Tapster

Please assume that I know everything to to with the law regarding farangs owning a house by setting up a Thai company.

My question is not about the law in any way.

 

We are selling our house. Our company owns the house, so we will have to involve our accountant in the sale.

 

Can the accountant take care of everything to do with a house sale?

 

Do we need a lawyer at all?

 

Many thanks for helpful advice.

I've noticed that my bill has been noticeably higher in the last 2 months, and I'm not using a/c more than usual. 

 

But yes, fridges working harder, aircon working harder... and maybe a little longer? 

 

It rained today in Phuket. 

It'll wait and monitor the bill when the weather changes. 

@SpokaneAl

 

There are many pedants on TV.

Some correct people who talk about 'renewing their visa', and insist that they refer to an 'extension of stay' instead.

 

You have taken this to a new level, congratulations.

 

My use of the word extend implies my understanding of this.

 

 

 

 

@Gtto

 

The OA visa will give you some time in Thailand without having to have money in a Thai bank, but to extend it annually, you'll have to deposit money, or use the income route.

 

 

 

 

There are 'fruit wines' from well known Western winemakers, imported to Thailand to avoid the massive tax on real wine. 

 

I don't even buy this wine often because it's so expensive, and I can't recommend any specific types, however I've definitely drunk fruit wine in Thailand that tasted very like real wine.

 

To be fair to the OP, I haven't tried Thai fruit wine. 

What I've heard, in the south of Phuket, is that you may get your gear confiscated if you're thought to be doing anything that brings more business into the bar.

 

My friends and I have been offered several places to play at, for fun and no money, but have declined. The professional bands that play here (and there are successful all-farang bands) either have work permits or some sort of 'special arrangement' with someone. We don't have the contacts.

 

As for "having to take some chances in life", I'm not taking a chance that someone will confiscate my gear.

 

?

I'm sure I read recently that the Thai government has started taxing wine according to the volume of the container.

 

This would of course mean that box wines would increase in price much more, relative to bottles.

 

?

@jenny2017

Cool.

 

So, are you saying that changing from a non-O to a non-B visa can be done within Thailand, and only at the division HQ in BKK?

I'd really like to know this for sure.

 

@jenny2017

 

Thanks for the comment but are you asking me or telling me that that's the reason?

@ubonjoe

 

My wife needs to change from non-O (as wife of a retired person), to a non-B for teaching. She already has the job, starting tomorrow. 

What you've said above seems to say that we can get this done in BKK. That would be fantastic. Why doesn't everyone do this?

Pretty much everything I've read and heard before, says that you have to apply from abroad of changing the type of visa.

 

If we can get it done in BKK, why not in Phuket?

Lastly, if it takes two weeks to process, and we get it done in BKK, would immigration allow a courier to collect it so that we can have it delivered to us in Phuket?

Many thanks!   

@superal

 

It certainly could be a light engineering business, fer sure!

 

@thaiguzzi

 

Most Impressive!

What do you design/fabricate/build with all that lovely stuff?

 

Do you live in the sticks, and have many rai to play on?

Do you have your own off-road bike/4x4 track?

 

I have all the tools and machines that I took from the UK to South Africa, and now to LoS.
I'd be lost without them, but you have so much stuff, you must be building your own bikes/pipe cars/megatrucks!!!

Please tell all!

 

 

 

P.S. For five years I used to have a Guzzi California in the UK. What's yours?

@ubonjoe

 

Thank you, Joe.

OK, so she could change back to her current extension, but....

Can people continue to get non-B extensions if they don't have a job at the time?

My wife is about to change from a non-O based on my retirement visa, to a non-B.

 

Once someone has a non-B, and a job with a work permit, what happens if you leave the job?

Can you continue to get extensions of the non-B even if you're not working?

 

@NanLaew

 

Good points.

 

Allotments aren't about net worth, though. They're given free, aren't they, after maybe years waiting for some old codger to die.

 

A shed on an allotment is essential or you have to bring your tools and everything each time you visit. Someone may break in though.

 

 

A workshop isn't a uniquely British thing, for sure, but the garden shed, being a haven of maleness is certainly a British meme.

@keithpa

 

Indeed!

Your best bet in a land with so much easily-accessible rubber is to coat yourself with latex.

 

Fully protective, waterproof and can be removed after the inclement conditions have passed, to allow you to polish your deck at your leisure.

P.S ..................I'm outta here!

 

I have my own deck to polish!

It's dick, I tell ya!

 

I think it's probably dick!

I agree with you.

 

What they are calling a Wolf Spider in your link does look like "my" spider.

 

However if you look at the photo in my post number 10, that is supposed to be a Thai huntsman.

 

It seems that Internet sources don't agree. My image in post 10 came from a Google image search for 'Thai Huntsman Spider'.

 

 

+1 for the Golden Tree Snake.

 

We get lots of them.  

This photo shows a Thai huntsman. It's pretty similar to my photo. 

 

 

I'm no expert but I think the proportion of body size to leg length is wrong for a huntsman spider. With a body that big a huntsman's legs would be longer. 

 

The photo is a huntsman in my workshop. 

@Gecko123

 

Thank you for your input. You put a lot of thought and effort into your posts.

 

@ Everyone

 

It has been a mostly useful and positive thread. Not many people suggesting that we ought to return to our home countries if we're not completely happy.

Yay for Thai Visa! 

 

The discussion has successfully identified some reasons for expats failing, or at least struggling with integrating here, particularly some of the underlying reasons which may not be apparent to a newcomer. Maybe this thread should be a sticky for prospective expats!

 

Good luck to all. Keep smiling!

