Maggusoil

20 hours ago, berybert said:

If asked "have you ever been to jail" the correct answer is NO. Why on earth did he say yes ?

 

Well said. The answer is "No." I did some 'time' back in the days when you could work off thousands of dollars worth of parking fines in one weekend. In Australia at least i think after twenty years you can request a removal of your record of some minor convictions so they don't appear at least in cursory searches.

This American in Bangkok is doing it. https://www.facebook.com/AlLockPhoto/?fref=ts

OK, so this is going to get a no.

However, you take a shot here and sell it in foreign markets only. Or your business sells it and is registered in a foreign country.

Would this then make the selling of "any" image illegal, whether one sourced it personally or not, as long as one's body/self/entitiy is in Thailand at the time?

Doesn't this get a little complicated?

I enter ThaiVisa photography competition. I win a holiday resort prize. Is that the same as money? They way the regime acts sometimes is so arbitrary,

one wonders.

If I am on a retirement visa, "everything" I do is a hobby. Right?

If someone "contributes" to my website, is that working?

Yes the op did ask about a work permit and this is a comprehensive answer tilted in this direction.

However it does beg the question and some of the ops have even included alternative countries in the area to locate in.

These other options are quite viable as "answers" because although one loves Thailand, and its people and its culture and its food and its fashions and the wonderful jovial smiling people, the Thai government makes it one of the most hostile places on earth for anyone that isn't totally financially retired.

So lets ask another practical question. If one is teaching a Chinese national French and one's business headquarters is located in the Virgin Islands. Does it matter where I am sitting at the time? I know with online gambling it definitely does matter where one is sitting.

You can't even keep your money for gaming in France, with the English betting purses who know how to penetrate your VPN's and just "know" you're in Thailand, but that's big business and this is small. Hardly worth prosecuting and anyway, who would know?

I think in providing comprehensive working alternatives to a regime that is communistic in its obsession with control, are well worth considering.

Move next door and work to your hearts content, without wondering when that knock on the door is actually the maid come to do the cleaning or Immigration Police with a 1,000 rule, book of Sins to throw at you and unceremoniously kick you out of the country.

I would ask the same question about writing a book. You write it here, take it overseas and publish it from America. What if the Generals found out you actually performed the work here?

Unlikely? It happens every day and over far more trivial "crimes" than teaching someone a language outside of Thailand. Like picking up a hammer to fix a broken window? Even that constitutes work here. That's not rhetorical. Its a fact.

While I agree that the OP should consider alternatives, especially if saving funds is a concern, I disagree with the notion that Thailand is 'hostile'. On the one hand, there are not 6-mo-stay visas like India, or 1-year like Cambodia. On the other hand, one can still stay pretty much year-round on Tourist Visas. As well, no one is being prosecuted, even when caught, for offshore-income work. The book-author, in your example, is quite safe. The reason for this is obvious: Kick out an online worker, and he continues working next door, and his income goes there instead of here; no Thai job is created or saved.

But picking up a hammer to fix a window is something a Thai person could be paid to do. We are allowed to live in their country on the premise that we create jobs. Play your role, and no problem. Enforcement on that front protects Thais, which is their government's job. Compromise is made vis-a-vis foreign workers, to keep exporting-industries in-country and competitive (vs China, Vietnam, etc). But there is no need to turn a blind-eye to encroachment on jobs that actually can be protected.

That the Thai government actually bothers to do this, while the govt of my home-country (which never misses a worthless election) actively endeavors in partnership with the transnationals to systematically destroy our livlihoods, is something I find remarkable and respectable about Thailand and the Thai leadership.

Yes this is very well put. I certainly don't begrudge them (in Thailand) their sovereigny laws and your comparison with the antics and atrocious sell outs western style governments are praciticing in our home countries is something that our people need to get a much firmer grip on.

This is the first time I've seen anyone put in print, this somewhat obvious comparison. Expats bleating about something we should be copying back home, if indeed we still call it home. Or even can call it "home", the sellout is so horrific.

However if one is not totally cashed up as I was when I first came here and no longer has the dream partner, that kept us here, it is quite likely that one needs to pursue income on more than one front which all but the best jobs provide a decent income for. In this case, having only one permit for one type of income is very restricting. Especially these days when a lot of us are used to being self employed. For example teaching English in a school may provide half one's income needs, however as far as I know that doesn't cover the need that at night or on weekends one wishes to teach English to other nationals or even Thai nationals online.

