SamMunich

Now Ive stopped chuckling let me say How you can compare 10,000+ facists stopping an airport to an industrial dispute in another country is beyond the realms of anybodys imagination. The airport was closed down, and rightly so because of the dangers to the travelling public and incoming flights(yes your friends forced their way into the control tower). Surrounded by plain clothes army guys with arms amounts to terrorism.

Please sit down in the corner and protest and they would have. Did you miss the 30m stage out front. We are all entitled to opinions but it might be an idea to keep yours to yourself

So why are the one side "fascists" and the other ones the "good" folks in an industrial dispute?

Next: How many people were invading the airport area? 500, 5K, 10K, how many? I didn't count them... And does the number say anything about the level of their hostility?

I still think, this airport thing was blown out of proportion by people trying to blame the PAD for anything that was available, even if it were an airport closure.

A word not known to many is de-escalation,- that would have worked wonders in those days...

Sam M.

Yeah, it's pay-back time for the PT big-wigs. This whole airport thing was blown out of proportion in order to - successfully - blame the Yellow Shirts for creating havoc.

If my memory serves me right (and it usually does!), the CEO of the Suvannaphumi airport ordered the airput shut at 21:00 hours on the day the Yellowistas came to greet Somchai, the then PM of Thailand upon his return from overseas. This shut-down order was bringing everything to a stop and created the whole mess, that came out of it.

This is not to condone the action of the Yellow Shirts, BUT as is known protests at airports happen in Europe again and again, most times due to labour conflicts. But there nobody would bring the whole operation to a screeching halt over such a tussle.

If the Airport authority would have told the Yellow Shirts to protest in one corner of the departure hall or on the parking deck across the approach road, the operation of the airport would have gone on without much interference. But the airport boss, being a known Taksin friend, wanted to use this chance to beat the Yellow Shirts.

How 'dangerous" the Yellow Shirts were can be seen from the fact, that they went on patrol with the airport security staff during the time they stayed at the airport.

And let's not forget, while they stayed at the government house they were attacked on a nearly regular basis with grenades, resulting in several deaths, somthing that was not possible at Suvannaphumi.

Sam Munich

This only prooves a few things, already known among people around here:

1) The police by and large can't do detective work, they normally rely on snitches/informers to "build their case".

2) Money can get you off any hook, only bigger hooks need bigger piles of cash.

3) There is a good reason, why contempt of court is such a grave offense here. If people would be able to say, what they think of corrupt court officials, the image of these officials (like many other state officials!) would be below that of a used car salesman...

4) I'm not legally criticizing any government official, I'm only thinking aloud...

Sam M.

The interesting aspect here is, whether he did vote in all elections, in which he was elegible to vote. If he missed one - like last Sundays' election - he looses the right to stand for election for 5 years, counting from the date of the missed election. Now I don't think he gives a damn about casting his vote, but he does about being able to stand for an election, prefably as a convicted prime minister...

Now why do I always get the echo "Berlusconi" when I say "Taksin"???

Sam M.

How can he get bail, if he has been convicted by the highest court possible for this kind of crime? Bail is only possible, if the whole process has not been final.

Nevertheless I guess he will have a (or several?) luxurious cell and a top level medical support team, which will make it look like some holiday w/o the seaview...

His sons, a mininster, a governour and a lord mayor will make sure he will not feel distressed in any way and that his business dealings will be smooth...On second thought, this might have been a political game to reduce the power of his family's party within the gov't coalition.

This different prices have nopthing to do with airport tax or anything like that. It is simply a matter of where and when the airlines can charge more. I know for example, that the airport fees in Munich/Germany are about 100 Euro/pax, while at Berlin/Germany they are around 20 Euro. But that is not reflected in the ticket price, which is exactly the same for both destinations.

It used to be - before Thai became a member of Star Alliance - that tickets in SEA were cheaper than in Europe. Since about 15 or 20 years this has changed.

I guess we can assume, that the airlines do talk to each other about where they intend to jack up prices and where the competition is too tough. Flying out of Europe the competition is much stronger than flying out of SEA to Europe.

It doesn't matter, where you buy the ticket, it matters, where the round trip starts. Even if you buy the ticket through a European agency, the price would be depending on your starting point.

What would be interesting is the aspect of whether tickets from K.L. or Singapore are also so much more expensive as from BKK.

There is an office of DBS Vickers in the office towers opposite the MBK. I think they will accept foreigners as customers.I recently had to deal with them, but I don't know how good they are.

AFAIK DBS Vickers in Singapore allows you to deal online in SG, HK, US and CAN. Other Markets are done "by hand",- at a pricey rate though.

