Swiss1960

Most banks will be happy to open your bank account whether you have a Visa or not... I have my account since 2 years and never had a Visa in Thailand except the 30d given when crossing the border. You might need to check out few banks, but basically it's easy peasy..

its 9 months with 2+1 plus 2-5 years E.D visa till we manage to get a business.

its not 20 years.its 3-5 years.

why are you surprised?i did manage to be ready for early retirement by thinking for after 3-4 years.

and thats what i am doing now.

there is no reason to come in thailand if i dont know what to do just for holidays.i dont care about holidays.

also to learn some places in krabis style isnt 20 years later.

I think your term "early retirement" is maybe misleading? You certainly know that you can only get a retirement Visa once you reach 50y of age? That is why Mario2008 talked about 20y down the road...

And you certainly have informed yourself about what it means to work in Thailand, which jobs you are allowed (or rather NOT allowed) to do, what it means to get a work permit even if you have a Thai Limited Company set up for yourself (with Thai as majority shareholders)?

But if not... you better start getting all those information together, otherwise you might end up in 3-5y with all your education finished but being unable to stay in Thailand as you don't get a work permit...

Thank you all for the highly qualified answers and also for pointing out the possible risks about the dependants visa!

Having not found the answers so far through googling and before I approach the Thai embassy in Switzerland, maybe there are Thaivisa members which have been in similar situations:

Am about to retire to Thailand, age and funds not an issue, but these are the possible issues:

- having a wife who is neither Thai nor Swiss citizen (Swiss C permit) => what kind of Visa would she need / get ?

- she has a small kid to which I am not the father, but she is the sole guardian (father did give up all rights) and kid is 10 => would the kid get the Visa automatically through the mother?

Furthermore the question of future for wife and kid will also come up:

- what if I die and she is not yet 50? Would she have to leave Thailand then?

- what about the kid once it reaches adult age? Would the kid have to leave Thailand then?

Thanks in advance for all answers from people who have been in the similar situation / know about the Visa laws of Thailand.

P.S.: no, I don't need any other advice about whether I should or should not do, pure facts about the Visa situation will be enough.

How about the simple acknowledgment that it is one of the nastiest, filthiest, unhealthy, and ridiculous habits any man or woman can engage in? I see it as a total lack of physical discipline, and a nearly total lack of self respect. Am I wrong on this?

Agree with your first sentence, completely disagree with your second sentence. Cigarettes like alcohol, medicaments, drugs cause addiction to the ingredients (i.e. nicotin) and as we know with cigarettes, the tabacco industry boosts this addiction through the use of certain chemical additives that they put into the tobacco.

Having been a heave smoker for over 30y, I could NOT have stopped but with the help of medicaments (champix helped for me).

Isn't it obvious?

As soon as you pay somebody to "bring you greater return" or do accounting or web-based tasks for your (US) business, you are definitely working too and need a work permit for your business.

What medications? For hay fever perhaps? Large amounts? What does that mean? One months supply for a typical chronic condition or twenty different meds for acute conditions? Perhaps to these crack Private Eyes anything more than one blister pack is a huge stash. People go to the docs here with a cold and get sent home with five different pills. I agree the mention of medications is typical local yellow journalism. It is meaningless without more details and an ACTUAL investigation.

Is'nt it bad enough that they put the name of this poor chap in the news? Should they now also list all the medicaments and post a copy of the medical records just in order to satisfy some TV members that their REALLY was no foul play and that REALLY the guy probably died of his illness??

When I see what's currently built - or planed to build with reasonable certainty - I do assume that prices for condo will drop massively over the next 3 years. I have been looking into many projects (finished and planned) and as soon as the seller realizes that you are (seriously) looking at other projects, that's when prices come down 10-20% already now... just talked with several agents back in May and they seem pretty desperate to get something sold...

Under Swiss law, the standard marriage contract (by law, does not need to be set up and signed) is that all assets owned before marriage will stay in the same ownership when divorcing. However, all assets accumulated during marriage (bank accounts, pension funds, houses, cars etc.) will be seen as joint ownership and split 50:50 at divorce. To omit that, you would need to sign a special marriage contract.

When you buy a house, make sure the contract clearly outlines who invested how much, because only then you can get your full money back. But be aware that without special agreements in the contract, when you sell the house with profit, the profit is seen as accumulated during marriage and would be split 50:50 on divorce!

better do a print of that post... take it to the pub and rethink it after the fifth pint....

Bavarians are not Germans anymore (and not Austrians yet).

And in fact they are a country inside Germany, not just a state.

Bavarians have never been Germans, a secession is imminent, all Preissn will need a visa to cross the borders, visa runs will not be accepted and issuance of work permits will be very restrictive.

Just in case your Ossie German Chancellor might not like the secession idea, we Swiss might be willing to accept you guys as our 27th or so disctrict (might be 28th if the Lombarei decides to leave Italy also...) and integrate you into our beautiful country....

Am just thinking about re-instating Bavarian Kings for all our country and get rid of our current government...

Thank you for your opinion:

I will arrive very soon and intend to do some shopping for business suits and shirts (European Style). While I will bring examples of how I want the suit / shirt be cut, I know from experience that not all tailors really care about what you want... and have once lost my pre-payment in the past when I withdraw from the sale...

