on your feet somewhere....especially if you are not feeling at home here anymore, for whatever reason

[STEVE G]

I’m also thinking of going for the part time option on retirement but my partner is happy with me doing that because I think that is big issue for many.
If you have no connections in Thailand, it’s obviously easy to go elsewhere but if you’re settled with a family, persuading them to move might not be so easy, with problems of culture, language, schooling etc. and most Thais I know seem to be happy there with little desire to move.

[Dannie Boy]

I/my wife don’t know that many Thais who have farang partners, but from those we do, moving to a Western country is quite appealing to many of the Thai wives, but I’m pretty sure that most of them would be against moving to another Asian country such as Vietnam/Philippines/Malaysia/Cambodia etc.

[caller]

I'm not quite sure the author of this piece has any more qualifations on the subject matter than the guy sat next to you in a bar. It's just his opinion. I doubt he has any evidence in hand to back it up - and again, I am only referring to the fact his article is about retirement.

Looking back, it has got easier since immigration screwed up on seeking to request more than the notary service embassies were providing, and came up with a system that was easier than the one it replaced. But adding insurance to the OA visa has cost me personally, but not too badly. The tax thing BB had to go through is a nonsense, and I for one wouldn't be prepared to go down that route, but now we await further changes and have to wait until the end of the year to find out what.

My other half plans to retire at the end of this year, so if what is introduced means I will need to spend time elsewhere as well as here, then health permitting, I don't have a massive problem with that, in fact being able to spend a month here, a month there, sounds quite attractive, but I suspect the Thais will rein back any changes that will have any massive detrimental effect on expats already here, that simply put, considering the state of the Country, they can't afford to lose. Just think back to covid and how many services catering to expats disappeared.

On the business front, I do know somebody years ago, who ran a business here, nothing to do with tourism, but specialist engineering, and not in Hua Hin, but about an hours drive from Bkk, and in the end he quit and took his business back to the UK, simply because he got fed up with the hassle and extras he was expected to provide to immigration annually.

[dundrillin]

I'm on a marriage visa. In Buiram i make one visit to the bank and get printed statements for 60 days. If i go to immigration in the afternoon there are no queues normally and the process takes about 20 minutes. (asuming i remember to take my wife along for the photos) Buriram being a small place probably helps. If i got my back book updated in the ATM monthly i probably would not need the printed statements

[Big Boy]

I/my wife don’t know that many Thais who have farang partners, but from those we do, moving to a Western country is quite appealing to many of the Thai wives, but I’m pretty sure that most of them would be against moving to another Asian country such as Vietnam/Philippines/Malaysia/Cambodia etc.

Both my wife and daughter had certainly had enough of the UK before we moved back to Thailand. Quite a few others that we knew in the UK have followed or are following.

[Dannie Boy]

I/my wife don’t know that many Thais who have farang partners, but from those we do, moving to a Western country is quite appealing to many of the Thai wives, but I’m pretty sure that most of them would be against moving to another Asian country such as Vietnam/Philippines/Malaysia/Cambodia etc.

Both my wife and daughter had certainly had enough of the UK before we moved back to Thailand. Quite a few others that we knew in the UK have followed or are following.

The point I was making was that a Thai national living in Thailand would view the option of moving to a western country far more favourable than moving to a near Asian country. I accept that after a number of years of living in the UK, the “novelty” might have worn off!!

[buksida]

Yes, moving when married certainly depends on the wife's willingness to embrace a different country/culture, and I'm pretty lucky in that respect. Another aspect is that it doesn't have to be permanent, and somewhere close to Thailand will always facilitate short trips back now and then. Our kids have both left home and are at uni so we don't need to live here full-time any longer. I just don't want to be "stuck" here when I'm too old to travel and the goalposts have moved again in the wrong direction (compulsory health insurances/taxes/increasing financial demands/surging cost of living/debanking/more restrictions/whatever farang money extraction scheme they dream up next).

[Hahuahin]

IMO, it is unrealistic to set up requirements for a retirement visa in a country where the local estimated average income is 21,000 US dollars and even that amount, I think is a bit exaggerated from what I can see around me – https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/ ... er-capita/
However, what is realistic here
hahuahin