romain22

9 minutes ago, LaoPo said:

Oh, let me tell you that the kids will forget about missing their mom in a few months to a year when they grow up.

you must be joking, right? ----But maybe your point of view reflects the French Embassy's.

1 hour ago, LaoPo said:

""""And did you have children too?"""

 

Please do not write within my post; it's not allowed and confusing.

 

No, there were no children in our case but that has nothing to do with "your" situation; also you never wrote about the nationality of the 2 children; if they are French with a French passport, the father can travel tomorrow to France but not with the spouse.

It's a completely different route and that the French father has 2 children, born in Thailand, is not a guarantee that France will allow the 2 to enter France if they're Thai; if they're French it's no problem.

 

YOU speak about family values but in this case it's about immigration laws.

It all depends on French immigration laws.

 

 

Both children are declared at the French embassy and are therefore French by birth. I dont think it would be such a big deal if that French guy and his wife did not have any children.. they would just go separate ways for a short/long time. The problem is that to take one's father or one's mother away from the children is just not acceptable. That is just not right. White or black, French or not, Muslim or Christian... no children should suffer from  not being with both parents. There are indeed immigration laws but they are also moral laws and laws that protect and prevent children from being separated from their own parents.

27 minutes ago, LaoPo said:

 

I think most of us here would agree with you but if one falls in love with a citizen from another foreign non-EU, or other western country, than we run into immigration laws from both sides.

 

And those laws apply to every one, including "your" Frenchman.

 

As an example: I also ran into the immigration laws, long ago and it was a long, very long and painful process whereby my wife also wasn't allowed into my country of origin straight away but had to go to the "tourist" visa process first and after that had to "walk" throughout the entire integration process of my country: learning the language etc.

 

 And did you have children too?

 

(the suicide thing is not the same story... just another guy stuck in this country)

It seems everyone has its own definition about family : my definition is that father, mother and children should never be separated.

So here is the full story:

All of this started few years back when he had to find a school for his children. This father knew of Thai private schools and Public ones so he made his mind up and decided to never send his children to such schools where there were no critical thinking, no empathy, no real grading systems and where there was nothing but obedience and marching.

He therefore decided to take a lower paid job in a very good school (Montessori) far away from his dwelling. Did not renew his contract,got a full month paid from his previous school, got a good amount of money for working there 3 years and moved to that new location. Moving out costed about 30,000 Baht, Rent was 13,000 Baht a month, his car 5,050 Baht a month and everything was good as long as the savings were. Money was good until until he was asked to pay almost the full amount of the tuition for his first child in -that is about 70,000 baht. But believing it was worth it, he took the job and paid the tuition.. after all that was certainly the best school for young children in Thailand: playtime, love, care, beautiful garden, nice teachers, open-minded community, and more. The dream school for a father.

Savings were almost gone and the second child had to go to school the next year. Hoping for a good discount he renewed his contract but nothing amazing : for two children, there were still about 100,000 baht to be paid. Not having enough money he asked his school to withdraw a monthly amount from his salary in order to enroll both his children in this programme. So his salary went down again to about 26,000 baht/month.

Rent was 13,000 baht a month ; car 5000 baht a month electricity 2000 baht a month, diapers and formula, food, dentist, doctor,  three month back to back immigration stuff, yearly renewal visa in Laos (will get back to that later on).... The family could just no longer afford to live in Thailand. So why they decided to return to France where he would easily find a job (BA, MA and 11 years as a teacher). Was the family totally in distress ? No! But it did not take a genius to know that there will be only limited time before they reach that level of precarity when they would not be able to keep living like that. Passed March --the date the father had to renew his visa, he would have to make a choice : invest his money in that trip to Laos and continue like that and spend his last chance to return to his country ; or get the hell outta here before financial resources get to low to pay for 4 plane tickets, three months rent in France and enough for food and utilities once over there.

Planning on reaching a financial critical point around March 2018, he contacted the embassy in order to plan his return to France where he could make more money and will not have to worry about having his children in French public schools. He eventually asked for some help and advice in order to leave before his savings gone.

