Aussietraveller

Yes.

The Embassy called yesterday and spoke to my wife at length.

Interview completed by phone.

They wanted 1 additional document.

I need to send an updated 47sp, as some moron sent an old one (not the 07/07 Version)

Could have sworn that i checked that multiple times.

Apart from that, they seemed happy with everything.

We now wait for notification on the outcome.

On the basis of the additional documentation required and the discussion they had on the phone with my wife, and am pretty happy right now, with the whole thing.

Now it is just wait for the next phone call, then hopefully, a quick trip to Bangkok to pick up the docs.

Will keep you posted.

There are so many things that i love about Thailand.

Getting slapped in the face by the humidity, as you exit the airport in Bangkok, returning from Melbourne in July.

The price of food

The smiling faces

The smile on the face of the police office, as he accepts your donation for a speeding offense that you may or may not have committed. (but probably did)

Full service Gas Stations

Cold beer in the fridge in 7-11's

My Wife

The chaos in the supermarkets on a Sunday.

People who go out of their way to be helpful.

The hotel we stay at in Bangkok, who treat us like family.

Our home in Phuket.

There are some negatives also.

It is my choice to make this my home, so i will overlook them.

:D

Well done. Keep them coming

The requirement on her visa is that she departs the country within 90 days of entry.

Once she has left Australia and been stamped into another country, she is free to come back. It can be same day if you want.

(exactly the same as doing a visa run for us in Thailand)

She has her Visa, and is simply re entering the country with it.

No additional paperwork needed.

NZ is definitely a viable and cheap option if you are on the East coast, but do not take the application as being a formality.

That was the point of my last post.

Here is a link to qantas site, to help you find out her Via requirements for any country.

Your usage would be a huge factor to consider.

If you do not travel far from home, and do not do a lot of km's then an older car will probably be OK.

Reliability would be a factor, as i would not imagine that there are a lot of older Thai cars that get regular Mtce. When it breaks fix it type of thing.

If you will be doing a lot of driving, then new or very nearly new would be the way to go.

Car resale prices are high in Thailand, so you will not lose as much as you would in the west.

IMHO, buying new is the only way to go every time.

Hutchy07,

If you do a quick trip to NZ, be aware that the NZ Embassy in Sydney seems to be cracking down on what they perceive as people doing Visa Runs.

12 Months ago, we applied for a NZ Tourist Visa for my wife(GF at the time) to do a Visa run.

We planned on staying 5 days, as i had work to do in Auckland. We were then planning to spend several days in Taupo relaxing.

The NZ Embassy, wanted us to have confirmed return tickets before they would consider the application.

When the Visa was approved, we got a letter back with her passport, stating the she need not bother to apply for another tourist Visa, as they felt that she was only using NZ to renew her Multi Entry TV to OZ.

"Do not bother reapplying" was their exact wording.

Depending on where you live in OZ, there are plenty of options to get up to Singapore or KL for a weekend.

Visas are not an issue either.

Opened an account today in Phuket.

SCB at Big C.

Only ID provided was Passport with Non Imm O.

Passbook account with ATM Card, Internet Banking.

Very helpful, took less than 30 Minutes.

Thankyou Air Asia.

Finally an alternative, at a reasonable price.

I paid A$1390 a month ago on QF, and had to go via Sydney.

They will get my business next time i fly back to Australia.

Check out the new option with Air Asia X from KL to Coolangatta.

From Nov 2 to 14 fares from A$99.00

There is a thread running on this here.

Could be a better option than going Thai through Sydney.

It does not make sense to me.

Why not operate customs as a business.

Get the car fixed up, cost probably 2 - 3 million Baht.

Sell it at Auction as a working model, get full price.

Much more profit to feed and educate the masses.... :D

Like the money would ever go to a cause like that.

The money would line the pockets of a few important people to keep them warm in the depths of the bangkok winter...

Khunying Pornthip is a role model for all thai's.

She does her job with great integrity, without fear of the police or others.

It is unfortunate that she is pursued by those with other agendas.

There was a documentary about her on Australian TV some time ago.

It featured the work she had done in the aftermath of the Tsunami, and the political criticism that was leveled at her.

It also looked at the forensic evidence in the Thammawattana case, and showed the problems that it caused her personally in making public her findings.

Her findings in the case were backed up by all qualified foreign experts who looked at the evidence presented.

The corruption and incompetence in the police force in Thailand was also highlighted.

I do not imagine that this program would be aired in Thailand.

My vote would be for Chicago Pizza.

I can taste it now.

Chok Dee

Sydney

I flew Tiger Hkt - Sin - Hkt.

It was a one day trip for restamping my Visa.

I had no luggage, so no problems there.

They are a standard budget airline, i have no problem recommending them.

I never burn bridges.

I can go back anytime, and probably will be going back with the family before Christmas.

Am i looking forward to it? No.

How long will we stay? Not sure.

Part of my heart is now in Thailand, and in many ways this is home also.

In the future i do want our daughter to grow up in both countries, and certainly i want a good portion of her education to be in Australia.

She cannot get a passport at the Amphur.

She will need to go to an office of The Ministry of Foriegn Affairs.

As for ID, here is the link to MFA Thailand with the details

The locations of their offices are also on this website.

Main office is:

Chaengwattana Building

Address :123 Chaengwattana Rd., Tungsonghong Laksi Bangkok 10210. Tel. (662) 981-7171

If you google Thai passport, it will also give you the information

I do not have a work permit.

