aznyron

I will head back to America to obtain a 1 year visa, I presume: non-immigrant "O" visa..

Any advice on exactly where to go, & what to say when applying for the visa would be great.

( from those who have obtained theirs..)

thanks a lot,

steve

Steve I would get your visa here you will find it to be very different there for one you will need a doctors note as well as a police report which will be costly also they will want you to have a thai wife from my experence in Florida (coral gables) Consulate I also applied in Wash/DC few years back and they denied me a non imm O only gave me 2 month tourist in FL they gave me a 6 month tourist but I had to leave every 2 months in all proberbility I found going to Laos & Penang Malaysia to be the best places to apply for non im O go to agency there they know what to do if you understand me

We have always found Coral Gables to be very helpful for our clients. Must of been an off day. They do require to see your plane ticket. The odds are much better you will get a one year visa in the USA than in a Embassy located in Asia.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

I do not remember them asking to see my ticket I had a return ticket since I bought R/T from Thailand and had non imm O and they did not renew it in the USA coral gables FL when I spoke to them on the phone before coming to there office from Greenacres WPB to get a non im O this is what they told me so I can only go on that now I have my retirement visa hopefully I will not have to go through that again

I was also mystified by her statements and the intended message. On the surface, she indicated the trend of strong baht could be reversed i.e. weakening of the baht, because the imbalance of the Asians supporting the US deficit is likely to be reversed.

I cannot see the scenario of US imports being far less than her exports. The second mystery was "the massive outflows from the US market". Did she mean the US would, for a change, be in a situation of balance of trade surplus which is somewhat unbelievable? Or, did she mean that there would be a big outflow of the US investments that would strengthen the baht further? Then her message was not the weakening of the baht but further strengthening of the baht which is harmful to our export economy. So her speech could mean either of the two extreme messages of good news (baht weakening) or bad news (baht strengthening).

Either she deliberately refrained from being clear on the direction or the newspaper misinterpreted her speech on the "outflows". I love to read others' reactions.

I think it's pretty clear.

The "massive outflows" from US have nothing to do with a trade surplus... Just the coming collapse of USD !

Review some event of the past weeks : some countries in the middle east are un pegging their currency with USD... We have higher inflation in USA, than expected and officially measured. Plus the perspective of a recession, due to the real estate bubble burst. Plus the fact that USA is the land of debts. A perfect cocktail for a perfect storm.

As for the FED, they are in a dead end. Impossible to increase nor to decrease rates. There is, undoubtedly , a crisis of confidence toward the USD.

USD and therefore all assets in USD could suffer. Investors would be looking to find an exit, and putting their money in other currency. That could triger, as she said, a "disorderly unwinding of global financial imbalances".

Tarisa said that due to the size and nature of the thai economy, any massive outflows from US could totally destabilize THB, and sending its value to the moon.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/12Jun2007_biz34.php

Tarisa warns of baht volatility on outflows

PARISTA YUTHAMANOP

The Thai economy could face a highly volatile baht that could result from massive outflows from the US market, according to Tarisa Watanagase, the Bank of Thailand's governor.

''The magnitude of the capital flows from the rest of the world to the US economy is not sustainable. It is a matter of time before the flows eventually reverse,'' she said.

''The threat of a disorderly unwinding of global financial imbalances remains imminent.''

Addressing a luncheon hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce, Dr Tarisa also said that small and shallow financial markets will make the economy particularly vulnerable to the rapid shift of fund flows.

''The issue here is not only when the correction will take place, but how fast and disruptive,'' she said.

''Such rapid movements of capital flows, if vastly out of line with the underlying economic fundamentals, can have a negative impact on the export or import sectors depending on the direction of exchange-rate movement.''

The central bank forecasts economic growth at 3.8-4.2% this year, mainly driven by exports. It expects accelerated government spending and public investment in mass transit to help support economic expansion this year.

Dr Tarisa said oil was also a major risk to the Thai economy due to its high and volatile prices.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has lowered its short-term benchmark interest rate since the beginning of the year to 3.5% from 5% to support economic growth as inflation subsided.