He explained them how tight was his budget but because he got married the American Way  (that is he got married in Thailand first), they asked him to legalized his marriage with French authorities by getting his marriage certificate stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and translated by an authorized translator.  They knew about it when they got married (the French embassy had immediately been notified three days after getting married) so they had already made this paper. So far no problems whatsoever. The problem arose when they asked for his wife's ID card, Passport, House Book and so on to be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translated by a legal translator. All these documents to prove the identity of his wife had all been previously given in hands at the embassy when they had to declare their children and when they received a Family Book (some kind of French Family Passport). All together, the embassy asked them to spend an extra 9 000 baht! Not a lot you would say! Well, when you've got nothing left at the end of each month it's still 9000 times more than what you can afford. He therefore asked for a waiver and told them he will send copies of his children's birth certificates as well as Family Book onto which an Embassy Officer of the French Embassy of Bangkok had recorded the names of each single family member few years back.

The Officer coldly replied that the waiver would be denied ; that they had to send all these documents again because this was the procedure for getting married. There are two issues here. First of, they were already married and secondly all these documents had already been provided to the French embassy  and stored in their archives! The only thing they had to do was to move their big fat butts to the basements and check whether the given documents, birth certificates and Family Book matched. I guess it was too much work to check. Who cares about one single family, right? We have already seen similar attitude during the government of Vichy and we know what it lead to.

Anyway, for the moment, the only way for him to get enough money to return to France would be to sell his car. The only way for him to spend that extra 9000 baht would be to sell his car.. No car, no job. No job, can't afford paying rent, no electricity, no internet, no diapers, no school etc…

(I forgot to mention that when he left his previous job for another he lost his work permit because of some bureaucratic  incompetence from immigration offices which seemed not to have agreed on the required documents needed when reapplying for a second work permit. So he had to work on a family visa since then). All of this, of course, the French embassy was notified. Yet, do they care one of their citizens is working illegally?

Thailand, as a father,  is not a good country to live in and definitively not when working on a family visa. Education is crap, Teaching jobs don't pay as much as before (it's exactly the same pay as 15 years ago but life is 10 times more expensive!); school fees are huge; visa fees and everything related to it end up costing between 15,000 to 30,000 Baht a year and immigration laws and work permit have become ridiculously costly and cleverless.

This father is not working legally here, is no longer happy and just want to educate his children where he thinks it will be much better and affordable. And to do so, the only thing that the father wants is a bit of  common sense from the French Embassy and being able to return home with his family (at his costs not at theirs).

But hey! The law is the law right? I guess the French embassy is missing the olden days when French had real  thoughtful laws such as this one found in Drancy Camp : “Taking a Shower After 10pm is Forbidden”.

Common! It’s 2017, it's time to show critical thinking and common sense. If a Father had already been declaring all his children at the embassy, if the embassy had already checked all sort of ID s of his wife previously, if a father had already notified his situation to the embassy for a year already, if he is working illegally and just want to go home : can't they just demonstrate common sense and acknowledge that the ID of the mother had already been given, legalized and translated  many times? This father has already found a job in France… he just need to bring his whole family along.

What are they waiting for? To push their citizens to a situation of precarity and reach a point where everything seems meaningless such as David Guffroy and his wife who just decided to end their lives yesterday due to a similar situation?

One would think that common sense, compassion and righteousness describe France best, yet  it seems that things are changing and that this time is over. France is no longer that country of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity where its citizens and children grow together, are cherished, and are given the rights to freedom of speech, critical thinking, as well as being with one's family back to the mother land. Indeed, today November 23rd 2017, and perhaps copying Thailand's own silliness towards endless unintelligent bureaucratic requests and demands, the French embassy of Bangkok denied a French father and his two children born in Thailand from a Thai mother to be given the chance to bring not just the father and the children home but the whole family with the mother before his Thai visa and financial savings vanish in the air in March 2018.

