BobbyL

13 hours ago, Janner1 said:

IF this is true reporting I can assure you that the British police will try very hard to find the perpetrator “s” and   Press charges of racial attack and grievous bodily harm and him /they will go to prison.

We do not do wais in England where racism and bodily harm are treated severely with every possibility for the victim to sue the perps for compensation once found guilty.

We proudly have a police force in England that does it’s job

I guess you missed the joke ????

2 hours ago, sungod said:

I'm baffled the way they are handling this, there is no consistency. A cruise ship and all its passengers are banned from entering, Thais are told to postpone travel to Japan and Singapore. Yet there are no restrictions on travel to or from China and the latest confirmed case in Thailand on Monday (from the paper we cannot quote) is a Chinese tourist from.........wait for it................Wuhan! duhhh........

There is no way they can upset their Chinese overlords. I think this whole outbreak has really shown everyone here just how crucial China are. 

We booked to leave Thailand over my Easter break and are returning on Wed 15th night so as to avoid it. I will be annoyed if they then carry it on for the Thur 16th and Fri 17th.

Also, as another poster mentioned in a previous thread about this. If the holiday is extended, does that mean all government offices and immigration are closed for well over a week?  

6 hours ago, ambj1994 said:

How long does it take to get a work permit? The owner of the school said it will take 1-2 months. But I'm reading articles that state that it takes 7-10 days. Which is correct?

It all depends on the number of people in their HR department and definitely how organised they are with the paperwork etc.

I guess it could take 2 weeks, or it could take 2 months. If it is some cowboy language school then I would guess the latter is more likely. 

It definitely seems common to do this providing the HR have already submitted the documentation to obtain the WP. That can then be shown in case of any 'random' checks. 

When I came here from England to work in an international school in Bangkok I had already obtained my Non - B in Hull and then the HR started the WP process once I was here. I started the school year near the end of August and went to collect my WP in mid September (approx 3 -  4 weeks). 

This is exactly the same process for all the new staff who start here every August. This summer we had about 15 new teachers join (a few who were based here already, some from the UK and the rest who were teaching in other countries) and they did the same thing as me. Even the few teachers who were hired in - country still went through the same process as they seem to do everyone's WP applications at a similar time. 

Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompow

So he is now back in the news after his 'slight misunderstanding' was exposed. What a farce. 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, both retired generals, were exempt because of their significant contributions to the country’s wellbeing.

This tells you all you need to know about what is / isn't going to happen. Apirat is worse than these boys by all accounts too as he is very close with the big man. 

The army are so deeply ingrained in politics here for generations it will take a long time to see any change. 

On 2/15/2020 at 7:00 PM, Jare said:

 

 In the UK, teachers now get a promise of 30,000GBP a year starting salary if they're clever, that's a bit more than 30,000THB a month.

Even though true, it isn't really a fair comparison. UK qualified teachers in Thailand aren't earning 30,000THB / month. They will be working in international schools who generally pay more than UK schools with a lot of added benefits that you do not get teaching there (relocation allowance, housing allowance, annual flights, bonus, free lunch, free school for children etc). I take home considerably more per year working in an international school in Bangkok than I did when I was teaching in England. 

The problem for the TEFL 'English' teachers here earning 30,000 - 40,000THB is that it isn't going to be anywhere near enticing in this day and age. However, those salaries never seem to change according to what people say so the machine just keeps on churning without any quality at all. 

Fair play to the people who are doing it for that money and trying to make a difference in Thai schools. It must not be easy I imagine. 

8 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

Doesn't that mean Immigration would be closed for 9 days, from Saturday the 11th through Sunday the 19th?

Good point. I assume nobody who works in this department brought that point up ????

I don't think there is any exact amount. He / She just needs to be able to convince the US Embassy that she has enough strong ties to Thailand and will return after the trip / trips.

The best things in our experience would be a strong previous travel history outside of Asia, a stable job, savings, property etc. One thing other posters mention a lot on here is that the partner not being an American citizen is a real positive (I am English). 

My wife (then girlfriend) got a 10 year US tourist visa when she was about 26 and certainly didn't have millions of THB in the bank.

5 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

It is quite telling that in this day and age the Thai army is on a par with the late Roman Army of the 4th and 5th centuries AD.

 

For this is how the Roman army managed after the central finances of the Empire had all but collapsed..

1.Enforced conscription of the poor and slaves.

2.engagement in commerce and trades to make a living

3.Low pay and many deductions.

4.Draconian discipline in order to keep the disaffected in line.

5.High rate of desertion.

6.An officer class mainly interested in doing political deals and planning military coups.

Very true. I also remember watching the Netflix docu - series about the Romans and how the Emperors used to try and rig / bribe the Senate to back them.

Just like the Junta did here thousands of years later.  

I am looking forward tomorrow's usual press release about ensuring Thais stay safe on Valentine's Day.