''Inflation currently is not a problem as such, even though the oil prices going forward are hard to predict. The inflation has come down from 6% in the second half of last year because we have dealt with it carefully,'' she said.

Dr Tarisa said the central bank was looking to abolish its 30% reserve requirement on short-term capital inflows, but was waiting for ''clarity''.

The measure now has virtually no effect on the market since the central bank allowed investors to fully hedge investments.

''The reserve requirement measure was aimed at providing the private sector time to the adjust to the baht appreciation. To this end, I think we are successful,'' she said.

Dr Tarisa said the central bank expected its relaxation to encourage more domestic investment in securities abroad to help reduce pressure of capital inflows.

''There is not much capital outflow at the moment. It will take time for investors and institutional investors to do their homework,'' she said.''The average dollar-denominated assets held by central banks all over the world is 66%. In our case, it is lower than that,'' Dr Tarisa said.

Where have you been for the last 4 years Cclub? You seemed to have missed the boat buddy, the U.S. dollar has already colapsed (as you put it), with the support of the U.S. government I might add. The recent survey of major central bankers around the world show that over 80% of them feel that the U.S. dollar will be the most secure and strongest currency over the next 25 years. As far inflation in the U.S. goes you are once again way off the mark, when oil is taken out of the equation there is actually something approaching disinflation in the states right now, and even with oil in the equation inflation is at record low levels while at the same time unemployment is at record lows as well. I am not sure where you are getting your disinformation from(perhaps just wishful thinking on your part?) but the U.S. economy is roaring ahead at record levles on all fronts, with the only exception being existing real estate inventories at eleveted levels in a few select markets like southern California, Vegas and Phoenix and condos in Dade county Florida. I just hope that you are putting your money where your mouth is and shorting the U.S. dollar currently, as a old saying goes "a fool and his money will soon be parted". One final thought to ponder, the U.S. economy is not only the largest economy in the world by a factor of nearly three (over #2 japan) , but it is also the most resilent economy as well (witness the aftermath of 9/11). If you want to bash the U.S.A. there are many ways to do it, but try to have at least some factual information next time you post!

I just want to ad some thing I heard the E U is coming up to a new constitution and if 1 country pulls out the E U get weak and it boost the USD and I was told the chances are good that the EU const. will fail because of the UK and Poland will not sign on now this is hearsay no proof but it worth looking in to As American living here in Thailand my butt is being kicked in on the transfer of USD to Thai baht any news the the thai baht will drop in value is music to my ears I would love to see it at 50 thai baht to 1 usd but I am just dreaming now

I will head back to America to obtain a 1 year visa, I presume: non-immigrant "O" visa..

Any advice on exactly where to go, & what to say when applying for the visa would be great.

( from those who have obtained theirs..)

thanks a lot,

steve

Steve I would get your visa here you will find it to be very different there for one you will need a doctors note as well as a police report which will be costly also they will want you to have a thai wife from my experence in Florida (coral gables) Consulate I also applied in Wash/DC few years back and they denied me a non imm O only gave me 2 month tourist in FL they gave me a 6 month tourist but I had to leave every 2 months in all proberbility I found going to Laos & Penang Malaysia to be the best places to apply for non im O go to agency there they know what to do if you understand me

I don't mean to offend anyone here but I have been married to a Chinese Thai girl for 5 years (I am 27, she is 25) and she is the best wife ever. She comes from a good family (Mum works for Thai Government, Dad is Architect) and she's definitely not in it for the money as she earns twice as much as me and even bought us a superb house in Bangkok.

Having Chinese genes, she is very focused on business and self-improvement and works very hard (we both live in London).

However, when we go back to Thailand every year is astounds me the difference in work ethic between the Chinese Thai population and the original thais or Issan people. These people are almost exclusively the ones you find in the bar trade etc. When in thailand my wife and her family deliberately avoid these areas, and I can see the shame on the face of my Wife and her family. Indeed, in the UK when asked her nationality she will often refer to herself as 'Singaporean' instead of Thai because of the tw*ts who will make silly remarks, and in any case even in Thailand most people think she is foreign.

The thing I want to know is in reality is there this massive gap between the Chinese Thais and the original Thais, and if so why is this the case?

