dao16

Learn to speak thai. If you can't pull after that, maybe you have other issues to deal with.

.

Double post sorry, but I still think the 'government' and immigration system has shot itself in the foot, leg and goolies by not creating a new visa for farang who can make ample amounts of moolah on the internet legally, it is easily done in many different ways, and it takes away no jobs from the oh so precious Thai work force, and the money goes straight into the economy. Why have they not addressed this properly?

Because verifying income and calculating tax payments would be very hard, if not impossible, to verify.

All governments demand taxes.. Thailand would be no different.

You said it LL.

These nomads want to dodge taxes. That's all there is to it.

'nuff said

~

Um, they still have to pay taxes in the place where their business is registered...."nuff said"

Ok, just going to say...I am on my 3rd work permit and it has never taken longer than just over 24 hours. The first one was offered to me in 30 minutes (it was a matter of the proper personnel being in at the time I stopped by the office). So, no, it doesn't take long at all.

The documents....they are just the normal documents that license a business and certify a candidate. These organizations are being liberal with how they do their own paperwork and don't want to reveal that. Or, as many said, they don't even want to declare the taxes (more likely the case--big boys on top of the school have to eat!).

I am talking about schools. I realize that other industries could be different, but it would seem that if you are a certified SCUBA certificate provider (for example) with all your papers in place, getting a work permit for a certified instructor with all his or her paperwork in place wouldn't be much more difficult.

Either way, don't let this person saying it is some insanely difficult process for schools convince you. It isn't (and I know of many others who have had the same experience). Look at where the incentive$ are.

(EDIT)--In fact, just as my response was uploading, it occurred to me that the Ministry of Labor has been one of the easiest an most straightforward places in bureaucracy to work with in the years I have been here.

I like it well enough here after several years. In the end, it is life, with the good times and the bad times. There are definitely annoyances and problems here like there are anywhere, so I don't think I would call it "living the dream." That said, I could live back in my home country (the US...problems and all), but I still find it fun and interesting to be here.

Don't base your view on the content on Thai Visa. When people post here, it tends to be some problem they have had. It is sort of like the news--they never post "Everything went well today and I was pleasantly surprised at a few moments," even though those days happen as well.

I am not sure why you had such a bad experience. Yes, it is more expensive than Thailand (Malaysia as a whole), but I had a great time there about 7 years ago. Maybe it has changed.

We liked KL more, but Penang was still fun, once we got to the beach area. Everyone spoke English, which I was not prepared for...so that was a nice surprise. Didn't drive, just cabs and the occasional bus, so signs didn't matter much. Even so, when walking, we found it easy to get around. The beach was pretty and I saw girls in bikinis and not in burquas, although some girls were also swimming in their clothes, as they do in conservative places sometimes.

A for food.....sorry, not eating at McDonald's anywhere, even in the US (and yeah, I am American). We ate Malaysian and Indian food the entire time and it was always really good. As for beer...the muslims didn't care if I had a beer. Yeah, it is pricier there due to the taxes, but I was never harassed about it and even had a beer while talking with muslims who were drinking tea.

I am not implying that you didn't have this experience, but it does sound completely different to what we experienced there.

When I was not working here, I was told by immigration to get a non-O based on marriage and leave the country every three months. Yes, immigration told me to do that. So I did, and I lived here that way for a few years--immigration was fine with it since it was, after all, their idea.

Well, this makes the most sense. If you are in a situation where you need to present ID, you can go back to your house, apt or hotel and produce it. Fair enough.

I think it was just the wording of the other announcements that made it sound so draconian. Obviously, if there is an issue, you have to present your documents just like you would anywhere else, as it should be.

Like I said, they would prefer someone brings the passport to wherever you're located. This is what I was told. Obviously it isn't always possible but personally, if I don't have my passport, it will be somewhere the wife can go get it and easily find it.

Well, I can't think of a time here when I am more than 10-20 minutes away from where my passport is. Usually I do carry it, just because I constantly have paperwork I need to do with it. I also have to technically carry my work permit, too. And I have another Thai government ID, too.

