Immigration woes, I dont want to play anymore

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Colsie
Posted
Posted (edited)
33 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Nope.  They changed the age back to 50 after the Chinese scandal.

Yes, you're right May 2021

This should remove the stigma of the SRRV being closely associated with POGO workers 

👍

Edited by Colsie
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Colsie
Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Possibly, but all the offices can see his file.  I will speculate:

1.  When he came back from his first visa run he got a hard nosed agent.  The agent put a flag in his file.

2.  Second visa run, the agent sees the flag and raises questions again.

3.  Same thing happens when he goes to renew recently.

Your speculation may well be true. 

It does seem as though JGF is being unfairly treated as he's done absolutely nothing wrong and is an upstanding citizen that abides by the current rules and pays the required fees. 

Added to this, as a senior he can probably do without the stress and upheaval caused by such actions. 

Who's to say that he has any other option to carry on living here as a tourist, given that he's unable to marry is partner and may not have the means to tie up a significant sum of money in the retirement scam scheme. 

It may be worth his time to involve an agent and perhaps get legal advice before is next extention. I still believe JGF should try a different BI office as he's encountered some issues in the past at a BI office if my memory is correct. 

Edited by Colsie
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Onemore52
Posted
Posted

Colsie, at least your scratched out word describes perfectly what it is.

I will remember your words on Monday when I do the 2 hour round trip to get my tourist visa extension..

Cheers

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Kingpin
Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Colsie said:

Young Chinese nationals can come live and work in the Philippines legally.

You missed the point completely.

In 2016, young Chinese nationals started illegally working under their 9as, at POGOs and bribing BI agents to get extensions.

In 2017 they started getting caught, and it was exposed publicly in national news.

This gradually lead to both official changes in regulation in 2019 and 2021 and increased scrutiny due to 9a stigma which can be noted in the first post of this thread.

The problem persists, this is from a few months ago:
 

Quote

 

Philippines to deport 40,000 Chinese workers in crackdown on online gambling industry

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3193909/philippines-deport-40000-chinese-workers-crackdown-online

 

 

 

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Kingpin
Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, RBM said:

Downgraded to free up cash, 9a now

And the fee to free up that cash?  $3,520 USD. 

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Freebie
Posted
Posted

Just on the SRRV, immediately after the POGO scum was found to have abused the system ( and PRA /Immigration failed to note the abuse ) they changed the rules to ensure renewals could only be for one year.

During my recent visit to PRA to renew my visa , staff were advising that sometime next year they should be reverting to the 3 year renewals.

As for it being a scam, not sure why you would class it as such. Its a visa that allows the holders to come and go as they please with no questions,  although we were screwed during Covid.

Doesnt cost any more than the variations of expat visas available in Thailand. So wheres the scam ?

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Colsie
Posted
Posted (edited)
48 minutes ago, Freebie said:

Just on the SRRV, immediately after the POGO scum was found to have abused the system ( and PRA /Immigration failed to note the abuse ) they changed the rules to ensure renewals could only be for one year.

During my recent visit to PRA to renew my visa , staff were advising that sometime next year they should be reverting to the 3 year renewals.

As for it being a scam, not sure why you would class it as such. Its a visa that allows the holders to come and go as they please with no questions,  although we were screwed during Covid.

Doesnt cost any more than the variations of expat visas available in Thailand. So wheres the scam ?

Please don't be upset with me, its not a scam. For some expats it's exactly the product they want and are very happy with the SRRV. 

I'm not one of those expats, but I shouldn't use sarcasm as a means of showing my dislike of the experience I had under the SRRV system. 

One of the fundamental issues I had with the SRRV was that they can and will change their rules as it suits them. For example, when I first joined the scheme the SRRV took a slice of the interest paid on my USD deposit. What was left of the interest was just enough to pay the annual card renewal fee ($360).The following year they changed the rules and took nearly all of the interest. 

I was happy and a little bit relieved to come out of scheme and get my deposit back. For the record, there was no fee charged upon return of my deposit, so perhaps there has been another change in the rules (in their favour). 

SRRV gives some expats the feeling of greater legitimacy to live here. Although, in my eyes they were not treated correctly when they couldn't enter the country during Covid and while I was here on a tourist visa. 

The fundamental problem with locking a substantial sum of money in the SRRV system is that they can and will change the rules to benefit themselves as much as they can, as long as it doesn't affect the flow of new applications.

They won't do anything criminal and steal your money. They don't need to, just change the rules.

As for "Doesnt cost any more than the variations of expat visas available in Thailand."

 That might be a good topic for a new post "cost comparison in retirement visas Philippines v Thailand" 🤑

Edited by Colsie
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Colsie
Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Kingpin said:

You missed the point completely.

Yes, I did, thanks for providing more detail. 

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Mike J
Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, Colsie said:

It does seem as though JGF is being unfairly treated as he's done absolutely nothing wrong and is an upstanding citizen that abides by the current rules and pays the required fees.

For sure.  I also heard that he hardly ever drinks.  :hystery:

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GeoffH
Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Colsie said:

SRRV gives some expats the feeling of greater legitimacy to live here.

There is also the issue that unlike the 3 year tourist VISA option the SRRV allows one to legally drive past the 3 month time period (for those not eligible for a 13a visa).

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