Any thoughtful replies welcomed, no flaming please

Well I was born in Brooklyn New York my mother is of italian ancestry does that make me a member of the mob well if given a choice I would have accepted that position since it is more honorable to be a member of the MAFIA then to be a slime ball politicion who hides behind the cloak of respectability and is wheeling and dealing with the devil so I say to my thai chinese ladies just be who you are hold your head in the air even if you have to sleep with men to support your family you are head & shoulders above any politician

There's another important aspect to the Vista versus XP question:

We are all locked in to Microsoft -- we are compelled to use it's Operating Systems, Office software, and to buy new, expensive hardware when MSFT tells us to (witness what Firefoxx describes below).

Vista will increase that lock-in. MSFT wants you to buy new devices (whose drivers only exist on Vista) because MSFT is determined to move from desktop/laptop computing to Entertainment computing.

So, to please record producers and movie studios, Vista's new devices and drivers implement Digital Rights Management that will restrict (even further) what you can do with the new computers you bought.

Take Firefoxx's advice --- put off Vista as long as you possibly can. Take the advice of the poster who suggested trying OpenOffice. If you can afford it, buy a Mac (the transition is not as difficult as you may think, and your driver problems go away with Parallels). If you are technical, consider Ubuntu or other free Operating Systems.

This time we have some choices (not terribly attractive, but they're there). If you buy Vista those choices will go away forever.

I've just had the dubious pleasure of setting up two Sony laptops for some relatives. Vista Home Premium was pre-installed, so I really had no choice for the OS, and there were no XP drivers available. This seems to be the trend, since the brand new (latest model, Santa Rosa) Benq notebook that I bought also had Vista-only (and only x86, not 64-bit) drivers. I really didn't like the experience. A lot of programs that I was used to installing just didn't have Vista versions out yet, and other programs didn't work, period. Others worked very strangely, and all in all it was a headache. It reminds me of XP when I first tried it, and also reminded me of why I try not to use an OS that has been released for less than a year. Basically, a lot of re-learning how to do things, where things are, conforming to the new style, giving up old programs/ways, etc. etc. etc.

Well, at least for my new desktop computer, the components still had XP drivers (but Vista drivers were available), so I'm still enjoying XP there. But, with the amount of new hardware that doesn't support XP anymore, it seems like Vista will be inevitable for many.

So, if you can, put it off (the switch to Vista) for as long as you can.

This October Imac new O/S called the LEOPARD will be out I have been using windows since I first bought a PC now I am switching to Imac my qusetion is were is a honest authorize dealer of Apple PC in Thailand I did a search and only came up with one in Singapore I found a authorize REseler which ads more to the price and I would not be sure if I would get all the perks Imac offers on a new PC and the newest O/S as for Vista I installed home basic upgrade on my pc did not register it I was not at all happy with it but that was my choice maybe othere will love it

I will transfer 2 Times ( in 2 following Days ) each Time over 9000 € from Germany to my Thai Bank for my Retirement Visa - should I expect any Trouble with doing so? If so, anybody can give me an Advice?

I would wait before I transfer that amount of money the thai baht is over inflatted you wait 2 or 3 months you might get a better return on your money if not find another place to retire living in thailand is not worth it any more

This does not look good to me since the people have no say you can not ban a political party because of one person you fear What if the USA banned the Rep party when Former President Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment my personal opinion is the crook trying to out fox the crook if Thaksin was to run again he would sweep the election giving him a landslide victory that what they fear the rich trying to keep the poor in place and poor the longer I am in thailand the more I realize it not poor people who dislikes falongs it the wealthy people because we give the poor more than they are willing to give even when we employ them we pay them much more than a wealthy thai does also the thai baht being so inflatted also maybe a way to get us to leave just a thought

I'm 28 y.o. and I'm looking for any kind of job.

