working out living costs for LOS

[whitespider 1]

Hybrid - I guess what is clear from all this is that you should make your own enquiries. I think its also clear that you are being very methodical anyway which is a good sign.

 

Best of luck with it all whatever you decide. I did it and have no regrets whatsoever.

[pattysteve 34]

when i read up on it refered to visiting freinds/partners as well .. i was on this path for the non-immi class O using the LT TGF as the reason as she would be living with me

 

I agree,visiting friends etc,dont think thats a problem its not like they ask for any proof of this.

 

My impression from visiting Hull on 2 occasions is they really dont give a shit,pay your money nothing else matters.

[whitespider 1]

pattysteve and Hybrid

 

I just looked at the application forms for Non Imm O on the Hull Consulate and the Embassy in London. they are completely different - bizarre.

 

Hull seems a lot more simple and as pattysteve says they issue in 30 minutes whereas London issues in 48 hours minimum.

 

Sounds like a trip to the boonies could be in order.

[pattysteve 34]

Big huraaaaaaaaay for the boonies

 

Its all in the interpretation,Hull seem to have the best.

 

Seriously tho Hull will do a 24 hr turnround by post(well 24 hrs in thier hands so maybe 4 days with postage times),just download the forms from website.

Edited September 21, 2006 by pattysteve

[hybrid 1]

Big huraaaaaaaaay for the boonies

 

Its all in the interpretation,Hull seem to have the best.

 

Seriously tho Hull will do a 24 hr turnround by post(well 24 hrs in thier hands so maybe 4 days with postage times),just download the forms from website.

 

any idea if the 12 months validity runs from date of issue .. or from date of 1st entry, would affect how far ahead of departure i'd apply for it ... or can they advance date them eg apply now and have it run from november 06 - november 07

[whitespider 1]

Hybrid

 

The Hull form states that if its a 12 month Multi Entry it is valid for 6 months from issue i.e. you musrt enter LOS within 6 month. the 12 months then runns from date of entry. The Hull website also tells you how you can make 12 months into 15 months.

 

The London form says it must be used 3 months after issue if its a 12 month multi - issue

 

TIT I think

 

I think it is pretty well established that you CAN get a 12 month multi entry. However just to add smoke to the fire I have just been reading the rules re "renewing" it in thaivisa.com. That states that to RENEW for a further 12 months you must be married.

 

Im not going to qualify that that as I am cleary NOT an expert but you should make enquiries along those lines if you are still talking about "retiring" i.e. permamently living here.

 

Might be a good idea to sign up for ThaiVisa.com and post a question there.

[pattysteve 34]

Hybrid,

 

Valid from date of issue,so you just need to time it right if applying by post.

 

If you are going to visit the consulate,ring them to arrange a time for appointment.

 

OMG it seems i got a visa Q wrong, i bow to Spiders more thorough reading of the regulations.

[whitespider 1]

Hybrid,

 

Valid from date of issue,so you just need to time it right if applying by post.

 

If you are going to visit the consulate,ring them to arrange a time for appointment.

 

OMG it seems i got a visa Q wrong, i bow to Spiders more thorough reading of the regulations.

 

pattysteve LOL - Hybrid PLEASE dont take my word for it. the whole thing is confusing, make your own dilligent enquiries. One thing the last 2 pages on this thread proves is just how difficult/confusing it is becoming with various interpretations available.

[pattysteve 34]

Or phone them,they are very helpful.

[hybrid 1]

Or phone them,they are very helpful.

 

Passport gone off today to Hull for a class O non-immi multi entry visa £90 + £6 p&p to get it back

.. if only it was this easy to get a tg visa to come to visit the UK for a short time !!

[wannabeexpat 0]

I am not trying to piss on your parade , but, are you remembering you will be paying income tax and national insurance. I rent out properties in the uk. I have found that you are usually left with about half of the total rental amount after paying management , insurance, accountant and tax. I own them outright, so you would have to add banking charges if you owe on them. So half of £1700 is £850 less big repairs and voids. If you want your uk pension to keep going you will need to pay £30 a month national insurance.

Voids and rent arrears are very common.

Are you sure about the rents? £850 sounds a lot for a £120k house.

On the bright side, I think you could still do it for £820 ( if my figures are correct)a month. Cut your food budget (7,000 is possible)and pay the g/f less and rent a cheap condo. Its still better than the uk, and you can be looking for export opportunities or whatever. I hope you prove my figures wrong, I am only trying to warn you of possible expenses.

