luk AJ

All solved by nuclear energy, you want more coal-generated electricity with massive co2 emissions?

I am very surprised you can open a bank account in Thailand without proof of residence and work permit or retirement visa. I am pretty sure a Thai will not be able to open an account in your country without above documents!

Will tey, thanks

The reason was no work permit in HKK. All rules and conditions to open bank account became more difficult.

Sorry to come back on this, but does anybody know if my Russian wife living and working in Bangkok can open a USD account in Singapore? I just come back from Hong Kong and ICBC nor HSBC agreed. She wanted part of her salary paid in Hong Kong because tax free. I understand Singapore has 10% income tax but this is still better than Thailand.

I completely agree with "ppmacready" my GF gives me a very good feeling, i just like to be with her and during the past 15 years we became good friends. I still pay her salary every month, she saves some, help family etc..this is maybe not "western" style but it works for me and for her. Take the cupid love away and our relation would still stand. There is no rule nor definition which can judge any relationship. It is like some guys need confirmation or approval from a forum like this which i think is very twisted.

I hate to get into Thai bashing but I'm just about at my wits end with this.

I want to know if other foreign business owners in Thailand are going through the same problems as me with regards to recruiting Thai staff and about the pressures that farang owned businesses are put under to meet the Thai/farang quota for work permits.

We're a farang owned business, therefore we need to employ a certain number of Thai staff to meet our quota for our work permits.

However, it is so difficult to find skilled Thai staff, who are able to use their initiative, think for themselves, work hard and meet deadlines. That's before we even try and get through any communication issues.

So far this year our office has been like a revolving door with our Thai staff, despite offering good salaries, good working conditions, free lunch and coffee and flexible working hours.

Most recently, the latest one to go was a graphic designer who spoke excellent English, promised everything and delivered nothing. The final straw came when I asked him why he hadn't sent me a document which he had already missed two deadlines for as I need to send it to the printers for mass production. His response was that he didn't know how to attached a document in Gmail. I mean really...what can you do?

When I eventually got hold of the document after getting it from his desktop myself, the design is not of a particularly good standard.

Don't even get me started on Thai web developers or programmers.

So now I'll have to waste another month recruiting someone, letting them settle in and seeing how they work out. That's if they don't just disappear after pay day, never to be seen again.

Another one - we once had another member of staff who told me she needed 3 days off because her mother had died. Of course I said, take as long as you need and let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. 5 days later she turned up for work. I welcomed her back. Later that evening after her first day back, as she finished work, who should pull up at the end of the road to pick her up, but the only the mother who was meant to have died 3 days earlier!!

We also spoke to a girl last week who was meant to come for an interview at 10am on Tuesday. At 10:50am, her friend finally called me to say that the girl wouldn't be coming to the interview because she couldn't find a parking space near our office!!!

You can't help but laugh but it's driving me insane. We got paid a visit by Immigration and the Labour Dept this morning and now we don't meet the quota for farang/Thai staff, so we need to find someone asap.

I think the only thing left for me to do is find some freelancer web dev/graphic designer/programmer in India or somewhere and then just employ some Thai staff to sit in the office and play facebook all day for 10k per month.

Perhaps I could employ 10 Thai cleaners in order for us to meet the work permit quota -at least I'd have the cleanest offices in Thailand.

Do any other farang business owners just employ people to sit in the office in order to meet the requirements for work permit?

And before anyone asks, I don't want messages from freelance graphic designers/web devs replying to this post.

mm

So same HKK but more easy right?

Interesting! Do you pay income tax in Singapore?

Dear OP, the banking situation changed a lot the last couple of years. I am quite sure you will not get a bank account somewhere else. Even Hong Kong will not be the answer anymore. Reason; Bank Board members become personally responsible if the bank holds accounts with criminal activities. Everywhere the same, no workpermit, no account. I cannot confirm Singapore but Hong Kong I am 100% sure. A USD account in Thailand w is indeed your best option. Please try UOB Bank, might work.

I employ 45 Thai workers and Staff. There is no magic trick and I absolutely can confirm the OP experience. I am daily confronted with the most unbelievable situations. I tried special bonus, higher salaries etc... I have the impression Thai people like to move around,

As "canada" reported normal practice is the bank will not return the swallowed card. You have to block it and apply for new one. Anyway this is my experience from the two forgotten cards.

Hydrochloric acid?? Don't buy this in pure form, this is extremely dangerous and will react violently with water! Use strong commercial cleaners. Check Homepro they have a lot of choice and very effective.

What an arogant little fart! He is worse than Hitler, maybe next he wants all the grandpa's gassed, disposed, terminated? Just let me know where I can find you and show you what this grandpa ia capable of.

Of course they like and want money, this cannot be a surprise... The question is, do you get value for your money?

I also would like to share an odd experience. After living together with my Russian GF for 10 years in ThaiIland, we decided to marry. We went to the Thai office and got some papers to fill in as homework. On the paper was printed Mr (nationality) will marry miss ... from thailand. As she was Russian I scratched out "Thailand" and replaced the wording with "Russian". Application was denied because nobody can change a printed text on official papers. It took us another 2 years to get finally maried!

I would at least expect from the army to inform the PM before installing the martial law no?

Any of you already travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar? All these countries are at least 10-20 years behind Thailand. Just look from a distance and you will notice the difference. Not all bad he!

I also think the condo market is heading for a real estate bubble. Only in the very high-end market you could consider the risk. I had a condo at Portofino (only yacht port in Pataya Jomtien) and even there I had difficulties to re-sell without profit. Condos in that building maybe sold 50 % but they keep it very well maintained with a low common fee of 25thb/m2.

Good job OP! You really were able to get some very helpful reactions from this forum! Don't play stupid because as you can see, some people actually believed your post

I guess, doing what Ben A. did, requires a very high IQ. He doesn't need the money, so I suppose he just wanted to make a statement. I just dont' understand how the casino can proof somebody is counting and even if so, they expect him to play dumb and shut down part of his brain?

PDRC guards at Chaeng Wattana to protect protesters?? Which protesters? Where? This site is completely abandoned aready since over one month .

First of all there was a slope in the bridge they built, so he covered his ass. Second, even if he used "slope" referring to a Thai guy walking on the bridge at that moment , it was a joke! I am living in Thailand 15 years, locals call me "farang" all the time, should I go to the court? Even worse, people from I ndia, Pakistan etc.. Are referred to as " keak" should they go to court to? Pitty people are always looking for scandals instead of enjoying fantastic shows like "TOP GEAR"

Congrats! Maybe the video itself will not change the world, but the fact that you resisted these scumbags does make a difference. Phuket does not deserve all these tourists, terrible road from the airport to the centre, very expensive, ugly city overcrowded beaches etc. etc. But ok, same can be said from Pataya...

I had a tripple heart bypass at BKK hospital in Bangkok, all went well. I choose this as a second option after several visits to Bumrungrad. No abnormal charges, good aftercare but very few nurses speak english...anecdote (really happened) i was in a lot of pain after the operation and I was begging for medicins. None of the nurses understood my plea imtil finally I saw a spark in the eyes of one of the nurses. After a long 15 minutes she came back with a smile and put a pack of "magazines" on my bed!!