AlbionThailand

My son just off to university in the USA. I made sure to renew both his Thai and UK passport before he left even though both still had 1 year to run.  Just not worth the aggravation to do otherwise.

We have 40 dogs and feed 60+ every day. In the morning, it is 3+ kilos of liver that the wife cooks up. In the evening we buy 10 chopped up chicken bodies. We add purple BokDok dry food to each meal for our "falang" dogs (huskies) and rice for the rest.

We have tried all the different types of dry dog food and only BokDok is enjoyed by every dog.

Not forgetting newly opened "Big Ubon Breakfasts" near the airport. Open 06:00 thru 11:00 daily except Saturdays.

Just applied for a UK passport renewal for my son requiring an appointment and visit to Trendy Building. 

We had to fly in from Ubon to do this. 

Unexpected twist is that they now require translated copy of house-book, national ID or drivers license.  This is not mentioned as part of the documention to bring but apparently, your address needs to be checked/verified.  Lucky we had a copy of housebook on mobile.

Sad part of the story is that, although the payment form offers 2 options with one being to pay extra for the Passport to be sent to you, this option is no longer available.  Passports must now be picked up requiring another round-trip from Ubon.

My question is why do they need a translated version of address if they don't use it to send out the passport?????

The US immigration asks you to fill in a short form before getting fingerprinted.  I put my country of birth as UK and when they entered into their system, behold - I was Ukrainian.  I tried to correct with Great Britain but that made my country Gibraltar. Neither Wales nor Scotland were valid options so we agreed that for immigration purposes, I would be English. 

Despite only arriving at 11:30; and room being full, was in/out in in just over 1 hour with Extension based on THB 800K and with Re-Entry Visa.

First visited Kaisakorn Bank and got the standard confirmation letter. 

Took this letter, photos, passport + set of color copies and bank book to Immigration.

New procedure (to me) was that TM-7/Re-entry Forms no longer necessary; the IO completed them and just had to sign.  Also had to sign 2 forms accepting my Extension could be revoked upon certain violations and also acknowledging the penalties for over-stay.

Only issues encountered was that IO needed a 2nd set of copies of my passport for the Re-Entry Visa and a detailed Bank Statement because the Bank Book was missing a bunch of months with no tranactions and therefore not showing balance as at 2-month ago.  Brought these back to Immigration, picked up Passport and away.....

Staff in the Immigration Office are friendly and helpful.  Normally no waiting.

Cannot advise regarding the TM30 as have fixed address in Ubon.

With the visa-extension issue going on, would suggest you use Bangkok Bank.  Check out the one in the Sunni Mall.

Thanks - I dropped by there a while ago but they only do engines/transmissions and not bumpers......

On 8/19/2018 at 11:31 PM, phibunmike said:

There are some in Ubon if you get desperate.

Where in Ubon?  I'm looking for a new bumper on my Mighty X

Ask any of the motorbike icecream venors their source; or better, ask them to bring you some next day....

I needed some when in BKK for some Rabies vaccine that I needed to keep cold during overseas flight.

The wife and I have just complete the building of a 2nd home.  We designed it and had it built to our specifications.....almost!

In the area where the roof tiles hang over the eaves (arrow on the attached image), I wanted no fascia board, just a decent gap to allow ventilation. 

Instead of fascia boards, there would be some mesh to avoid nasty critters entering the roof but still allowing a decent breeze in the attic area. 

I also wanted to install some ducts in each of the 1st floor rooms to allow heat to rise and escape.

When I was on a trip, the builder thought this was a hare-brained idea and abandoned it. 

Would I see any noticable reduction in interior house temperature if I did this?  Would appreciate advice.

Had the same issue except that I have a Thai son.

We had an attorney draw up a will so that in the event of my wife's death, the real estate in her name - (and other assets such as jewlery, bank balances, etc) pass to our son.  I also signed a waiver as an attachment saying that I was in agreement with her wishes as expressed in the will and waived my rights to any inheritence. 

Lacking a will, I would end up being a 50:50 owner with my son and would have to sell my 50% within 1 year and hard to sell 50% of houses!.

Not sure the advantages but my wife also appointed me as the guardian so that I can make decisions regarding assets until my son reaches legal age.

Age for property is 20 according to the attorney used for my Thai wife's will.

