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

[Jingthing]

5 hours ago, fhickson said:

the poverty aspect is much different in latin america then asia.

 

in latin america people KNOW they are poor and hate you for it. in asia they are poor but they dont really know how the better half is living.

That's an extreme generalization but an interesting one.

"Asia" and "Latin America" are each very big places with very diverse cultures.

If that generalization is true about Latin Americans being more conscious and aware of their situation while in poverty, doesn't that make them pretty much the same as westerners?

A frequently heard cliché about Thailand is that it's about as different from the west as you can get. 

Latin America on the other hand -- is it part of the west or not?

I'm not exactly sure.

I recently read an item suggesting that Latin American nations have more in common with each other than they do with fellow American nations -- USA and Canada. 

I also read a hint of colonialism in your comment. They're poor and happy, isn't that charming. So they serve the cocktails with a smile instead of a smirk..

Well not so much with the smiles in Thailand anymore towards westerners, certainly the onerous immigration changes in the last year or so aren't particularly smiley.

Just posting this as food for thought.

I don't pretend to have any definitive answers on such grand questions. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

6 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

I think that comparing Latin America to SE Asia is like chalk and cheese-what is "right" for one group of expats is not neccessarily right for the other so I agree with you that very few expats in Thailand would consider relocating to say..Colombia.. as the cultures are entirely different.

 

Possibly of more interest to Norte Americanos or Canadians due to closer proximity.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my travels thru Latin America but it never once enterered my mind to consider living there.

 

On a personal note I was with a Chilean woman at the time and SHE made the average Thai woman look like a meek and mild little lamb-and we all know that that is not true..????

Yes well we all have different experiences.

Years ago I did a lot of exploration in Latin America as part of my research to decide where to possibly expatriate. 

I did feel an attraction to some Latin American nations but I was too young for a pension and generally the Latin American nations have pension based retirement visas.

Then I found Thailand and the combination of low costs, easy bank account based visas, and of course the fact that I did enjoy staying in the country proved irresistible to me as it has to so many others.

 

I do think it's very common for Americans and Canadians considering retiring abroad to usually think about Latin America FIRST before any other alternatives. 

 

Similar to Brits thinking about Spain and Portugal based on geography. 

 

One curiosity that I've noticed is that a number of vloggers that I've been following in Colombia, Mexico, etc. have moved on to considering living in and vlogging in Asia, generally Vietnam and Thailand. One even moved to China for lucrative work. 

 

I really don't agree that it's unusual at all for people interested in living in Thailand (or Asia) to be interested as well in living in Latin America. Both ways! Of course the regions are quite different but there is overlap in the motivations -- hot or mild weather, great beaches, spicy food in some case, perceived lower costs, "exoticness", etc. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Jingthing

[CharlieH]

Troll comment and oversized font post and responses also removed.

 

Please note:

If this topic is not to your liking, move on, there are plenty of other topics available. This topic is clearly of interest to others or it would not have reached 125 pages.

 

[seasia]

I personally think that for a Brit who has had some European travel experience, some LATAM countries would be less of a culture shock to Thailand/SE Asia.

I also think they would find more similarities in LATAM than Thailand.

 

Yes LATAM countries more of a logical choice for Americans/Canadians than it would be for Brits, who generally favour somewhere in Europe.

 

 

Anyway a friend of mine is coming to the end of a fair length visit to the LATAM region, Cuba, Colombia and Dominican Republic.

I had a bit of news on some prices in Colombia from him, seems good value.

[Jingthing]

16 minutes ago, seasia said:

I personally think that for a Brit who has had some European travel experience, some LATAM countries would be less of a culture shock to Thailand/SE Asia.

I also think they would find more similarities in LATAM than Thailand.

 

Yes LATAM countries more of a logical choice for Americans/Canadians than it would be for Brits, who generally favour somewhere in Europe.

 

 

Anyway a friend of mine is coming to the end of a fair length visit to the LATAM region, Cuba, Colombia and Dominican Republic.

I had a bit of news on some prices in Colombia from him, seems good value.

Cool.

Do you know specifically where he has visited in Colombia? 
You can't really generalize for the country as a whole about prices.

I do completely understand how many people visit a country in Latin America or anywhere and know fairly quickly that they would never want to live there. That was my feeling about the Dominican Republic. 

Of course the opposite is also true and sometimes first impressions don't turn out to mean much.