If I am going out to get some beers and something to eat, though, I do leave the passport at home, which isn't far (I live in a small town). In BKK and larger tourist spots, I may or may not take it out on the town, depending on plans.

But yeah....definitely not leaving the province or even the town without my passport.

Well, this makes the most sense. If you are in a situation where you need to present ID, you can go back to your house, apt or hotel and produce it. Fair enough.

I think it was just the wording of the other announcements that made it sound so draconian. Obviously, if there is an issue, you have to present your documents just like you would anywhere else, as it should be.

 

 

I am sure they did see the bombing of London as a war crime and not the fire bombing of Dresden.

It is easy to forget that is how war used to be, until very recently. It was country against country and that included civilians. It was not just army against army.
During WW2, all nations used bombing of cities as a method of interfering with war production and demoralizing the enemy. Japan did it in China, Germany did it with the London Blitz, Italy did it in Ethiopia, and the allies did it with the bombing of Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg, as well as Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These strategic bombing campaigns were predicated on the concept of Total War. The civilian population under the control of the enemy was seen as a resource. Therefore, the civilian populace was considered a legitimate target of attack.

 

I agree that much has been changed since then but Hiroshima and Nagasaki are of a different scale and so bad it has never been seen before. I am pretty sure that most agree it was overkill especially the one on Nagasaki. It was just a show of power towards the Russians. 

 

I thank the USA for helping us get rid of the Germans and Japanese but if something was a war crime those things were. But I am also not blind for the argument that Japan would have gone on fighting. But I really see these things.. London Dresden Hiroshima Nagasaki as war crimes. That they all did it does not make it any less bad.

 

The fire bombings did much more damage and killed many more people...most people now don't think about those because they were more "conventional" at the time. Also, people seem to forget that it isn't like we bombed the cool Japan that you can go visit now. It was a country under a mass hysteria under an emperor who could do no wrong in their eyes. Arguably, they were more loyal and dedicated to their emperor than Germans were to Hitler.

           I hope these kinds of weapons never get used again....

2 hours? what a joke! in reality if you study something you should attend to class at least 5 hours a day..

5 hours a day is a bit much. I have done 4 a day one-on-one for some languages and that was a lot. Then you go home, relax, and study everything you have learned. I guess in a group things go more slowly, maybe--not sure what the situation is here.

This seems like an English teacher bashing post, but don't want to call you a troll. Not sure why. Nice angle, though. 

     Teaching English gives you a lot of skills. It makes you look carefully at your own language (and others) and analyze it. It also does wonders for people in terms of public speaking. Insert example here...I won't bother..it's just true. Also time management and a bunch of other stuff.

          Anyway, I am not sure why one being a teacher before would immediately count them out. A lot of your loathed "teachers" are like me--graduated with honors from a top university, did the corporate world, even good jobs in the public sector, and then realized teaching was a fun way to travel. That doesn't mean they don't have applicable skills for whatever position it is you are trying to fill. It seems like you are the problem here with your way of approaching this. Tell those people what the requirements are and they can apply through HR. Simple. 

        In my own personal case, I just don't find that most non-teaching jobs in Thailand available for foreigners fit my skill set, so I have never applied to non-teaching jobs here (in fact, got the teaching job by word of mouth and never did a proper job search for it). But that doesn't mean that some people don't. 

       These people aren't crazy weirdos...they just know you might have an idea for employment outside of teaching, so they ask you. Be a professional and just refer them to the appropriate department.

For a bit of background, I have learned Thai and Laos (Isaan) from self-study and talking with people over the last decade or so. I live most of my life in Thai, except when I have to go give classes. In other words, my Thai/Laos is enough that I know I am not completely butchering things, since people in my out-of-school life understand me.

At the uni, I keep things in English. The guy before me was much better at Thai (not just speaking, but reading, writing...the whole lot) and he would give entire lectures in Thai, which I thought was ridiculous.

Anyway, I will occasionally throw in a Thai word or expression (or, something in Laos for laughs...not because it is a bad language, but because the students get super excited that you know expressions in their local lingo). I never go beyond a word or a short expression/sentence and students will never suspect that I actually know more than that. They think I have just memorized a few expressions.