In the event of her death, our real estate holdings (currently in her name) transfer to my son (Thai) with myself (Foreigner) as the legal guardian until he is 25.

On 1/12/2018 at 2:20 AM, sanemax said:

You will need a letter from the Amphor giving you permission ( from the Mother) to take them out the Country , Im not sure whether having a letter just giving you full custody will be sufficient, or you would need another separate letter .

   Someone else will probably know

In Ubon Ratchatani, if the mother is present, the Tourist Police will issue a template letter in English stating that the mother assents for the child(ren) to travel overseas with the father.  I'm sure this offers more weight than a letter from the Amphor - both to exit Thailand and when overseas. 

However, I was pulled aside with my Thai/UK son by some official when exiting Thailand and had a problem with the official not being able to read English!

Makes no sense - a Notary's function is to certify that you are the person named and signing the document and that you are signing willingly - and not being forced to do so.  The Notary has no business reading the contents of the document.

In Ubon, there are only 2 Golf Courses - one run by the Air Force right at the airport (18-holes) and another run by the Army in Warin (9-holes).  They are both average/decent with the Airport course being a little more challenging.

In Phiboon - just past the Immigration office - 50Kms from Ubon, there is another course that I have never played.

When I played at the Air Force course last month, my caddy was called by the manager to pass on a message that, effective October 01, 2017, they would be implementing a THB 100 "Falang Surcharge". 

I used to play 9-holes there every morning after dropping my child at school but have not been back since.  They offer no special services to falangs who are primarily Ubon residents rather than tourists and I, personally, find this Surcharge offensive. 

Try charging different rates to foreigners in Europe or the USA and see how fast the law-suits fly.

My son started at Assumption when we moved from BKK.  It is as good as the full International School that he previously attended. 

Assumption offers ESP and a SSP options:  One has English, Maths and Science with either native-English speaking teachers and the other has English speaking Filipino or Thai teachers.

Just had a bore hole drilled in Ubon. Cost was THB 3,000 to local contractor guaranteed that he would keep drilling until water found.

He located several potential spots to drill using divining rods (2 L-shaped metal rods that looked to be fashioned from coat-hangers that crosses over spots with water below the surface)

These rods didn't work when I tried but everybody else confirmed the spots.

Using his self-made rig powered by a tractor motor mounted side-wise, he drilled all day and finally hit good/fresh water at 42 meters.

The top 15 meters of regular blue 6 inch PVC piping (our cost) was inserted into the hole.

He then pumped out the mud and water level rose to 10 meters below ground.

I bought a pump, and filter at local hardware store. They recommended that as over 10 meters, a pump and filter with double pipes be used.

A handyman installed the pump and the piping/filter.

As regards the depth that we place the filter: The driller said "up to us"; the handyman wanted 30m and we finally settled at about 20 meters and it is working well.

However, I believe I read somewhere that the filter should located within the top 15 meters of 6 inch piping so as to create a vacuum and reduce the pressure on the pump.

My question is whether the filter be located within the 6 inch piping or below it and, if below, how much below??

My solution was a Will with the Thai wife leaving all assets (bank account, possessions) and real estate (specifically listed) to my son who is a minor. The attorney confirmed that by doing so, she cuts out any family members who believe they have a claim against our assets.

I intentionally did not transfer to myself as would have to sell Real Estate within 12 months. However, in the Will, she appointed me as the "guardian" which will allow me to oversee my son's inherited assets until he becomes of legal age.

The wife saw a house in Ubon a few years ago that she wanted to buy. It was in foreclosure with the bank and they were asking THB 800K which was market value. She offered THB 600K and after not hearing any response for a month, they called back and accepted our offer. Just to push the envelope, I offered THB 300K down and asked for a 5-year mortgage on the balance. Again a delay of a month and then they accepted.

Wanted to do the same deal again on a 2nd property but bank advised that as an existing mortgage in place; they could not let us have a 2nd mortgage. Just paid off the original mortgage and the bank is now playing dumb on how they let us have the original mortgage in the first place!