I remember when I first visited Pattaya that I thought it was absolutely the most horrible place I'd ever visited. (Now over a decade later ….)

On the other hand upon landing in Chiang Mai for the first time I felt I wanted to move there even before the plane had landed! But never did and don't regret it. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

I'm sure a lot of people have noticed more news stories than usual about political crises all over Latin America. Some from nations that are not really surprising but also some from more surprising places particularly "first world" Chile. Well, here's a theory possibly explaining why.

 

Quote

Why political turmoil is erupting across Latin America

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/why-political-turmoil-is-erupting-across-latin-america/2019/10/10/a459cc96-eab9-11e9-a329-7378fbfa1b63_story.html

 

 

Does such news impact people's decisions to travel to, move to, or leave certain Latin American nations? Yes, it probably does. So far though there hasn't been any kind of exodus of expats from Ecuador (concern yes but that's it) though my understanding is that a fair percentage of expats in Nicaragua have left.

 

So I guess the moral of this story is do your own research and if you're attracted to a nation, decide for yourself whether the political instability risk will impact on your decision or not.

 

Then there is always the timeless and oft ignored advice (I did in Thailand) to rent don't buy and have a go bag ready!

Edited October 21, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Another vlogger getting settled in in Queretaro Mexico, my "pick" as possibly the most promising safer bigger city option in Mexico if you don't need a beach. She had previously been living and traveling in China. Admittedly this video is short on much useful content (unless you're a fan of tarot cards and crystals ha ha) but it's an example of what 450 USD monthly can get you in Queretaro on Airbnb. Obviously you could do better with a longer term rental. But check out this featured COMMENT!

 

 

 

Quote

Great apartment, you haven’t done a vlog about visas, as far as I know, would be very informative how you deal with them. Thailand is becoming difficult to stay longer term, I think Central and South America is a lot easier, you can get up to 6 months on entry to most countries I believe. Iam from ???????? UK.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by Jingthing

[fhickson]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Another vlogger getting settled in in Queretaro Mexico, my "pick" as possibly the most promising safer bigger city option in Mexico if you don't need a beach.

i know mexico. not an option for me unless your the resort type or want to do a gringo ghetto thing and just sit. like living in puerto vallarta, but who wants to live a long time in a small tourist town or at a resort? not my thing.

 

i do know people who are happy in mexico, but they jump back to the states often when it gets a bit much and dont really MOVE to mexico, though they like to rerurn to the states and act like they live in mexico at the slightest opportunity.

 

i asked my retired bud why he does not move to mexico since he goes there so often and its cheaper. he said he would never want to live there permanently. so why does he like it? well, its a fun place to party and kind of laugh at while your there, but you need to get out before it starts to suck. he goes for a month stay about every three months.

Edited October 22, 2019 by fhickson

[Jingthing]

i know mexico. not an option for me unless your the resort type or want to do a gringo ghetto thing and just sit. like living in puerto vallarta, but who wants to live a long time in a small tourist town or at a resort? not my thing.  

i do know people who are happy in mexico, but they jump back to the states often when it gets a bit much and dont really MOVE to mexico, though they like to rerurn to the states and act like they live in mexico at the slightest opportunity.

 

i asked my retired bud why he does not move to mexico since he goes there so often and its cheaper. he said he would never want to live there permanently. so why does he like it? well, its a fun place to party and kind of laugh at while your there, but you need to get out before it starts to suck. he goes for a month stay about every three months.

 

Well you know such things are really a matter of personal tastes. 

I also know Mexico but haven't been everywhere there of course.

 

The ease of going back and forth to the US and Canada is one of the features there for those that want that.

 

Also some US expats actively use their Medicare from a Mexican base but I assume that would be more common for people living in more Northern places like Baja.

 

I love PV and feel like I could definitely live there but I've done the beach resort city thing already in Thailand plus it's now quite expensive and also horribly hot and humid summers, storms etc.

 

Mexico isn't currently on the top of my Plan B move to Latin America list for a number of reasons but I still clearly see its advantages.

 

If I did go there it would be definitely be to an inland high elevation city such as Queretaro.

 

Anyway this thread isn't about hard selling any particular choice.

 

But it is about that there are some realistic choices in Latin America that may be good for some people where most likely you won't be murdered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jingthing]

This couple makes a strong case for why THEY chose Cuenca Ecuador. I think it's worth watching if Cuenca is on your radar. 