Try out other alternatives as well: UOB and StanChart come to mind. Both at Sathorn Road. Walk in and ask.

Good luck,

Sam

Opposite to what some people do claim here, I personally had pretty good experience with the revenue office when I went there. In my case the HR department (!) deducted too much taxes and refused to change the data for the annual tax refund form (P.NG.D. 91).

When I went to the revenue office, the girls working there were scared by the farang approaching, but when I spoke in Thai to them they were not only relieved, but also VERY helpful. The one dealing with me filled out the form (with the figures I accepted!), had me sign it and told me the cheque will be in the mail within two or three weeks. It was. I never had the feeling, they were thinking it would be their money I wanted to get back,- which is the way many western tax officials act.

Corkman, if it is so much money, why don't you take a Thai friend (if you need a translator) and visit your local tax revenue office. Make sure you know your figures, so that you can prevent wrong data being filled in. You can also download a blank form from the Thai revenue office web site, but I think it is only available in Thai.

Unlike in western countries, taxes are still very simple here...

Cheers,

Sam Munich

No need to worry. I had this procedure done several times. While I was abroad I faxed the HR department a copy of my new "Non-Im -B-" visa. They then went on to apply for the WP extension and when I came back I had the WP extended for another year.

Power of attorney might be necessary, but actually it is the company that has to apply for the WP, not the foreigner.

Good luck and a good time abroad.

A plane of the German airline Air Berlin developed problems and had to return to Phuket on Thursday. Flight No AB7425 returned, after an engine was said to have been on fire and the fire had spread to the wing. When the plane landed in Phuket one or more of the tires exploded. All passengers were unharmed and brought to Phuket hotels to wait for a new plane to bring them back. The plane was scheduled to fly from Phuket to Abu Dhabi and then on to Berlin Tegel airport.

Local research into if and how this is related to the Apocalypse are still in the early stage, which is why none of the two English newspapers in Thailand reported this incident,- not even on their respective web site.

"Aviation Herald" and the Phuket News" are said to have further reports...

NanLaew wrote about the option to go to Savannakhet for a multiple Non-Im "O" visa as a person maried to a Thai.

How reliable is that information? I mean, can I safely go there and get that visa or do I have to fear to get it refused and having to settle for a lesser visa?

Sam M.

Dunno how far this is off topic, but found no other place to post it on ThaiVisa:

A friend of mine has an old Toyota Crown (approx 20 years old) and is looking for a reliable, professional repair shop, where they also use 2nd hand parts of good quality (I doubt there are 20 year old pristine spareparts).

He complains, that most shops turn him away, because his car is too old...

He lives in Bangkok, somewhere between Sukhumvit and Rama III.

Thanks,

Sam M.

Well, MR. RealDeal, if you think my experience is "That one of the top 10 most inaccurate and foolish posts I have seen in a long time. " then may I just return this compliment?

Inaccurate? How can experience be inaccurate?

Foolish? Foolish is to work hard for money and then have it taken away by people, who think they can get away with everything, just because they wear a uniform (even if it's a bank uniform).

I was just posting something that happened and offered my advice. It you or anybody else takes it or not, that's totally up to you.

Is somebody is too scared to carry larger amounts of cash with her/him, then simply don't do it...

If customs at several airports and in several countries don't give a sh*t about whether you bring in money in excess of what they (!) allow, then it's completely up to you, whether you go legal or not. I don't urge anybody to act this or that way, but I point out, what is possible in a given situation...

Unless somebody snitches you to customs, it is very unlikely that you get checked. In addition there are a few tricks I learned from a customs person many years ago, who told me, what customs staff are normally looking for. If they pick out every 100th person, and that is you, then that's tough luck, I agree.

But Inaccurate? Foolish? Hardly!

And about the fear of being robbed by a buddy of an official? More likely, if a customs guy is corrupt enough and calls up a friend and gives that guy your description. My point is, that if nobody knows what you have with you, then nobody bothers with you.

Finally I always get amused, if people try to tell others to stay legit and pay taxes etc. Most times the ones telling others are the rich and corrupt ones or fraudsters. Only they often are the ones, who avoid taxes and bend the law as they like. Example needed? There are plenty of them in Thailand and the rest of Asia, even in Europe or the U.S. of A., e.g Greek shipowners, who boast on TV, that they never paid any taxes!

It is always the honest ones who get shaved! I promise to get 100% legit, when all those big-shot fraudsters get legit as well. (And no, I didn't say "Taksin"!) Until then I will occasionally (!) take a shortcut, period!

Glad to be alive and kicking,

Sam M.

This rice pledging thing is only useful for the Shinawatra henchmen. It has been pointed out, that most farmers don't get to see any money of this scheme, but the middlemen and millers are making a fortune out of it. These are the people the Shinawatras want, to support their stay in power.

