CDB

I have a few staff who need to do a visa run next week to get a non-Imigrant visa.

My priorities are:

1) speed/comfort of visa run

2) ease of getting paperword done

3) cost

It seems we can get cheap AirAsia flights next week but the first flight to Singapore gets in at 10:30. A friend told me that the Thai embassy only accepts applications till 11:15 whereas I think it was 12:00 before. 45 minutes is really tight coming through immigration and getting to the Thai embassy but maybe doable.

For KL, the same problem in that the flight gets in earlier but it will surely take at least an hour to get downtown, or rather 90 minutes if I remember. So in both cases I presume we need to go down the night before, right?

KL is cheaper for hotels and food and the flight is shorter but I seem to remember them being tougher on paperwork.

Is it true that both embassies still accept visa applications in the morning and give them back the following afternoon?

Which is the best bet for a visa run?

Thx

Changing diet and exercise patterns in modern life is of coourse the primary reason behind the surge in diabetes. Really, people only need to make a small effort to improve their diet and get a bit more exercise and that makes a big difference.

Type II Diabetes doesn't happen suddenly. The fasting blood sugar levels sneak up slowly over the years. An inexpensive fasting blood sugar test taken every 1-2 years can show if you are at increasing risk. When you get to the stage of pre-diabetes, you take action on your diet and exercise. It's pretty much the same as high blood pressure. A little prevention goes a long way...

Now I'd like to mention some points not seen in this thread:

* HIV medications (ART) cause higher blood sugar levels in nearly everyone who takes them. That alone will account for 1-2% of the adult population being at much higher risk of diabetes. Instead of dying of HIV related diseases, survivors tend to be at high risk of diabetes and heart disease.

* A recent and rather remarkable discovery shows two foods can naturally control blood sugar: cinammon and coco. Or rather certain chemicals in them. This is not quackery, but the discoveries are not yet 100% believed by all nutritionists. Yet mostly this has been accepted as real and true in the past few years (google it). Since the pharmaceutical giants don't stand to make a fortune from this, it is not been marketed widely.

Small inexpensive changes to your daily patterns of life and diet can ward off this threat. It just needs education.

I agree it's a lot of money, but my reasons are:

* I want to progress to Thai nationality and of course PR is a prerequisite. Nationality has a lot of benefits and I am fortunate to come from a country that will happily allow me to renounce my original nationality and then come back later and claim it back again.

* I am not married and it is usefully practically as well as great peace of mind not to have to leave Thailand and find a new job quickly if I leave my current one.

* I am not married and the lines of business I am involved in generally require quite a lot of foreigners with work permits. By having PR I save an extra 2 million of registered capital and, more importantly, find it easier to get around the Thai to farang ratio rule. There are other options such as BOI, but it's a great help to have PR.

* I own my own condo but it would nice to be able to buy property without the rigmarole of sending money in circles. More importantly, financing is available for farangs with PR wanting to buy condos. I know there are options like BBL in Singapore for non PR people but that is not very practical (10 year repayment, 30% down, high loan amounts.)

* Same for buying cars and so on.

Finally, call me naive and optimistic but I believe there is tacit acceptance at the highest levels of government that the current system of requiring PR holders to have a work permit does not make sense. Who knows what the future may hold? Holder of PR in the future may gain additional benefits as Thailand follows the norms of immigration laws internationally. And if the converse happens -- that crackdowns continue and it gets harder to make your life here, PR will also be useful in that event.

For me the cost of PR is around one month's earnings. I can certainly conclude that if you are earning the minimum amount for PR, it might not be worthwhile, but for those that can reasonably afford it and qualify for it, I am sure that it is very valuable.

Yes that is also the letter I got last week.

It tells you to PREPARE the money, but not to come in and pay it. Interestingly it warns you that corrupt officials have in the past asked for extra money, but if that happens you should report that to the mentioned hotline numbers.

It does seem a bit early for the final letter to pick up the residence book.

I was relieved to see my name finally on this last list, close to the end. So nothing to do but wait a few months more, right?