I think they could and should loosen up a lot as long as you say, it is something that a Thai national could not do better. Certainly in my case there are very few English teachers with the level of skills I have in teaching that language. That permit would also not cover me performing technical trading online either, something that a co-author friend of mine wants to teach to anyone who is interested. I could also say that I have skills in this area which I would like to make money out of and this is something that is not taking a job from a Thai national either.

I would be in breach and that's just counter productive to anyone with an entrepreneurial bent and a need to develop more than one income stream.

I'm genuinely surprised at the replies I'v read so far. I have two friends living here in Thailand who teach English to French students....never bothered about work permits.

Many times I'v read posts on here from people asking if they need a permit to sell stuff online to outside Thailand....the answers have almost always been...."who's to know what your doing"....carry on regardless (or words to that affect) .

Why is this OP's situation any different....do not the same principles apply?

As far as I know, also. I have been accepted to work online as a teacher. No permit required. I can teach from wherever I am living or staying.

Who is to know what you're doing?

The OP asked about a work-permit, so the answers were geared in that direction. If he asked, "Will I get busted for doing this without one..." - highly unlikely, given the current non-enforcement under these conditions. People have been caught red-handed and not prosecuted. YMMV from one province to another, but no "busted working online" reports, yet in evidence.

But coupled with that question, is the visa-issue. Without the abillity to get a Non-B + Work Permit, and not being married to a Thai, one is left with the "hassle" option (Tourist Visas), the "expensive" option (Elite), taking classes (Ed Visa), or some sort of Volunteer gig (available in Chang Mai), to stay here under 50. IOW, some combination of time, effort, and money - a genuine love for Thailand - to be worth it.

Back to the OP - you could always get a SETV or even an METV** in your home country (**if you qualify - varies by country of application), and come for awhile to test the waters. Just have a backup plan in place. And a warning - you may become one of those suckers, like me, who doesn't ever want to leave.

Yes the op did ask about a work permit and this is a comprehensive answer tilted in this direction.

However it does beg the question and some of the ops have even included alternative countries in the area to locate in.

These other options are quite viable as "answers" because although one loves Thailand, and its people and its culture and its food and its fashions and the wonderful jovial smiling people, the Thai government makes it one of the most hostile places on earth for anyone that isn't totally financially retired.

So lets ask another practical question. If one is teaching a Chinese national French and one's business headquarters is located in the Virgin Islands. Does it matter where I am sitting at the time? I know with online gambling it definitely does matter where one is sitting.

You can't even keep your money for gaming in France, with the English betting purses who know how to penetrate your VPN's and just "know" you're in Thailand, but that's big business and this is small. Hardly worth prosecuting and anyway, who would know?

I think in providing comprehensive working alternatives to a regime that is communistic in its obsession with control, are well worth considering.

Move next door and work to your hearts content, without wondering when that knock on the door is actually the maid come to do the cleaning or Immigration Police with a 1,000 rule, book of Sins to throw at you and unceremoniously kick you out of the country.

I would ask the same question about writing a book. You write it here, take it overseas and publish it from America. What if the Generals found out you actually performed the work here?

Unlikely? It happens every day and over far more trivial "crimes" than teaching someone a language outside of Thailand.

Like picking up a hammer to fix a broken window? Even that constitutes work here. That's not rhetorical. Its a fact.

I'm genuinely surprised at the replies I'v read so far. I have two friends living here in Thailand who teach English to French students....never bothered about work permits.

Many times I'v read posts on here from people asking if they need a permit to sell stuff online to outside Thailand....the answers have almost always been...."who's to know what your doing"....carry on regardless (or words to that affect) .

Why is this OP's situation any different....do not the same principles apply?

As far as I know, also. I have been accepted to work online as a teacher. No permit required. I can teach from wherever I am living or staying.

Who is to know what you're doing?

Laos could have refused entry as he would not have any exit stamps in his valid passport. Travel by land requires the exit stamps - by air they are not required and suspect the overstay would prevent a normal transfer into new passport.

I don't understand this. I have exited by Nong Khai, with an overstay on a 90 day stamping run for a years visa. They cancelled the year's visa at the same time because it was out of time, although they would not have cancelled it if I had exited within the 8 days. They only exit stamp the passport when you actually exit. By air or whatever. My problem was returning.

