⌛ dumaguete vs thailand

:Dmmmmmm? Communism in Thailand, Now THERE, is a thought :p

 

Could you expound on that a little? I considered the immigration laws better in Thailand, so would be interested in what aspects make you say Philippines is more lax.
From what I've been told, retirement visas are very expensive here. In Thailand they are dirt cheap and easy to get, as long as you are 50 yrs old.
They allow you to stay 30 days on just the passport stamp, whereas here it's 21 days. When I would go to Immigration for my 90 day check ins, they were very flexible on the timing. You could go up to 14 days early and as much as 7 days after the exact day.
When it comes to renewing the visa here, the lady in the office told me I had to come on the exact day it was to expire and could not be even 1 day late without paying a penalty. That seems pretty hard core to me. Maybe I misunderstood her.
Unless we are married to a Filipino citizen, we have to do visa runs every 16 months, or so I've been told. In Thailand, I knew single foreign retirees who had been living there for years and never left.

What aspects of immigration here are more lax? I would honestly like to know, because I'm much more green when it comes to the Philippines compared to Thailand.

 

I cannot compare the retirement visa programs. But, in terms of tourist visas, one can simply arrive and stay in the Philippines up to 2 years without exiting. Just pay extension fees every couple of months. In Thailand if you did not secure a long-term visa in advance, you would need to exit the country every 30 days and that is allowed only 3 times in any 6 month period. (At least that was the case when I last lived there about 3 years ago.)

Incidentally, you can extend your Philippine visa up to 2 weeks in advance and if you are late, the penalty is P500 per month.

By the way, I am not implying that the Philippines has *better* immigration laws (they don't seem to deport troublemakers the way Thailand does) only that they are easier to comply with.

 

Reporting!

Well My friend, I would not call, having to report ever 59 days lax, they know exactly where you are every 59 days, In Thailand on a 6 month visa or more, they will never know where you are. There are Overstayers every where, if it is done right, I feel it is safer to have your whereabouts monitored and recorded. (unless you have something hide)
Just my 5 cents.:p


Jack P.

 

How about being forced to exit the country every 30 days? Reporting every two month (or having your representative report on your behalf...you need not do it personally) is the more lax of the two countries being compared.

 

Penalty.

DG, this is a penalty for NOt doing it right as far as I can see, One would have expected the OP to have thought about this before he went. However, I do not Consider either extremes as lax. Thailand seems harsh, PI is not lax, just concerned, charge the overstayer not deport.

Jack P.

 

So which girls are most beautiful and exotic, Thais or Filipinas? Having spent a lot of time at both countries, it is a close race...
I will this, filipinas are nicer, for sure.

 

I agree with most of what the "guru" has to say, only that the infrastructure in Thailand is significantly better there, than here. Thailand is a country that is clearly moving forward while the Philippines is a country clearly continuing to slide further backwards.

I can bore you to tears over that comment, for example reports yesterday the Philippines is 66,000 classrooms short, and is one of the few countries in the world that only provides 10 years education, whereas most other countries its 12 years.

One only has to follow the current debate over the RH Bill and the Divorce Bill, to see the lack of maturity here.

Having visited and stayed in Thailand countless times, can't remember being woken by a F----- rooster or backing dog.

Why am I here, well its a long story.

 

With a retirement visa in Thailand which are issued for 1 yr at a time, you must report to Immigration every 90 days to check in. No extra fees, just fill out a form showing your current residence. The last couple of times for me they never asked for a rent receipt to show proof I even lived there. They are flexible on the check ins, in that you can do it from 14 days before to 7 days after the actual day. I do not know if there is a 90 day check in requirement for things like student or work visas, but I would guess there is.

 

Thanks DG. From that perspective I would agree with you.

As for the penalty for being late here, when I went in yesterday I asked that lady who sits in the desk on the left, what would the penalty be if I were late, and she told me 1,000 php a day. I had misunderstood her last time because she also said up to 2 weeks in advance is ok.

I wonder out of curiosity if people equally try to work the system in both places. I know 2 Americans who own a bar in Thailand, and they paid some owner of an Thai language school to say they were students so they could get 1 yr student visas. Never stepped foot in a classroom and never will. I do not know why they couldn't just get some type of visa that would pertain to foreigners who own a business.