In Russia I was working as a line producer for movie production company "Mosfilm"

I understand that there is no job like that here so any opportunity is welcome

P.S. I'm good in photography

why don't you post your photo since you are a good photographer. I am sure you will get many proposals of all kinds including sexual ones if you have a work permit and know how to cut hair I know of a shop looking for ladies to work in his beauty salon & massage shop in Udon thani

This is the exact reason people dont post there phots!!!!!!!

well I will post mine maybe I will get lucky and some rich thai girl or falong girl will want me for there very own

I am no authority on visa but my former g/f (thai) had a 10 yr visa she came to the USA to spend 2 months with me no problem but I did call immigration and inquired about marring her in the usa they said quote pay the fees and every thing should be ok so in my opinion and I said opinion once she in it all about money as long as she comes in legally with a valid passport she does not have to leave we have 12 million illegal mexicans in USA deport them first before they can deport your wife

I'm 28 y.o. and I'm looking for any kind of job.

In Russia I was working as a line producer for movie production company "Mosfilm"

I understand that there is no job like that here so any opportunity is welcome

P.S. I'm good in photography

why don't you post your photo since you are a good photographer. I am sure you will get many proposals of all kinds including sexual ones if you have a work permit and know how to cut hair I know of a shop looking for ladies to work in his beauty salon & massage shop in Udon thani

I don't know what is truth or fiction but I do depend on thaivisa to give me the true facts not a bunch of hearsay

and I sure would not trust any thing from some thai girl now it is my understanding if you choose to marry a thai girl you must provide documents of your divorce if you were married before and they must be translated in to thai and if you were never married you must get the paper given to you by the local J/P notorized by your embassy they gave me two one in thai & one in Eng. they both must be notorized by my embassy which I am going to do in June I will post any info I get that may be worth while

One of the things that has helped me decide to not retire in Thailand, besides getting divorced, Is the tremendous value of the friends and connections I already have here.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel and moving to Thailand would be much like that.

I can work here a very small amount of time still pay my bills and go to Thailand pretty much whenever I want.

The move seemed like a good idea at one time but not now.

Everything happens for a reason.

PS Did I mention the weather here is near perfect and 10 minutes from the beach

First I am assuming your American living in California san diego correct me if I am wrong the problem I have living here now is the over inflatted thai baht as for investing in real estate or a business I highly advise you against that for one you can not own a home here and as for business the thai has to own 51 % and getting thai to work for you is close to impossible continue what you are doing coming here for vacation and having fun then go back home as for me I am stuck here now burned all my bridge's and spent all my money thank God I have a retirement pension I have a friend from the UK who is moving to Brazil check it out the next time you have a vacation i hear from him it a good place to go since you can own property there and visa are not a problem and if you get home sick the flights are short to the USA and not expensive also try costa rica another hot spot have fun

this is kind of interesting to think about.

this being thailand, I think no authority will do anything until the people are leaving in boats for higher ground.

Open up a boat building factory get a thai bar girl as your partner give her 51% of the business and hire illegals from mymar (burma) if the bg dosen't rip you off maybe the goverment will LOL

not there yet, but with the US GDP coming in at a paltry 1.3% , its only a matter of time before Thailand takes it on the chin....

Four Asian nations hit by 1997-98 financial crisis face vulnerability

Thailand now faces greater risks due to a decline in the ratio of foreign reserves to short-term debt and an increase in short-term capital inflows.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/19/news/currency.php

I agree with you. but maybe not got the same reason.

Thailand is facing another financial crisis vulnerability because huge hedge funds and investment banks have taken position on the thai baht. As such Thailand is now at the mercy of those forign speculators that can decide to draw out and repeat the same crisis as in 97. Unfortunatly this is now a problem not only for thailand but for the whole world. the Huge fund mangers have only one consideration and that is to make more and more profits. they dont care if they can ruin a country or devestate an economy while doing so.

All the economical factors are in favour for thailand to continue growth but a bunch of greedy speculators can realy rock the boat.

there is no way to stop this as if you put limitations on short-term capital inflows the speculators are going to go to the govermants and complain about thailands monitary policy and thailand does not want tpo upset the americans or the europeans. so at the end of the day a few greedy managers are basicly running the world.

