Jeremy50

Not more than 180 days in the country a year. It's all so tedious and boring. Have 800 thousand festering in a Thai bank waiting to be embezzled or lost in a crash? No thanks. I'm always astonished at those so keen to spend every last waking day of their time left on God's earth in a place with such a hostile attitude to foreigners.

Why not spend a few days in Laos instead of rushing off to overpriced rip off Phuket? The sleeper train is the best way to get there from Bangkok[buy the ticket a few days before you depart, and always the bottom bunk], you'll be at the embassy by 9am. Get a hotel by the river, NOT the La Ong Dao near the embassy, it's a terrible dump. The return sleeper from Nong Khai leaves at 6.30 pm, and gets into Bangkok about 7am.   PS.  Nobody in their right mind takes a long distance van journey in Thailand.

It's almost worth taking a trip to London and using the excellent 24 hour express service in Victoria. I prefer to do that, plus spend a couple of days browsing some art galleries, and shopping for items with are hard to find in Thailand such as books. Each to his own.

I happily walk from the river to the embassy. It's not like you have an early start. Set off at 11.45am, and you will easily be there in time. In fact I walk everywhere in Vientiane, the tuk tuks are a rip off, you will save 200 baht by walking, and get some great exercise. Also the tuk tuk drivers can be rude and unpleasant, I just don't want to deal with them. Walking between the river which is the best area to stay, and the embassy is just a stroll to me, I noticed that a lot of other people take this option. Carry an umbrella, useful for the sun, and the rain. 

The school should be doing it for you. All of it. If you are trying to do all the paperwork on your own, I doubt you'll succeed. It's a complicated process involving visits to many agencies including the dreaded and hostile Krusapar. Good luck.   Can I politely suggest you read some English Literature to try to improve your grammar. 

This guy clearly has nothing to do in his riverside hotel room. Get, and drink some beer Lao, then at about 7pm, go into the street and tell a tuk tuk driver you want to 'meet' young lady. Enjoy the 'adventure', then later 8 or 9pm find a nice riverside restaurant serving delicious French or Italian cuisine, there are so many to choose from. 

Wait until the 19th to be on the safe side. Vientiane is better avoided during any festivities.  The damn boat festival in October was a nightmare, the whole river front a no-go area. Does the visa service still use the La Ong Dao hotel? On no account stay there, what a depressing dump. Plenty of nice places by the river.

2 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

i need to renew in a couple of months, i have an ATM card, how can i know if i’ll be able to use it for payment or not? ...... sorry, i’m not very savvy when it comes to cards.... :)


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Do a test on- line purchase, like buying a book from Amazon, if that works, then it should be ok for the passport too.

Remember , you can't pay with cash, so you will need a credit card, or a debit card that can be used like a credit card, many people have been caught out by this, as many foreigners in Thailand cannot get a credit card. Yes, go in person, I can't understand why anyone would trust someone to do this for them, it makes no sense.

20 000 Baht in Vietnamese Dong, is this a joke? Why should they accept it? Make someone count all that grubby stuff. You can't get dollars or Baht? What's the point of this post?

I never understood the stupid rush to get there as soon as it opens. Remember, your hotel doesn't want to see your face before 1pm, and I can't blame them.  I cross the border at 9.30, and am at the embassy by 10.30, out by 12.00, and check into a hotel by the river at 1pm. Avoid the 'hotel near the embassy' trap, they really are sh@th@les, especially the La Ong Dao. 

22 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

So why not book a room with windows?

What is it with Laos hotels that have no windows?  I've come across quite a few. No way would I stay in one. 

No need to sweat about it. I have a whole pile of these things sitting around. It will go unnoticed and unremarked, everyone is too busy on Facebook and playing games.

There is a huge amount of paperwork that the employer has to provide for you to submit to the embassy, in order to get a NON IMM B, the work permit follows this process, once you already have the visa. So the answer is almost certainly................no.

There are always ways to stay here indefinitely. Getting a teaching job is one of them, a one year visa, renewed year after year on the renewal of your contract. It's good pocket money, and you won't go off the rails [ or balcony ] because you have too much time on your hands to drink, or whore your life away. 'Work relieves us from the burden of our leisure' Voltaire.

Rent, rent, rent, in that order. If you really have to buy land. The going rate for a rai of rural land is 60,000 Baht. Don't be one of the fools who buys for 500.000 !!

Thanks for your reply Jack Thompson. I agree, the tuk tuk drivers in Vientiane are the most unpleasant I have come across. My last experience, last week, I payed one 150 baht to take me to a destination about 2 or 3 K's distance. We'd only travelled about 1 K, and he started complaining like hell that it was too far, and then driving erratically in his childish and petulant frustration, we just about got there. I threw the money at him and called him a buffalo.

In fact, I often walk from the embassy down to the river, or back. It takes 30 mins. Take an umbrella to keep the sun off.

The many reasons the La Ong Dao is nightmare can be read on trip advisor. I would add to the many complaints there: the general noise and tiredness of the place, depressing windowless rooms, loud Chinese tour groups and their huge buses coming and going at all hours, and the rancid brothel at the back of car park, with 3 or 4 nasty looking pimps loitering around outside. Really, not a nice place.

Your friend would like to see you pay 3500 overstay, and possible problems in coming back. Not very good advice.

You can only work on a NON IMM B visa, which is then converted to a 'work visa' at immigration once you have attained the blue book work permit. The 'work visa' is then dated to the same date that your contract expires. The 'work visa' can then be extended at immigration when you have a new contract for the following year, without you having to leave the country. You can have multiple entry, [and pay for it] if you intend to leave the country, for example: to take holiday, a couple of times during the year.

It is not legal to work on a 'Thai wife visa', this kind of visa has to be converted to a NON IMM B before you can start the work permit and 'work visa' process.

PS. Why are they talking to your wife and not you?

PPS. Please don't tell me you are teaching English!

You can have the car only in your name, though I hear that Thai wives most likely try to keep this a secret. Buy it with cash [why wouldn't you?].Go to the dealership alone and buy it. I bought my truck no problem, and I was only  on a tourist visa at the time. If my car, motorbike, house, apartment, were in someone else's name , I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Be a man, take the ban. Why not try Laos, Cambodia etc? They appeal to the same sort of people who like Thailand.

No, you don't have to. On the apartment deposit, your landlord probably had no intention of ever giving your deposit back. I have always had to fight for mine, but 4000 is a significant amount which should be handed back to you with good grace, as long as you haven't damaged anything.

Nobody has mentioned the screamingly obvious which is the devaluation of the Pound against the Baht by 20%. Now is not the time to move savings to Thailand. Wait!  Another thing, if you are buying property in Pattaya, you'll be paying foreigner prices, for a low quality build which will depreciated in  value year on year. The opposite of the UK, where property is nearly always a good investment. Nobody buys old places here. The potential for you guys to lose a fortune is huge.