tracman

Thanks Joel I will check them out.

Thanks to Villagefarang, always thought windows had glass in them. I guess it does sound better than a wall with a square hole in it.

Yes we have property, I am looking for a reliable builder. And perhaps a designer/architect.

i see a mentioning of glass windows, I did not know there were other kinds on windows?

Nice place, i don't need big face to impress anyone either, i want comfortable and logical. I don't so well with the heat, I am not sure if high ceilings on lower ceilings is good. i chose concrete becouse it is cheap. teak is way out of my league. I do need a farong kitchen and a Thai kitchen. I love to cook and so does my wife, but we cook different things.

I would like to modify an existing plan to my needs. i designed a house before and was not pleased with it-I had no one to blame but myself, I am not a designer.

I'm looking about 200sq meters. One story, 3 bed, 2 bath, farong kitchen and outside Thai kitchen, comfortable outside patio, and screened in area. Must have A/C.

Thanks for the information, i will do my research.

Probably concrete, 3Mbt range

Hello all, I have not been on this forum for a very long time. I live in the States with my Thai wife of 5+years. I am retired and she still works,and supports me-so much for stereotypes. We own property a little east of CR and want to build a modest., yet comfortable house. We have not been to Thailand in 5 years and don't know what has changed. It used to be farongs got screwed every time you turned around, not sure if this changed or not. I will also need a builder and a place to live while the house is being built. My wife used to work for the Gov and knows a few people, might help-not sure. Without dragging this out i need all the advise I can get.

Mark

Hello all, I have not been on this forum for a very long time. I live in the States with my Thai wife of 5+years. I am retired and she still works,and supports me-so much for stereotypes. We own property a little east of CR and want to build a modest., yet comfortable house. We have not been to Thailand in 5 years and don't know what has changed. It used to be farongs got screwed every time you turned around, not sure if this changed or not. I will also need a builder and a place to live while the house is being built. My wife used to work for the Gov and knows a few people, might help-not sure. Without dragging this out i need all the advise I can get.

Mark

Hello, to all who read this. We recently purchased some property a little west of Chaing Rai, and will be building our home in a year or two. Interesting way to purchase land around here. My wifes' very good friend's husband is from Chaing Rai , so He came all the way to Chaing Rai from BKK to help, we get to stay with them and they network to find us the property we are looking for. Then they and another Thia friend (Tun) she would scare any any lawyer wordwide) negotiate a price with the owner untill they are convinced it is a good deal, These are very special people, honestly I am embarressed to be farang. I can't imagine anyone I know doing this for us in the states.

Anyway, we will be moving to Chaing Rai in a year or two and I just wanted to say Hi. I have been working in Iraq for 3 years supporting British, Australian, and American troops there. I am American and My wife is Thai. And she gave up a very good government position so I could be cooler

We are good people, I know how to drink beer and know how to pay for it sometimes . My wife doesn't drink and is a good Buddhist girl.

Anyway we are looking for future friends in the area, and welcome any response.

Mark and Pook

Hello everyone, I will be getting married in a few months, and I am in need if an English language school for my fiance. She has a Masters degree, and writes English reasonably well, but needs conversational English. We will be moving to the US and I don't want her overwelmed by the language. Does anyone Know of a good quality school in the bkk area, she actually lives in Bangplad. A school within commuter distance would be great.

Thanks,

The family lives near ratchaburi, she is in bkk.

Her father owned a bus company,but lost it. They are living in a nice home by western standards, but the wife to be is paying the mortgage. Both of the parents are university grads. the gf is the only one that the parents put through school-including stydy in the states.

Ladies, or whoever, I will be marrying in August. My wife to be is 42 never married and no children. She has a good jub and a masters degree. She will be quitting her job and living in the USA for a few years before permanantly returning to Thailand. She supports her parents, and I will support them about 20,000 baht a month forever. Her parents say the dowry is up to me. I have no idea how much this is worth, my gf said that 200,000 baht was to little. I said 500,000 baht and i think she thinks it should be more. That is a lot of money, so I am not sure if it is fair or I am being stuck.

The Thainum Riverside Hotel is probably the best place to stay if you wish to stay with Ban Pong.  I have stayed there serveral times as my wife's relatives live a short distance from there.  The last time I stay was in April and the rates were 800, 900, 1300 and 2000 baht for the various sized rooms.  All rates included breakfast for two.  I have stayed in both the 900 and 1300 baht rooms and have look at there other sized rooms as well and felt those two were best for the comfort and money.  800 baht rooms a bit to small and 2000 baht rooms were nice if you want what I would call a jr. suite.  All reasonable when you consider that it works out to about $19 US to $46 US.