Whereas the exiting officer gave me another 3 months, on returning the incoming officer cancelled the year's visa and gave me a 15 day tourist visa and when I complained he said I was lucky.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I won't speculate for much longer. Going to the consulate this week with all the documents I have to get the answer 'straight from the horse's mouth'.

It does seem to vary a bit and depends on the office you go to and the 'officer' you apply with. I got one with just the birtrh certicate and a bit of back up like photos etc, however the "officer" knew me from multiple tourist visa apps. He said they normally require a Yellow Book proof of address with the Birth Certificate, which I did not have and he let it go. I got one year.

It is not usually necessary to be the legal father, however its good to have. Anything is good to have but the Birth Cert and Yellow Book are usually essential. Otherwise get a single entry 3 month family visit or tourist visa, get your Yellow House Book entry when you're here and get the Non O, multiple entry in Savanakhet at the end of that. In fact in Vientiane they were not perticularly interested in my legal fatherhood status. It wasn't on the required document list.

Its more for more complex issues like custody and travelling for the child.

They were not asking for your yellow book if you have one. They wanted a copy of you child's blue house book registry.

They don't ask for legitimization documents to get a single entry non-o.

Legitimization will be required in Savannakhet to get a multiple entry non-o. The only successful applications based upon being the parent of a Thai there I know of was when the entire family was present for the application to prove they were living together as a family (de facto marriage).

In which case, I will most likely take the whole family, at least mother and two children. Not sure if I can get the son out of the monkhood. Yes, with everybody's Blue books, my yellow book, legal father papers and birth certificate.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I won't speculate for much longer. Going to the consulate this week with all the documents I have to get the answer 'straight from the horse's mouth'.

No funds required in Savanakhet either, or anywhere else just the fee.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I won't speculate for much longer. Going to the consulate this week with all the documents I have to get the answer 'straight from the horse's mouth'.

It does seem to vary a bit and depends on the office you go to and the 'officer' you apply with. I got one with just the birtrh certicate and a bit of back up like photos etc, however the "officer" knew me from multiple tourist visa apps. He said they normally require a Yellow Book proof of address with the Birth Certificate, which I did not have and he let it go. I got one year.

It is not usually necessary to be the legal father, however its good to have. Anything is good to have but the Birth Cert and Yellow Book are usually essential. Otherwise get a single entry 3 month family visit or tourist visa, get your Yellow House Book entry when you're here and get the Non O, multiple entry in Savanakhet at the end of that. In fact in Vientiane they were not perticularly interested in my legal fatherhood status. It wasn't on the required document list.

Its more for more complex issues like custody and travelling for the child.

You will need the proof you are the legal father of your child.by way of legitimization.

You will need you child's house book registry.

Your daughter will need to go with you with her mother.

The only successful multiple entry non-o visa application reports I have seen was then entire family was present for the application as proof they were living together as family (de facto marriage).

Due to the distance and my daughter not being well, I am going to Nong Khai/ Vientianne where the option is only three months single entry Non O.

Do you know if the criteria for the daughter being present for that is as stringent as the year's multiple entry?

She is only 7 and has a fever and bad cough.

Also my current visitor's visa finishes on Wednesday 15th. If I went tomorrow Tuesday does that make me a day late when I come back and what are the

implications of that?

And also with the 15 day visitor's visa I was granted after the Non O was cancelled, do you think that is open for extension? If so, I can visit Immigration in Bueng Kan and see to that. It would give me a chance to get her well enough. I believe there can be 4 hour queues at Immigration, up there.

Vientiane will only do a single entry non-o visa.

Savannakhet is an official consulate and can do everything an embassy consular section can.

You can get the multiple entry non-o there with no financial proof needed, You will need your marriage certificate plus a copy, signed and dated copies of your wife's house book registry and ID card. The fee will be 5000 baht. Apply by 11 am and pickup the next afternoon at 2 pm.

You can apply for a 60 day extension of your 15 day entry to visit your wife at an immigration office.

Thanks Ubonjoe, however we are not married.

The 1 year multiple entery Non O family visit visa was originally granted in Sydney.

I believe my family visit depends on

1. My daughter's birth certificate and now, although not necessary, a recently acquired "legal father" status paper.

2. My yellow house book and as much documentation I can back it up with. eg

My daughter's recently acquired ID card

Her mother's presence, the mother's housebook, ID card, and some photographic history.

