IsaanUSA

Good luck Thailand. I have a 4G capable phone in the USA and 4G is FAST!!!

EDIT: Typo

Awesome! How big is your tank?

We plan to move over in 3 or 4 months. Have some issues to take care of here in the US before the move, one of them being getting my wife's 10-yr USA green card (just went for her bio-metrics appointment today!). There's a form we can file to inform them she'll be out of the USA studying abroad so she can still maintain her US residency. I think we'll only have to re-visit the US once every 2 years if we file the proper form. Otherwise she'd lose her US resident status and have to start the whole process all over again from square 1, immigrant visa and all that.

Congrats on the green card. I know it's a long process. Make sure you have all your visa paperwork in order before going over. If you used an immigration lawyer for your marriage, then you should double check with them about having your wife living abroad.

FYI, copy/pasted from visajourney.com

6.11.6)..Can I travel abroad after becoming a permanent resident?

A..Sure, but if you need to be out of the United States for over 12 months, you must file form I-131 and obtain a "re-entry permit". As a *brand new* permanent resident, you should consider getting a re-entry permit if you expect to be out of the United States for 6 months or longer.

This complicated question does not have a perfect answer. Extended absence from the United States does not count towards the time required to become a naturalized citizen. The United States expects those who have been granted permanent resident status to actually be "residents".

It costs $360 as well. In the I-131 instructions it says:

NOTICE to permanent or conditional residents who remain outside the United States for more than 1 year: If you do not obtain a Reentry Permit and remain outside the United States for 1 year or more, we may determine that you have abandoned your permanent or conditional resident status.

Pretty sure bringing your dog from USA to Thailand will be a HUGE problem. Just FYI

I've been living in Bangkok 3 years now and this past week my friend has been visiting. While I was with her I was trying to get a cab from Chit Lom to either Kao San, RCA, or Tao Pun (where I live) and of these every single one that stopped was calling out "400 baht" "500 baht" to take me to these locations. I spoke to them in Thai and everything. I was so pissed but there were also Thai's trying to get a cab near us as well and the same thing was happening to them.

I'm sorry but I had to laugh at this reply. I mean seriously, what do you expect? The taxi drivers treated everybody equally. They have something that you want, but you are not willing to pay the going rate.

Very interesting. I've never been to the deep south, but I find it difficult to understand that the women could not cope with living in other parts of Thailand.

If they want to help ease traffic matters they should reduce the number of taxis. There are an extimated 70,000 taxis in a city that only requires about half that number. Another thing would be for the taxi driver to accept all fares who flag them. I am fed up with the crap of taxi drivers telling me they do not or will not go where I want to go. Failure to accept a fare should result in hack licenxse revocation. Now, why won't this ever happen? The taxi mafia.

Let them go blow smoke up someone else's ass.

Seconded. What kind of crap taxi service refuses a fare? Have never seen this in any other country ever, it's ridiculous.

I guess you're not American

You guys are talking like there is some huge doomsday scenario. Everything will be fine. Have a Leo and take it easy!

Hey guys, I just saw this on a certain Bangkok newspaper website:

"As of the third quarter of last year, there were a total of 30,815 hotel rooms in downtown Bangkok and a further 8,664 rooms in the pipeline to be completed by 2014, representing a 28% increase in existing supply."

"As of the third quarter of last year, the average occupancy rate for all hotel grades in Bangkok was 66.2%. In the five-star segment, the average daily rate in the third quarter of last year was under US$200 (6,112 baht), surprisingly low compared to five-star hotels in other Asian cities."

So to me, it looks like we can conclude that the rate of new hotel rooms being brought online is rising faster than the rate of arriving tourists. Of course some hotel owners / managers are going to complain because the over supply causes prices to decrease and competition to increase.

I'm interested in your plans for the future. I'm assuming you had a good time for your 11 days. Of course living in Thailand will be different than vacationing in Thailand.

Which school are you thinking about? And where-abouts is it located?

What areas of study are you thinking about?

I'm assuming your wife would also need an educational visa to live with you in Thailand. So what does she want to study?

How many years do you plan on studying?

BTW, best winter ever here in North America!!

The numbers don't add up... again!

The article states that 8% of businesses are relocating after being hit by the floods, though then goes on in the next paragraph to list the re-launching delay, which adds up to 99% of companies hit. Are 99% of companies re-launching, or only 92%? Deceptive numbers here. Not good for business, not good for investors - which are going the opposite way in Thailand.

I think what they are saying is 8% of Japanese companies plan to leave Thailand. Of the Japanese companies remaining in Thailand, 99% will be operational after June.

What's a "Falang"?

It's what many Thai people call a foreigner. I think it's used more for non-Asians.

How about making some "funny" Pol Pot t-shirts? I'm sure the Khmer people in Thailand would find it equally as amusing.

Orac I commend you for the fine dedication you have to your family. Very nice

Those that stand still will be left behind....and complain about it.

Nice quote

I have, but still have more research to do. She received a fiance visa in 2010, but due to family issues (illness of her grandfather) we decided that the timing was not right. The issues are no longer a factor, as both her grandfather and her mother have passed away. I intend to have the required documents and forms completed prior to arrival in Thailand. We both know that it will take time for the residency approval to be forthcoming. Unfortunately, that is the reality in this day and age. I have already tried to factor in the cost of the visa, as well as the costs associated with the wedding. My hope is that her prior approval of a visa, and her adherence to the terms of the visa, will help to facilitate the marriage visa request. However, we will be dealing with the US beauocracy, so anything can happen.