There are several very nice places to eat along the river, check with the front desk for transportation, sometimes they will offer to help.  A number of the resturants offer some farang dishes although they would be missing out on some very good Thai food.

I'm sure you already have a place set for your marriage but if you need a resturant to accomodate your guests let me know an I will have my wife get the name of an excellent place with wonderful food and very nice atmosphere.  I think the name was Chochiyapuk (best I can do with phonetic spelling) and will get you the directions if interested.  I had about 30 family and friends join us there in April, staff very accomodating and we gave them a two day notice with number of guests and all the dishes we wanted prepared. 

My wife was wondering where in Ban Pong is your future wife's property, she was wondering if it was nearby her house.

If you need any additional info regarding eating places in the area or transportation to and from Ban Pong to BKK, etc please post or email directly.

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Thanks for the info, I saw the hotel on-line and it looks perfect for the occasion, i will try to finf out hwere the property is. I have been there but have no clue ans to the street name etc.

I would like to thank everyone for the information. I am happy to hear that there are accomodations in Ban Pong, and a few farangs as well. I have heard that the people are very friendly there, perhaps as it is not a tourist area-i imagine. Do you folks like it there? And thanks Derek-C if you stop by the hotel i would appreciate it.

The Ban Pong i am speaking of is in Ratchaburi Province. I have only been there once. And know nothing about the area i'm afraid.

I will be getting married in Ban Pong in a few months and will need a place for farang relatives and friends to stay. I thought of them staying in bkk, but the transpotation to Ban Pong would be difficult. Any suggestions would be appreciated, also is there anything to do in Ban Pong, as the future wife has property there and I am strongly considering building a house there and retiring.

Thanks

Miss Universe does a good job of waiing (sp) on her commercial, or so my gf says. I want to thank everyone here as I am meeting the parents in Feb. in Ban Pong, getting married in August.

Thank you DAVEH, you advise was a great help. I will apply for a fiance visa in a month or so. Hopefully when we marry in August we will have all of the paperwork done and she can come to the states with me. We will do a paper wedding in the states to make immigration happy.

Thanks again,

Hi Folks, I will be getting married to a Thai lady in August. I need to know the process to bring her to the States. I have looked at the Gov. site and it confuses the hel_l out of me. Is it faster to say she is my fiance or wife to get her in the states? We will be getting married in Thailand, but if we don't registerit is not legal in the US. We could get married again in the states if it is easier to bring her in. I would apprecialte any input.

Thanks

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Congratulations!

I just finished this process. For me, it was 6 months from the time I filed a Petition for Alien Fiancee to the time she arrived in the States. Then it took another 7 months for the adjustment of status (green card) to go through.

In July, I proposed to her (lots of pictures) and moved to the US to take on a wonderful new job. In August, I filed the petition. In September, it was approved. We had a ceremony in Thailand in November (lots of pictures), but didn't register.

She filed her paperwork as soon as she could (I made it a point to send a copy of all the forms pre-filled out for her before she even got them. They were not always 100% the same, but she was always able to fill out the embassy forms from the forms I sent her). She originally had her interview scheduled in late January, then they moved it to early January, then back to late January following the psunami. She was approved, after a one day screw-up on their part, then she came to the states the following week.

After she got here, we got married on paper. I had to wait for some tax info to come in the mail before I could file my 2004 returns, which they needed for the adjustment of status. I filled that out in April or so (you have 90 days to get married and file the adjustment of status paperwork). We went for her greencard interview a couple weeks ago, and they sent her her green card last week.

The process was fairly painless for me, but I've read it could be very difficult for some. I know a guy that used an attorney who recommended that he use his parents ' address because "it would be faster" than in California. He got an outright rejection. I still don't know the details.

I didn't use a lawyer, but I did read up a great deal on the subject. There is a great book by Nolo press, Fiance & Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration. By reading this, I was well aware of every step of the process before going through it.

Typically, it takes a little longer to get a visa for an alien spouse if you are living in the states, and she in Thailand, than it is to get a fiance visa. When you go through this process remember one word, evidence. You should have lots and lots of evidence to show you have a bonafide relationship.

Your first step is filing the I-129F along with supporting documentation.

Good luck.

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Hi Folks, I will be getting married to a Thai lady in August. I need to know the process to bring her to the States. I have looked at the Gov. site and it confuses the hel_l out of me. Is it faster to say she is my fiance or wife to get her in the states? We will be getting married in Thailand, but if we don't registerit is not legal in the US. We could get married again in the states if it is easier to bring her in. I would apprecialte any input.

Thanks