So I wonder, how would a person from his own country be denied the simple right to be home with his children and wife ? How could a diplomatic institution representing France show so little compassion and common sense ?

According to Le Monde, a renown French newspaper, France has welcomed more that 10 000 Syrians since 2011 so how is it too difficult to allow one Thai mother to accompany her French husband and children when so many foreigners are entitled this very same privilege which was rejected to the mother of two young French citizens ?

I wonder then, is the French Embassy of Bangkok not contributing to that feeling of unfairness which too often leads to discrimination and prejudice based on resentments ? And therefore, who s the one bearing the burden of spreading hate ? 10 000 Syrians allowed, one Thai mother of French citizens refused : how should a father feel ?

The question should be, " which tourist destination is the most dangerous " ? Which tourist destination has the most accidental/suicide/murder deaths ?

Thanks Geisha, that s indeed how it should have been...

Here is the English Report for 2015 (page 9): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/helping-british-nationals-abroad-2015

392,000 visits in Thailand from March 2014 to March 2015 for 348 deaths (and total assistance of 1130)... they do not say the causes of death indeed.

They should also release a new report in a week or so for March 2015 to March 2016...

I have always wondered how dangerous was really Thailand? Every day I have been receiving these email/news from www.thaivisa.com and every day, it seems that a least one foreigner dies in Thailand. For years I was wondering about the real number of foreigners that passed away in Thailand on a daily basis, and this article I read recently mentioned that according to a Report made by the UK government,Thailand was the most dangerous country in the whole world with about one Brit dying on the spot almost every single day! And that does not includes other nationalities.. just crazy :?

I think everyone is wondering about the political situation in Thailand and how safe it is to currently travel or live here... at least, I am. According to an interview with a Thai scholar made on http://www.presse-misere.fr/thailande-une-guerre-civile-qui-naura-pas-lieu/ there are little chances anything goes wrong in Thailand and that any unrest or possible civil war is just certainly not happening any time soon... sounds good and somewhat reassuring, but what do you all think about it?.

Bottom line......"they'll care" when it hits them in the pocket book. All we need to do is wait for the whining to begin. Farang mai dee...........UNTIL they need us.

Don't hold your breath...every year they are hiring more Filipinos and Cameroonians to teach in the schools. Cheaper and a bigger spread between actual salary and what the officials take out of allocations. Not in our lifetime will they realize it.

I guess you are right, here is an article breaking down the number of participants per nationality: https://www.sataban.com/thai-culture-course-figures/

I would be interesting to see what is % of Farangs admitted for the Thai Culture Course nationwide... for this batch it is 0% --although there were fully qualified applicants. Anyone else has a copy/pasted list?

Interesting here is the batch I was supposed to be in and which they messed up: are they really trying to get Farangs out of the pictures? This is the batch for the 28-29-30th March 2016 Thai Culture Course at Burapha University... No Farangs whatsoever... odd.

Chinese Chinese Filipino Filipino Filipino Filipino Filipino Filipino Cameroonian Indian Ugandan Ugandan Nigerian Ugandan Ugandan Ugandan Chinese Chinese Cameroonian Filipino Filipino

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XrdSnTdQmhqbuliQvfUqUz-lOf2wg4ICQeGxIHZBRdQ/edit#gid=757368408

The website of the CTC is the official way to get an unofficial Teacher Permit copy... On each permit it will be written: "This is not an official document. The official record of credential, permits, and certificates is the Commission's website at www.ctc.ca.gov"

See the pdf: https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwi37sLOueLLAhWKW44KHWZmBOMQFggmMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctc.ca.gov%2Fcredentials%2Fonline-services%2Fpdf%2Fctc-online-print-document.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGwx6ur5h964_S0edSy6NONk2RY3Q&sig2=Rg0_WfF8ZIsUFo4MM2fjvg&cad=rja

Yep... that's the word "they don't care"

Not sure what happened to the Buddhist spirit of understanding, compassion and common sense?