[Owen` 2]

thanks for info owen . worrying to think how many farangs sell everything leaving no return route home and move without funds to last them .. guess thats the jumpers we see

 

Not while these boards are around. I pound the keyboard on these threads to inform guys way ahead of time what is coming. There will be no shock effect for guys who read these boards. They can see problems coming and address them long before they see zeros on their ATM receipt and decide it's time to step off a roof.

 

A comment on your phrasing "worrying to think how many farangs sell everything leaving no return route home." I have never understood guys saying "you may want to hold onto that house or condo back home so you 'have a place to come back to'".

 

Of course there are return routes home. As long as airplanes fly and ships sail there is a return route home and it has nothing whatsoever to do with having a house. If you want to go home and you need a place to live, you put your stuff in storage for a few weeks, check into an extended stay hotel for a few weeks and go buy a house. Why is this scary? You don't want to buy a house? Fine. Rent a UK flat. Presto, you have a place to come home to.

 

Guys, you don't have to tie up your money in a house that generates maintenance expense and tenants who take a hammer to your walls and don't pay their rent on time. Sell it. Pocket the money in a bank interest bearing account. Go spend time in LOS. Decide you have to go home. Go home. Take the money and get yourself a place to live. This Is No Big Thing.

 

Maybe the house increases in price faster than bank interest. Maybe not. Even if it does, it may not do so to the extent of covering damages and maintenance and insurance and all the other costs.

 

Anyway -- this idea that if you sell your house you can't return home is kind of insane. Passports work and airplanes fly. Of course you can go home. Home is your country and city. Not a piece of dirt with a structure on it.

 

Thumbs up on your entire thorough approach, guy. You're being careful. Don't do anything rash. If you want to spend a year in LOS, have at it. Just don't expect that year to go on and on without more income.

Edited September 23, 2006 by Owen`

[hybrid 1]

I am not trying to piss on your parade , but, are you remembering you will be paying income tax and national insurance. I rent out properties in the uk. I have found that you are usually left with about half of the total rental amount after paying management , insurance, accountant and tax. I own them outright, so you would have to add banking charges if you owe on them. So half of £1700 is £850 less big repairs and voids. If you want your uk pension to keep going you will need to pay £30 a month national insurance.

Voids and rent arrears are very common.

Are you sure about the rents? £850 sounds a lot for a £120k house.

On the bright side, I think you could still do it for £820 ( if my figures are correct)a month. Cut your food budget (7,000 is possible)and pay the g/f less and rent a cheap condo. Its still better than the uk, and you can be looking for export opportunities or whatever. I hope you prove my figures wrong, I am only trying to warn you of possible expenses.

 

a few more there i had not totaly considered ...

accountant already have a very good one which will help no end with the tax man ..

NI i'm not sure what to do on really .. i spent 15 years of my X marraige looking after a crazy wife and could never get HRP on the NI . so am well behind getting that upto date . at least for year one i will carry on paying the class 1 stamp i pay now tho .

management is sorted out already with extended family, for the timebeing anyway .

no morgages to worry about.

rent is correct .. bit of an odd area where i live .. huge 4 bedroomed houses that no one ever sells , grossly undervalued but they get fantastic rental .. a freind owns 8 local houses and has a waiting list of people wanting them

 

i've decided i am going to look at this a 1 year test . if all goes well i will then re evaluate the properties in the UK .. all the spreadsheets i've done(of which i've done many many variations) tell me that even if property prices only go up at 4.5% which is a very low projection that i would be foolish to sell them . i'd be far better knocking the lounge into 2 more bedrooms, making an extra one upstairs and filling the places with polish immigrants paying £50 each !! may sound stupid however the next round down has another guy who has 5 of the houses and they have already done this .. i'm sure they even sleep in shifts there seems to be so many of them in there ..LOL

but year 1 will be a test to see can i survive on the rental income from the 2 houses .. if this cannot be done then i'm better off in the UK renting another house out for myself while still renting these 2 out, which sounds insane as the cost of living in the UK is so much more.

 

i'm also fairly decided that i need to go up the english teacher path .. even with a shitty wage it will save me money doing it as while working i'm not spending and is needed to get out of tourist mode ... another big thing is networking, over and over again on boards i see a strong ex-pat community scatching each others backs .. i'm yet to find the foothole on this for LOS but i will be pounding the beat trying to find out whats up for grabs soon enough

Edited September 21, 2006 by hybrid

[Eneukman 1]

any idea if the 12 months validity runs from date of issue .. or from date of 1st entry, would affect how far ahead of departure i'd apply for it ... or can they advance date them eg apply now and have it run from november 06 - november 07

 

The validity runs from date of issue. As far as I can recall, you must enter Thailand within 90 days of the visa being issued.