Is it conceivable that anyone will get rejected having gotten to this stage? (Or rather I should ask, does anyone know of any cases where that happened?)

Is it safe to quit my job/find a new job -- or should I wait until I get the letter?

I applied for PR in December 2005 and here I am in 2007 with still no word one way or the other. They say my application is still under consideration....

Anyone else in the same boat?

On ITV they are saying they have caught someone with bomb-making materials. I guess that will clearly provide a link to what kind of group is behind this

Hi Edthetruth and all,

Well, it appears that there are TWO lists of successful candidates from 2005 so far. One list has 115 names, the other list has 131 names. If I recall correctly, one list was put up before the other.

Seems like they are round 1 and round 2 of approvals. My name was not on either list, but I was told that my application is still under consideration and I will know in January when they publish the final list of remaining sucessful candidates.

When I first looked at the Immigration site I saw only one list, and then two days later there was a second one, which I'll swear wasn't there before even though both notices are supposedly several months ago.

CDB

Thanks for all the helpful answers both on and off-line and especially a PM from a TV member who stopped working after his interview and still got PR.

I was pointed to a list today on the Immigration website which gave the names of 131 people who applied in December 2005, as I did, and who have now been provionally given PR pending final approval. My name was NOT on that list, which did alarm me enough into calling Immigration.

The response I got was:

"That is only the first list and your application is still under consideration. The remainder of successful applicants will be announced in January"

I suppose that they asked me some extra questions in October was the reason for not making the first list.

I guess even if I do leave my current firm soon, the work permit will not be handed back before the end of January, allowing me to still be rather hopeful...

Let me draw the attention of members to what I think is a slightly new perspective that hasn't been emphasized in the past discussions. Throughout my application, there has been little doubt that I personally am a good candidate. That is, I paid lots of tax over six years in the same firm, speak and read Thai well, own my condo, have a baby and girlfriend living with me and belong to many respectable and charitable institutions, etc.

The focus of all the extra questions, and I believe the risk to my PR application is all concerned with my company. It has lots of capital, is BOI sponsored and so on, but there has been a lot of scrutiny on its operational losses and many other questions about the company's business. Although I am a director of it, I am only a small shareholder and it's certainly not a small one-man show run by one guy and his Thai wife! Over the past few years the company has brought over half a BILLION baht into the country and has employed hundreds of Thais.

What I find strange is that my personal PR application, paid for and processed by me, not my employer is being judged and affected by Immigration's opinions and feelings toward the company...

I wonder would I have been better off not being a director of the firm, and just a plain employee?

Hi, I have a few questions:

(1) I submitted my PR application in December last year, and they have been asking for more and more documents until around 3 months ago. Interviews, etc., went fine but they came back at the end and wanted to see further evidence about the financial stability of my company.

Although the company has around 80 employees and plenty of capital it has been making losses and they wanted director's letters to explain the losses.

Anyway the question is: Since my application has been considered for 12 months now and they stopped asking questions, can I assume that I have a very strong likelihood of getting PR, or do a significnat percentage of people make it this far only to be turned down at the end?

(2) It looks like I may leave my company in the next few months -- before the PR comes through. Will this mess up my application completely or if I switch to a new company smoothly will it make little difference? Also if my new job is less than 80 K, will that affect it? Or how about two jobs (both as directors of two new companies) with a total well over 80K?

(3) Is anyone willing to guess (or who knows) when the Dec 2005 applicants will be passed/rejected? Is it reasonable to think it will be April or May 2007?

Thanks

And even worse the sicko has his own myspace page...the nerve!!

http://www.myspace.com/jonbenetlover

But it's impressive how he managed to update his profile recently to show only his public record arrest photos while being in the custody of the Thai police...

He claims he drugged and raped her.

Forensic evidence is that she was not drugged and raped... so his confession looks suspicious. I hope they have DNA evidence or else this sorry tale is going to get sorrier....

