# StayingAsia

> Independent reference on how long you can actually stay in 21 Asian countries. 113 programme records with the threshold, the renewal rule, the settlement path and the date each was last checked. 35 long-form guides on individual visas, published in six languages. Two published scores per country: how easy it is to stay, and how good it is to live there.

Every figure is dated. Every programme record links to the government page that documents it. Where a figure could not be confirmed against a primary source, the page says so.

## Machine access

The same dataset is served as an MCP server, so an agent can ask instead of scrape.

- Endpoint: `POST https://stayingasia.com/api/mcp/` (streamable HTTP, no key, no session)
- Tools: `check_entry`, `country_overview`, `list_routes`, `find_guides`, `search`
- Local alternative: `node site/mcp/server.mjs` over stdio

## Start here

- [Countries ranked by ease of staying](https://stayingasia.com/rankings/asia-ease-ranking/): 21 countries scored on money, speed, legal certainty, family and settlement, with every component published.
- [Quality of life, scored separately](https://stayingasia.com/rankings/quality-of-life/): safety, affordability, health, air, English proficiency and broadband for the same 21 countries.
- [Find where you can stay](https://stayingasia.com/quiz/): ten questions, scored against every route, including what gets ruled out and why.
- [What your passport gets you at the border](https://stayingasia.com/entry/): 1,584 dated entry rules across 21 destinations, checked by passport.
- [Every programme record](https://stayingasia.com/programmes/): the full table of 113 routes with threshold, permit duration and settlement state.
- [The full data file](https://stayingasia.com/llms-full.txt): every route as plain text, one line each.

## Languages

The whole site is published in English and five translations, with the same figures in every language: country hubs, indexes, quiz, entry tool, both rankings, and all 35 guides.

- [简体中文](https://stayingasia.com/zh/)
- [한국어](https://stayingasia.com/ko/)
- [繁體中文](https://stayingasia.com/zh-hant/)
- [Bahasa Melayu](https://stayingasia.com/ms/)
- [Bahasa Indonesia](https://stayingasia.com/id/)

Translated guides sit at the same slug under the language prefix, for example https://stayingasia.com/id/articles/thailand-dtv-guide/.

## Country hubs

Each hub answers one question first, whether you can realistically still be there in ten years.

- [Thailand](https://stayingasia.com/countries/thailand/): seven long stay instruments that do not connect. DTV, LTR, O-A, O-X, Privilege Card, SMART, work permit.
- [Japan](https://stayingasia.com/countries/japan/): no retirement or investment visa. Permanent residence runs on points, income and pension contributions.
- [Malaysia](https://stayingasia.com/countries/malaysia/): MM2H in five tiers, PVIP, DE Rantau, Employment Pass. None of them converts to permanent residence.
- [Philippines](https://stayingasia.com/countries/philippines/): SRRV rebuilt in 2025 with an age floor of 40. SIRV is the investment route that does lead to permanent residence.
- [Indonesia](https://stayingasia.com/countries/indonesia/): E33G remote worker, E33F and E33E retirement, KITAP by marriage.
- [Singapore](https://stayingasia.com/countries/singapore/): Employment Pass, ONE Pass, Tech.Pass closing January 2027, Global Investor Programme.
- [South Korea](https://stayingasia.com/countries/south-korea/): F-1-D digital nomad, E-7 skilled work, F-2-7 points, F-5 permanent residence.
- [Hong Kong](https://stayingasia.com/countries/hong-kong/): Top Talent Pass, QMAS rebuilt in November 2025, New CIES investment route.
- [Taiwan](https://stayingasia.com/countries/taiwan/): Gold Card, Plum Blossom Card, digital nomad visa gated on nationality.
- [China](https://stayingasia.com/countries/china/): work permit categories, R visa, permanent residence, the new K visa.
- [Vietnam](https://stayingasia.com/countries/vietnam/): e-visa, employer-sponsored TRC, investor tiers, permanent residence.
- [Cambodia](https://stayingasia.com/countries/cambodia/): ER, EG and EB extensions, the work permit, and why the retirement extension is not residence.
- [Nepal](https://stayingasia.com/countries/nepal/): residential visa for retirees, business visa, marriage visa.
- [Sri Lanka](https://stayingasia.com/countries/sri-lanka/): tourist ETA extended to 180 days, Independent Means, investor and digital nomad categories.
- [India](https://stayingasia.com/countries/india/): OCI, employment visa, e-business visa. No retirement route exists.
- [Maldives](https://stayingasia.com/countries/maldives/): work, marriage, dependent and corporate resident permits only.
- [Macau](https://stayingasia.com/countries/macau/): three talent programmes and the major investment route.
- [UAE](https://stayingasia.com/countries/uae/): virtual work residence, retirement visa, golden visa, employment visa. No settlement path.
- [Turkey](https://stayingasia.com/countries/turkey/): short and long-term residence, digital nomad certificate, citizenship by investment.
- [Georgia](https://stayingasia.com/countries/georgia/): 365 days visa free, temporary residence, property permit, permanent residence at ten years.
- [Armenia](https://stayingasia.com/countries/armenia/): 180 days visa free, business and employment residence, citizenship at six years end to end.

