Expats in Thailand considering moving to Latin America prompted by Thai visa changes

[Jingthing 65,746]

Maybe a new topic is needed to dump all the sensationalist blood and gore news stories in areas where tourists and expats generally don't go?

 

 

That said I do think crime news from areas where there ARE a lot of tourists and expats are indeed on topic here.

 

For example in San Miguel de Allende and Medellin.

 

 

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[Jingthing 65,746]

Panama remains popular with expats. It's my impression that it beats Costa Rica in that regard in Central America. 

 

As mentioned before Panama City is quite expensive but there are other options.

 

Boquette is a famous smaller town expat ghetto area and it's a one hour bus ride to a bigger (hot) city of David.

 

This is a very commercial oriented site but I see they have an overview of all the typical practical expat related topics so I see some free value offered there:

 

https://panamarelocationtours.com/living-in-panama#tab-con-19

 

This lady appears content living in the Boquette area.

 

 

Z

Edited October 18, 2019 by Jingthing

[Destiny1990 6,834]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Panama remains popular with expats. It's my impression that it beats Costa Rica in that regard in Central America. 

 

As mentioned before Panama City is quite expensive but there are other options.

 

Boquette is a famous smaller town expat ghetto area and it's a one hour bus ride to a bigger (hot) city of David.

 

This is a very commercial oriented site but I see they have an overview of all the typical practical expat related topics so I see some free value offered there:

 

https://panamarelocationtours.com/living-in-panama#tab-con-19

 

This lady appears content living in the Boquette area.

 

 

Z

So when are you going to buy your plane ticket?

[JaiLai 1,798]

7 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

So when are you going to buy your plane ticket?

i asked the same question, no answer.

 

after the coniderable research the transition should be a breeze..

[simon43 12,151]

So when are you going to buy your plane ticket?

 

I assume that the answer to that question really depends upon when 'push' changes to 'shove'.  Relocating between countries is a stressful experience (I know, I just did it!), and surely no-one wants to make that move unless it is really necessary or sought-after.

 

In my case, my visa was coming up for renewal, so it seemed a good time to move.  But I only moved across the border.  To relocate from Thailand to south/central America? I wouldn't want to even think about the planning/hassles/stress/cost.....

[Jingthing 65,746]

Thanks Simon.

 

I have previously summarized my policy about responding to baiting posts about my personal plans concerning consideration of expatriation to Latin America multiple times before in this thread. 

 

But I will summarize for the convenience of readers now as I understand they were old posts --

 

Don't bother with such baiting posts. I will not directly respond to them. 

 

This topic is about CONSIDERATION of expatriation to Latin America. For me. For you. For anyone that is interested in the topic.

 

Starting and continuing this topic in no way represents a personal commitment to EVER leave Thailand to move to Latin America, or anywhere else. Or even to travel there again. 

 

In general I consider some nations in Latin America a potentially viable PLAN B for many expats that may be getting pushed out by changes in Thailand (visa policies, health insurance requirements, strong baht, etc.). Especially those of us from the USA and Canada. I suppose that also includes potentially new expats to Thailand that might be having second thoughts after hearing about all the hassles expats have had here in recent years. The majority assumption on this forum appears to be the alternatives to Thailand are also in Southeast Asia. But that's not true. There are other options largely in Latin America and Europe. This thread is only about options in Latin America though. 

 

If (not when, IF) I do personally take this consideration to more concrete steps, members won't need to bait me here to know about it. Of course, I would post updates IF that ever happens.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Jingthing

[Destiny1990 6,834]

26 minutes ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

I assume that the answer to that question really depends upon when 'push' changes to 'shove'.  Relocating between countries is a stressful experience (I know, I just did it!), and surely no-one wants to make that move unless it is really necessary or sought-after.

 

In my case, my visa was coming up for renewal, so it seemed a good time to move.  But I only moved across the border.  To relocate from Thailand to south/central America? I wouldn't want to even think about the planning/hassles/stress/cost.....

Well you can bring 30 Kg in a suitcase moving countries is rather easy i talking from my own Experience here. but the selection of a new destination takes more research and involves going there for short trips first !

Has the OP even been in Colombia or SA? Oh i now read his posts that there are no concrete plans in his case.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Destiny1990

[Jingthing 65,746]

4 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

...

Has the OP even been in Colombia or SA?

I have discussed my previous travel history to several nations in Latin America many many times on this thread (including longish stays in Argentina and Mexico) and if you had followed the thread you would already know I have not been to Colombia. Keep in mind most people were avoiding Colombia in the past due to the narco violence and civil war. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Jingthing

[Matzzon 12,708]

On 3/4/2019 at 9:34 AM, Jingthing said:

Brazil's cities do have high crime but I really have personally rules out Brazil anyway based on their financial requirements.

There are much safer specific choices in various Latin American choices, so please people that come on here saying you will definitely be murdered if you move anywhere in LA, that's just wrong. Totally wrong. 

If we go to the pure facts instead and compare Thailand with most of the Latin American and South American coutries, it´s actually pretty easy to find a deterrent to move from Thailand to any of those countries. As you clearly stated, we do not have to bring L.A. into the discussion, right?

First, take a look at this link: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/murder-rates-by-country.html

Here we have murder rate per capita compared per 100 000 people i all countries. Most of the Latin American and south American countries seems to be more dangerous than Thailand that actually places 107.

After that we will take a look at this link: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/crime-rate-by-country/

The link above represents the crime rates in different countries. Also here it seems like Thailand will be a better choice than most of the above mentioned countries.