 

 

 

 

 

@Gecko123

 

I'm responding in dysfunctional blue again!

 

Socialization as farang-farang couple with other foreigners in Thailand:

 

You've put a lot of work into this. It's turned into the best exploration of the expat psyche in Thailand, that I've read.

Maybe there's an honorary doctorate in it for us in Xeno-sociology, from Chulalongkorn University!

 

I think being a Western couple retiring in Thailand presents two big challenges. While there are many foreign couples in Bangkok and other urban centers, many are here on temporary or semi-temporary assignment and almost all of them are younger than retirement age for obvious reasons. So due to their semi-temporary work status and their younger age, working age foreign couples aren't always a natural social fit for older retired couples.

 

Good point. So the two groups are going to be moving in different circles, and as you go on to say, also living in different areas, for the most part.

 

Foreign couple retirees seem to gravitate to Chiang Mai, Bangkok and seaside destinations like Hua Hin, Phuket, Koh Samui, and Koh Chang. The problem for a foreign retiree couple is that there are also many foreign men who are attracted to these same destinations who have Thai wives or girl friends considerably younger than the foreign spouse. Presumably most foreign couples who move here would understand this dynamic before moving here. But if the foreign wife, or possibly both she and her husband, don't share a liberal attitude towards this, social tensions can arise. If the foreign couple is giving dagger eyes to every guy with a young Thai woman on his arm they pass on the street, they are likely going to be socially ostracized in turn. Even if the couple comes across as open-minded and non-judgmental, some foreign men with younger Thai wives automatically assume that a Western woman is going to be judgmental even if she's not.

 

I'm with you at the beginning of the last paragraph there, but you lost me at "liberal attitude"...................not because I don't have one, but because I don't see the dynamic at all, as you have described it in the second half of the paragraph.  

Our experience has never involved social tensions, daggers or ostracisation. However, I can't comment on foreign men with younger Thai wives, possibly assuming that my wife might be judgmental. We haven't ever sensed anything like that though.

 

The dynamic has very simply been that a group of 'Western' men with Thai wives/partners act like a group of Western men who are drinking on their own. It is rare that the Thai partners are brought fully into the conversation and often there ends up being a group of Thai women talking together, and a group of Western men having a few beers together. The role of a Western woman in this is fraught. Does she try to join the Thai women or does she stay with the guys. In the first case her lack of Thai and their lack of English usually make for an interesting exchange but nothing to base a friendship on. In the second case, she's obviously not 'one of the lads' so often feels like a fifth wheel.

 

Not all events end up polarised like this but it's common. 

 

In small groups, let's say just two couples, there's a better chance for everyone to have equal input. Still, the Western woman often doesn't get as much out of communicating with her opposite number as her Western husband does, communicating with his.

 

Just gauging from some of the posts I've read coming from posters living in Chiang Mai, I am left with the impression that there are enough older expat women there to form some sort of social network. You hear a lot of talk about volunteering, monthly brunches, and civic Rotary Club type activities. Personally, that lifestyle doesn't appeal to me in the least. If I wanted to make my social life centered around hanging out with other people from my home country, I'd just as soon stay home.

 

On the positive side, if you aspire to socially integrate into the Thai community, your foreign wife could be a golden asset in terms of making inroads into the Thai community. She could barter teaching Western cooking in exchange for Thai cooking lessons or tutor neighbor kids in English in exchange for someone teaching you and her Thai. Her newfound Thai cooking skills could be parlayed into inviting neighbors over to sample her culinary accomplishments. Her or your interest in Thai cooking and food ingredients could be a great way to interact with Thais at the market or in restaurants.

 

Good points all!
I don't want this to turn into me explaining why your suggestions have or haven't worked for us. I don't think that's especially helpful. Equally, I'm sure you're not specifically trying to give me pointers. The thing is that there are many ways in which one can integrate into a community. For the reasons we have discussed, and there are probably more we will discover, Thailand has unique stumbling blocks to expat integration, be it social, occupational or societal.

 

Getting back to your earlier comment about "still not feeling settled in" after months of living here, I think this is a trap many foreigners fall into. First time visitors to Thailand are often struck by how friendly and outgoing Thais are, right? They think 'Hey, I could get used to this. I'm not the most sociable guy on the planet and being around all these friendly people will help me come out of my shell. I'm such a novelty as a foreigner, everybody thinks I'm rich, all the women want to have my baby (I'm being a little bit facetious, but you get my drift), I'll be in seventh heaven. I'm calling the moving van today!'

 

Wahahaaaa! I can see how early expectations of life in Thailand can be whipped up so that reality is a bit of a downer for some. Early planning and research are key.

 

This initial friendliness from Thais makes some people think that not much effort is needed to befriend Thais. They think you can sit back like the Prince of Persia and people will flock to your doorstep. Some even have to find out the hard way that people will stop smiling if you don't return their smiles. People mistakenly believe that the only reason why their early-on contacts with Thais hadn't yet blossomed into close-knit Western-style friendships is because they were only visiting Thailand temporarily. They assume that once they've moved here, friendships will rapidly progress much in the same way relationships progress in the West. And when this doesn't happen, some people feel disappointed, frustrated, even deceived.

 

But the truth is that to forge meaningful relationships with Thais requires a considerable amount of effort. It is anything but an effortless process and requires considerable thoughtfulness about how to build trust and understanding, avoid faux pas, and to sort out acceptable cultural differences from unacceptable behaviors. It takes effort and a fair amount of skill to build cross-cultural relationships where ever you are. It isn't something learned overnight, but for me the process of developing these relationships is what being here is all about.

 

It certainly does take time to make new friends, and more time to make new Thai friends.