A story from a teacher trying to get his "THAI CULTURE COURSE TRAINING"

“I am a qualified educator from the State of California but since I have been working in Thailand as a teacher I have been asked to apply for a teaching waiver due to the simple reason that my California teaching permit was not “beautiful” enough and thus will not be accepted by the Teachers’ Council of Thailand – คุรุสภา (AND indeed, my California teaching permit needs to be printed directly from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing website -CTC, which is a .gov website. My teaching permit is thus printed on a regular paper… Nothing fancy, no pretty drawings, no high quality paper, no gold, nothing.)

This said, I waited for over a year and a half to get the opportunity to apply for a Thai Culture Course/Teacher Training in order to be eligible for a Thai Teaching License. In September 2015, I was notified that the government had at last decided to offer this course again. I searched through the internet, contacted the right persons and got all the necessary information and documents.

I applied in October 2015 in order to attend the first course available at this Thai University. I then paid the 4,000 baht fee. By the time they figured out when the first class will be held, my work permit was about to expire (from the time I applied to the time a date was set up, 5 months had gone!) With only one month left on my legal immigration documents, I was then no longer qualified to attend the Thai culture course. And without any prior notification that it will not be refunded in case such event would to happen, my 4,000 baht had just disappeared…”

Original article: https://www.sataban.com/thai-culture-course-baloney-at-a-thai-university/

To get teaching jobs, try SATABAN (schools and university vacancies)

Romain

Google Sataban, that should answer your question.

Cheers,

Romain

Google Sataban to find the best early childhood centers in Chiang Mai... There are Montessori, international, Private, and Government schools categories. Just right the category you want as well as the location and you should have a better idea.

Romain

Thailand has a bit more than 300,000 soldiers and now wants to get 12,000,000 conscripts. So here is a bit of history and facts which occured in teh past:

"By 1935, Germany was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty: German re-armament was announced on 16 March as was the reintroduction of conscription.^[28] While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000-man mark decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced the name Wehrmacht, so not only can this be regarded as its founding date, but the organization and authority of the Wehrmacht can be viewed as Nazi creations regardless of the political affiliations of its high command (who nevertheless all swore the same personal oath of loyalty to Hitler).^[29] Hitler’s proclamation of the Wehrmacht's existence included a total of no less than 36 divisions in its original projection, contravening the Treaty of Versailles in grandiose fashion. In December 1935, General Ludwig Beck added 48 tank battalions to the planned rearmament program.^[30]

The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 to 1945 is believed to have approached 18.2 million.^[32] The Wehrmacht lost about 10,000,000 soldiers during the period from 1939-1945, a combination of about 2,000,000 KIA, 3,000,000 MIA, and 5,000,000 WIA."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmacht

Google "Sataban", choose "Thailand School Directory" and then type "z-ED Visas" into the search form.. you will get what you are looking for.

Romain

Sadly, yes. I have heard that it was different in remote villages though.

International schools are obviously very different and follow European and American standards.

Regarding any good and affordable ones in Bangkok, Google "Sataban" and choose "Thailand School Directory" . From there you can check the locations by narrowing it down according to the desired radius (wheel symbol on the right of the location input field). Then you can narrow it down even more by tuition fees => click on "Filter" and enter your range of tuition you are willing to spend.

Romain

Google "SATABAN" and once on it click on Thai School directory. Then search by keyword and/or category and/or radius. Categories will automatically appears once you type in the search form. Radius is located right to the "location search form"; wheel icone alike (default radius is set to 50 km I think).

Romain

Hi Sangsom69,

Google "Sataban" and then click on the school directory "Thailand". Once done, write "Bilingual schools" in the left search form and chose this category from the drop down menu that will appear. Then hover over the sort of "wheel" icon on the right side of the "location search" form to chose your location and radius you want to search schools from. You'll get what you are looking for.

You can also narrow down your search by clicking on "Filters" and check the tuition fees (all international schools tuition fees are in and some bilingual schools too. In case you will not see the tuitions you can email me and I will tell you.)

Romain