I also have my daughter's Australian passport and Thai passport.

You can apply for a 60 days extension or one year year (with visa conversion and financial proof) at Immigration. Otherwise you can try going with the entire family to Savannakhet for the same visa you had, or in Vientane for a single-entry.

Thank you and I also understand that provided I do not mess up the end date again, i can get a 3 month extension on the first year and then a further one month after that, making it 16 months in total.

Vientiane will only do a single entry non-o visa.

Savannakhet is an official consulate and can do everything an embassy consular section can.

You can get the multiple entry non-o there with no financial proof needed, You will need your marriage certificate plus a copy, signed and dated copies of your wife's house book registry and ID card. The fee will be 5000 baht. Apply by 11 am and pickup the next afternoon at 2 pm.

You can apply for a 60 day extension of your 15 day entry to visit your wife at an immigration office.

Thanks Ubonjoe, however we are not married.

The 1 year multiple entery Non O family visit visa was originally granted in Sydney.

I believe my family visit depends on

1. My daughter's birth certificate and now, although not necessary, a recently acquired "legal father" status paper.

2. My yellow house book and as much documentation I can back it up with. eg

My daughter's recently acquired ID card

Her mother's presence, the mother's housebook, ID card, and some photographic history.

I also have my daughter's Australian passport and Thai passport.

You has an enter before date on it and that is the last day you can enter the country using the visa. It it has always been that way for at least 20 years I know about.

Time to make a trip to Savannakhet for a new non-o visa.

Thanks everybody and thanks Ubonjoe.

So apparently I was told the wrong thing by the Consulate in Sydney.

Savannakhet? Is there a full consulate there? Would it be better than Vientianne to obtain a new non-o family visit visa?

Do you happen to know how long a visa I can get there? I was told that I can only get 3 months in Vientianne.

I would like to get a one year multiple entry.

I have also been told I can get an extension to this 15 days I have been given. Is that so?

Just prior to my 3rd 90 day stamp on an Imm O 1 year multiple entry Family Visit Visa, I was called somewhat urgently to Bangkok from Isaan. I had to stay a few days and thought I would just pay the overstay fine or 8 days. 4,000 thb.

All going well. I paid the fine at the Friendship Bridge and someone dressed like a Brigadier General stamped my passport for another 90 days.

Coming back an hour later, some lowly Lieutenant observed the Enter By Date was over a year ago, although the Sydney Consulate stated quite clearly, it was valid 1 year from the entry date and to enter before June 2015. It was explained that the year was “over” on June 2015, not October, which was 1 year from the entry date.

I went back to the Brigadier General who just smiled and said “No good. Visa finish.”

They got their fine money and cancelled the visa giving me a 15 day tourist visa, explaining that my perplexity should indeed be gratitude that I got 15 days to sort myself out.

Consulting one of my local “Immigration” experts who can arrange anything, I was told this was due to a change in the “Law”.

Does anyone have any light to shed on this, apparently grossly unfair development. I thought they were trying to make it more user friendly for those of us with families here.

I would also like to know if this work permit can be obtained with a partner, if one is not married as in de facto for 7 years with a child. If poss.

No, you must be legally married.

Thanks for that . ..

I would also like to know if this work permit can be obtained with a partner, if one is not married as in de facto for 7 years with a child. If poss.

Any similar example of how you do this from within Thailand. I am here on a 1 year multiple entry family visit visa and wish to do some work for Co's here and foreign co's with interests here.

TOR is a system which routes your communications through a number of different connections before they get to the final destination, making it difficult to track down the actual location of the person using TOR.

A VPN connection is a point-to-point connection where the data are encrypted, but the location of the user is not obfuscated.

TOR shouldn't be used for transferring large amounts of data (e.g. watching videos, torrents) since capacity is limited, and to do so would be antisocial. (Many torrent sites will also ban you if you use TOR.)

Neither is 100% secure. The (American) NSA is believed to have compromised TOR and can break encryption.

TOR is free; VPNs (usually) cost money.

Broadly speaking, TOR is best for someone living under a repressive regime such as China or North Korea. VPN is best for everybody else.

Repressive regimes? How about here. Would that extend to internet gaming?

