Editorial Policy
Last updated: March 9, 2026
How AsiaLongStay researches, writes, and maintains its content - our standards for accuracy, independence, and transparency.
AsiaLongStay publishes practical guides for foreigners living in or planning a long-term move to Southeast Asia. This page explains how we research and write our content, what standards we hold ourselves to, and how we handle corrections and updates.
What We Cover - and What We Don't
Our content focuses on long-term living in six countries: Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Laos. We cover visas and residency procedures, real living costs, daily life practicalities - housing, healthcare, banking, insurance - and ground-level insight that helps foreigners make informed decisions.
We do not publish short-stay travel guides, hotel or restaurant recommendations, business formation advice, or job listings. If a topic falls outside long-term living, it is outside our scope.
Who We Write For
Our primary readers are people making real, consequential decisions - retirees planning a move, spouses navigating life on a dependent visa, and professionals settling in for extended stays. We write for readers doing serious research, not casual browsing. That expectation shapes how we write: we explain the why, not just the what, and we do not simplify things that are genuinely complicated.
How We Research
Procedure and immigration guides: We use publicly available official sources wherever they exist, including government immigration portals, official fee schedules, and published visa regulations. Where official sources are incomplete or do not reflect real process flow, we supplement with applicant-reported patterns from established expat communities, forums, and long-stay networks. We are explicit when we do this.
Living and lifestyle guides: We draw on community knowledge, expat forums, local platforms, and widely reported experience. We treat this as credible when it is consistent across multiple independent sources, and we signal when something is anecdotal or community-reported rather than officially confirmed.
We do not fabricate specific figures, approval rates, decree numbers, or processing times. When we cite costs or fees, we present ranges rather than fixed numbers, and we note when figures can vary by location, season, or individual circumstances.
How We Write
Official requirement: what law or official policy states.
Common practice: what applicants and residents typically experience in reality, which can differ from policy.
Varies by location or office: where local interpretation, province, or individual circumstances produce different outcomes.
We do not blend these without attribution. We do not write as if every process is clean, predictable, or uniform - because it rarely is.
Images and Photography
Images used on AsiaLongStay come from two sources.
Licensed stock photography: we use images from copyright-free platforms such as Unsplash, where images are published under licenses that permit free use without attribution. We select images that accurately represent the country, city, or topic being covered.
Reader and contributor photography: some images are submitted directly by people living in or traveling through Southeast Asia. By submitting an image to AsiaLongStay, contributors confirm they hold the rights to the image and grant us permission to publish it on the platform. We do not publish images where ownership or permission is unclear.
We do not use images scraped from social media, lifted from other publications, or sourced from anywhere we cannot verify the license or permission.
Independence and Advertising
AsiaLongStay is funded through display advertising. We do not accept payment to feature, promote, or recommend specific companies, products, or services within editorial content.
Advertising placements are handled separately from editorial decisions. Advertisers have no influence over which topics we cover, how we cover them, or what conclusions we reach.
Accuracy and Corrections
Immigration regulations, visa fees, and procedures change. Living costs shift. Platforms come and go. We review content regularly and update articles when material changes occur.
If you find information that is outdated, incorrect, or misleading, contact us through the Contact page. We take corrections seriously, and when a significant correction is made we note it.
A Note on Uncertainty
Southeast Asia is a region where official rules and on-the-ground reality can diverge, processes vary between provinces and offices, and policies can change with limited notice. We acknowledge this directly rather than projecting false certainty.
Regulations and costs change. Always verify with official sources or qualified advisors before making immigration or financial decisions.