Srinakarin

Hi Fletsmile,

Congratulations, and thanks for letting me know that it's a possiblility.

Do you mind me asking, was it many years ago that this happened? The reason I'm asking is that the missus seems to think there's little point in submitting the necessary documents to try and claim because they've probably tightened the requirements. That's easier to say when it's not your salary that's being taken away from you.

Hi,

These links are extremely useful, Thanks.

It has opened up a can of worms for me however regarding my deductions.

I'm married to a Thai who isn't currently working because we have a dependent child. She has a home loan in her name with me as guarantor. The Loan agreement mentions me as guarantor.

I note that there are allowances for taxpayers who are married, have kids, and also for parents of spouse - all of which I can claim for.

Regarding interest on the home loan. I've had advice from different Thai people who say I can probably claim the "interest on home loan" allowance even though the wife has no income if we make a joint PIT submission. Others have advised that I can't claim the allowance for the interest on home loan because the wife has no income.

Can anybody clarify the postition on this and if the answer is that we cannot claim, if there a way around it apart from sending the missus back to work asap?

Thanks

Hi CWMcMurray,

Yes, I know. I took the airport link from Hua Mark to Lat Krabang recently. It seems like a very quiet area.

I had a breakthough with my boy when I bought him a PS3 gaqme system last month though. Now he's speaking english through a mic earpiece while playing and made friends in Norway and Spain. They might not be face to face friends, but they're planning gaming strategies together, negotiating roles, and forming some kind of friendship albeit probably temporary. His confidence has grown massively. If I let him use it in moderation and under supervision it will continue to help him. Next step is to find game players in Thailand his age who could meet up from time to time.

It wont take over though. If it sucks him in too much, I'll cut the plug off.

Patrick,

Thanks for your reply. If the Polo club is more expensive than the British club, it's way out of my league. The British club looks just about affordable, and I'm toying with the idea. I appreciate you taking the time to give me ideas.

All the best

At the time, the passport corners were not cut off. When I returned with the corners cut off, they did the transfer. I had no letter from the embassy.

Hi Ubonjoe,

What they did is exactly as I described. They refused to listen even though I had both passports in front of me and the contract and work permit.

It was at the immigration department chaengwattana

I stand corrected!

Many thanks!

Hi,

I have a rather unusual problem with my Visa and wonder if anyone has had a similar experience and can advise.

I've been in the country on an O visa for over 5 years. Shortly after arrival I got full time employment and had the O visa extended on the basis of a year contract and work permit. The contract runs from July through to June and has been renewed yearly for the last 4 years. So the visa was issed from July through to end June, and matched with my employment contract.

Last year I applied for a new passport from the UK and received it with 10 months remaining on my old passport. I wanted to get the new one in early before changes were made to the system. The old passport expires May 2015.

When I went to immigration last year, with the new and old passport and new contract, they said they would not issue the renewal in the new passport because I was in possession of the old passport. My only option was to extend the visa in the old passport. This they did, but only up to the expiry date of the old passport. ie May 2015.

The following week, I returned to immigration with the new and old passport to transfer the visa across into the new passport. They did this, but even though I'd paid for a year extension, and had a year contract, and a year work permit that expired at the end of June, they would only transfer across onto the new passport a visa expiring in May 2015 (as was issued in the old passport). The Thai staff at my company explained that this would cause me problems in May 2015, but they didn't want to hear anything.

Now, I have a contract that expires at the end of June, a work permit that expires at the end of June and a visa expiring in 4 weeks.

My employer is highly likely to renew my contract in June for another year, but this is just going to put back the issue by a year and I'll face it again in May the next year.

Is there some way that the existing contract and work permit can be used to extend my visa from May - End June to bring it back in line with my work contact? Then in July I can renew for another year.

In a way, I hope no one else has gone through this shit, but on the other hand it would help if they have so that I know the solution. Currently my employer is suggesting that it's goo be complicated.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Hi Mogandave,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I afraid none of us are religious so we might not fit in.

