keestha

Snowwolf,

I dont know about Bangkok, but here upcountry where I live, I was stopped often enough at police checkpoints, and not having a valid drivers licence and sometimes even not wearing a safety belt would most likely cost you some money.

A friend of mine who holds a workpermit went to the Thai Embassy in Singapore this week, and though he requested a multiple entry, he was given only a single entry. Other work permit holders of various nationalities (French, British, German) who applied for a multiple on the same day, suffered the same fate.

On this forum it has repeatedly been pointed out before though, that the Embassy in S'pore is not known as being the easiest place to apply for a visa. It would be quite interesting to hear about the experiences of people who have applied for multiple entries  recently (less than two weeks ago) at Embassies/Consulates in other neighbouring countries.

This thread would be much more interesting and less time consuming to read if those posting would just come with facts, or briefly state an opinion and arguments supporting that opinion.

The same things being repeated over and over again, people being carried away by their emotions, and even more so posters fighting and occasionally even insulting each other don’t make for captivating reading.

Nat,

Sorry things turned sour.

Conceivably this could help a little bit: A Thai lady I know split up with her abusive husband, but though they were not living together anymore, he kept on hassling her, demanding money and so on. After a long time she moved to another province, where she rented a house not far fom where her sister lives. The guy though got word of where she went to, and with a few friends he went to her sisters house, drunk and demanding in a threatening way to see his ex wife.  When they had finally left, her sister went to the police and explained them everything, for the police it was the most  important to know the lady in question and her (ex) husband  had stopped living together for a somewhat more extended period.  The next day the guy went to her sisters house again, but her sister managed to call the police, who came promptly. The police checked the guys identity card and jotted down the details, and made it clear to him that he would be in big trouble if he would ever come back, which he indeed never did.

Fully agree with what has been pointed out before, that those who if the proposed new law would take effect wouldn’t qualify for a regular one year visa extension anymore, could still stay in Thailand using one year multiple entry visas issued abroad.

It cannot be denied though that the trend is to make it more difficult for no so moneyed foreigners to stay permanently in this country, so one can wonder how long these multiple entry visas will remain relatively easily available.  

One more thing: in how far can be counted on the “grandfather clause principle”, can working, retired or married foreigners who already at least once have obtained a one year extension keep on getting yearly extensions if they meet the requirements as stated in the old law, if the new law would take effect?  There must be precedents showing how consequently the grandfather clause principle is being applied under Thai law. Legal experts, please shine your lights on this if you didn’t become too tired wrestling yourselves through this thread.

Sorry for the previous post, I just hit the wrong button.

My intention is to open up a bar in Patong but have it in my gf's name

its possible to get a work permit on an "O" or "B" visa and yes if that’s as a manger of the bar or restaurant. The key was he said he had money so no problem with the 2 million baht registered capital needed.

Sunbelt,

Stroke stated that he wanted to put the bar in his gf's name, am I right in supposing now that you want to tell him to put it in a still to be established company's name instead, for which the minimally required registered capital is 2 million Bath indeed?

Besides that, I think it is questionable if in Phuket a work permit will be given out on the basis of a simple Patong beerbar, assuming that is what Stroke has in mind.

It wouldnt be a bad idea if Stroke or his gf would go for advice to a reputable Phuket law firm, such as the International Law Office, details can be found through the internet, for instance via the website of the Phuket Gazette. In no way I want to belittle Sunbelt's expertise, but a local Phuket law firm might be better informed about how the law is applied in Phuket province.

Yesterday I drove up to the small upcountry town which is the seat of the municipality where I am residing, in order to help an acquaintance to open a bank account. The person in question is a retiree who holds an non immigrant O visa.

At the first bank where we tried our luck, he was refused because he doesnt hold a work permit, and we were told to go instead to the branch of another major bank just around the corner. So we did, and at this other bank he could open an account right away just showing his passport, they hardly seemed interested in his visa type. So yes, how the rules are applied varies from bank to bank and from branch to branch.

- If funds are paid into a Thai bank account from outside they are not subject to restrictions regarding moving money away to outside accounts...right?

