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

[Bournville 532]

50 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

What is your experience using that airline?

Used them on that route 10 times over 4 years.. No complaints... Excellent service in the plane. 

[Jingthing 57,035]

5 hours ago, Bournville said:

Apply for a Temporary Resident visa at a MX consul in any country you reside in. Wait 4 years.. You automatically get your permanent resident status, which is what I already have. The financial requirements I haven't kept up with.. 1400 USD per month maybe? 

Hi there.

Cool. You definitely know something about this.

I'm under the Mexican pension level but they have a show money option for temporary (and even permanent). Something like 30K USD which is coincidentally close to 800K baht. So you got your temporary thing first year, but then after that you need to reapply every year for the next four years, right? In Mexico? What did you need besides the financial requirements? Did you need police background reports from home country and Thailand (if you lived in Thailand) or any other expat country you've been living in? 

[Jingthing 57,035]

12 minutes ago, Bournville said:

Used them on that route 10 times over 4 years.. No complaints... Excellent service in the plane. 

Flying from Colombia via Mexico to Thailand, were you asked to show a YELLOW FEVER vaccine certificate?

[Jingthing 57,035]

Tragic news from Nothern Mexico.

I'll post this proactively as if I don't someone else will probably to suggest that Mexico in general is too dangerous for expats.

But usual expats wouldn't be moving anywhere near where this happened and they were from a dual citizen Mormon community that had a history of conflict with the drug cartels. 

That said this will be a big news story going forward and as indicated in the link, will likely have an impact on U.S. - Mexico relations in general.

 

Quote

 

Nine members of Mormon family with U.S. citizenship killed in attack in northern Mexico; Trump offers military support

 

 

MEXICO CITY — Assailants have killed at least nine members of a Mormon family in northern Mexico, authorities reported Tuesday, burning alive a woman and her children in a brutal assault that highlighted the growing danger posed by organized-crime groups around the country.

Alfonso Durazo, the minister of public security, told a news conference that the victims were three women and six children. They were part of a community of dual U.S.-Mexican citizens.

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/at-least-seven-members-of-mormon-family-brutally-killed-in-northern-mexico/2019/11/05/d303e448-ffbb-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

[Jingthing 57,035]

This horrible major news event has it's own dedicated thread now.

 

Please post your comments on that event there:

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1132518-gunmen-kill-mormon-family-members-in-north-mexico/?tab=comments#comment-14737939

[snowballthecat 69]

On 10/27/2019 at 8:42 AM, Mike Teavee said:

Could have sworn I edited this to clarify, I would prefer to fly East from Thailand/Singapore and end up in Columbia, just not sure which route/stops to take on the way (The more places I can see the better)

You can fly easily East. In fact is better to recover from jetlag this way.

We used to do it from HK to Sidney/Auckland (sleep one night there, but not need), then Santiago de Chile. Cathay Pacific. Costly but better!

I believe from Thailand there is a good connection to Melbourne and then Chile. Then Colombia, do not remember airlines. 

Jetstar and then Chilean or Argentina airline?

You can check  in www.eDestinos.com

skyscanner ,of course, or hooper from your mobile. 

Another good idea: Thailand-Dubai with Emirates, then Dubai-Panama  direct or Dubai-Mexico direct. 

[snowballthecat 69]

Very good fares these days from Hong Kong, unbelievable!

Hong Kong is a big air-hub, never been that cheap to fly from HK, poor HK

[Jingthing 57,035]

Gringo expat beaten up in Loja Ecuador in a case of racist expat backlash. I think incidents like this are very rare in Latin America. Not so much general crime or violence but racist attacks per se.

 

Quote

 

Loja, Ecuador: U.S. expat harrassed for being a gringo, attacked with blow to the head

 

HATE CRIME AGAINST GRINGO IN LOJA ECUADOR

 

U.S. Citizen told to get out of the country, Ecuador is not for them but for Ecuadorians,

 

 

http://latinamericacurrentevents.com/loja-ecuador-u-s-expat-harrassed-for-being-a-gringo-attacked-with-blow-to-the-head/38449/

 

But perhaps an attack like this reveals a deeper vein of fear and hostility. The thing is Loja despite some predictions has not yet (and maybe never) become a major gringo expat destination. Understandably a lot of locals want to keep it that. Many people of Loja being between expat draws of Cuenca and Vilcabamba may want to keep it that way.

 

 

Edited November 9 by Jingthing

[swissie 4,525]

On 11/4/2019 at 5:49 PM, Jingthing said:

I 

Some pretty ridiculous exaggerations, omissions, and generalizations there. 

 

If you're sold on Thailand forever that's your right but that doesn't mean that there aren't decent options elsewhere for many. 

 

I do agree there aren't many global expat retirement options for those with low or modest pensions. Those with more generous pensions or optionally great wealth have many more choices. But Latin America still does have options for those with low or modest pensions more than any other region. 

 

 

As I have produced nothing but "Some pretty ridiculous exaggerations, omissions, and generalizations", I must have fallen prey to "Fake-News". Like so many others, trying to keep track of developpemnts in SA. Appearantly, we have all been fooled by "Fake-News".
But never-mind.

After way over 1800 posts, let's go down to the "Nitty-Gritty". I allow myself to pose the following hypothetical question:
- Assuming you could liquitate all your assets in Thailand that don't fit into a suitcase, where  would you re-locate to in SA currently? Numero uno destination as of now?
Should you have answered this before. Sorry, haven't read all the 1823 posts.