Highdiver, You hit the nail on the head! I have posted multiple times on this subject but most people here just don't get it. When the hedge funds decide to get out of their investments and change their baht back in to euros and U.S. dollars then the Thai baht will do an absolute backflip. People don't realize the size and scope of these funds to change capital markets overnight and ruin a small countries economy as well, and you are correct that absolute greed is the only thing that motivates these people. It is truely unconsionable how governments both in the U.S. and Europe have been bought off and make no attempt to have any regulation or oversight on these hedge fund criminals. A good example was the democratic debate in south carolina yesterday, the moderator asked john edwards and hillary clinton the same question about what they would do to institute some oversight on the hedge fund industry if elected and both candidates completely dodged the question and talked about something else. The next question in the debate was directed toward chris dodd (a senator from conneticut that the hegde fund industry has in its back pocket) and you could see senator dodd sweating bullets thinking that he might be getting the same question on the hegde fund industry, but sadly the moderator seeing that he was not going to get a straight answer about hedge funds from these candidiates, changed the line of questioning and you could see the immediate relief on chris dodds face. Just as Jesus overturned the carts of the moneychangers in the temple, we need someone in power with a strong loyal following to turn over the carts of the hedge funds and watch as the cockroaches scrurry, if something isn't done soon then I feel that the price to pay will be devestating.

if you have proof that this is actually happening, then, let us all see it. otherwise, all this conspiracy stuff is old stuff, and the only thing it does is make foreigners more anti-american.

on the other hand, since you seem to think this is true, perhaps you can tell us all what thailand can do to stop this so-called conspiracy being implemented by evil rich americans?

your conspiracy theories are making it so that win or lose, america will look like the one to blame.

jesus, can't someone in this world take the blame for something THEY did for once?

yeah. maybe I am naive about all the evil in this world. so, please enlighten me. but some more constructive thought would help instead of just all the accusations. thank you.

Nick, First of all there is no conspiracy theory going on here, hegde funds and arbitragers have been with us for a while now and their size, strength, and political clout has grown into something that would make the tabacco industry evious. Secondly, this is not a uniquely american phenomonon there are many european hedge funds manipulating the thai market as well as many other markets in asia and elseware. Last week on 60 minutes (or maybe it was 20-20) there was a segment on just this, and senator grassley who had the guts to put forward some rather tame hegde fund legislation on the senate floor was interviewed and said that within 10 minutes of introducing his bill on the senate floor he was contacted by multiple parties(both other senators and lobbyists) to kill the bill. In this same segment it was made clear that on multiple occasions senator dodd has killed similiar bills and then 60 minutes went on to say that dodd recieved over 5 million dollars from the hedge fund industry in his last campaign. These are the hard cold facts my friend, I only wish it was just a bad dream or some bogus conspiracy theory. By the way americans are not to blame but instead are victims of these hedge funds as well. Perhaps when the valuation on the baht does reverse dramatically and some journalist can lay out just how all this occured, then perhaps you will not be so naive the next time around.

ok. I am not disbelieving you. especially if 60 minutes brought the subject up.

...if some senators and some lobby groups tried to stop this hegde fund legislation, then, these people need to be identified before anybody can do anything. so, the big question is - can you identify who these senators and lobbyist are?

on the same token, since you say that there are american and european hedge funds who are causing all these evil deeds here in thailand, can you identify them so that ALL thais will know who they are?

to fight an evil, you must first know who you are fighting. right?

name the hedge funds.

being a small speck, I certainly cannot do much. but I am sure there are others with more "influence" who can.

expose the hedge funds.

Nick, You just don't get it do you? The United States Congress is so impetent and scared that they cannot pass legislation to regulate or at the very least lend some transparency to the hedge fund industry. In Eurpoe it is the same way, but at least the discussion seems to be "on the table" over there. These funds act with impunity and have absolutly no transparency so what do you think that you could possibly do? I tell you what if you check out the phone books for Darien conneticut, Boca Raton FL., northern N.J., Toronto Canada, Bermuda, the Bahanas, the cayman islands and Berlin you might have a good start as most of the power players in the hedge fund industry operate from these locals. Good luck my friend, perhaps you have the power to do what the U.S. congress obviously doesn't have the balls to attempt!

we only have your accusations. no proof. if you know personally ANY hedge funds who are causing these conspiracies as you claim they are doing, bring it out so that people can confront them.

as for the "other guy" who asked me how I "know" that there is a lot of anti-american sentiment here in thailand. you only have to read the newspapers here to get the general idea of what is going on. gee, you really don't need to go that far either. why, just read the replies from thais on thaivisa.

we are starting to get off-topic here. so, I will stop.