I know this from first hand experience, as I ran into a student working at a bar/restaurant when I was out with my wife (I work at a uni, so the kids wait tables, etc.). We knew the owner and my student was there while my wife, the owner, another worker and I were all having a conversation in Thai. During a lull in the conversation, she said "oh, you can speak Thai? All the students think you can't speak Thai like this."

So, I think that as long as you keep it minimal, it won't affect the class....since they won't really believe you can actually speak and understand based on a few expressions or words.

I'm on double entry tourist visa spending a week in Vietnam and arriving back to Thailand on 14th for second half of my visa.

Wonder how this will go. I don't have any back to back visas in my passport, and I don't have any visa exemptions. I do have multiple double entry tourist visas over many years. Visa was acquired from home country, not a border country in Asia.

you'll be fine. youre not doing an Out/In

Nobody knows including the guy at immigration.

Good luck with that.

My answer:

care to show ONE example where a double entry tourist visa has been refused after a 7 day trip out?

are you claiming that someone was refused entry in narathiwat when trying to enter on the second entry of a double entry tourist visa after being absent from thailand for a number of days? I have seen no such post!

There was another thread about 8 people who were refused entry at that checkpoint and told to go back to KL and fly to BKK.

One of the most extreme places I have seen in the US was LA. A friend of mine from there (we are both Americans, but he is from LA) took me to the Westin Hotel near downtown. Beautiful hotel. We went up the tower and there was a rotating restaurant on top that takes about an hour to give you a 360 view of the city. We drank martinis for an hour and had a great time.

On the way back, we walked though skid row to get back to the car. Worse than anything I have seen in Thailand. Just a few blocks difference.

Don't get me wrong...I love the US and I love Thailand, too. But you can see some pretty stark contrasts in both countries...they are just different ones.

EDIT/ADDITION--I do understand, though, how someone from certain parts of the US (including where I grew up) might not be used to contrasts like that, since smaller communities tend to be more homogeneous.

Disclaimer: I have no real skin in this game as I'm on a new non-O multi. I'm just curious.

Are you staying on back to back 90 day entries from a Multi visa? In this case it is clearly an abuse of the rules and not how this visa is intended to be used. If the crackdown continues, these visas may well become the next target after NON-EDs

That's funny. I did that for a few years and there were no problems. In fact, I was instructed to do that by....wait for it......drum roll.....the local immigration office.

A lifelong trip to a prison here might be just the ticket. Hopefully, they will also inform the other inmates who he is.

RIP little girl.

I've brought in cash but didn't feel good carrying all that money. Done swift, too, but just transferring from my home bank to my Bangkok Bank account (via NY branch internet banking) is painless and the only way I do it now.

The bigger question -- to me -- is how do I get my 800,000 baht out of Thailand should I elect to pack it in over here?

For cash, make sure you only sell/buy with superrich Thailand. They are the only company I am aware of that offers better than TT rates.

For cash, that is exchanged at banks, quoting from Kasikornbank at 9-Jul-14, their cash spread for USD stands at 2%. Which means it is 1% off from the 'best of the best exchange rate". Everytime you exchange with them, you incur a 1% fee. TT spread are usually half of that, I'm about to go eat so lazy to do another check. But if TT's incur a 0.5% deviation from the "best of the best exchange rate", you may benefit by doing SWIFT instead of cash, as it has a cheaper cost if you transfer a bigger balance. So cash is not always the winning situation if you think you are evading the transfer costs but then you get a higher exchange cost.

How do get it out?

Welcome to the rich world. Nothing can NOT be done. Always a way. Should I tell you? I don't promote illegal activities.

Rich people don't use SWIFT, etc.

*wink wink* Two local transfers happen in two different countries. Both happy sides. Just need connections.

Check the limits of what you can carry on a plane. In most countries it is around 10,000 USD or about that equivalent in the local currency. When I came here I know I carried a substantial amount in travelers checks (take the precautions of writing down the numbers in a different place and saving them in case you lose them, store them in two or three different groups in different places so you don't get stuck without at least some of them). Of course, the rest of the money would have to find another route (you DO NOT want to get caught over the currency limits leaving or entering any airport, as they usually have laws saying they can confiscate it all plus other penalties).