- Any taxes to be paid on interest?

Yes money that has been transferred from abroad into a Thai bank account can be moved out again, but speaking from experience I would advice to conduct this type of transaction at a branch in a major city with a heavy foreign presence, where they are familiar with this type of thing. At a branch in a small town they might not know this can be done or how it should be done, and they might insist on a lot of not really needed paperwork in order to make you give up, or maybe just tell you it cannot be done. At my local bank I ran against a brick wall trying to do this, whilst at a branch of the same bank in a major tourist center in a neighbouring province it was done in a wiffy.

As far as taxes on interest is concerned, yes interest on money in what is  locally called a time deposit is taxed. In 2000 my bank advised me to rather put the money in a savings account, which resulted in a marginally higher yield.

Even up to the day before the Bank of Thailand floated the baht, your paper and all the other wise papers were...... none the wiser.

Dont agree here......."your paper" in this case refers to the Bangkok Post. I remember that just before they floated the Baht, the Bangkok Post's business section was rife with speculations that it would become impossible to keep the Baht tied up to the basket of currencies it used to be tied up with in those days. True Thai authorities kept staunchly denying they would ever float the Baht, but for those reading the Bangkok Post or probably any other newspaper, it couldnt possibly have been a complete surprise when the Baht was eventually cut loose.

Tutsiwarrior,

Ranong is at the Andaman coast approx. 270 KM north of Phuket, just opposite the southernmost point in Burma. Going down there by bus from Bangkok would take about 10 hours.

From Sanghklaburi (three pagodas pass) in Kanchanaburi province you can cross into Burma for the day but I believe this is not an official border crossing yet, so that you dont get the stamps you need for making a visa run. You go into Burma, but officially you stay in Thailand. If the Burmese cigars are your thing though, most likely you can get them in the market village just across the Burmese border. Note when I was there in 1999 I had to pay 10 US$ to cross into Burma, they didnt accept Thai currency.

One option nobody mentioned, is going to Ranong and crossing over to Myanmar (Burma) from there. You do not need a visa for Burma for this.You could fly to Ranong or take the bus from the Southern Busterminal. True if you are living in Bangkok this would be time consuming (cannot go and come back in one day), but so would be going down to the Malaysian border and back.

Once in Ranong there are two options to choose from: go to the Andaman Club which is a casino island owned by a Thai guy but inside Burma so that you get the necessary exit and entry stamps (they have their own pier from where the boats leave), or take a longtailboat from Ranong harbour to the Burmese mainland just across, at the Burmese side they will stamp you in and out for I believe US$5 or 200 Baht and you can go right back to Thailand where they will stamp you in again. Have a nice visa run!

Hello Sunbelt,

Dont wanna go into a yes-no discussion, but.......The vast majority of farangs starting businesses in Thailand go into the restaurant, bar or guesthouse business, or a combination of those. Also some will open shops or travel agencies, go into website designing, or whatever. My point is though, that anybody who has lived for some time or spent a lot of holidays in a place like Koh Samui, Phuket, Hua Hin , Chiang Mai or Pattaya has seen the farang business owners come and go, the majority of them having run the business for not so long. Their reason for going is usually not that they have accumulated enough wealth to retire. I have to concede that some of these guys had to stop because they made the mistake of putting the business on the name of the recently acquired Thai girlfriend/wife.

I would advice any farang who is considering to start  a business, especially in the hospitality industry,  to get hold of an about 3 years old copy of the Phuket Gazette, Pattaya Mail, Hua Hin Observer, Sudostasien Zeitung or whatever other local farang oriented magazine, and then check which farang run businesses who advertised are still there. Or even better, talk to the local Thai people who have seen them come and go. In for instance Koh Samui, they wont be very much impressed if you tel them that you are about to open a restaurant: they will simply regard you as a tourist who needs a bit more time to get rid of his money.

But then, dont take my word for gospel, my view might be biased because I have spent too much  time talking to losers who share my preference for late night drinking places.

