Its Official..US Embassy no longer providing income verification letters for Thai Immigration Jan1.

[DoubleDutch]

what a sad report...and here i was led to believe that all retirees lived like pashas...

Not really, latintopxxx. Let's break this down.

One guy lives in New Jersey, another guy lives in Pattaya, both retired Americans, both getting about $1000 USD gov pension, that is about minimum, something I will eventually receive from my government, since I have not worked much in my life, and not paid into the system.

So, what does a typical day of these two guys look like? New Jersey guy lives in apartment, let's say he owns it, so all he has to deal with are condo fees, and food. I think the 65 year old NJ guy does not go out much, because there really is nowhere to go with couple hundred $ he has to spend every month.
65 year old Pattaya guy also owns a condo, gets the same $1000 every months. He's condo fees are maybe 300 Baht per month, that's $10 USD. I'm not familiar with condo fees in US, but in Toronto a 1 bedroom downtown Toronto condo fee is $400 every months. That alone puts things in perspective. Pattaya guy can go out in the morning, and come home at night, he eats outside street food 2-3 times a day. He can go out 365 days a year, because wether allows it, and he can take long walks on Beach Rd, sit in a beach chair for 40 Baht from morning to sunset, new plastic recliners 100 baht. Or he can bring his own towel, and lay down, free. Water bottle cost 7 baht. Basically he lives, he has a purpose, he has a reason to wake up, because gets up, makes his coffee, and heads out. NJ guy wakes up, drinks his coffee, and goes back to bed, or lays on a sofa, watching Good Morning America on TV. Later in a day hopefully better programming.
NJ guy only goes out to buy groceries. From Oct to Apr he avoids going out at all, it is -5C and can get to -15C. Ground covered with ice, or worse, slush, 6 months out of a year.

So if a guy has $1000 guaranteed income, he is much better off in Thailand, in Cambodia even more so.

Now this DragonMaster decided to talk about living in Thailand on 12.000 THB per month. Why he did that, I have no idea, peculiarly, for some reason, he quoted my post. I said I know Americans who live on $1000, and live well, they own condos, which they bought when they moved here, after selling property back home.
DragonMaster decided to talk about imaginary people, Westerners skipping meals, Westerners living on on 12.000 THB per month. I assure you, latintopxxx, these people do not exist. DragonMaster couldn'tt dispute that a man can quite nicely live with much less than Thai gov requirement of 65.000 THB, lets say, 45.000 THB per month, so instead of agreeing that 65k is not needed to live here comfortably, he started talking about Westerners starving in Thailand lol. How do you argue with person like this? I say this is a tasty orange, his come back is "this apple sucks!". Very tiring. But he is a cop, a play cop, a pretend cop, Tourist Police lol, so don't take anything he says too seriously, latintopxxx.

Latintopxxx, it is not a sad report, and people here, at least most people do not live sad lives. I'd say the 65 year old NJ guy, living in Jersey City, is in a bad spot in life, especially 6 month out of the year, when he goes out only for essentials.

One thing, never sell property back home, in order to finance a condo or house in Thailand. Let's say you are bored to death of Thailand 10 years down the road, if you sold, you have nowhere to go back. Pension isn't enough to even cover rent in most Western countries, or barely enough. Rent in Thailand, it is absurdly cheap to rent here. For extra income, rent out your house in Dutchland, that alone is enough cash to live in Thailand nicely.

[latintopxxx]

ok, as i suspected...life is good in Thailand

[DragonMaster]

Now this DragonMaster decided to talk about living in Thailand on 12.000 THB per month. Why he did that, I have no idea, peculiarly, for some reason, he quoted my post. I said I know Americans who live on $1000, and live well, they own condos, which they bought when they moved here, after selling property back home.
DragonMaster decided to talk about imaginary people, Westerners skipping meals, Westerners living on on 12.000 THB per month. I assure you, latintopxxx, these people do not exist. DragonMaster couldn'tt dispute that a man can quite nicely live with much less than Thai gov requirement of 65.000 THB, lets say, 45.000 THB per month, so instead of agreeing that 65k is not needed to live here comfortably, he started talking about Westerners starving in Thailand lol. How do you argue with person like this? I say this is a tasty orange, his come back is "this apple sucks!". Very tiring. But he is a cop, a play cop, a pretend cop, Tourist Police lol, so don't take anything he says too seriously, latintopxxx.

Well DoubleDutch, perhaps you can point out exactly where I said anything about Westerners skipping meals, or that Westerners were living here on 12,000 THB per month. I was trying to point out that your reference to the immigration requirement for income being 5 times that of the average Thai salary was irrelevant, which of course it is. Thais do not live the same lifestyle as folks who retire here, and I don't know of any "Westerners" who would find it comfortable trying to adapt to a Thai style of living. I never said that there were "Westerners" living here on 12,000 THB per month. I know English is difficult for some people to understand.

There are unfortunately, Thai people who live here that do indeed skip meals and do go hungry because they don't have enough money to buy food, even though it is pretty cheap on the street. I do know some of these folks and they don't all hang out in Jomtien Complex, Sunee, or Boyztown or sell themselves to "Westerners" to get money. Just because some of you don't happen to know any, doesn't mean they don't exist.

DD really shows his ignorance when it comes to the Tourist Police and the volunteers, which are many times confused with the volunteers from Soi 9. Big difference between the two, but that's for another time.

Thailand is a great place to live, and you can live quite well on $1000 per month. I never disputed that fact, so please, do try and act like an adult if that's possible.

[christianpfc]

There are unfortunately, Thai people who live here that do indeed skip meals and do go hungry because they don't have enough money to buy food, even though it is pretty cheap on the street. I do know some of these folks and they don't all hang out in Jomtien Complex, Sunee, or Boyztown or sell themselves to "Westerners" to get money. Just because some of you don't happen to know any, doesn't mean they don't exist.

I only believe it when I see it (Thai people who go hungry*). They have family or friends who would treat them to a meal. Anyway, they wouldn't eat streetfood, but prepare food for themself. And Thai friend once told me people can get food at temples (confirmed, just last week I got a free full meal at a temple, and several times before in the course of the years - however only few of the many temples I visit had free food when I was there).

*Except for beggars. If they can't rise enough during day, they go to sleep hungry. But let's keep this conversation to people who pursue regular activities like working or studying, and live in rooms and not on the street.

*And except cases like myself. Sometimes I go hungry. But that's out of choice. Breakfast is a must, but after that, when out sighseeing, and there is no food or only stuff I don't like or have to make most of the day and can't waste time eating, I can go without eating all day, and only after sunset (no more sightseeing due to lack of natural light), I realize that I'm hungry because I haven't eaten all day.

[latintopxxx]

christian...skipping lunch is NOT the definition of hungry...U R so first world....LOL