Could someone comment on these posible benefits:

(1) I read somewhere that dependants and family can also be on the PR permit. My father has lived in Thailand for a few years on a retirement visa. He lives near me but not in the same condo. Could he be transferred to my permit or make use of it somehow?

(2) There are conflicting statements as to when you can apply for Thai nationality. Some sites say ten years and some say five. But five or ten years from what?? Is it the length of time in Thailand or from date of receipt of the PR book? In my case I have lived here for 14 years and my application is in process.

(3) How about getting a mortgage from a local bank at local rates for a condo? I bought my first condo by bringing in money from overseas. I know I will need citizenship to be able to buy a house without the usual disadvanatges. I know I can get mortage from Bangkok Bank in Singapore, but it's expensive, over 10 years only and requires 30% up front. Can PR allow me to buy a condo just like a Thai person would?

And a separate question: I applied for PR last December 2005 and have done all the paperwork and interviews. When can I expect an answer? Does the fact that it's now mid-July mean I am less likely to be rejected? Does the current political stalemate mean that it's going to be a long wait (speculation or facts)?

I figure that the weaknesses in my application are:

* No degree, but I'll show trancripts that I attended University of London for a few years. I'm suppose this shows some kind of level of education.

* Not a lot of cash in the bank. I do own a condo worth 4-5 million but not much in the way of cash

* I am not paying huge amounts of tax. I'm paying more then twice the min. 50 K but not all that much more than the recommended 80 K

So I am hoping to redress that with

* membership of international organization where I am affialiated as an expert in my field along with lots of PH.Ds. NOt much proof apart from a website which I'll have translated.

* I am a member of many chambers of commerce, but importantly a founding director of one of the smaller chambers here. Hopefully a letter from the president of the chamber to that effect can compensate a bit for lack of degree in the prestige game

* Charitable activities are mentioned somewhere. I was on a socal club commitee that raised a lot of money for orphans over the years (fairly pathetic I know, but sudden last minute donations are not accepted as genuine charity)

* I'll ask "prestigious" people to give me references.

Who knows if this will help. But from what others tell me, it might do, so it's worth a try...

Some answers, questions, and comments:

* The questioning in Thai seemed to be open-ended and unlimited, but I suppose they started out in the initial cateogies as mentioned above, then maybe she wandered off topic a bit. Responses were transcribed, but incompletely. At first I didn't even realize it was a formal part of the process. She fiddled with the camera a few times so it looked like the questioning was being recorded but the device didn't look like it could take lots of long digital videos....

* I applied under the "supporting a Thai dependent" regulation. Immigration officers told me clearly that supporting my child who lives with me would be sufficient for the cheaper version, and I didn't have to be married. The official who later interviewed me said I had to be married. When I suggested I might marry my girlfriend, she said that unless I was married for two years it wouldn't count.

* During the written test, she read the questions but not the choices. However I had already told her that I read Thai and she could see that was so.

* I was specifically told to take photos of myself with my gf and baby at home on the sofa! That despite the fact that I ended up applying under the working category not the Thai dependant category.

* three or four questions on the written test were questions about the PR process. I was asked what the fee was, and what the procedure was if I wanted to leave the country once I had the book ( I got that one wrong!). Before the test the immigration officer went over all the rules and procedures but I wasn't really listening to her at all since I had no idea I was about to be tested.

* Several friends got PR without speaking a word of Thai. Either the rules have changed (always likely) or they didn't need the "points" gained by passing the Thai test because they worked for multinationals.

* As to whether I should have been on top of the procedures, I will note that I interviewed two PR holders in depth and neither was tested in Thai in any way. Then I asked my secretary to follow up and check. Finally I went to Thaivisa.com and clicked on "residency" -- nothing about a Thai test there, is there? Not to worry since I speak Thai well and got nine of ten questions right.

I had to say where and how I met my gf and why I didn't register marriage with her.

That must have been a tough one to answer: an Irish bloke refusing to make an honest woman of the mother of his son

---------------

Maestro

My answer was that I wanted her to graduate first and that she was still quite young (23). And that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet her parents.