So anybody knows really good tailors that not only will provide what I ask for (i.e. make and quality of shirt collar... don't want any carton inside to make it stiff...) but also have good stock of quality fabric?

Grateful for names and locations, no need to give me pricing information, that I'll see when I go there... not looking for cheapest price but best quality... and anyway, any price will be cheaper than what I get here at home

^ Ask a sensible question and you will get a sensible answer.

As you did.

Absolutely

Glad that we have some native German speakers in here (or Swiss-German).

Swiss might be native German reader and writer but not speaker, hahahahaha

Austrians can understand them to 50 %

Germans have no clue what they are speaking or what language that is........

(but I like the sound......)

naaaah, not really... am a native Swiss German Dialect speaker, reader and writer... but native German (or "High German" - Hochdeutsch) as we call it, we have to learn in school and it's considered a foreign language in our 4-language country...

And don't worry about the dozends of Swiss dialects... not even I understand all of them... but that's not different from Germany where people don't understand each of the different (spoken) dialects...

Of course you can joke about my sentence... since probably (unlike me) you don't know a family who lost their kid due to an accident with a loaded gun inhouse that was not securely stored away...

Condolences & a sad thing to be sure but...

Sad as that is.... that scenario was the fault of the family & not the gun....which as you say was not secured.

Many things in life are deadly if the operator/owner is not educated properly in its use....safekeeping.

Many children also die from things like prescription drugs, etc. that are not secured also.

Completely agree with you... but that said, if the gun is stored away secured, then it will be of no use for burglaries and the likes... unitl you can get hold of your own gun, the crook entering you house will have shot you or stabbed you do death...

That is why I say guns in houses don't protect but endanger... better let the crooks take what they like and protect your and your families lifes.

papers from the court to say that the marriage is now closed (they are legally divorced)

The woman has to pay the 50euro fee.

If not in agreement then they have one month to write to the court in German to explain the reasons why

ALMOST correct, it is not a paper about divorce itself: The document says that the German court has decided to recognize the divorce that was registered on 21 September 2001 in Thailand...

Thus, the legal divorce was made in Thailand, the German authorities recognize and accept that divorce and hence, the plaintiff is free to get married again (probably under German law).

I could have kept my guns at home after the army, both rifle and gun, but decided against it for my own safety!

did you also get rid of your beds? beds are the most dangerous places statistics prove beyond any doubt. most people die in beds.

Of course you can joke about my sentence... since probably (unlike me) you don't know a family who lost their kid due to an accident with a loaded gun inhouse that was not securely stored away...

I can't comment on importing, but want to comment about the general idea of having guns in house...

You will endanger yourself and your family much more than without having a gun! Ever read about how many accidents happen with guns in house - whether intentionally or not??? Ever read about how many kids kill themselves or their friends when playing with daddy's gun???

So you will want to store your gun safely and locked away... so imaging the crook entering your house at 3 morning when you sleep... you hear him, you are still tired, try to get your gun from the storage area... the crook is awake and highly on alert... and if he has a gun also, you bet he will shoot you first before you even get close to your gun...

Finally, you might find out that Thai courts do not really like Farang to shoot Thai citizens.... crooks or not... and even with a legally acquired gun, you might find yourself locked away for few years for murder... whether you claim self defence or not.

I could have kept my guns at home after the army, both rifle and gun, but decided against it for my own safety!

That's like asking, what's the price of a car?

More like... what's the price of something on wheels....

If you don't trust the Thai at anything... why even bother asking about it?

But: I've done lot of testing in Thailand (hospitals only, NO private clinics) and every two year cross-checked during my standard health check that I must do for my job (through Swiss labs) and always found the results to mach.

To comply with anti-smoking legislation, Baht Buses and other public areas such as Bus Stops, phone booths and libraries are now non-smoking areas.

So that means, that every copper can squeeze a fine out of some one caught smoking on a Baht Bus.

You gotta be kidding me

Am a smoker myself but would never smoke on a Baht bus... most rude thing you can do to blow smoke AND ashes onto everybody else... and I only ever have seen Farang smoking on the Baht bus, never a Thai (except all drivers of course...)... so I absolutely agree with that law and would not mind anybody smoking on a Baht bus to be fined the 2'000 Baht they advertise in some of the cars...

It's a matter of where you go... a Thai friend of mine is owner of several shops around Pattaya and her girls now very well that not only are they not allowed to chat with each other (or the customers) when their are other customers around, furthermore they also know how fast they are on their way out if they don't follow the rules...

and just to say... no moaning and groaning in the shop, as no "extras" are offered...

My right ball has a scar, it was wounded before, and sometimes it does not have the ablitiy and flexibility to drop down as far as my left ball, which is untouched.

So I rather not totally remove all my hair because the doctor left an ugly scar in my ball, dam_n bastard.

I will try to find some philips body shawer or something.

Did we really want to know that???

There is an italien speciality shop in Jomtien on top of Soi 5 (near immigration, opposite end from beach road) which has a wide selection of Italien wines... you could check there

You know it's hot in Thailand... when you enter a go-go bar not for the girls but for AC and a cold beer....

If you didn't have ethics, you wouldn't have a dilemma.

Where are your ethics?

don't feed that troll, he does not have any ethics, just look at his previous posts....