@Ally ***********

There's also the case of trying to find someone to complete the contract, which seems perfectly regularised here. Passing them on a platter to the landlord would assuredly sweeten the pill.

@Alma **************

It's not a case of boring. It's a case of where you'll get the best advice. This visa is new and likely to apply to very few people. You need to hear case studies - exactly what applicants have done and where - and choose according to their lived experience.

I think the deal with visa exempt is to see as a pattern of tightening eg retirement and marriage visas and what we hear less of ie education visas, even company ownership of property and arguably TM30 too. The pattern is clear and to be remembered. The confusion is in the detail of what different offices and officers do.

All comments are valid. A solicitor is not the place to go. What do we do anywhere in the world - avoid solicitors as much as possible because of inflated pricing and, yes, Thailand is the same. Doing it yourself the cost is virtually nothing. I was concerned, though around agent costs because they vary substantially according to where we are talking about - and we don't know! Simply, the THB 15K sounds wildly optimistic if we are talking about Bangkok. The only way to find out is by asking around for your location.

@Alan ************

You can only be careful in your choice, firstly using broad indicators as I gave, then looking at fine detail, perhaps especially around dangerous sports. People routinely bungee jump, but it is mostly categorised as a dangerous sport. Mountaineering and rock climbing can be an outright No or dependent on exactly what is planned and using what equipment. All this said, which should be obvious, people do as the insurance companies do and look at heart risk with age, stroke risk with age, etc and try to see a relationship with health to date. Certainly that has some truth. But consider the very high rates of death and injury in Thailand in motor vehicle accidents, including as a pedestrian. Sure it could be that responsiveness reduces with age, but truth is that insurance companies tend to take those on the nose, although a hugely important category. On the road accident an important point is do you think that the rudimentary emergency services here will pick you up without an insurance card. Ditto the hospital take you in (legally they have to but that is often not understood. Cough!!!!! - its Amazing Thailand, including such amazing language misunderstandings!). So you carry around a credit card and can genuinely access large amounts that way (and they need to be large). Now how is the risk management looking? Or do you want to be left in the road - it can and sometimes does happen: the care obligation at law, as best I understand, only laying with the hospital.

The starting point is your country of residence. The relevance is what insurers have products available to you. You appear to be UK based, so that becomes the point of reference, for instance Japanese insurers tend to be the good guys. Whether available in UK I don't know. Things changed with COVID, many companies withdrawing from their peripheral markets. US tend to be the ones best avoided. They tend to be at the forefront of avoiding payment of claims, wriggling out however they can. British companies tend to the in-between position and likewise on price (You pay for Japanese reliability). Be very wary of cheap cover and always, always consider a company's registration and legal jurisdiction. The financial authority of, say, St Kitts might not be the best backup beyond the company. Above all, whoever the insurance provider, your own behaviour is a key. On a motorbike with no helmet - what do you expect the insurer to do? More or less the same for on a motorbike at all. Don't listen to bike hirers saying it's OK. Or even saying you are insured. This is Thailand. Dangerous sports, definitely no cover -and you'll be surprised what constitute dangerous sports. You need to make yourself very, very aware of the small print. And be aware of the pretty lawless milieu here. Don't trust smiles - and that isn't just a reference to Thais but also farangs. Free meals are very few and far between in this life and that includes Thailand as much as anywhere!

Truthfully it is impossible to say without knowing names and quotes. Are we talking Blue Elephant or Dusit Thani or Dao's Disastrous Dishes. To be honest the location doesn't sound promising unless Dao charges low and sorts the visa issues.

@Jim *******

No. You aren't undestanding the plan. After the old street food lady, it's change to a medical needs based visa.

Wow! Clear advice is simply unavailable for the way so many people actually work. This becomes a great indication of the art of the possible, hugely valuable - but, of course, what happened in Phnom Penh isn't necessarily an indication for elsewhere, the usual problem of Thai officialdom.

@David *******

I take your point but it is a discussion best not begun or we will move toward looking at educational standards among arriving expats. I mean formal education there. But you could argue that as irrelevant and the thing to focus on is "street" navigational skills, but those have collapsed too.