The recent changes to the MM2H scheme where the Malaysian government have just shafted thousands of people who took their word that their ongoing visa was renewable as much as a certainty once their current visa expired just goes to show that it is a government not to be trusted now or ever - a pity really because I like Malaysia a lot! Maybe because I am British and there seems to be cultural similarities to it but there would be no way I would invest my life in a country where they could do something like that to the expats who already live there and have invested there.Yohan wrote: ↑September 12th, 2021, 9:01 amMalaysia/Singapore are not a good place for retirement for an ordinary single Western citizen, even not for a married couple.yick wrote: ↑September 1st, 2021, 10:54 pmI wouldn't mind the Philippines, Malaysia would still be no.1 for me but the Philippines is more like a Latin American country than as Asian one, I would gel with the culture a lot better than I would in Thailand and my pension would increase as the UK and the Philippines have an agreement where the UK pension isn't frozen. I wouldn't know where to live though, Yohan - any good suggestions?
The requirements regarding money and buying your own accommodation - even in case of condominium and not owning land+a large house on it - are too restrictive. This is only really a place for the rich people with large families.
Thailand and Philippines are not bad for Western men with a reasonable retirement allowance (should be USD 2000,-+ per month, or at least with a local time deposit in a bank USD 30.000,- or so) however private health insurance is not cheap and now obligatory for retirement visa.
Before all this covid-19 disaster it was easy to move between Thailand and Philippines, daily cheap flights
About Laos - it is a bit an emply place and not visa-friendly for longterm.
About Cambodia - very nice people and not difficult to stay even for one year, but there are only a few cities and what I have seen while visiting it from Thailand a few times, it is getting boring - but a good get-away when running out of time in Thailand and Philippines.
Indonesia: I have no experience/knowledge about this country.
Japan can be also nice, but there is no retirement visa, only permanent residence and this takes several years to get permission for it - however any foreigner can buy a condominium anywhere in Japan in own name, even a tourist. Japan will give most citizens of Western countries a tourist visa for 3 months, 2 times (just less than half year totally) but after you have to leave for half year to somewhere else abroad.
Living outside of the large cities in Japan is not expensive at all, very safe - but there are other issues like medical insurance (Japanese national insurance is not available for tourists) etc. Not easy for long-stay permit if you come here AFTER retirement and never had any job/relationship with Japan before.
Nothing is perfect here in Asia... many Europeans, who are within EU-zone, prefer to retire within EU, in cheap places like Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria ....
Unfortunately UK decided to exit the EU - this makes it now more difficult for retirement in Continental Europe.
We will see what is after covid-19. At this moment the entire world is a mess.
Japan would be a great choice but like you said, there isn't a retirement visa for grabs there - the rest of them seem to have their pros and cons but I think the best place for me in Asia would be the Philippines but the reality is none of them offer an PR or citizenship which means I can be turfed out at any time which means I won't be investing my life into any of them.
Brexit has put a big spanner in the works for a lot of Brits but Brexit is coming home to roost in a lot of ways - there are now big shortages of basic goods in the shops and in the likes of hardware materials and trades such as lorry drivers and medical staff, the folly of Brexit (and the cretins that voted for this stupidity) is that some people thought they didn't need the EU and foreign labour and now it seems that we do... a lot!
My guess is by the time I retire - freedom of movement around Europe will be on again for Brits which will be good news for me because my first choice is to retire in Spain. Latin America would be second because I have citizenship but at least they offer citizenship but at the moment no Asian country offers that which makes it a poor third...
