SGD

Daughter finishes school mid June so flying for the whole summer. 1 hour 35 minutes on hold this morning to the UK Embassy without getting through. Another 37 minutes and counting as I write now. Absolute joke. I design online forms and information gathering questions and you need to be so careful not to create a loop from which there is no way back, forward or out and this is exactly what their online system has done. I can prepare anything except the stupid letter they list as mandatory. Perhaps a picture of a Ouija board might suffice ?

This is not a list, it is a mandatory question on their website. It is required as it is mandatory but in the way they ask it, there is no way to answer it.

Absolutely shocking "advice". Was I not clear, that the hurdle is Q 9 on the stupid online system and not looking for an illegal dodge ?

Yes, so when you got your version of question 9 which needs to be completed i.e. mandatory, you could have put the letter from your spouse. My question is not about financial requirements.

Did you not read that I don't want a tourist visa or visa waivers or extensions ?

I'm not married to a Thai anymore but I want to visit for 68 days which means I need a visa and before you ask, I would rather simply not have to extend a tourist visa. There is a non immigrant visa option which suits my purpose but one of the questions that must be answered or you cannot submit is this: 9 . The letter from your spouse indicated that you both are still married and he/she acknowledges of your visit. But there is no spouse and I am not married. So I went back and fiddled with the marriage options but as the form was designed by an illiterate clown and never tested, it assumes everyone applying for a non immigrant visa is married to a Thai. I'm travelling with my teenage daughter, which satisfies the visa requirements but I cannot get past this stupid question. Any ideas ?

Barbiturates is a far better way to go out than this. Guaranteed success too.

Who answered the question "did you pack your bag yourself ?" The BiB ?

You will never get get any sense from a pothead or wannabee pothead as from the very first spliff they are brainwashed by the peddlers of the drug that it is: a) not addictive b) far less harmful than alcohol Yet go see anyone in the west who has a serious "dangerous" drug problem and almost all have started on weed. It isn't even the drug performance that is the issue but simply that those supplying weed either also supply "hard" drugs or they know people that do and the user may very well not try hard drugs if they didn't know where to get them. It is their use of weed which opens that Pandora's box. Of course, in Thailand, it is printing money season, which will blow up as you cannot have every 3rd shop as a drug den. Just like at university, I don't mind those who want some weed and sure I've tried it but I also lived in a drug house without partaking and every day was wasted on weed or the pursuit of weed, to the detriment or absence of work and weekends were a series of uppers, then ecstasy, LSD perhaps, then downers and of course, constant weed with some strengths being a million miles away from the "not addictive" and "safer than booze". All this started from beautiful, safe, non harmful, non addictive pot.

So many sad Thai apologists still on this forum. Do you think that by defending any Thai actions, you are actually getting the White Knight reward you so eagerly desire ? No, you are sad, trying to be "more Thai than the Thais".

Neither of these places has a functioning website with details and they use gmail accounts. Weird for a business.

Is this it ?

Equally, to reverse the argument as quoted by some who say there is no difference, if the prices are the same then it could means there is a lack of demand, which is not good for a new development. If demand is coming solely from Thais and thus no pressure on the potential foreign quota then who is going to be your next buyer as Thais are hugely reluctant to purchase condos on the resale market ? I know a property can be moved from the Thai quota to the non Thai quota with certain agreements in place and the total sqm not being exceeded but I would never rely on that, though I would check from time to time if I thought I could move a property across as it would be more valuable.

Honestly, you would park cash in an account as an "investment" ? You'd see the value eaten alive by inflation. I look at some Thai properties as simply yield to redemption and assume little or no forward value to the asset. If you can get enough of a yield then values are largely meaningless.

Sorry but that is absolutely wrong. There is a quota and there is a price difference.

Not sure that is either correct or practical. A father would need to have been legitimised or he is not recognised by the Thai legal system as having any part in the child's life and if one of the father or mother were dead then the argument would be that this could not be done which is illogical, even for Thailand. I'm not saying some offices might make all kinds of nonsense up but I don't think there is a blanket "mom and dad" requirement.

I'm coming back for a longer stay of a few months and I need a gym, either inside a hotel (unlikely) or outside (probably). I have not decided on exactly where I will stay yet so I guess I'm considering Jomtien (not too far down), Pratumnak, central Pattaya and north Pattaya up to about the Dolphin roundabout, maybe a little higher. I won't have transport so no mega difficult routes off the beaten track etc. I'm not looking for cheap or best value, I'm looking for the best. Thanks.

A minor can own the property, the land, the chanote etc. but until they are aged 20 they cannot manage it themselves as they are minors and the Juvenile Court would need to approve any transaction. However, I do not see where there is a need for the mother (or another Thai) to be involved.

Risk anything to the Thai legal system and you are a fool. I have been down the road to court before, I've seen wills "disappeared", I've seen corruption in the legal fraternity and nothing will stop them if you make life easy for them to steal, only 1 in 10,000 is half decent. As for investments, then not everything is about capital appreciation. Yields are actually far more important and consequently higher on cheaper property.

Clearly but sometimes you do not have an option or quite simply, the discount for Thai ownership is so great as to make it a far better proposition. Equally, there is estate planning with anything in my name which would not occur if the property were already in my child's name.

Both perhaps. I am not going down a company route and I would prefer to remove the potential influence of my child's mother. In an ideal situation, it would be put into my child's name and no-one would ever know, only to find out when either I chose to divulge it or upon my death. I appreciate my child may need to go to a land office but that trip would be forgotten in the fullness of time even aged 15. What I do not want is the mother aware of the situation.

Thanks but to reiterate, I do not want to use a company. I am very familiar with the bogus / illegal company structures and I have used them but not here. No dodgy nominee directors, no legal filings every so often, just simple direct ownership.

I once asked a few builders about a pool of 20m+ even if it was perhaps with only one lane out to 25m and the rest a freeform 15m or so and they thought I was insane. It really was think of a number, triple it, then multiply by another random number and then hope the stupid westerner will fall for the scam and pay it. Figures of 4/6/8m baht to build it. I worked out it would be cheaper to buy an excavator and dig the hole myself than pay them the extortionate fee for installing a hole ! I looked at a house with a 14m x 10m pool which is oversize compared to the average but in the end, it simply wasn't long enough and it meant I couldn't buy the house.

I am a non Thai looking at purchasing some condos which are in the Thai quotas and I do not want to use a company. I have a teenage daughter who will eventually inherit anyway and my limited understanding of Thai law is that she can own property in her own right. However, I am concerned about the influence her mother, my ex wife, might have, if it became known that her daughter owner property. In the west, I would simply have this covered off with a private mortgage / loan charged on the deed (chanote) and that would make getting further loans or a sale impossible but as a minor cannot enter into a legal agreement, that option is not available in Thailand. Does a minor have to have a Thai looking out for the property or can a westerner do that, i.e. me ?

If 6.9m was declared, how much went missing ? 69m ? 690m ? More ?