 

 

The reasons I have against Cuenca are (just based on reaseach as I haven't been there):

 

-- The weather isn't as mild as the promoters suggest. It often gets quite chilly in those unheated apartments and houses. 

 

-- Gringo price gouging too common

 

-- Air pollution

 

-- Elevation too darned high. It's over the elevation that causes serious health problems for many. 

 

-- Visa issues. Practical timing issues with having the police record documentation from Thailand. Could turn out to be a massively expensive problem for some. 

 

-- Guinea pig as food. No thanks.

 

That said one thing I don't take very seriously as a negative is the recent political unrest there. Those kinds of things come and go and usually don't really matter that much to expats in the long run with exceptions of course (such as Venezuela). 

[Jingthing]

I wonder if people can relate to this video if you're not a wealthy expat entrepreneur (the niche audience of the Nomad Capitalist youtube channel). Weirdly I can relate to it and I see a connection to this topic (also Thailand, Mexico, and Colombia are mentioned).

 

A connection I see is that the cliché move for western expats leaving Thailand are basically two paths -- go home to your "first world" country or move to a nearby Asean country.

 

This addresses the go home cliché more. It sort of asks -- why would you really want to?

 

BTW, the Nomad Capitalist guy is a big fan of KL, Malaysia. I like it too. I can't qualify for the residence options there but I think you can get 6 month stays on entry. Now that might be an interesting angle, 6 months in KL and then six months in Mexico or Colombia, etc. He tends to buy places though so that would be the trick to arrange housing in different places (and leaves them empty when gone!) where you would feel at home. Living in AirBnBs indefinitely doesn't sound great to me. 

 

Unfortunately there is no way to just fly in to Thailand with no visa and stay six months whenever you want.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Jingthing

[Mike Teavee]

On 10/24/2019 at 1:19 AM, Jingthing said:

BTW, the Nomad Capitalist guy is a big fan of KL, Malaysia. I like it too. I can't qualify for the residence options there but I think you can get 6 month stays on entry. Now that might be an interesting angle, 6 months in KL and then six months in Mexico or Colombia, etc.

>>>Skip this part if you have no interest in Malaysia/Philippines

In 2015 I took a redundancy package & spent 15 months using KL (Petaling Jaya) as my base to travel the region from (really enjoyed staying there) I think you may be mistaken about 6 months,  [as a brit] you get 90 days on arrival & there aren't any visas you can apply for except work permit or MM2H (Which as you've alluded to has much higher financial requirements than Thailand)

 

But If I wanted to spend part of my year in Malaysia, it would be in Penang, easy enough to do a Visa run to Thailand from there ???? 

 

As an aside, I have friends who work in KL & have "heard" (cannot find anything to confirm) that they're starting to clamp down on people living there on Visa Exempts, not sure how true this is or whether it would be a problem if you're only living there part of the time, but something to keep in mind/an eye on (Get an MM2H or have a "Plan B"). 

 

Oh & similar in Philippines where they're already looking at putting a cap on the length of time you can extend a Visa on Arrival (NB, as with Thailand, this is the visa that people from countries like India & China get, not to be confused with the Visa Exempt that westerners typically get), again, something to stay on top of (get an SRRV or have a "Plan B")

<<<

 

 

Back to LATAM, I'm retiring sometime within the next 1-3 months & so am looking at visiting a number of countries there with Columbia (& Costa Rica) being top of the list, came across an informative site on getting a long stay visa for Columbia that might be of interest https://medellinguru.com/colombian-visa/

 

Edit to add: Would appreciate any tips on the best way to get from Asia to Columba (Yes I know "By Plane")... Happy to take my time/meander my way there & visit a few interesting places on the way but am really struggling to pick a route & whether to go West-East or East-West (Would prefer the later as I've never gone further than New Zealand flying that way)

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by Mike Teavee

[Mike Teavee]

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

go West-East or East-West (Would prefer the later as I've never gone further than New Zealand flying that way)

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)

[Jingthing]

Thanks.
Yes I'm fairly sure I've linked to the Medellin guru site before but this is a long topic by now.
My impression is that it's a top site for good updated visa info.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Jingthing]

Five part walking tour of some parts of Pereira, Colombia. Pereira is the largest city of the coffee triangle also including Manizales and Armenia. My impression is that it offers much more naughty nightlife than the other two if that interests you. I haven't even watched these videos yet but I plan to. The reason is to give some kind of visual impression of what the city is like to help gauge any further interest.  

 

Here is part one, you can find the rest at his channel:

 

 

[Jingthing]

You can laugh!

