malaysia probably has the best deal in town for permanence next to singapore. and thailand contrary to the expat gossip is very easy.

their "Malaysia my second home" 10 yrs visa is definitely the best in SEA or in the whole of Asia in my opinion but you must invest some money to qualify, months ago i was in Saba and the newspapers were claiming it's been a half fiasco so far, less takers than expected and not enough results, seems it will be scraped soon unfortunately.

i don't know why you keep saying thailand is so easy, even in china it's easier than thailand and by a long shot, same for taiwan and japan and HK.

as far as i know you can even become a citizen in Singapore and Indonesia, not sure about Malaysia but i guess it's doable as they're relatively foreign-friendly unlike Thailand or Myanmar.

said that, you must give up your original citizenship in singapore and you must also join the military service for 12 months or more.

in indonesia i think you must live there for at least 5-6 yrs and speak fluent Bahasa before even trying to ask (lots of red tape of course).

Contrary to common belief, Singapore is actually very affordable. Average cost for a meal in a food court 2-3$, rental can be as low as 200-300$, of course you can also have a luxury apartment for 30 times of that price. Great public transport, no need for a car. Best healthcare in the world and very heavily subsidized even for foreigners. Great services. For photography: diverse ethnicity, short fly to anywhere in Asia. I lived there for 8 years and now kicking myself everyday for not staying there.

2-300$ in SG ?? where ? how ? now they ask 20-30$/night even in the filthiest guesthouses in Little India.
must be a long time you don't go there.


Singapore named the world's most expensive city
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26412821

Sydney would be in the mix also but it's now gotten expensive with the currency strength.

indeed it's getting out of control, i heard now in OZ it's 20$ for a pack of cigarettes and 10$ for a burger.
i remember 10 yrs ago when OZ was still cheaper than europe, times change !

don't forget Samsung too. we keep forgetting that there are really only a handful of lense producers and also that most of the inside of our Nik, Can,etc are really made by Sony, Samsung,etc much like the lenses are made by the Tamron, Sigma, Tokina,etc..  we only pay for carrying a camera with a Nik Can name. much like we pay 5 bucks for drinking a 50 cts coffee with the logo on a plastic cup 

status symbol make a lot of little ppl look important.
p.s.
not tryng to hijack this thread, paulie. i think it is relevant to the future of where cameras are going.

i'm keeping an eye on Samsung since a long time because there's no reason they can't become a major player in photography and video especially considering their market leaders in display and sensor manufacturing ... by all means they're on par with Sony if we talk about R&D, patents and technology, but it doesn't mean they can get rich selling their own products, there are not many examples of "vertical companies" doing everything in-house .. if we look at computing HP, Xerox, and IBM were the only ones and it didn't last long, sooner or later they could not compete anymore and were forced to sell out or to use 3rd party components and finally their products became just an assembly of japanese and chinese technology sold at premium price, just like Apple and anyone else is doing now.

so, will Samsung become the king of the hill ? technically the can do it both for the camera bodies and for good lenses, just look at the quality of korean made Samyang lenses, they cost a pittance and they're almost on par with canon/nikon .. just to remind skeptic that making good lenses isn't rocket science.

problem is, i don't think Samsung is serious about the photo industry and they won't take the industry by storm anytime soon, their plan is just to grab a little slice of the market, photography is barely one of their many divisions, these guys make everything from sensors to container ships, it's a HUGE mega-company, when in was in Korea you couldn't walk a few meters without seeing something reminding you of Samsung or Hyundai, they're really big.

lens producer : wrong, there's a LOT of lens producer, you can buy any kind of lens online or offline for medical or scientific use and eventually make your own photo lens, this is pretty easy for prime lens.

it's for zooms that it gets messy as a typical zoom will require 5-6 lens packed in 2-3 groups all custom made and designed, this is not something affordable to the amateur enthusiast or a fly by night company selling online like Lensbaby.

for zooms the bar has been raised so high nowadays that you can forget about new companies popping out of nowhere and outselling tamron/sigma/tokina/canon/nikon, and the reason Samyang is not doing zooms or prime lens with AF is only due to legal issues but they could make a deal with Samsung in the future.

the future of cameras ? they will be cheaper and cheaper, that's for sure, we can forget about DSLRs built like a tank unless you're willing to pay 3-4000$ up.

said that, sensors and lenses will improve and same for AF and many features that today are considered "high end".

but i can't see why this should be an issue, what really matters is the photographer's ability to make good shots and this can't be automated or replaced by technology in ANY way.

if we talk about tech it's Photoshop being the key factor, not cameras or sensors or lenses.
a good camera just provides you the raw starting product, but the final product is all about post processing nowadays.

Try this search, and try to see any of the portfolios of the members that the search returns:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:istockphoto.com+%22country:+iran%22+contributor

they're ALL gone.

well, this is very very very unprofessional, at the very least they should have managed all this mess in a better way, just another sign that IS is going down the drain.

hahaha considering the company name is about "leftovers" we shouldn't be surprised they aren't exactly getting rich with that ....

Israel and Iraq are long time enemies of Iran, and if Iran nukes up, then all hell could potentially break lose in the Middle East.

Iran's only friends are Sirya and Russia and don't worry, nobody will dare moving a finger against Iran anytime soon, especially Israel and Pakistan.

Once Iran becomes a full member of SCO it will be game over for the US/Israel warmongering plans, actually Putin already talked about this topic making clear that Iran is untouchable and is a strategic partner, that means "don't F-u-ck with Iran or else ..."

from today's BBC :

Russia to build Iran atomic reactors at Bushehr
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30015464

Russia has agreed to build up to eight nuclear reactors in Iran, 12 days before a deadline for a deal to curb Iran's nuclear activity.

the Iranian government is participating in activities that much of the rest of the world can't support.

Iran is doing nothing wrong and if the americans gave Pakistan atomic bombs there's no reason Iran shouldn't do the same for self defence especially considering how unpredictable and *-ed up the pakistani elite is and not to mention they're now surrounded by pro-american countries like afghanistan, iraq, turkey (member of NATO), and being threatened and blackmailed on a daily basis by Israel, Qatar, UAE, and the EU.

Iran's only fault is refusing to let foreigners steal their oil and their resources as during the disgraceful Shia regime.

As much as this guy is coming here with his sob story i can tell him that the future will soon change once Iran joins SCO and iranian people are allowed to move and work and trade within SCO countries.

Canon is a marketing scam, they push their sensors to the limit, plenty of hidden de-noising and pre-processing, horrible greeny output, and their cameras feel like a toy compared to a nikon or a sony.

Canon has nothing to match the D800 and D810.
Most of the stockers are stuck with Canon just because they're locked-in and can't fathom to sell all their canon gear and switch to sony or nikon.

5Dmkiii ? not even on par with the new D750 and more expensive.
7D mkII ? just a little better than the ancient D300s !

Canon is also the most popular among women.

Parent company Getty may be US based, but isn't iStock in Canada?  Seems they follow Canadian tax regulations.  Are they following Canadian sanctions too?

sure, legally it might be a grey area but it's irrilevant since Canada is a member of NATO and sanctions have been agreed by all NATO countries and partners.