Here we have the third link: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/most-corrupt-countries/

This one represents the corruption index by country. Everybody knows that it´s high corruption in Thailand, but compared to many South American and some Latin American countries they are still a better choice. However, here there are more even, so let´s say it´s almost even.

At last we can take a look at the safety index for the common person. The below little infographic will fix that little trick:
 

 

As you can clearly see, there are many reasons to not move from Thailand. At least not to South America or Latin America. Just take a look at the infographic. It really looks like Siberia is right on track. 

[Jingthing 65,746]

I'm not super interested in Panama but it's still not totally off my list. For those that know that they are super interested in Panama, I wonder about the value of this quickie expat tour there. It actually sounds pretty good to me as a "sampler" and also all the supposedly insider info they're promising plus even helping you open a bank account there, which based on my reading in the past isn't very easy to do there. 

 

I know that Panama City and the beach city not far from there Coronado is way too expensive for me. David is too hot for me. Don't need to travel to those places to know that already.

 

So Boquette seems the natural place.

But I think it's interesting to know the other places they go to on their quickie tour. I haven't even heard of all those places so short of going on their tour, might be fun to look up more info about that. 

https://panamarelocationtours.com/tours

 

Quote

Visit the following areas: Coronado or Gorgona, Chitre, Las Tablas, Santiago, Las Lajas, David, Boquete, Volcan, Bambito, and Puerto Armuelles

 

I reckon for those that are super serious about Panama a cool thing to do might be to take such a quickie tour and then stay much longer in the place or places that clicked with them from that experience. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Jingthing

[JaiLai 1,798]

I'm not super interested in Panama but it's still not totally off my list. For those that know that they are super interested in Panama, I wonder about the value of this quickie expat tour there. It actually sounds pretty good to me as a "sampler" and also all the supposedly insider info they're promising plus even helping you open a bank account there, which based on my reading in the past isn't very easy to do there. 
 
I know that Panama City and the beach city not far from there Coronado is way too expensive for me. David is too hot for me. Don't need to travel to those places to know that already.
 
So Boquette seems the natural place.

But I think it's interesting to know the other places they go to on their quickie tour. I haven't even heard of all those places so short of going on their tour, might be fun to look up more info about that. 
https://panamarelocationtours.com/tours
 

Visit the following areas: Coronado or Gorgona, Chitre, Las Tablas, Santiago, Las Lajas, David, Boquete, Volcan, Bambito, and Puerto Armuelles

 
I reckon for those that are super serious about Panama a cool thing to do might be to take such a quickie tour and then stay much longer in the place or places that clicked with them from that experience. 

Have you considered a ‘quicky tour’ at any of your preferred options to see what it’s like in real life?


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[Jingthing 65,746]

I've posted similar items before about Colombia and the coffee region of Colombia, but I don't think I've posted this before.

 

It's from the "notorious" International Living site that is justifiably criticized for promoting overpriced real estate and seminars and never having a negative word to say about any place. 

 

However, an interesting thing to me is that based on my research the positive stuff they say in this puff piece is actually probably true. In fact on the health care part of it, my research says it's even better than they're saying because you can get the basic government program for about 35 dollars a month that covers a primary doctor, specialists and procedures with unfortunately a long wait by reference, prescriptions meds, and dentistry (for tiny copays). 

Obviously private insurance if you can get it costs more (and better) but on the basic program you can always choose to pay retail to speed up seeing specialists and procedures.

 

Anyway, here is that "new" puff piece. The quoted cost is based on two people so reduce for one of course.

 

Quote

 

Great Living On $1,500 A Month In Colombia’s Coffee Triangle

 

Each of us has our own priorities, but to find a place that ticks the boxes on nearly everyone’s list is something special. A perfect climate that’s neither too hot nor too cool (60 F to 80 F all year); amazing natural surroundings; plenty of cultural events; history-filled cities; superb healthcare; friendly people; and a welcoming country ... all with a fantastically low cost of living — figure $1,500 a month for a couple, all in.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/retire-in-colombia_b_10320998

[Cryingdick 7,891]

On 10/18/2019 at 9:29 AM, Jingthing said:

Maybe a new topic is needed to dump all the sensationalist blood and gore news stories in areas where tourists and expats generally don't go?

 

 

That said I do think crime news from areas where there ARE a lot of tourists and expats are indeed on topic here.

 

For example in San Miguel de Allende and Medellin.

 

 

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Not sure we need a curated censored version of this thread tailored to suit your opinions while leaving others contributions out. I did however suggest a long long time ago that maybe it could just be a sticky.  At the time you scoffed and said you weren't willing to cut the <deleted> out so not sure why the change of heart now?

 

I wouldn't mind a locked sticky that could be updated by somebody. No youtube clips no opinions just facts from sources. Ideally it would be one or two pages long and stay in the visa sub-forum. 

[Destiny1990 6,834]

16 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I have discussed my previous travel history to several nations in Latin America many many times on this thread (including longish stays in Argentina and Mexico) and if you had followed the thread you would already know I have not been to Colombia. Keep in mind most people were avoiding Colombia in the past due to the narco violence and civil war. 

What is still keeping you here?

 

[Jingthing 65,746]

5 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

What is still keeping you here?

 

It's up to me when or if I choose to talk about such PERSONAL matters (again). I've made that crystal clear so don't feign ignorance. 

 

So -- Goodbye.

 

I'm not interested in engaging with you or anyone that persists with personally BAITING posts.  

 

This is a general topic for all that may be SINCERELY interested in good faith about the actual topic.

 

See headline for the actual topic.

 

Quote

Expats in Thailand considering moving to Latin America prompted by Thai visa changes

 

I am not the topic.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Jingthing