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What about Indonesia? you might find it exotic enough.... there's beaches and great food
Bali is byfar the best, but you'll be meeting too much westerner
Jakarta have one of the best lifestyle, though it is too polluted and traffic chocked
Bandung enjoys the amneties that Jakarta have, and is situated at highland.... the place is cold and breezy and is less crazy then Jakarta...
however the country is a big place, not too developed but price friendly
Personally, I think Japanese is a best choice. Then, that is Singapore. It'd better to live in clean and fresh countries with a good infrastructure facilities and stable policies.
Japan is the worst country for retirees and someone looking to exit the hard life. Read the OP before you respond, please. Real estate in Japan is also very expensive, he might as well stay in the US or go back to Italy. But, it doesn't matter. The OP hasn't come back for a long time
What about Indonesia? you might find it exotic enough.... there's beaches and great food
Bali is byfar the best, but you'll be meeting too much westerner
Jakarta have one of the best lifestyle, though it is too polluted and traffic chocked
Bandung enjoys the amneties that Jakarta have, and is situated at highland.... the place is cold and breezy and is less crazy then Jakarta...
however the country is a big place, not too developed but price friendly
It is extremely difficult to get a residence or long-term visitors visa for Indonesia. Most people who try to stay there have to fly out to Singapore and back every two months.
you can over extend visas and stay easily...very laxed.
Okay, so they're lax on visas, but that's not exactly a good reason for wanting to move there. The OP was asking about buying a house and also mentioned wanting to work. So...
1 - Can a foreigner independently buy property in Laos or Cambodia?
As near as I can tell, the answer is no, unless you want to live in a condo, and even then there may be certain conditions to do that.
2 - Can a foreigner find enough decent work opportunities to choose from in either of those countries?
Just to be clear, the OP didn't say anything about retirement, so we can rule that reason out.
I think in practically every country, a good lawyer can arrange a holding company to enable a foreign national to have effective 99-year control over a residential property. That's not the hard part. The biggest problem is arranging an immigration visa status that would be secure enough to feel comfortable with making the investment in property.
As a rule, money talks, but probably more than you've got. In many countries, six figures invested will get you a visa for as long as you want. In some, a million up front will get you a passport. If you have that kind of money, starting a new life is not a problem.
I think in practically every country, a good lawyer can arrange a holding company to enable a foreign national to have effective 99-year control over a residential property. That's not the hard part. The biggest problem is arranging an immigration visa status that would be secure enough to feel comfortable with making the investment in property.
As a rule, money talks, but probably more than you've got. In many countries, six figures invested will get you a visa for as long as you want. In some, a million up front will get you a passport. If you have that kind of money, starting a new life is not a problem.
With regard to 99-year residential agreements, I suppose it depends on the laws of the country. The focus of the OP seemed to be leaning toward SE Asia, although hasn't posted to this thread since Feb, 2012. However the expressed interest was in terms of buying property, and finding work opportunities.
Although a 99-year agreement is certainly a option (depending on the country), there's no ownership with long-term leasing. From what I understand, residential property ownership in Malaysia is doable, but it can be a different thing in SE Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Residential property regulations in Laos is somewhat similar in some ways to Thailand's although it also varies. Condos are easier to obtain, but even those may be conditional and not in the favor of the foreigner. And with condos, you don't own the land, and I think in both Thailand and Laos, there's the 49%/51% ownership rule. Both Thailand and Laos have 30-year maximum leases on residential property, that might be renewable for an additional 30 years. Cambodia appears to have 99-year leases.
Supposedly in Thailand, it's possible to buy property assuming you've got 40 million baht (that's almost 1.3 million US dollars) to throw around for investment over a 5-year period, and the property must be residential. I'm not sure I'd want to place bets on that though from a legal point of view though. Some so-called legal schemes for foreigners to buy a house are illegal. Apart from being a multi-millionaire, large corporate businesses are more likely to be able to afford making such purchases, but again for the resident, no direct ownership. Personally, I would think that the visa issue would be the least of concerns.
The other thing the OP expressed interest in knowing is employment opportunities. I have no idea what the opportunities are in Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia are. With regard to choices between Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, which country would you choose? I don't know about the others, but I would think Thailand probably has better and varied overall conditions, although a work permit is required, and you can't do just any kind of work in Thailand. Remember the big tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004? Foreign emergency volunteers were hassled because they didn't have a work permit. Go figure. Additionally, foreign musicians just jamming for free in bars or clubs have been busted for working without a permit. Some things really don't make much sense.
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