Quoting Sunbelt:" The problem with getting many views is you will get so confused, you’ll be frozen. So much misinformation out there. Go into a bar and ask 10 different people about setting up a company. You’re going to get 10 different answers. Can you seperate the correct advice from the overall answers?  

The successful business owner is not going to share his positive views. Why should he? More competition for his business! "

IMHO, more likely to happen is that the not so successful "business" owner is not going to share the thruth about what really happened , and about the situation he is in presently. He will be ashamed to tell that after having spent 7 years in the LOS he still doesnt have a source of steady income, and that he is worried about the electricity bill which is due to arrive at the end of the month. To the guy he meets in a bar he will give a far more positive review of the facts than what is warranted by reality.

Also.......It happens a lot that for instance farang bar/restaurant/guesthouse owners who are operating at a loss, their only way to stay in the LOS is  to find a gullible recently arrived westerner  to buy their "business" or to become a "partner". Reality is that the guy who becomes a "partner" is told he will get his share of the profit at the end of every month, but what really happens is het he gets paid back his own money bit by bit. (Wont mention alternative scenarios that are even worse).

George,

Would this apply only in Phuket or everywhere in Thailand? And do you know or does somebody else maybe know how much personal income tax would have to be paid every month on a 50000 or 60000 Bath monthly salary?

Maybe Thai authorities should reconsider a change in the law which took effect a few years ago, raising the national park entry fee for foreigners to 200 Baht. For Thai citizens it is 20 Baht.

Many tourists are quite rightly pissed off being required to pay this, because you dont get anything for it. As a rule national parks dont have any infrastructure like walking paths, campgrounds, or a well equipped visitors center where information can be dispensed. Usually the only facility the tourist can use after having paid the entry fee is a public toilet, maybe apart from restaurants, but they are usually privately run.

Of course there are exceptions such as Khao Sok in Surat Thani and Khao Yai northeast of Bangkok, both are national parks with a very good infrastructure where the 200 Bath entry fee for tourists is fully justified.

By the way myself I always get into national parks for the Thai price, I just show my Thai drivers licence and explain that I work in Thailand. Especially in the national parks which are getting a lot of tourists national park staff need little convincing to let me in for 20 Baht: they might feel a bit frustrated because too many farangs just turned back after being told they would have to pay 200 Baht just for parking the rented motorbike next to the waterfall and maybe using the loo.

Jade mentioned the anti malarial drug Lariam.....Dont underestimate the negative side effects this drug can produce. In at least one country (Denmark) prescribing it has already been prohibited. Lariam seems (sometimes) to have an effect on the mind that causes people for instance to have bizarre dreams, and reportedly it causes one in a thousand people who take it to become psychotic. It can very well be that the negative side effects only start kicking in after having taking the drug for an extended period like 5-6 weeks.

Generally speaking a tourist visiting Thailand should only take anti malarial drugs if he goes trekking in border areas in Northern Thailand, or if he intends to spend a lot of time in national parks or other remote areas.

As a disclaimer I should add there is still a theoretical chance that people following this advice would contract malaria anyway, after all one mosquito bite can be enough to contract the disease. In Europe there have been cases of people getting malaria after being bitten at an international airport in their own country, surprisingly enough the mosquitos transmitting malaria can survive a flight from Asia or Africa to Europe. This theoretical chance is so small though, that it doesnt outweigh the negative side effects all anti malarial drugs have. Tourists should  worry more about the chances of having a traffic accident in Thailand, the likelyhood of this occurring is hundreds of times higher.

Talking about negative side effects anti malarial drugs can have, I just cant refrain from telling this anecdote about what happened to me in Kalimantan (or Borneo, in Indonesia) where I was taking Nivaquine and Paludrine which where the preferred anti malarial drugs at the time. Every time I combed my hair I was sad to see I was losing lots of hair, but approaching 40 what else could I do than just resign to my fate, after all you cant remain a handsome man forever. Once back in Europe, having stopped to take the tablets after a few weeks, I was overjoyed to see that the loss of hair halted immediately.