## Guides

35 dated guides. Each states the threshold, what it does not buy, and the failure modes that actually cause refusals.

### Thailand: Destination Thailand Visa

- [DTV guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-dtv-guide/): who qualifies, what the 500,000 baht rule requires, what the visa does not give you.
- [DTV documents](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-dtv-documents/): the seven core documents and the three failures behind most refusals.
- [DTV timeline and costs](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-dtv-timeline-costs/): twelve weeks, stage by stage, and where delays originate.
- [DTV family and renewal](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-dtv-family-renewal/): dependants, no work rights, and what happens at year five.
- [DTV tax, banking and healthcare](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-dtv-tax-banking-healthcare/): tax residence at 180 days, opening an account, what cover you need.

### Thailand: Long-Term Resident

- [LTR guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-ltr-guide/): the four tracks, the exact income and asset tests.
- [LTR tracks compared](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-ltr-tracks-compared/): side by side on income, assets, employer rules, work rights and tax.
- [LTR timeline and documents](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-ltr-timeline-documents/): BOI endorsement, and the two year evidence window.
- [LTR family, tax and renewal](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-ltr-family-tax/): the 17 percent rate, overseas income exemption, year five re-test.
- [LTR versus DTV](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-ltr-vs-dtv/): ten years with annual reporting against 180 day cycles.

### Thailand: retirement and Privilege Card

- [Retirement visa guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-retirement-visa-guide/): O-A against the in-country O extension and three financial routes.
- [O-A versus O-X](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-o-a-vs-o-x/): the nationality list and the capital each one immobilises.
- [Retirement finances and insurance](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-retirement-finances-insurance/): the 800,000 baht rule at renewal and what care costs.
- [Privilege Card guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-privilege-card-guide/): what it legally is and who it suits.
- [Privilege Card tiers](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-privilege-card-tiers/): cost per year across five tiers and where upgrading stops paying.
- [Privilege Card versus LTR](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-privilege-card-vs-ltr/): buying certainty against earning it.

### Thailand: work and settlement

- [SMART visa guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-smart-visa-guide/): eighteen target industries, two documented categories.
- [Work permit guide](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-work-permit-guide/): Non-Immigrant B, the 4 to 1 ratio, why this is the only route that counts.
- [Permanent residence](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-permanent-residence/): the quota of 100 per nationality, the points, the three year clock.
- [Every Thailand route compared](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-long-stay-compared/): seven routes in one table.
- [Cost of living](https://stayingasia.com/articles/thailand-cost-of-living/): monthly budgets including the visa costs most calculators omit.

### Japan

- [Points system](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-hsp-points/): what 70 points buys, what 80 buys, and the salary floor.
- [Permanent residence after October 2026](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-permanent-residence-guide/): income benchmark, pension projection, and which tests apply from April 2027.
- [PR or naturalisation](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-pr-vs-naturalisation/): one keeps your passport, the other requires renouncing it.
- [Business Manager visa](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-business-manager-visa/): JPY 30,000,000, a Japanese hire, B2 cover, licensed plan review.
- [Startup visa](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-startup-visa-conversion/): two years, then the full Business Manager test.
- [Digital nomad visa](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-digital-nomad-visa/): six months, granted once, no extension.
- [Tax residency](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-tax-residency/): why 183 days is a starting point and the exit tax nobody plans for.
- [Every Japan route compared](https://stayingasia.com/articles/japan-long-stay-compared/): eleven statuses, three questions.

### Malaysia

- [DE Rantau](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-de-rantau-guide/): USD 24,000 for tech, 24 month ceiling, Peninsular Malaysia only.
- [Employment Pass to Residence Pass-Talent](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-employment-pass-to-pr/): the only settlement ladder.
- [MM2H property requirement](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-mm2h-property-trap/): compulsory purchase, ten year holding rule, state floors.
- [MM2H Silver or Gold](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-mm2h-silver-vs-gold/): what the extra USD 350,000 buys.
- [PVIP or MM2H](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-pvip-vs-mm2h/): which one actually lets you work.
- [Every Malaysia route compared](https://stayingasia.com/articles/malaysia-long-stay-compared/): six routes, one that leads anywhere.

## How the numbers are kept

- [Stay method](https://stayingasia.com/rankings/asia-ease-ranking/): the weights, the persona and the component scores.
- [Life method](https://stayingasia.com/rankings/quality-of-life/): the six components, the anchors and the missing data for each country.
- [The Wire](https://stayingasia.com/news/): every rule change we have logged, newest first, each with its source and the date it was checked.
- [Monthly digest](https://stayingasia.com/digest/): the same changes grouped by month, with what each one means.

## Notes for citation

- Figures carry the year they apply to, for example "THB 500,000 (2026)".
- Country scores are on a 0 to 100 scale and are not comparable between the two rankings.
- The stay ranking assumes a remote earner with no local employer who wants five years or more.
- Programme records are dated with the last check, not the publication date.
- Only Thailand and Japan offer a route that counts toward permanent residence in the countries covered by guides; Malaysia has exactly one, the employment ladder.