(of course that wasn't the real reason)

Sounds like I have my secretary to blame for not forewarning me. The HR department processes a lot of foreigners (we have 20+ working with us) so this is something she should have known.

I am an Irish national aged 37, CEO of mid sized BOI sponsored company (~100 employees in Thailand).

I have been living here for over 12 years the last three of which have been with my girlfriend and 13 month old son. My name is on his birth cert., and his name is on my house registration. I earn enough to not have financial issues with immigration and I own a condo here that I live in.

So I am applying for the PR under the working category, since I am not married. 197 K but worth it, I suppose since I will eventually seek nationality.

Anyway the application is going smoothly enough and today I was back for another visit and interview ostensibly to hand in some more of the inevitable incomplete documentation.

One of the things they required was an extensive series of photos of me at home with my baby and girlfriend, pictures of the condo from inside and out, photos of me at my desk in the office, photos of me around the office, the office from the outside and so on. A bit nosy for all the family photos, don't you think since I am not applying under the section to support a Thai family...

But what shocked me was the following:

* I was grilled intensively in Thai for 25 minutes about my life, my job and relationship. I had to say where and how I met my gf and why I didn't register marriage with her. I was also asked about my previous jobs in Thailand and many other in-depth questions. My answers were transcribed and recorded on several pages of typed documentation. This Thai documentation was then printed out and I read it over and signed it.

* Next they turned on a video camera and I had to look into the camera and say a few sentences in Thai telling my age, nationality, workplace, salary, occupation, and so on.

* Finally they give me a written Thai test(!), multiple choice and mostly trivial. The questions included such idotic ones as "which is the following is a Thai food: A. macaroni, B. steak, C, Tom yum kung D. sushi" (but remember you do have to read and answer Thai). There were also some slightly harder ones such as "At which festival do they play a song entitled [something about a full moon]?" and "How many provinces are there in Thailand?" . Finally they had questions on my knowledge of the PR application process (which I had not studied too much since my secretary was in charge of that).

I'm sure I did okay on the test and I speak Thai clearly enough, but this process was a total shock to me. I expect something like this when applying for nationality, but for residence??

There's nothing mentioned about this on thaivisa.com and also I know of other people of the same nationality, income level, and status who don't speak a word of Thai but got their PR easily enough.

What's going on? Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a new process? I sure would have like to have been forewarned about this...

I'm currently trying to get my son an Irish passport and am stymied by the fact that his Thai birth certifcate claims I come from "Iceland" rather than "Ireland". My girlfriend did spell "Ireland" correctly and they ignored her protestations that they had gotten the country name wrong.

When I complained to the hospital (St. Louis) they insisted that there could not have been an error since they enter codes for each country rather than type in the name!

It's called "Pra La"

Well, "Plah rah" is a more correct transliteration, from "plah" = fish, and "ra" = mould, yeast. In the Isaan vernacular it sounds more like "balah".

This particular version of Somtam usually called Somtam Lao or Somtam Plah Ra is certainly far more dangerous than the other versions. Food poisoning is not the problem so much as the nasty organisms that can be in the fermented fish...

From May 1st, THAI is flying non-stop to NewYork for 34,000 THB. It's around 17 hours each way.

Even in basic economy there is a charger for a laptop and a personal entertainment system, and premium economy (more legspace, and greater seat tilt) is only 45,000 THB.

Deals like that will help improve the reputation. Also FWIW, I fly 50,000 miles or so a year on THAI and their service is usally pretty ###### good. If you speak Thai politely to the hostesses you'll most likely get as good service as any airline anywhere.

THAI is doing its first rebranding in decades and only released the logos in the past few days. The post here is little more than a press release but there is serious effort being made into changing the airline's image/service.

Forums like this always bring out the negative naysayers -- doesn't every airline have a pilferage problem with its baggage handlers? THAI is certainly not a bad airline by any standard and what's wrong with hoping it can compete a bit better with Cathay and Singapore?

the largest planet in the Universe.

Nope. There are many planets in the Universe that are much bigger than Jupiter. Jupiter is merely the biggest in our own solar system.