I appreciate you taking the time to try and help though

Good luck to you

Near the Pattanakarn Srinakarin intersection actually, which I suppose makes us closer to Bang Kapi.

Thanks for the advice and I see your point. The issue is less the educational side of things though and more to do with him having friends that meet his friendship needs. I have considered the International school option, but with two mortgages to pay here, I may not be able to afford the fees at this stage. Also, I've heard that what you get for your money can vary massively. After mortgage payments I am left with around 65k a month to play with which probably means I cant afford an international school unless I sell one of the properties.

Also, I've met some Thai lads in the area at his football club and they go to Thai schools. Some, but not many of them shock me how fluent and knowledgable they are about aspects of other cultures outside of Asia, cost of living, range of opinions including political, etc etc. They've travelled, and even been encouraged by their parents to chat online in English to "educate themselves" if you like. Even more reason that I feel that in many cases, the divide between International school and SOME Thai schools if shrinking quickly. The fees some of these schools charge is even less justified when you see some Thai families finding a way to immerse their kids in a global community without it costing the earth.

Perhaps in a year or so, Ill have a change of heart, but for now he's in a good place academically and in terms of his all round confidence.

Thanks again rgs2001uk

Thank you for your kind words Costas2008. I appreciate you taking the time to reply

All the best to you too

I have a 9 year old Thai English lad who has lived in Thailand since the age of 3 and half. Last year something happened that opened my eyes to the fact that I might need to do more to find some places where he can make friends in a more mutli cultural setting.

In short, we left the UK in 2010. At the time he had an English friend who he was not necessarily that close to, but had met up with a dozen times or so. We came to Bangkok and started a new life here. Very quickly he picked up Thai and by the age of 5 he was almost as fluent as most others and seemed pretty happy at his school. As he's got older he seems more and more happy with living here and when I asked him if he'd prefer to go back to England, like me he said he'd rather cut his own arm off, or words to that effect.

Now fluent in Thai and English, he seemed to get on well at school, and looked like the happiest kid in the class.

At the end of last year his old friend from the UK came over. It took a day or so for them to suss out how much they could communicate with each other, but after that they seemed to bond like blood brothers, and not because they were the best of mates 5 years ago. At the end of the holiday, when his mate went back to England, my boy was distraught. He was in floods of tears and when I asked him why, he said that he doesn't have friendships anything like that with the kids in his school. His English is good enough to say that he's just realised that his classmates don't have the character of his old mate and behave like idiots. His words, not mine and he's probably been a bit harsh there.

Now, I don't want to read to much into what happened, nor do I want this to start off any Thai bashing. There may be a number of reasons why he felt so strongly, including the fact that this kid is pretty cool for his age, well behaved, intelligent but at the same time has a lot of character. He's the ideal friend for most kids of that age I'd say. Also, my boy may not have taken the time to try and form friendships with some of the other kids in his school.

The other factor might be that in the UK, it's more common for families to get togther at the weekend and do stuff. Go to the park together, go for a pub lunch, go for a drive, or whatever. People form closer friendships in general I think. Here it seems that it is more common for kids to be sent to extra classes on the weekend - learn maths, learn English, learn dance - or whatever. Friendships are formed around meeting up at a place of study rather than people becoming friends because they relate to each other well. This is a generalisation I know and it is just my thought, not necessarily a fact.

Finally, the school my son goes to is great in many ways. I can't fault it for the most part. However, it's not very multi cultural and so the nature of the school is still very much Thai. There are a number of mixed nationality kids, but their in a small minority.

I want to give my son the chance to go somewhere at the weekend where there is a better chance of regularly meeting with kids from more diverse backgrounds in the hope that he might form a friendship that gives him more of what he's looking for. Again, this is not a criticism of Thai culture, I'm just going on what he's saying. I know of the play areas like Funarium which has a lot of other nationalities, but people are unlikely to be going there week after week I suspect.


Are there any expat communities where people meet up quite often and there is more of a chance of kids becoming friends without it centering around some kind of studying. I just want him enjoy being young without having education forced upon him at the weekend.

I'd be so grateful for any suggestions.

Jessie