In Phuket reps working for tour agencies used to get complaints from tourists about down and out farangs on motorcycles hassling them about timeshares. They used to operate on the beach road, but after Thai authorities started clamping down on this, they moved into the side streets.

Possibly there might be somewhat more reputable companies who are selling some kind of timesharing which is less obviously a scam, but anyways if the timesharing company cannot supply you with a work permit, I would give this type of employment a wide berth.

What your girlfriend needs is a 3 months visitors visa for the Schengen Zone, which is not so difficult to get.  The Schengen Zone consists of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and probably a few more European countries I am not sure of. At an embassy/consulate of any country belonging to the Schengen Zone, you can get such a visa.

The main requirements the Dutch embassy requires, are that you have proof of sufficient income to support your girlfriend during her sojourn in the Schengen Zone, and you need a statement from the municipality where you reside that your living quarters are big enough to also accomodate your Thai girlfriend.  Also you are required to sign a statement that you vouchsafe for all the costs arising fom your girlfiends sojourn in the Schengen Zone. Most likely a return ticket will also be needed, and it is very well possible they will also want to see a travel insurance. France, belonging to the Schengen Zone like the Netherlands, will most likely have similar requirements.

If your girlfriend has employment, properties and so on in Thailand or not, does in principle not play a role when applying for a visitors visa, it would do if applying for a tourist visa. There is a chance nevertheless they will question her at the French embassy because they are afraid she will want to stay in France once the visa has expired, and work there illegally.

Simply contact the French embassy and ask them what paperwork is needed, dozens of people approach them with this question every week.

Bonne chance.

Maichai,

To answer your questions: as far as my career in Thailand is concerned, I have long been active as a guesthouse, bar and restaurant owner, and the last couple of years I enjoy the somewhat more elevated status of bungalow resort owner, somewhere (still) a little bit off the beaten track at the coast in southern Thailand. For reasons of privacy and because I would never abuse a forum for advertisement purposes, I dont wanna go into any more details here. Back in my native country I was also working in the hospitality industry, it is interesting because you meet a lot of people.

As far as your second question is concerned: no, I dont have anything to do with the technology town Keesta in Sweden, switching on a microwave is about the most difficult technical task I generally speaking can accomplish successfully.

By the way, until you recently mentioned your wife I used to think you were the pretty woman whose picture always appears next to your posts, or, looking more closely at the picture, is that maybe your daughter?

Oh and if I also may ask you a question, very roughly in what part of Thailand is your village?

Since the thread is about speaking/reading Thai, one more remark on this subject......In 2000 I moved from Central to Southern Thailand, and then it was frustrating me that the people down here often didnt understand me if I asked something quite simple, and that I often didnt catch completely what they were saying. By now I am used to southern Thai, but still I sometimes notice the local people speaking the local dialect together, and then switching into the official central Thai when addressing me.

When I crossed into Laos from Nongkai in 1999, Thais with an id card issued no matter where in Thailand could go to Laos for maximally 3 days, after having obtained the border pass at the Provincial Administrative Office in Nongkai. I was told the 3 days permit could easily be extended once in Vientiane.

At the time Europeans and so on could get a Laotian 14 days visa at the border.

Suppose you are British, Aussie or American and you have a foreign colleage, neighbor or whatever who you always thought spoke little English, but later you discover he just pretended and that his English is almost fluent, what would you think of him? Kind of a sneaky guy, right? Likewise Thai people dont appreciate if somebody pretends to have little knowledge of the lingo, but later they find out that he understands&speaks a whole lot.

Of course you have to be careful in Thailand, but in this thread I am smelling too much of a besieged fortress mentality. If you cannot feel at ease and act naturally here, it might be wise to consider making a move.

One of the very few situations in which I might refrain from speaking Thai and use English instead, would be indeed if I was stopped by the police for a minor traffic infraction: because he thinks you are a tourist or because he is afraid of getting a headache having to use "phasa farang" (English)he might just wave you on. Another highly exceptional situation when I might use English is when speaking to a Thai who is very much high class and speaks English quite well or thinks that he does: speaking Thai with the guy when others are present would make him lose face.