I agree with the above replies you got. and apart from you it seems that other members "dont get it"

Forex is the largest market in the world with a daily turn over of Trillions of dollars. not billions but trillions.

the largest players on this court are usualy central banks and heavy players in forex.

by the way the largest player by far is the US Federal Reserve. some would even go as far as saying that it is the Americans who by sheer ratio are actually controlling this market and do so to promote american interests.

The Hedge Funds and the private equiry funds have become in the last Few years very big players.

some of those funds are called by economists "dumb money" as the investors in those funds dont realy understand what it is the fund is investing in or where the mony is invested they just want to see profis at the end of the year.

Those large funds are making huge amounts of money. and it was published last week about the salaries that some of those hedge funds manages get they were in billions.

Edward S. Lampert made $1.02 billion, while his firm, ESL Investments, raked in a 69 percent return on investment.

Besides Lampert, others in the top 10 of hedge fund managers included James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, $670 million; Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, $550 million; Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, $450 million; David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, $420 million; George Soros of Soros Fund Management, $305 million (Soros was number one in 2003, with $750 million); Paul Tudor Jones II of Tudor Investment Corp., $300 million; Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, $240 million; Raymond Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, $225 million; and Israel Englander of Millennium Partners, $205 million.

and that just the americans.

do you undesratand that those guys with those salaries are controlling billions dollar funds and the only objective they have is to make more money and have a bigger return.

Hedge-fund assets globally broke through the $1 trillion mark in July, 2004, with funds invested in Asia approaching 6% of that total.

Dozens of these funds have set up shop in Asia in the past 24 months, hoping to find lucrative opportunities outside the crowded capital markets in Europe and the United States. So why are they investing in Asia and in Thailand??? because the growth rate is better and the lack of monitary controls enable them to do ehat they want.

Aggressive hedge fund managers normally take positions designed to profit from a market decline if one is expected, and perhaps no market "correction" has been as widely anticipated as the latest one in March. Fund managers in Asia were warning of an imminent slide in markets as far back as December. What is surprising about the latest expected drop was how few hedge fund managers appeared to have taken such positions.

Instead, they were trying to take advantage of the bull market for Asian stocks and bonds.

Short-selling, or betting that stocks will fall, is not allowed in some Asian equity markets, but determined short-sellers can use financial derivatives and options to achieve the same effect. When stocks started to move down, though, investors will jumped out en masse, making drops even steeper.

do you understand they are actually going to win a lot of money by crashing the stocks?? do you understand that they are world wide players that can afford to loose in one game if they win more on another? do you understand that The Thai economy is nothing for them and with a single decision they can destroy the country and create another crisis and that at the end of the day they make more moeny from doing it??

But today it is not just the hedge funds that act like hedge funds It is also the proprietary desks of banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Because the banks' traders and hedge fund managers are compensated on the short-term trading profits they make they are not interested any more in Long term investments . they are playing god to other countris so the bonus at the ned of the year will be bigger.

the crisis is coming soon unless the thai govermant and infact every other asian country will take steps to controll forign investement and capital controll. Meanwhile, a 167 percent increase in Vietnam's benchmark stock market index has sparked fears that Hanoi will impose capital controls to keep foreign speculative investments out. Thailand put controls on incoming portfolio capital in December, although it has been relaxing them steadily since then due to international pressure by.... yes you are right those with the big salaries above.

you know... I still do not believe your story. rather, I do not want to believe your story. you would have to be one pretty sick person to want to destroy other people to make money.

I have yet, to have any problems at a bank. But it is always my wife doing the talking, and me doing the shoulder shrugging. I couldn't even use an ATM card here if I was kidnapped. Truth is I really could not use one in the states either. I have an ipod, and I still have not figured that thing out.