[Jingthing 57,035]

8 hours ago, swissie said:

As I have produced nothing but "Some pretty ridiculous exaggerations, omissions, and generalizations", I must have fallen prey to "Fake-News". Like so many others, trying to keep track of developpemnts in SA. Appearantly, we have all been fooled by "Fake-News".
But never-mind.

After way over 1800 posts, let's go down to the "Nitty-Gritty". I allow myself to pose the following hypothetical question:
- Assuming you could liquitate all your assets in Thailand that don't fit into a suitcase, where  would you re-locate to in SA currently? Numero uno destination as of now?
Should you have answered this before. Sorry, haven't read all the 1823 posts.

 

 

-- This thread is about Latin American destinations as an option for ALL people that are interested. 

-- My personal list of needs and priorities for choosing potential destinations is likely very specific. For example for those with double the pension that I have, they have a much larger set of choices. For those that need to live at a beach, they will be looking only at beach destinations. For those that want to drive their own car, they will not be prioritizing places (as I do) that don't require a car. For those that need a wild party every night, they won't be considering smaller provincial towns and cities.

-- Refer to previous posts explaining this topic is about CONSIDERATION of destinations. As mentioned many times before, I like living in Thailand (and recently even more so in Pattaya as the Chinese restaurant scene is exploding) but like so many due to changes in Thailand (visa rules exchange rates, etc,), consideration of a PLAN B seems prudent. 

-- Read the thread for details on destinations of higher interest to me. Quite obviously and transparently, the coffee region of Colombia HAD been the highest on my list but potential major changes in their visa rules there has bumped that down. 

 

Cheers

Edited November 10 by Jingthing

[Jingthing 57,035]

Another overview about choosing destinations in Mexico. As I've said before the larger higher altitude mild weather inland (though not biggest) cities of Queretaro and Puebla/Cholula that interest me are mentioned. She mentions air pollution issues that may be concerning.

 

Edited November 10 by Jingthing

[Jingthing 57,035]

You want luxury malls? Queretaro has you covered. Ironically this vlogger couple that did many excellent videos about Queretaro are now in Asia. The UK man working in China and his Mexican wife vlogging last I checked in Vietnam! As I've mentioned before there DOES seem to be a good bit of jumping between Asia and Latin America, both ways.

 

 

[Jingthing 57,035]

 

I recall someone mentioned watching Simon Reeve's The Americas BBC series as reason NOT to move to Latin America.

 

After watching the first part of (the second part is coming next year I assume) I didn't get that from the program.

 

 

It's quite good and worth watching. His focus seems to mainly about big topics like:

 

Man's overexploitation of the earth, harming the earth and ultimately ourselves

 

Migration, south to north. Of course the topic here is more like north to south

 

Global climate change and it's direct relationship to migration.

 

The first 5 part series travels from the far Artic north down through Canada, the western USA, three parts of Mexico, and then Belize, Guatamala, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

 

He won't be getting into South America until the next part.

 

So here is my reaction to the program from the angle of people considering expatriation to Latin America. So starting in Mexico.

 

He first shows Reynosa a northern border region probably more dangerous than active war zones.

Don't move there!

 

Then coincidentally he goes to Puebla (a city high on my interest list) but instead of showing the touristic colonial old city, he shows the industrial might of the VW factory supporting a vast middle class for Mexican people there.

 

Then he goes to Southern Mexico, exploring indigenous political and economic grievances.

 

Then off to Belize which he describes as a poor but stable English speaking country. No surprise there are many expats there.

 

Then off to Guatamala a country with big problems and even famine related to global climate change fueling desperate migration north. (That said, there are pockets of expats in Guatamala.)

Then off to El Salvador showing the horrible gang violence in San Salvador ironically sparked by gang members that were deported from the USA!

 

Then Costa Rica, a major expat destination for many decades portraying it as a stable no military ecological paradise. where the local people live quite well. Costa Rica relies heavily on TOURISM. 

 

He didn't go to Panama.

 

I do wonder why Costa Rica (and presumably Panama) is doing so relatively well while Honduras, Guatamala, and El Salvador are doing so poorly as they are in the same Central American region presumably impacted by the same climate changes.

 

Anyway, from an expat POV, nothing at all surprising. 

 

Everyone should already know that Northern Mexico is for the most part off limits as an expat destination (cartel violence) and also Honduras and El Salvador.

 

On the other hand PARTS of Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica remain on many people's lists.

 

 

Edited November 13 by Jingthing

[Cryingdick 3,570]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I recall someone mentioned watching Simon Reeve's The Americas BBC series as reason NOT to move to Latin America.

 

 

You aren't moving there anyway. This thread is 122 pages of nothing. We had one guy that went to Mexico City and got stressed out by Chardonnay and Greek Salads. The level of alert has gone way up as well, lately.

[seasia 1,043]

4 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

You aren't moving there anyway. This thread is 122 pages of nothing. We had one guy that went to Mexico City and got stressed out by Chardonnay and Greek Salads. The level of alert has gone way up as well, lately.

Easy to attack.

 

The OP has never stated that he is definitely moving to a LATAM country.

 

Note the " considering " word used in the title.

 

The poster who went to Mexico at least provided some useful insight.

 

If you consider the thread to be 122 pages of nothing why are you even reading ?

 

I have found it interesting from the start.

 

Have several friends with experience of the region.

 

None of them would even think of posting  here in such a toxic environment.

 

Another for the growing ignore list.