So, do some searches online and check the limits and then you can move under the undeclared limit on your person (also, remember that the limits are usually per family) and then find another way for the rest of it. Alternatively, I know that some people actually take over the "limit" but then declare it on their customs form. Again, all this is country dependent, but legal if done correctly, so do your research.

There are a lot of people without degrees working here with proper visas and work permits. It all depends on how they are classified and where they are teaching. You might try vocational schools or certain low level universities. Teachers are classified differently in some places like that (something like 'visiting lecturer'). Also, I know some people who are classified as English trainers or something like that, but their jobs look pretty much exactly like teaching.

Of course, it will always be more precarious without a degree since things could change later. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I have definitely seen it. Do your research first and make sure you have enough money upfront in case you don't crack the code fast enough.

They have been fighting them tooth and nail in the US, too, but they will eventually lose or, better yet, move over themselves. I have never used Uber, but have heard that it is much better than regular US taxis (not talking about UK taxis here....have no experiences with them).

In the US, cab services are subject to a bunch of corruption and stupid (not reasonable) regulation that is mostly aimed to keep the struggling drivers working and making money for the $$ people. In NYC, it costs several hundred thousand dollars (2, I think?) for a "medallion" you need to operate a taxi there. That pretty much means that no regular person can reasonably hope to operate independently from people with loads of cash.

It would seem much better to regulate Uber to an extent, but in the end connect people more directly and give riders a break on the price and let drivers keep more of the money they generate.

move far away...asap

Since the coup, I have noticed that the regular extorti---police checkpoints have been absorbed by the military and moved down the road. So, now the police are with the soldiers in a nearby location every day, but they don't stop people like before. They just keep an eye out on people coming and going. I can't believe I am saying this, but I actually like it better this way. It seems like everyone is better behaved now.

Now, I know what the fan base is for US soccer. Hipsters. I had thought it was ascot wearing preppies on the East coast who liked to use soccer as a badge to advertise their summer vacations in England. But I was wrong. It's hipsters instead. Yep, that ought to make the US soccer crazy alright, with hipsters leading the way.

"It's pretty impressive, given that we're not a soccer country at all," Zach Fuhr, 23, told AFP, clutching a liter glass of beer in the packed garden of the pub, in LA's hipster Silver Lake neighborhood.

Or, it is a generation (now two, I guess) of us who played the sport competitively from 4 to our early 20s and really know the game inside and out (even though I was not quite good enough to be like the guys on the team and represent the country). I have watched the world cup games since I was a kid and you had to go deep into the cable channels to find games in the wee hours of the night when our team sucked and had hardly any professional players. I am very proud of the advancements we have made in my lifetime.

By the way, I am not from either of the coasts and I am not a bleepin hipster.

GO USA!

I'm liking the 25-year loan idea more now.

Yes, I have a friend who is doing this now after being burned by his ex-wife. Now, his current girlfriend has taken out a home loan and he pays the 5,000 or whatever it is per month, which is what he would pay in rent anyway. If the relationship goes sour (and it could happen to anyone....don't be blinded by how much you love your lady now) she will have the loan and he can just walk away knowing that he paid the same as renting, which he would have done anyway. If everything works out long-term, all cool--you have a house. Win-win.

Just make sure to pay the monthlies yourself so the girlfriend doesn't have the temptation to "borrow" the mortgage payment from time to time.

MMMM....it seems to me that it would depend on the family. We still have one kid living in the countryside with grandma and grandpa. We are not far away, though, and we seem him regularly. He also comes and stays with us when he is off from school. He actually gets more exposure to society out in the countryside (we decided not to have him come into the city to study so he could have a few more years of fun countryside life, like I had and my wife had--those years don't come back).

We will take him into the city soon. They seem to adapt quickly. But he loves him grandparents and has a lot of friends out there. I would venture to say that a lot of this might come from impoverished families with no education and a whole boatload of kids (not just one) staying with them. Interesting article, though.