I suffer from early onset of ageing I guess.

don't tell any one your PIN number and watch your money grow in the ciountry you come from and you can always write a check in your home country amen

There's still room for relaxation on monetary and fiscal policies : Finance Minister

Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn said on Friday that there is still room for further relaxation of both monetary and fiscal policy.

Speaking in a business forum, entitled "Toward Thai economic Recovery" held by The Nation, the finance minister also believes political uncertainty would subside over the next three months.

He said the central bank had just in April reduced policy rate.

But with inflation rate as low as 1.8 per cent as of April, still low compared to around 6 per cent the mid of last year, there is room for further cut of policy rate which is currently at 4.5 per cent.

However, the rate cut decision depend on the Bank of Thailand, he said.

In addition, the Finance Ministry would soon find way for tax measure to help boost economy. He said there are also measures to help boost other sectors including property when asked by some audiences of how the government would help prop up real estate sector.

Chalongphob believes Thai economic fundamental is still strong and foreign investors are still confident in Thai market. Once political uncertainty subsides, the economy will recover.

Source: The Nation - 11 May 2007

I think a lot of people here are underestimating how hard it is to manipulate currency markets.

In terms of some sort of economic crisis, even this lower GDP number is 3 times the GDP growth that the USA is currently experiencing.

With a Coup, The Tsunami, FBA, 30% Currency regulation etc... I'd say its doing pretty ###### fine actually. Some people are just naturally a little negative and look for things to fail, so they can say "I told you so".

I could start a thread with the title "THAILAND GROWS 3 TIMES AS QUICKLY AS THE USA" but it really doesn't mean anything even though it would be a true statement.

well I don't understand the currentcy market but I do know when I transfer my USD to thai baht I am getting ripped off big time now let me ask you this if thailand is growing in leaps and bound why is it taiwan a country 1/3 the size of thailand is beating out all the other countries in getting foriegn investments and I do want to add the people in taiwan earn more money per hour than any other asian country with the exception of Japan & Korea why is it the Thai people go to Singapore & Malaysia to work insted of working home as for the USA unfortunatly the people elected a moron two times who gave away the surplus money he inherit from Clinton then broke the country so the banks can have there holiday in lending USA back it own money at unknow % rate so if you want to point fingers look at the world banking system

I'm looking to rent a house in East Pattaya but I would like my missus to buy one on mortgage say in a year's time. Now at the moment, she does not have a financial history as such but I am in the process of building her one.

She has a "job"in a company which "pays" her around Bt40,000 a month net. This should be sufficient for purchasing a car at Bt15,000 or so per month.

Looking at various banks' websites, they quote a salary multiple of 2.5 to 3.0 times the monthly repayment as being the minimum requirement. Does anyone know if this is net or gross ?

NOw specifically. Has anyone had their partner or friend apply and be approved for a mortgage in Thailand ? If so, what documents are needed ? Do they have to provide tax records etc. or are payslips and corresponding bank deposits enough ? If so, over what period of time do these payments have to be made ?

I am thinking that I may have to "legitimise" her and pay the tax on her "income". If I then marry her, I can get my bloody visa as well because I am under 50 and don't need to work but like to "own" businesses.

What is the best and most cost effective way to put her in a position whereby in say 12 months time she can get a mortgage off a Thai bank ?

Cheers

if a poster on thai visa posted comments about the government that were less than complimentary

and deemed to be defamatory , and the cyber police came knocking on georges door asking for the identity of the poster , what is the thai visa policy regarding this ?

would thai visa divulge the ip address of the poster ? ..... what is international law on this matter ?

From the Forum Rules:

We respects the privacy of all our visitors, members and clients. Any known information is kept strictly confidential. No information is ever sold or knowingly given out to any third party.

OK, but what if you were threatened with legal action?

Maybe T'land can become the censorship hub of SE Asia next

DPM raids Pantip Plaza and seizes 1 pornographic VCD

The Deputy Prime Minister led a raid on Pantip Plaza to suppress vice and intellectual property crimes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Development and Human Security Paiboon Wattanasiritham (ไพบูลย์ วัฒนศิริธรรม), conducted an inspection of pornographic vendors at Pantip Plaza and instructed officers to conduct a sting operation resulting in the apprehension of 1 VCD vendor, along with the seizure of 1 pornographic VCD, 30 MP3 discs, and 2 bags of marijuana.