The Shinawatra gambit is to take tax-payers money and spend it as if it were from the Shinawatra's own pocket.

This will only end, when Thailand finally (in the not too far future) reaches a situation like the one Greece is in since the last couple of years. Let the country be indebted like Greece, nevermind, as long as the billions are on Shinawatras (and his fellow thieves) accounts abroad.

Sam M.

Why don't you take it back to Europe as cash money?

No hassle with explaining, where you got it from, what you intend to do with it, etc.

And best of all you don't make the banks rich, as they will charge you half a fortune for a banking transfer. First the Thai banks will want it documented, whether the money is legal and legally yours, then they charge you.

I recently took cash money across borders, way above the stated limits. I had to press the officials to document my taking in and taking out of money, both in Asia as also in Europe. They simply don't want to be bothered with this! So take your money as cash and travel! I will do that in the future as well!

As long as you don't act suspicious, nobody will know, what you got in your pocket(s).

Just make sure it's not in the checked-in luggage!!!

Right, as director of a company you are expected to make enough money to not have to rely on Social Security.

I don't know, if you can apply as "informal" worker in your own company.

But what is possible (and advisable) is to apply for voluntary membership according to Art. 39 of the SSO act. This is especially important, if you have been working for a company in Thailand and then resigned or were fired. You can apply within 3 month after termination, after that it's no more possible. You pay 432 Baht a month (plus 10 Baht transfer fee) and get for that the complete cover of the SSO, especially the right to get free health care at a hospital of your choice (from a list of participating hospitals!). However contribution to retirement are so minuscle, that they might not be worth it.

Now this voluntary membership via Art. 39 might be, what is offered to informal workers.

In any case, go to the SSO headoffice in DinDaeng (behind the Labour Department, same compound) and if your Thai is not so good, get a friend to join for translation. The staff there is very friendly and forthcoming, though you might have to wait here and there a bit due to queues...

Sam M.

There are two kind of Non-Immigrant -B- visas and it depends on which one you have.

Number 1: You get the Non-Im extended to a year with the papers from your employer. You go to Immigration every 90 days and show your passport.

Number 2: You get your Non-Im abroad with multiple re-entries. You don't get the visa extended at Immigration in Thailand, but you leave the country every 90 days (= visa run). After a year, you try to get another Non-Im -B- at your home country. That is, if you're lucky and (!) can show a valid work permit.

In case number 1, your visa is invalidated within 1 week after you return the work-permit, _because_ the visa is attached to you working for that specific company/institution. No more work, no more "need" for the visa.

In case number 2 your visa is NOT connected to a specific company/institution employing you. So you leave the company and return the WP, but the visa is still valid until the end of it's term, which might be after another 1 or 2 visa runs.

That is no BS or nonsense, I had exactly this situation not long ago.

Teh only thing that might have changed is the restrictions on issuing a Non-Im -B- abroad...

Sam M.

Very bad experience with DBS Vickers in Singapore

I just set up an account for trading shares with DBS Vickers in SG.

...

A few days later I have to correct a few things, that looked worse than they turned out.

Obviously you have to tell the broker (on the phone) clearly, what your price limit is, else they take whatever they can get. So I ordered by phone and had the broker get back to me with the current price, before I agreed to actual buy that stock.

Also the cancellation was not a fee but the sell-back of the stocks after I refused to buy at the price they charged me. The broker paid it out of his own pocket he claimed. Which leaves me to wonder, how much money he's making a month, if he can just absorb some 2000 Euro...

I haven't yet received the receipt of the first deal I did with them. It seems, they are sending that as a piece of paper by mail instead of by e-mail. Then I will see, how to continue dealing with and through them.

Also I was told, the Singapore law is pretty strict, when it comes to dealing with banks, just to make sure no fraud is encouraged.

Will keep you updated (though I dunno, if it is of interest to anybody... Feedback, folks!)

Cheers,

Sam M.

Very bad experience with DBS Vickers in Singapore

I just set up an account for trading shares with DBS Vickers in SG. No need to go there, paperwork can be done via downloading forms and sending the completed forms registered to singapore office. Money can be transferred there as well, if you want to leave a paper/ virtual trail. Or take it there in cash, customs on both sides (Thai / Singapore) don't care, if it exceeds the max allowed amount. However I went there personally, also to see the person, who will be dealing with me and my money.

First I wondered, why they charged me 1.5% of the amount of Euro I deposited there in a Euro-nominated account. Most of my trading will involve Euro stocks. But 1.5% is way much! Tehn I needed to open an account in SingDollars if I want to trade in other stocks on the Singapore exchange. Minimum amount in that account 5,000 Sing-$.

