palm

WANTED: PHP/MySQL/Windows software developer

We are a small, but long established and very successful media company. We have staff in the UK and Spain, and representatives in Thailand working with manufacturers.

We are looking for a friendly, out-going, experienced software developer with PHP, MySQL, Windows, IIS experience.

You will need satisfactory English skills (good skills preferred!), be highly reliable, be interested in a long-term, stable job with the opportunity for interesting travel.

You will be working with a great team, and be able to work from home.

We require SKILLS and TALENT much more than Diplomas and Certificates!

We offer an OUTSTANDING salary and benefits to the succesful applicant!

You would be contracted by an offshore company and choose payment into any bank account worldwide of your choice.

Again, you need to be reliable! This is a great job! Experience is MUCH more important to us than Degrees.

Please reply to me privately for more info, enclosing a brief summary of your IT skills/experience.

Actually, if you are a first-class coder in PHP/MySQL, and **reliable**, **honest** and willing to work flexible hours, I know the perfect IT job for you, paid by an offshore company into any bank account of your choice.

We emailed the Elite people about it - as frankly 1m bt for a lifelong VISA is actually good for us - but the reply was so weird and kept saying the fees are about to go up massively, we just asked them to send us a brochure. Funny how one still hasn't arrived. People with 1m bt of cash to burn on something like this usually would have a successful business background and would expect something a bit more professional than how it seems to be cobbled-together right now. I asked them to phone me too, but they wanted to stick to email.

Also, its a bit shocking to see the average spend per Elite member being only around 400k baht per year!?!? That's only around 10,000 US Dollars! I'm still not sure who this 'Elite' programme is really aimed at? All we really want is a truly flexible VISA, not free massages

"Tia Maria" on Suk soi 23 serves as good Mexican food as any I ever had in Mexico or Belize. The Margeritas are large and cheap too.

Banyan Tree's Vertigo was very mediocre food and worse service. Great view though.

Le Vendome at All Seasons Place is a 5* experience for the food and wine.

Try Riverine Place at http://www.narai-property.com/ right on the River near Rama V in Nonthaburi.

>>There can be quite serious repercussions if a Member breaches this rule - particularly if Guests are introduced to play Golf or swim.

What do they do, spank you with a cummerbund?

Why not buy one of those 'puppet-shows' instead from the market for 200 baht?

>>On topic. Would anybody agree that The Londoner pub serves up the best British snap in Bangkok? The jacket spuds must be some kind of record breakers. If there is better i would like to know.

We found the Londoner food very disappointing (compared to some great UK pubs) - maybe the days we've been there, they've just had a bad chef in, but the roast dinner was really 'stewed'..... and as for the dinner they called Christmas Dinner The service is good though.

A shame really - we're going to try the other options and hope for the best.

OK, many thanks We'll take a look.

No luck at the Emporium. Only hair-dryers and tongs

My English GF and I have moved over here to live - and she is going crazy because she can't seem to find heated rollers for her long thick hair anywhere in Bangkok.

Is there a recommended department store or salon that might do them?

She has seen a few but they are so tiny they are not practical. The sets she has in Europe hold up to 18 big rollers.

She is also looking for Redkin hair care products.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

We've been here 10 days, and 200,000 baht later we're having great fun Mainly from shopping binges

But seriously, I can't imagine having to get by on 30,000 baht a month - the rent alone in a decent condo up by the river is 37,000 a month excluding utilities.

Even 60,000 a month seems far too low for a decent expat lifestyle?

My UK GF and I got a one year IMM-O visa in under 10 mins from the Hull Consulate this week.

I'm not married.

I was not asked for any documentation such as income or flights, other than a letter from someone saying they'd pay for me to be repatriated back to the UK if I became a street-bum.

I'm not sure if being well dressed and very polite helped, but it seems that the Hull consulate experience could not have been better. I just called them and arranged an appt for the next day.

lol, and there was my GF asking if 14,000 sterling a month will be enough to feed her shoe habit.

Well today went great.

I turned up to the UK Thai Consulate in Hull with passport, passport photo, completed application form, a guarantor letter from a friend in the UK and my cash and 10 minutes later I had a big stamp in my passport giving me a 12 months IMM-O visa!

It seems Hull is the place to go for painless Visas!

Thanks again for the advice on the Visa questions.

I am seeing the UK Hull consulate tomorrow - the nice lady on the phone said just come in with your passport, photos, forms completed, the fee, and a guarantor letter and we'll give you 4 x 90 non-B or non-O visas! (a set for myself and my GF) She said there was no requirement for a business reference or anything - not even bank statements or the plane ticket!

Thanks for the advice.

We don't want to rent and live in someone else's apartment (or buy one and rent it out for peanuts) - we are fortunate enough to be able to buy something in Bangkok to keep as our Asia 'base' - and then furnish it to our taste, as we've done with our other properties.

I'll give the Hull consulate a ring and see what they say- it seems from their site you only need a reference and some proof of income/assets?

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Persons requiring Non-Immigrant Visas who are not able to provide a letter of employment or appointment or marriage certificate are required to provide a letter of guarantee from someone who is prepared to meet any costs incurred by the applicant which they cannot pay themselves including the cost of repatriation if necessary.

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Has anyone here ever gone down the Investment Visa route? It seems like its only 3m baht per person, but then what heppens after the 12 months is up?

Hello

We are a mid-thirties couple currently living in the UK.

We are going to buy a condo in Bangkok and use Thailand as a base for a year or more of travelling across Asia, but with much time spent in Thailand.

I have 'kind-of' retired in that I have regular income from royalties etc, yet I am obviously not old enough (I am 33) to apply for a Retirement Visa.

My questions are really - what visas should I apply for, and what is going to be the easiest, most pain-free experience to be able to get the ability to stay in Thailand (with lots of travelling in and out) for 12 months?

I'm a bit confused on the process of buying a condo and taking advantage of the investment visa, because I don't have a Thai bank account yet. So do I go over to Bangkok on a 60 day visa, open a Thai government bank account, deposit cash marked 'for the purchase of a government approved condo' and then fly out of Thailand to get the necessary visa?

Is there a reliable, recommended company around who could handle all of this for me for a fee? Preferably in the UK?