The Deputy Prime Minister then visited entertainment venues along Patpong district on Silom Road and reports finding no illegal activities. Mr. Paiboon reported that youths under the age of 20 years were not found inside local entertainment venues and bar proprietors and their staff were cooperative.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that he would conduct discussions with Bangkok Governor Apirak Gosayothin and representatives of VCD dealers to arrive at a proper solution to violation of intellectual property rights.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 24 April 2007

The amount of times I have visited the DVD shops of the Capital to get the latest films (not pixelated nudity I have to say!) only to find the shops closed and be informed by the vendors that thay are expecting a raid - "come back tomorrow" leaves me convinced that the channels of communication from the police to the vendors are wide open. If the minister seriously thinks that Panthip is free of porn, illegal copies of films and software rather than saturated with it he is seriously mistaken. If he also thinks that Patpong wasn't fully prepped and awaiting his arrival then he really needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

I do not know if they read thai visa forum but let not tell them any way this way they can save face hehaLOL the joke is you can not buy legally a porno movie but you can buy the women in the porno movie legally LOL

The escalators are a nightmare. Took me forever to get out of there.(first time) and what a terrible smelly place.

If you are ever caught in a situation like that get on the floor and look for the stairs do not use elevators or escalators if you are carry water wet a hanky to cover your nose wet rag filter better smoke kills more than flames do It always a good idea when you enter a building is to look for the stair well know your way around I assume these building have water hoses on every floor and sprinkler heads there are many thing you can do to save your ass but just remember not to panick people will panick try not to be one of them if you can get inside a shop close the door try to cover the door so no smoke get in

If you have a COA then the disk doesn't matter, you have a license to run a single copy of XP Home. Borrow a disk if you need to, just make sure you use your own license key.

Hi cdrivic I like having my own disk besides i don't know any one who has a legit copy of xp pro I do have one good disk of home xp i think they are different from pro to home but I am not sure thank you

I want to thank all of you who replied to my question I will be buying a desk top when I buy and I also will continue to use my win/pc running xp home just a short story about win/xp my cd disk got damaged and I tried to replace them from micr. through the singapore office all I got was run around like send me you coa label which I did they have no record so they say I want to say my disk all 3 are legal copies 1 is pro which is damaged plus they want 30.00 usd for each disk I told them bye bye this is one of the reson why I am switiching to Imac plus I like photography I am not good at it but I hope to learn more another reson why I will switich to Imac but I want to wait until the leopard O/S come out that why I put this post up to find out as much as possibile about IMAC thank you all keep those post coming Ronnie

I have been thinking about buying the new apple pc with the new OS system called the leopard not it has been put on hold to get there Ipod out that ok I will not be buying it untill later in the year if I choose to now I never used a apple they say it different and I would like to read some replies from people who have used them and own them compare to windows and also about software application compatibility problems thank you Ronnie

If you marry a thai girl and buy a house you have some protection so I was told by my thai friend simple solotion is not give them any more you can afford to LOSE keep most of your saving in your home country bank and if your married to a thai girl you don't have to pay cash for the house she can get a mortgage based on the fact she is married to you and use's your income as collorateral and take 20 or 30 year mortgage to pay it off this way if she screws up you walk away simple you lose very little but I know you all want to show how big spender you are LOL investigat the the rules don't listern to bar room lawyers there in every bar in thailand talk to a real attorney ask him qustions get a second opinion from another legal counsel before making decision that could cost you your life savings

Thai banks WILL NOT give a mortgage to the (legally married) wife of a farang. The reason is based upon pure racism.

They will. But her income is used in the computation as well. Many things in Thailand are indeed very rasict, however that blanket statement is not totally true.

just want to reply I went to siam bank few weeks back to get home loan on a project that is allready in progress the bank clerk told me if I was married to my t/g/f it would be easier since she does not have any income they would use mine I do agree with you about racisim but we can not fight that I was denied a saving account in bkk bank went to siam bank and got one I guess the answer is to shop around