Oh I'm sure you will be okay. I believe it takes around 8 months. She has to be in Thailand, and I think you will need to be in the US for part of the process. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting yourself into.

Good luck with everything

Regarding transliteration, what with increasing globalization and the Asean market of 2015 I would have thought the thai authorities would reform the process.

Now that is something to think about! Actually, does anybody know what Myanmar and Cambodia (and Laos too) are doing regarding that issue?

I started a very similar thread a few months ago but did not recieve many replies.

This thread has done well. Good information / opinions in here.

My thread was more regarding the English-speaking Thai lady moving to her husband's country where the language is not English. The Thai lady has to learn a new language meanwhile the husband and wife communicate in English, their second languages.

Personally I feel it would be much easier for an English-as-a-second-language Thai to live in a country where English is spoken. Moving to Germany or Sweden may sound fun, but I think the additional language strain increases the feeling of isolation.

What are your experiences involving the Thai lady having a baby in their new foreign country? At least they won't be stuck at home with nothing to do. Now they will be stuck at home taking care of their baby that will likely never speak Thai. How sad is it that grandma can't even speak with her grand children when she sees them once every few years?

I can't answer your question about a Thai lady having a baby in a foreign country but it does raise an issue as I think I pointed out earlier in this thread. When my wife became pregnant in the UK it was the catalyst for us moving to Thailand as, although the NHS care in the UK was impressive up to the point we left, there is no way that my wife would have received the family support and help in the UK from my family that she would get from being back in her Isaan village.

And do you personally believe that decision to move has helped your relationship to grow and continue with your wife? I would assume it has.

Very good points fellas.

So let's assume the trend is upward. Hotels are complaining occupancy is down.

Have any new hotels been built every year? Certainly. Do beach bungalows build more units? Certainly. Do hotels make statements when occupancy is up? Noway.

I would assume that the trend is on an upward slope, and tourists are just changing their habits. They are staying at different hotels/guest houses/home stays. They are visiting different places. They are eating at different places. Somebody who manages a 40 year old guest house may see low occupancy rates because they have not renovated their rooms in 10 years. Word gets out thanks to the travel websites, people want to try new hotels, etc.

What if there are more couples visiting than ever before? In that case they only use one hotel room, but count as two tourists.

There are just so many variables, and since we are given very basic information, we can only guess what is actually happening. Not to mention the paranoid "Thais hate farangs" TV members that always come up with the most spectacular conspiracy theories.

And back to the actual headline of this story. The bombing was portrayed in the US media as a bombing by Iranians targeted towards the Israelis. It's just so happened to occur in Thailand. There are so many Muslim radicals on the news everyday that most people just ignore it.

One off-topic post has been deleted.

I have never been able to make much sense out of the Tourist numbers, I wonder what impact the people who live here on multiple tourist visas have on those numbers?

There is often a disconnect between what TAT reports and hotel occupancy, for example.

Aren't the tourist numbers just a count of border crossings? Many "tourists" own condos, or stay with a Thai resident, so they would not effect the hotel occupancy rates.

I started a very similar thread a few months ago but did not recieve many replies.

This thread has done well. Good information / opinions in here.

My thread was more regarding the English-speaking Thai lady moving to her husband's country where the language is not English. The Thai lady has to learn a new language meanwhile the husband and wife communicate in English, their second languages.

Personally I feel it would be much easier for an English-as-a-second-language Thai to live in a country where English is spoken. Moving to Germany or Sweden may sound fun, but I think the additional language strain increases the feeling of isolation.

What are your experiences involving the Thai lady having a baby in their new foreign country? At least they won't be stuck at home with nothing to do. Now they will be stuck at home taking care of their baby that will likely never speak Thai. How sad is it that grandma can't even speak with her grand children when she sees them once every few years?

I didn't read your whole post, and don't know about the sin sod (I believe it's different for every family).

You mentioned that you two will live in the US.

I'm wondering if you have been doing the research required for getting her residency in the United States. There's quite a bit to it, a few thousand dollars to spend, and months of waiting for your fiance in Thailand.

From England. They aren't rich by any means but average by local standards.

I was thinking a bottle of decent whiskey for her Grandad and potentially some Thai gold for her Grandma. Nothing over the top but I do know my girlfriend has been saving up to buy her something, so we could work that out together.

!!!

Alex, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, the Thai alphabet does not use Latin characters. The words you see in Latin letters are just used to recreate what the Thai word sounds like.

You may find this interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_General_System_of_Transcription

"The Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) is the official system for rendering Thai language words in the Latin alphabet, published by the Royal Institute of Thailand. It is used in road signs and government publications, and is the closest thing to a standard of transcription for Thai, though its use by even the government is inconsistent"

$200 per day is not impossible, however, they are just estimates.

I know lots of tourists spend that much just on their human sex toys, the shorter their stay the more per day - plus factor in the necessary Viagra for a session every couple waking hours.

If you're dreaming that such tourists are a small fraction, find some accurate stats if you can on the relative number of single male foreigners entering as opposed to couples and women. Very few countries' stats are as skewed as Thailands. . .

I don't know any stats regarding the mongers, but I imagine mongering can be expensive.

Entertainment, Shopping, Prostitution, Dining, Massages, Domestic Flights can easily cost an average of $50 to $100 per day, but the long term expats on this web forum have a hard time grasping that concept since they do not partake in many of those activities.