Editor:
Re: No Country For Old Men (PM Mailbag Jan 10) You certainly don’t need 800,000 baht in a Thai bank to obtain a “legal” retirement visa. Income from your home country can count if you obtain a letter from an embassy. Just pick up the info sheet from the immigration bureau.
Equally it is bizarre to claim, as does correspondent Philip Fletcher, that you can live comfortably in Pattaya on the frozen British old age pension which is seldom more than 100 pounds a week and often less. I assume Philip is suggesting that Brits in tragic situation look for bars with balloons outside – usually the sign of a free buffet – or live on the beach begging sandwiches from the Russians.
If you do go bankrupt here, neither the British Embassy nor the Thai state will support you. Once you run into visa overstay or try to steal a Mars bar from a 7-11 store, you will be arrested sooner or later and remain in jail until somebody pays for the air ticket to UK. You might well sit there for months whilst the British Embassy adds you to the list. There is no need for extra punishments believe me.
Barry Kenyon