I can cry!

COLOMBIA is in the process of potential major visa changes that for me would ELIMINATE Colombia as a possibility for me. 

 

I guess I can rationalize my disappointment by saying I would have hated living in a bland food country anyway!

 

To wit --

 

Increase in financial requirements (pension) for retirement status. 

It's over my level. So if passed -- game over for me.

 

(Will the old levels be grandfathered? Maybe. That will be something for people to watch.)

 

Tightening (more like typical Latin American normalization) of other things, police background checks, medical screening of some kind, etc.

 

So super easy almost too good to be true -- well, it was. 

 

Will see the specifics of the law if passed, but likely means no Colombia for me. I have obviously been most interested in Colombia. 

 

So that does leave some choices in Latin America that I am less excited about that I can still financially qualify for in order of highest to lowest interest --

 

Mexico

Ecuador

Panama

Peru

 

I still remain unclear on the Mexican retirement visa specific process but I think it can be handled by showing money in the bank in a similar way to Thailand but with an eventual path towards permanent residence (unlike Thailand). 

 

Ecuador with previous mentioned pros and cons does offer the buy in to their national health system but I don't think it's as good as in Colombia (and more serious financial issues as well). 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Jingthing

[seasia]

On 10/21/2019 at 5:10 AM, Jingthing said:

Cool.

Do you know specifically where he has visited in Colombia? 
You can't really generalize for the country as a whole about prices.

I do completely understand how many people visit a country in Latin America or anywhere and know fairly quickly that they would never want to live there. That was my feeling about the Dominican Republic. 

Of course the opposite is also true and sometimes first impressions don't turn out to mean much.

I remember when I first visited Pattaya that I thought it was absolutely the most horrible place I'd ever visited. (Now over a decade later ….)

On the other hand upon landing in Chiang Mai for the first time I felt I wanted to move there even before the plane had landed! But never did and don't regret it. 

Hi

 

I caught up briefly with my friend. He visited and stayed in Bogota  ( I had thought it was to be merely a transit point to Cartegena, not so )   which I assumed would be expensive.

 

I realise that the price of a beer in a bar would be low down on most people s priorities but he visited a bar with 25 baht bottles of beer, so half the Thai price of even the cheapest bars.

So for those who like say 3 or 4 beers of an evening very cheap.

 

Food, I was really surprised, have read of 5$ meal deals, he was paying between 1.5 $ to 3.5 $.

Hotel just over 400 baht a night.

 

Probably in his favour, he is very street smart, very pleasant and friendly guy and speaks Spanish fluently..

 

I doubt there could be much improvement on his costs, barring a long term deal with a hotel or guesthouse/rental of an apartment.

 

It sounded OK to me.

[Jingthing]

Yes of course I still see the appeal of Colombia for shorter trips up to six months (which can be stretched to a year with strategic timing). Also for retirement for people with more generous pensions than mine. But as it's now looking like that door is closing for me, honestly, even traveling there is not all that compelling to me. My interest was travel to explore moving there so if I can't move there, oh well! But sometimes the most exciting places to travel to aren't the same places as the best places to live in. 

 

Interestingly my current top potential choices in Mexico (Queretaro and Pueblo/Cholula) do interest me as travel destinations in themselves. Of course I already know that I love to travel in Mexico from previous experiences. 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

In case it's not obvious yes I feel very sad about this sudden change regarding Colombia. But such things are beyond anyone's (aside from Colombian legislators) control.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Jingthing

[Cryingdick]

The Colombians must have get wind of this thread and decided to act in accordance. 

[Jingthing]

To add there is one possible scenario where Colombia would still be in play for me. The proposed legislation if it passes will probably take effect before the end of this year. Now IF the initial proposed new pension levels are lowered enough for me to qualify and IF they grandfather in the old levels (unlikely to both happen but possible) then it would still be OK.

YES people under the proposed level can rush there right now and hope they get grandfathered.

That might actually be worth the risk for some people that aren't tied down to where they are too heavily. 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Switching gears to Mexico, this young lady expat in Queretaro explains the appeal of that internationally lesser known big city --

 

Quote

 

7 REASONS YOU MUST VISIT QUERÉTARO, MEXICO

As you make your Mexico travel itinerary, why not consider getting off the beaten path? Visit Querétaro, Mexico—one of central Mexico’s hidden gems! Find out what Querétaro is known for, if it’s safe to visit Querétaro and the best things to do in Querétaro, Mexico!