It's not the fourth brightest object in the sky either.

Fare enough, I say

She attributed the spread of AIDS among young people to the influx of western cultures.

I'm not sure if this is a cop-out or just ignorance. To the average Thai, they see promsicuity portrayed positively in Western media and it's hardly surprising that they relate one with the other.

I often have this discussion with Thais. I point out that in all the Western cultures which accept pre-marital sex as normal and virginity as less relevant, in the past they were equally as "moral" as traditional Thai values. What happened then? Did these cultures "degenerate" because of some race/culture issue?

No, it was the economic liberation of women that was the root of the change. When a women's status and wellbeing is linked only to that of her family and male partner, it extremely restricts how she can act sexually. Once a society reaches a point in its evolution where women can expect to be financially independent, those women will not accept the traditional "rules". The execption is when relgious beliefs are so strong that this urge for freedom can be held in check.

Buddhism does not have terrible strictures against sex, premarital or paid. If anything it promotes moderation not abstainance.

So the core reason for young Thai women acting differently to the traditional ways of their mothers is far more likely to be associated with the fact that Thai society is more developed and women can have more independence. It's really the women's attitude that is important. After all, in the "traditional" Thailand, men typically took every chance they had for sex -- so what's changed?

I'm sure Western media plays an influential but secondary role.

The problem is that the genie cannot be put back into the bottle. It's nearly impossible to to "educate" young women into remaining virgins once the trend has started. (In the States such campaigns have had limited success only in areas that have strong christian faiths/values).

Currently the Thai older generation and those in power are fanatically trying to force the old values on the new. A leading politician admitted that the main purpose of enforcing the over 20 rule in nightclubs was to protect the virginity of young women. Before Thailand can address the real issues of tennage sexuality it needs to stop thinking that such sex is "evil" and that it comes from Western values.

(1) I am not married but I do have a son who lives with me. He is a Thai national with his house registration as my address and he takes my surname. I am listed as the father on his birth certificate. Can I claim the 15,000 tax allowance for a child without being married? If so, what evidence and procedures are necessary.

(2) I own a condo and the title deed is with Bangkok bank because I have an overdraft (SME loan) with them. The limit is around 1.5 million but I'm usually overdawn less than a million. So I pay about 5,000 interest a month.

The purpose of the loan was officially to make improvements to my condo (though I am sure the bank knows it was really bridge financing to make the purchase). It specifically was NOT for the purchase of real estate as that would not have been allowed.

Anyway I'd like to know if I can claim the tax allowance for interest paid on constructions?

I'm agreed with Pedro & IndoSiam as I regularly get resumes from farang who expect 120-200 K THB a month but with no idea how they would provide that value to the company.

I employ both Thai and farang project managers in the range of 50-70 K THB a month plus 1% of the value of projects managed. Opportunities for promotion. No problem with work permits since we're BOI-sponsored.

It is probably harder to find really good Thai PMs than farang ones, but they do exist and many can do a better job than any farang. Why? They are bilingual and can better manage the Thai resources but also usually have lived overseas long enough to understand attitudes and client relations in farang land.

We don't have discrimination in the pay packages offered to farang or Thai PMs so the Thais tend to be satisfied much more then the farangs. The farang staff also have a far greater likelihood of quitting to leave Thailand (for various reasons) or jump to a higher paying position. I can't see many organizations that would need or could justify paying a farang project manager much more than a Thai one, so expectations outside the 50-100 K a month bracket are unrealistic. Sales is another matter, in that you can make proportionately as much as you can sell, and there are clear reasons why a farang might be able to sell bigger deals to multinationals than a Thai.

In the end I will agree that 50-100 K is a lousy salary if you plan to return to farangland and get into the housing market there. But if you are here for the long haul it sure beats teaching English.

To the original poster: yes there are PM positions for farang in Thailand as long as your expectations are sensible. But no I don't think there are recrutiment agencies that specialize in farangs, but perhaps some of the farang owned ones such as ISM might be helpful.