Secondly, I can't trade European stocks except from the UK online, but have to go through the more expensive channel via the broker in SG. But why do I need a second account for the off-line trading? And that second account can't be controlled by online checking of the account status.

Then I told them to buy the stocks (one title only) I wanted at that days rate. I don't mind if the share price is higher within a certain range. But they charged me an about 1.5 -2% higher price, which added up to a substantial loss on my side. I showed them the actual trading range of that stock and the amount of shares traded that day, because they claimed it was the best they could get for me. Basically they wanted to rip me off. When I said, they should cancel that fraudulent deal, they charged me another 2.5% equals 2,000 Euro (!) for the cancellation.

In other words: They try to rip you off and if you don't agree to the rip-off, they charge you an exorbitant cancellation fee.

So right now I can only warn others to avoid DBS Vickers in Singapore for their banking needs.

And I think I will have to look for another alternative, where banking is not so obscure and not so fraudulent.

Does anybody have similar experience with them or a positive experience with another bank/securties company in SG?

Sam M.

You can own as many condos as you like, if you can afford it and if your condos fall under the 49% of area, that can be owned by foreigners.

You can rent the unit(s) out to others, why not? Thing to watch here is, that you need to get a Non-Immigrant-B visa, which will allow you to take care of renting out the units, but not to do any work on them by yourself. But no need for a work-permit, if you just want to own and rent out the unit(s).

A Work-Permit can only be applied for by a company, not by a person. Of course you could start a company with (another?) 2 million Baht in registered capital and then apply for a work permit. But why? Additional cost and effort, but without the need to do so...

Sam M.

I got me a Non-Im multiple entry at the end of last year in Germany from a honorary consulate. I had to be over 50 years old AND show to have 12,000 Euro (1,000/month) on my German account.

Haven't heard of any country issuing such visas except the home country, so sorry.

One reason is, that the Immigration wants to be sure you are still allowed to go back (and not to jail) to your home country, the other reason I guess is a tit-for-tat of the Immigration versus the restrictive issuing of visas for Thais to Western countries.

For Germans there is a website explaining visa classes and conditions at "www.thaikonsulat.de/index2.html".

Sam Munich

It certainly is the work of U.S. government and revenue pressure on banks around the world. And the localization of this pressure comes through AMLO.

On the other hand it shows the stupidity of those people making these (new) rules, as it hurts them themselve.

I was recently researching the possibility of opening a bank account (Savings, with ATM card) at several branch offices around my place. Reason being, that foreign retirees might want to set up a base here, either full time or during the cold months in the West. Certainly having a bank acount is a sine qua non condition, if I would want to stay here for a couple of months. Making it impossible for those retirees to open an account will mean loosing the money they will bring in to spend in the local economy.

It seems, it is still very much a matter of personal attitude of each branch manager. Another point is, that bringing a Thai friend along might also help.

What I found out though, is that Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, UOB and CIMB require the applicant to have a work-permit, TMB and K-Bank said either a work-permit or a proof of residing in Thailand. Thai Panich wanted a passport with a non-im visa, Bank of Ayuttaya just wanted to see any visa.

Now this is a random sampling! But what none of the people I asked could explain was, how a retiree (or early retiree) can provide a work-permit... A clear case of TIT...

Sam

I'm not so sure, that it's o.k. to do nothing.

Technically speaking the old passport is invalidated, when you get a new one. That would also make the immigration entry stamp invalid.

For one I would go and ask the Immigration,- can't hurt to politely ask.

When I got a new passport here a few years ago, I had to go to Immigration and have the entry stamp transferred. For the remaining time of the visa (!) I had to take both passports with me, as the visa can not be transferred (!) by Immigration. Visas are issued by embassies/consulates, which come under the Foreign Ministry, while Immigration is under Interior Ministry.

If I were you, I would play it safe.

Sam

Actually I think you should be able to get more than 50K a month. I was, until last year, working at a Thai company supervising implementation and ongoing use of an ERP software, making about 60K net. And that wasn't working 5 days/week, else I would have gotten around 80K before deductions.

If you can find a bigger company, where the software integration is to happen, you likely get more than in a plain software company. That s/w company would send you out or have you work on a project, where they might charge 60-80K a motnh and then they want to have their cut from that, leaving you with the said 35-50K. Actually, below 50K you can't get a work permit (as a Western European), so you can always claim that you need at least that much to be able to work officially. Working w/o a permit bears a certain risk, and if found out you might get blacklisted as persona-non-grata in Thailand.

Finding a job in Thailand is pretty difficult, finding a good/well-paid job is even mroe difficult, but nevertheless, good luck

Sam