 

 

https://backpackingbrunette.com/reasons-visit-queretaro/

 

More links:

 

https://backpackingbrunette.com/living-in-queretaro/

 

https://backpackingbrunette.com/the-cost-of-living-in-queretaro-mexico/

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Then again there is Ecuador. I'm been down on Cuenca largely because of too high an elevation but smaller city Loja in the south is somewhat lower in elevation and cost of living.

 

Some of this info may be dated but still looks to be a good source:

 

https://bb6679d6-4bb1-4004-a922-f491cf26f0d7.filesusr.com/ugd/dfaf53_3f2044028c9d48dca75e2a7a099497c1.pdf

 

That is from a Loja based relocation service. They even offer a service that I've never heard of before. They can open an Ecuadorian bank account for you (generally a hard thing to do especially for Americans) before you move there with a limited power of attorney.

[uhuh]

On 11/2/2019 at 12:47 AM, seasia said:

Hi

 

I caught up briefly with my friend. He visited and stayed in Bogota  ( I had thought it was to be merely a transit point to Cartegena, not so )   which I assumed would be expensive.

 

I realise that the price of a beer in a bar would be low down on most people s priorities but he visited a bar with 25 baht bottles of beer, so half the Thai price of even the cheapest bars.

So for those who like say 3 or 4 beers of an evening very cheap.

 

Food, I was really surprised, have read of 5$ meal deals, he was paying between 1.5 $ to 3.5 $.

Hotel just over 400 baht a night.

 

Probably in his favour, he is very street smart, very pleasant and friendly guy and speaks Spanish fluently..

 

I doubt there could be much improvement on his costs, barring a long term deal with a hotel or guesthouse/rental of an apartment.

 

It sounded OK to me.

Friend is retiring to Colombia (he is 29), has been living there  for almost 3 years already,  speaks Spanish very well.

All prices that he ever quoted were cheaper than Thailand,  sometimes just a bit, sometimes a lot.

Exception: flights from Europe are cheaper to Thailand than to Colombia.

Especially cheap were condos (almost half the price of Thailand) and prostitutes (Colombians seem to be cheap, Venezuelans dirt cheap - but at 29 he gets lots of girls without paying by the hour, anyway).

 

2 problems: 

1. He is a businessman and got fleeced, lost almost 100,000 USD.

2. Healthcare. He doesn't have a solution for this. 

[Jingthing]

54 minutes ago, uhuh said:

Friend is retiring to Colombia (he is 29), has been living there  for almost 3 years already,  speaks Spanish very well.

All prices that he ever quoted were cheaper than Thailand,  sometimes just a bit, sometimes a lot.

Exception: flights from Europe are cheaper to Thailand than to Colombia.

Especially cheap were condos (almost half the price of Thailand) and prostitutes (Colombians seem to be cheap, Venezuelans dirt cheap - but at 29 he gets lots of girls without paying by the hour, anyway).

 

2 problems: 

1. He is a businessman and got fleeced, lost almost 100,000 USD.

2. Healthcare. He doesn't have a solution for this. 

Hi there.

Where is he located in Colombia?

Unless in the deep sticks I don't understand why health care would be a problem for a 29 year old. Does he have serious preexisting conditions? Is he on a business visa status there? You can't live there for three years straight with visa runs so I assume he has some official status there and would have an I.D. card (cedula). With that status he would have access to both the general public system and also private add ons (but the latter not if he has serious preexisting conditions). So something doesn't add up with your post.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Jingthing

[uhuh]

Mainly Bogotá.

In the process of buying a condo at the sea (I really don't remember, where).

 

I have no idea what kind of visa he has. He owns the company that lost 100,000, so i guess it's a business visa? He never talked about visa problems.  I would be surprised if he has a cedula.

 

I wasn't 3 years straight.  More like half a year coming and going (but mostly in Colombia),  then 2 years straight,  then  coming and going again (but mostly not in Colombia) for over a year.  Now in Colombia again,  with frequent short trips to Europe. 

 

He definitely doesn't have access to the general public health system. 

He had a serious health problem (it is hopefully cured by now).

It would have been difficult to get good treatment for this in Bogotá, and it would have been expensive (private health care is more expensive in Colombia than in Thailand). But he does have private insurance.

He got treatment in Europe,  paid out of pocket (because he is not in the social security system in his home country anymore), dirt cheap, very good treatment,  got reimbursed by his insurance (deductible 1500 USD).