All of my business is in Australia.

That is why we are looking at this as an option.

All of the banks we have spoken to so far will only consider Thai income, when we apply for a loan.

Overseas assets do not count.

I will also be talking to Sunbelt on this next time i am in Bangkok, and hope to sit down with an accountant in Phuket to discuss this soon.

Anyone know of a decent(english speaking) accountant in Phuket?

Thanks for the thoughts.

I certainly was not setting out to commit bank fraud.

The intent is to buy a house here without having to use our capital to buy it. That is why we a are looking to get a loan.

We own land in Thailand, and that would no doubt be used as security by the bank.

We would be paying a cash deposit of 50%, so the bank is anything but exposed.

The intent is to pay the thing off quickly, not default on the loan.

Once the business was set up her in the wifes name, we could certainly draw up a contract for services between my Australian Company and this one.

There would be a guaranteed monthly payment to the Thai business.

The contract could be for any services, even just to be available for consultation as required, and be paid a monthly fee.

This would be similar tot he suggestion by Torrenova.

The business in Thailand would not be fictional, whether it traded or not.

It would be registered and pay tax.

It would keep accounts of income received as required by Thai Tax law.

Many of us face challenges with business and Visa's due to Thai laws.

I am simply trying to think laterally, and look at how i can make it work for me, and maybe others.

You must be mistaken.

Phuket lifeguards are trained to keep us all safe.

Phuket Gazette story 15 May 2007

PHUKET: Phuket’s hazardous low-season beaches will be guarded by 100 lifeguards who are being trained at Phuket Community College this week.

The lifeguards are being trained as part of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lifeguard project. The training program was developed with the help of the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command.

The project aims to reduce the number of drownings in rough surf at Phuket beaches during the rainy season.

OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong hailed the project a success, and added that the OrBorJor spends about 15 million baht a year on training and equipping its lifeguards.

Hmmmmm, I wonder whee that 15 Million went...

The thing that i find disturbing in all of this is the media hype that surrounded the simulated emergency response drill carried out at the airport on Sept 6.

Phuket Gazette story on Simulation

Pictures in the above story showed teams of workers in matching orange overalls, fire proof gloves, hard hats.

Other teams were all dressed in silver fire retardant suits and breathing apparatus.

Not a pickup to be seen.

No cars parked all over the runway.

Once safely stopped on the tarmac, the aircraft was quickly doused by fire trucks and firemen on the ground in high-heat-resistant firefighting suits.

Rescue helicopters arrived to airlift “victims” to hospital.

Reporting response times, K. Pornchai said that ambulances from Thalang Hospital, Phuket International Hospital, Bangkok Phuket Hospital and Patong Hospital had all arrived on the scene within 15 minutes.

These are vastly different images than the ones on the news last week unfortunately.

I regularly drive Bkk to Khao Suan Kwang (half way between KK and Udon Thani)

Average time 6 hours +

Add 1 - 1 1/2 hours to Nong Khai

Depends on what time you leave Bkk, and your driving style (i.e sane or jet pilot)

Leaving Bkk mid afternoon, traffic will be heavy. The run to Saraburi alone could take a lot longer.

Traffic will be heavier until late evening, so you will get a lot of holdups.

Allow 7 1/2 to 8 hours if you go straight through.

A stop in KK would make it a pleasant trip.

Have fun...

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice from those with some business experience in Thailand.

Our Situation

My wife is Thai, I am Australian.

We live in Phuket.

I have several Business in Australia, which support us.

We would like to buy a house in Thailand, in my wifes name.

This is for us to live in and as an investment.

What we spend on rent would be virtually be the same as loan repayments.

I do not want to bring the capital from OZ for the whole thing, but would like to borrow as much as we can from a Thai bank, and pay the balance cash.

My wife does not work, and as such we cannot get a loan in Thailand.

The Plan

I would like to register a business (similar to being a sole trader) in my wifes name.

In theory, the purpose of the business would be sale of goods (could be clothing etc)

The business in practice would never operate.

All of the funds that we bring in month by month to live on would be put through this business.

Lets assume a turnover of 80K a month.

The business set up as a Sole proprietor can pay tax at a natural person tax rate.

There would be no need to keep records of expenditure, just income.

link to information source (information on Tax rates, business structure etc)

A standard tax deduction of 80% is available for a business structured in this way.

So the taxable income on what we bring into the country would be say, 16K a month less standard deductions.

This equates to 192K theoretical profit which would be taxable.

As the first 100K of income per annum is tax free, we would have an annual tax liability on 92K

At 10% tax on this, the maximum total annual tax bill would be 9200 Baht.

For the purposes of a bank loan, would they look at the turnover of the business(960K) for assessing how much they would lend, or would they look at the theoretical profit declared for tax purposes(196K)?

Any thoughts on the viability of the above would be appreciated.

I regularly fly Long Haul on Qantas, BA, Thai, Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

I would not hesitate to fly on any of them.

Short Haul in Asia I use Air Asia, Jet Star Asia, TG, Sin.

I have in the past flown 12GO, however i would be hesitant to do so again.

Just my personal opinion.

It is official.

Australia is better than Thailand.

USA and UK are worse than both.

Something we Australian have long known.

I have the same visa, and never been asked for proof of funds on re entering the country.

Bank book should be fine.

The chances of being asked for proof of funds is very remote, but if asked, all that is required is that you prove you have sufficient funds (20K) to support yourself.

A bankbook will do that.