During WWII the Germans thought they had secure communications via their Enigma machine but British intelligence was able to decrypt many Enigma encoded messages. And again during WWII Japanese naval codes were decrypted by the Americans. I have no doubt that every encryption method available to the public can be read my "some" intelligence agencies due to the resources and super computers they can throw at the effort...but those agencies will never admit it...and if they do, it will be so many years after the fact when nobody will care and/or think deep down we all know there are few ways to keep things truly secret in the world (or at least for long).

However, I don't think any intelligence agencies give a crap about my internet communications and seriously, seriously doubt hackers/crooks have super computers they can use, therefore I feel safe with my VPN connections.

Sorry to disrupt your assumptions, but internet hacking is now one of the world's biggest and most profitable businesses. Professional criminals spend millions of dollars on the best and brightest young computer scientists to get the edge. While government agencies play power games and perhaps fascinate themselves with intelligence issues, the real game is in hacking small amounts of money out of bank transactions, by the million.

They have moved to targeting the banks. According to some classified information I was accidentally privy to, they are at least six to nine months ahead of the law.

The Chinese have always had a predilection for cash under the bed. Always ahead of the game.

On highways with separated tracks:

90 km/h for limousines, pickups, motorbikes.

80 for buses and lorrys.

60 for towed (?) vehicles

You see this table occasionally at such highways (for me at #12):

Thanks for this however motorways are 120 I believe, however that doesn't seem to flow on to a 2 lane highway, on which I have been booked.

...so easy to !@#$%^&* foreigners......how much did she get out of him....and what caused her to 'turn him in' now....

...like my wife said to me a long time ago....'Sam...I promise you....they will always believe me....never you'.....

...meanwhile a mass grave of illegal workers was found....wonder if any local will be held accounable.....

I do not think its only Thailand.

Pretty much everywhere else in the world, when it comes to claims for abuse, police always believe the woman.

In Australia, it is actually a common scam by Filipino mail brides.

They stay together for 6 or so months, then go to police and file a complaint for physical and mental abuse.

Guy gets charged, with restraining order, she immediately gets help both financial and moral from some group.

In some cases, guy gets kicked out from his own home and she gets to stay there, and this can go on for 2-5 years until court clears the guy, by that time she gets perm residency and a nice chunk of guys wealth

Interesting comment there is a good free read on the net at the moment. The Predatory Woman. Not confined to Thailand but the whole world. It is funny and interesting. Food for thought. Of course some of us idealists chase the partnership dream, but it is good to be aware.

None of the above.

All of the above AND more . . . .

How about all the visitors that came here by chance and just wanted to stay? Or come back? Again and again and again.

For the women, the boys, the food, the interesting social order or disorder, the humour, the lack of " big brother " breathing down your neck

every time you get out of bed in the West, the acceptance of people the way they are, if not bothering anybody, the acceptance of sexuality

on a general social level, acceptance of homo sexuality. The weather, cheaper living, quality clothing at a cheap price . . and so on

And lots of smiles

Good news is good news . . . I was on the road and did not see anything serious from Udon Thani to Bangkok and back again.

The guy in a pick up who was tail gating me when I changed lanes and tried to overtake me at the same time, got his brakes locked up in his older ute, fishtailed, rammed a wall of the overpass we were on, ricocheted off to the other wall, and came to a stop in front of two lanes of traffic doing

at least 80k's was lucky.

No one else hit him.

I guess that little brain snap ruined his Songkran.

Just as well it didn't ruin anyone else's.

Still too many brain snaps out there, with people thinking rapid lane changing in 4 lanes of full traffic doing 90-100 ks, will get anyone, anywhere faster. It doesn't.

How about some national advertising campaigns directed at simple faults drivers make.

The Wild wild west comes to Thai Highways needs to be addressed seriously.

I eat somtam all the time. No problem.

In fact, I have the opposite problem: constipation.

I think it's the noodles. Maybe they add glue as a cheap filler...

I always thought it was the chilli. I used to quite like it but not the after effects.

However, however, I noticed a weird smell in the kitchen. There was a bowl of rotting fish sauce with a plastic bag around it.

Actual small fish and some sauce which is left for up to a week, like very old soup.

Aha. This I am told is the additive that the Thais like so much in this papaya food. So here is rotting fish being added to the dish

which gives it its unique taste.

No wonder the gut goes "Oh no. OMG!!" Get it out of me.

Problem known now. I don't eat it much any more.