I received this reply a few days ago via email from VFS in Bangkok, hope it helps:

Document that require for First Child Passport :

Child Documents :

- Birth Certificate

- 2 photograph, white or light grey background with countersign (size 3.5x4.5 cm)

- Non-British passport (If have) ( copy every page)

- Certificate of Change Name or Change surname (if have)

Parents Documents :

- Birth Certificate

- Passport (bio-data page)

- Document showing Thai address

- Marriage Certificate(if have)

- Certificate of Change Name or Change surname (if have)

- ID card

What they don't list but also requested upon interview (based on my visit 2 weeks ago) are:

(1) Divorce Papers if previously married (translated and stamped)

(2) Color copies of every page of child's Thai passport

(3) Color copy of Child's ID Card (translated and stamped)

(4) Color copy of the Child's Birth Registration Certificate from the British Embassy (I guess if the brith was recorded by them)

They asked for my Thai wife's Birth Certificate and I said "not available" and moved on.

Said Passport would take 4-6 weeks but advised today, after 2 weeks that Passport ready to be picked up.

Immigration here in Ubon has not done a certificate of residency for years now to get a drivers license. The DLT gives you a form to be signed and stamped by immigration.

But the trip to immigration is not needed now. You just go to the tourist police office and they stamp and sign it.

UbonJoe: Got my DL in Ubon a few weeks ago: Even more simple now in Ubon - straight to the Tourist Police and they have you fill in a form (super-nice people - they even made color photocopies of my passport as needed by the DLT) [30 minutes] then off to Medical Office in back of DLT for a full comprehensive health check-up [2 minutes] and into DLT where they waived everything except the color-blind test and walked out with my Thai Drivers License. All done and dusted in less than 2 hours.

I just bought (via the Thai wife) a large section of river front land as a long term investment. Real nice and peaceful but no electricity. The wife wanted a small kit-home just for storage of fishing equipment, toilet, shower, etc.

Rather than doing this, I demolished an abandoned shack that was being used many years ago as a stable leaving the cement floor and the uprights and designed/built a small house. The structure is at the top of a hill where it catches the breeze (no electricity = no fans) and the walls on 3 sides all open up. They are made of bamboo raratan material over a light metal frame built off-site. On the left hand side is a small kitchen; toilet/shower in the back.(with water from a well) and the 2 thingmejigs in front are seats. Total cost was around THB 45,000 for the whole construction including materials and labor.

I recently sought legal advice and the lawyer advised that if my Thai wife dies without a will, all of our land assets would get split equally between my son (a minor) and myself and that is because there are no complications by any other parties being able to make a claim as my wife has no living relatives. If she had any relatives, then they MAY also have a claim on her assets. The second problem being that as a foreigner, I would have 1 year from probate to sell the 50% of the land assets left to me.

The simple solution was that the lawyer drew up a quick and dirty will; listing all land assets and stating that she leaves these entirely to my son and that, until he reaches the age of 20, she nominates me as his guardian over his assets.

The lawyer gave me a 100% assurance that now that her intentions are reduced into writing, I have nothing to worry about as her wishes would prevail against any claims and would be held up in a court of law.

Visa is not an issue as I have a retirement visa that is not based on marriage.

Hope this helps.....................

I went thru this process just a few weeks ago - same situation: Thai wife and son (who has Thai/Brit passports). I few points:

a) I was buying river-front land as a long term investment and intentionally wanted Wife + Son as owners.

Land had Chanote so no issues there.

c) Went round to local Land Office; wife filled in the forms; wife and son signed them. I had to sign a disclaimer (in English) that as a Farang, I was aware that I could not own land - not an issue.

d) Entire process took less than 2 hours in morning.

e) Went upstairs and talked to the Survey Department; they turned up at the land that afternoon, did the Survey, put in temporary markers; rounded up the neighbors and the village head-man. We gave them the opportunity to dispute the survey markers - which they didn't.

Was advised by a lawyer that now land cannot be sold until son reaches the legal age of 20.

Also I received legal advice that should my wife pass away, my son and I would share her ownership 50:50 (she has no relatives) and then I would have 1 year to sell my portion of the land which would involve carving it up.

Easy solution was that my wife prepared a Will that specifically leaves her ownership of all of "our" properties to my son with myself as the guardian until he reaches age 20.

Paid for the land then had a survey......that's not the way to do it and you are very lucky.

Not really - the village head-man was there with the seller when we viewed the land the day before buying it and we had a copy of the Chanote from not only the seller but also those from surrounding areas. Land area was clearly delinated and those small concrete markers all in place. Besides, we held back a chunk of the purchase price as the seller said he would clear the undergrowth and build an improved road! If that was not the case, would probably have done the survey first!