 

You can then stay in Thailand for 90 days after which you must leave the country. You can come back in again immediately and you will get a further 90 days. If you time your visa runs so that you are able to come back into the country on the day before the visa expires you will be given a further 90 days, which can be extended at Immigration by up to 30 days giving you a total stay of 15 to 16 months.

 

Alan

[whitespider 1]

Hybrid

 

You can also try setting up a few websites that generate revenue. The best way is to use google adsense advertising and cheap easy to build sites i.e. ones ANYONE can build.

 

There is a good blog covering BOTH joining Adsense and setting up low cost sites with XsitePro.

 

I make most of my money from the internet, certainly enough to keep a family of 4 in Thailand and use both of these to a degree.

 

See more at this blog - its a blog for "internet marketing for IFAs" - but the info is good and the principal is the same.

 

Signing up for Google Adsense

 

XsitePro - low cost search engine friendly websites

 

Should be able to produce and extra £200 a month or so with little effort.

[Skallagrim 0]

and fetch more money

 

Ever heard about internet banking?

ATM machines?

[whitespider 1]

Hybrid

 

I have addeds some links to Property Rentals

Edited September 28, 2006 by whitespider

[rogercw 3]

This month will be my third month here. I am 67 now and live in View Talay. With a one year lease my condo is 10,000 a month. With internet , TV , phone , water, electricity it totals about 15,000 a month.

 

My groceries and misc. stuff , with a week to go in the third month, run about 10,000 a month. This is without eating any Thai food. I also spend about 5,000 a month hanging out at one of the little bars on the ground floor.

 

Total expenses about 30,000 a month. I allow another 5,000 for stuff that will come up during the year (visas, dentist, clothes, ect.) With a pension of about 75,000 a month this leaves me about 40,000 a month for drinking and young ladies. Blew thru that plus some the first two months, but have calmed down now and am going to live within it in September and hopefully from then on.

 

Of course at 67 I don't need it twice a day every day like I would have 30 years ago. If I did the only solution on my income would be to move one in with me. So far the ones who have expressed an interest in that want as low as 8,000 a month and as high as 20,000. Plus food and whatever else they can get once they are living with you.

 

Looks like you can live alone comfortably for 35,000 a month - with no sex. The amount you can spend on sex is basically unlimited. Most nights I go out drinking and bring a lady home run about 6,000 or 7,000 baht. If you want to go to a big time gogo and take the best looking girl in the place add several thousand. If you also want everyone to know the big spender from the east is in the place.double or triple everything.

If you just want to get laid and go home 1,500 is more than enough on Soi 6.

[Owen` 2]

Good numbers, sir. Are you including healthcare in your various miscellaneous categories? And is the 75K pension inflation adjusted. At your age that sounds a lot like Social Security is the pension you're describing -- so thumbs up to you. You're collecting back from all that money you paid in over the years.

[wannabeexpat 0]

Rogercw

Thanks for posting. Its good to have as much information as possible before moving out there. I have been figuring on 30,000 a month before sanuk. Good to have it confirmed. Did the miscellaneous include transport.

[rogercw 3]

My misc. expenses include transportation. I only use the baht bus. Probably about 8 trips a week - maybe 800 a month.

 

I am retired from the U.S. Navy. My pension is adjusted for American inflation, but unfortunately not for adverse currency fluctuations.

 

My military retirement pays for my medical expenses thru Tricare.

 

A repeated caution. If you do not exercise willpower the amount you can spend on drinking and ladies will sneak up on you. Even when pussy is cheap. Even when you are past your prime.

Edited September 25, 2006 by rogercw

[Owen` 2]

Thanks for the numbers. It's good that the Navy is taking good care of you.

[iono 0]

My military retirement pays for my medical expenses thru Tricare.

What you can use Tricare in Thailand, enlighten me please, thanks

[rogercw 3]

Tricare amounts to the same thing as Medicare. Medicare will not pay for treatment outside the U.S. but Tricare will. The hospitals in Pattaya are familiar with the paperwork involved and will pretty much take care of it for you. It will pay for stuff like heart problems or broken bones but not for stuff like cosmetic surgery or sex changes. Of course you must be retired from the American military to get it. Tricare has an office in Bangkok with a web site if you really want solid info. I forget the web address but I found it once with a Google search.

[whitespider 1]

Sorry guys - the permalink to the Property Rejntals page was changed hence why a few have said the link doesnt work.

 

The link is here Property Rentals

 

Its basically just a list of agents etc but can make searching easier