 

His problem is twofold: he bought an inadequate health insurance policy thinking (at the time)  "I am just 27, nothing can happen to me, I can take care of this later". Now he has (had) a preexisting condition,  it will be difficult to change to another policy. 

Second: some health issues are better dealt with in the health care system of a rich country. He was very lucky to get treatment in Europe. 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by uhuh

[Jingthing]

OK. Thanks. That explains a lot. Sorry to hear about his health problem. If he had stayed for two years straight unless on overstay he would definitely have a visa and cedula. Cedula is required in such cases and subject to large fines if not obtained quickly. So he would be eligible for the basic national health which is obtained from private companies. But yes needing specialists would mean long waits on that cover. 

[seasia]

On 11/1/2019 at 7:37 PM, Jingthing said:

In case it's not obvious yes I feel very sad about this sudden change regarding Colombia. But such things are beyond anyone's (aside from Colombian legislators) control.

Hi JT

 

That is understandable as it was your 1st choice for potential relocation. A shame.

 

Maybe the proposals will be watered down.

 

I know you look at the medellinguru site.

 

Have you seen the recent comment by Jeff on there?

 

"There are some proposed visa changes. But these are just proposals and I have heard from reliable sources that it’s unlikely there will be many changes. We are monitoring this and will keep all our visa articles up-to-date. We will update all our visa articles in late 2019 or early 2020 with any changes."

 

https://medellinguru.com/colombian-visa/#comment-25888

 

Best of Luck

 

 

[Jingthing]

20 minutes ago, seasia said:

Hi JT

 

That is understandable as it was your 1st choice for potential relocation. A shame.

 

Maybe the proposals will be watered down.

 

I know you look at the medellinguru site.

 

Have you seen the recent comment by Jeff on there?

 

"There are some proposed visa changes. But these are just proposals and I have heard from reliable sources that it’s unlikely there will be many changes. We are monitoring this and will keep all our visa articles up-to-date. We will update all our visa articles in late 2019 or early 2020 with any changes."

 

https://medellinguru.com/colombian-visa/#comment-25888

 

Best of Luck

 

 

You beat me to it. Yes I have become aware of that and am still holding on to hope that the proposal won't be adopted. 

 

However even if not then there would still be visa risk. 

 

The first one is good for 3 years. Then after that another 3 years. After that permanent residence. So even getting in on the first 3 years there is the risk of not being qualified for the later steps IF the old levels aren't grandfathered. 

 

Worth the risk? Maybe. But definitely a don't buy anything situation. 

[swissie]

Let's see:
- Ecuador is in in turmoil (civil unrest).
- Chile is in turmoil (civil unrest).
- Bolivia is in turmoil (civil unrest).
- Argentina has gone bankrupt (once more).
- Uruguay (on the verge of civil unrest). Stay tuned. (The former "Switzerland" of South-America!) - Paraguay. Still a 4th world country.
- Columbia. Unresolved past issues concering "the Guerillas". The problem likely to re-emerge with a vengeance.
- Mexico: 2 Governements in place. The one in Mexico-City and the other one that controls the rest of the country.
- Venezuela: Ground-Floor opportunities if you arrive with suitcases packed with US$. (Real-Estate bargains plentyful).
- Dutch and French Guinea: = European territory.
- Central America ( Honduras, Guatemala, Panama etc, ect). = Dancing on a political/sociological Vulcano in the past, at present and in the future. A fine example of "failed-states".
- The carribean islands. With the exception of Haiti, firmly in the hands of well-capitalised Farangs. No place for anyone relying on some meager monthly "pension-money" from back home.
Considering all this, I myself  would find little reason to re-locate to any of the above mentioned countries.

Especially not, as Thai legislation concerning Long-Term Residency is still quite "liberal and benevolent" in comparison  to most SA Countries.
PS: The Palm Trees of Thailand look the same as the Palm Trees in Costa-Rica. But more affordable in Thailand. I insist.

--------------------
Not wanting to appear as a "party-pooper", but this is a good time to realise that the days when desease-free Immigrants arriving at Eliss-Island were unburocratically welcomed in the US (same Canada, Australia and just about any other country of the world) are definitely a thing of the past.
These days, one must fulfill certain "requirements", no matter where one wants to Emmigrate to.
"Requirements" can be translated into "How deep are your pockets, how fat is your wallet"?
Let's face it!
Cheers.