MikeN

1 hour ago, Eric Loh said:

You think he will win if this is a free and fair election? He was gifted the election thru fraudulent laws, crony election agency, pre election campaigning for last 5 years and buying votes with populist policies using tax payer money. 

Just like every other governing party in every other election here....

19 minutes ago, AlQaholic said:

Green is for drainage, blue is for water, hot and cold.

Not in Thailand ......green PP-R is for hot water, blue is general purpose cold water.

34 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

 

Seems pretty obvious they will not willingly align with the military. 

But given their other statements they shouldn’t be aligning with PT either. Perhaps joining with the PPRP and others on the condition Prayut is NOT the next PM ?

 With the 3rd largest number of MPs they will have some clout no matter where they end up.

37 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

What's a Drival?

A new low in translation even for Thaivisa. Can't Dan afford a proof reader? The chick from Morocco works for free doesn't she?

That’s exactly how the Nation wrote it ..... guess a “professional “ media outlet cannot afford a proof reader either.

 IWhen is the cut off day to have the 800,000 baht in a Thai Bank?   ---Visa Expires on August 8th, 2019-- 90 days prior to my visa expiration date??

And do we know exactly what the 800K requirements are in terms of how long they can't be touched?

Under the old rules it was 90 days before the actual renewal date, not the expiration date. That’s how Chang Wattana worked at least...

 So under the new rules I would assume it is counted back from the renewal date too ?

 Which brings up the matter of the post renewal period .... do you have to keep the 800k in the bank for 3 months from the renewal date or the day the new extension starts ? If you renew early there can be nearly a month difference in the date.

1 hour ago, Phaser said:

Agreed - but also was an issue in years past just now worse than ever. This is a pure and classic govt area of responsibility to take charge and stop the burning 

There are laws against the burning, but in typical Thai scofflaw fashion they are not obeyed or enforced because the citizenry by and large don’t care. Mai pen rai, buy another mask and carry on.

 What do you want the govt to do ? Send in helicopter gunships and shoot any farmer seen burning his field ? Until the Thai populace start demanding effective action the laws will not be enforced. That will require quite an attitude change !

 And even if the farmers stopped burning tomorrow you would still have the same problem blowing in over the borders. How are you going to stop the people of Laos and Myanmar from burning their forests and fields ?

Maybe, but he did specifically say it was his first extension.

I have never had to show a lease or any other proof of address at CW, but last week I was talking to a guy living in my condo block who not only had to show his lease agreement for his retirement extension ( his first) but two officers came to see him at home !

Well, about 9 months ago some of the “experts” here on TV were adamant the $AU was about to go below 19 baht. They were wrong then, and those same “experts” will probably be wrong again.

 There are too many variables to accurately predict currency fluctuations in anything more than the immediate short term future.

@4MyEgo he refused a divorce before because he was back home in Europe and supposedly “never going back to Thailand”. Now it turns out that he is back here and possibly Som might now get him to agree to an uncontested divorce.

 As I said above, I have known her for about 20 years as a not too serious holiday date, as the sister in law of a good friend, and now as a more serious girlfriend since I have been living here.

 I won’t be spending big $$ on any house, it will be 50% of a small bungalow that at most will cost far less than the profit I made on selling my house back home, and she knows that nothing will be spent before she gets this all sorted.

^ Given the circumstances and the apparent ill feeling between them, i doubt that his opinion would be 100% unbiased or correct.

It always gives me a bad feeling when I read a farlang giving opinions based on his preconceived ideas and extrapolating them onto everybody else.

Not every Thai woman is a scheming money grabber, no more so than a woman anywhere else.

but for your info, I have known her for nearly 20 years, long before she married him, as she is the sister in law of a good friend of mine. We dated on and off when I was here on holiday (before she married him) and got back in touch after I moved here, so i am certainly not rushing into things.

I have not invested any "big money" in her, nor in her land or house ..... one of the things I have insisted on is that she gets a divorce before we go any farther (as I said in the OP !) She paid for the land herself, and off her own bat suggested going 50/50 in any future house (which will NOT be a fancy and expensive baan falang !)

As for why I am asking here, I thought that perhaps out of the thousands of members there might actually be somebody with personal experience to relate but it's just mostly speculation and wild conjecture.

@khunPer I did find something that says because foreigners cannot own land, any land purchased by a Thai woman married to a foreigner is sin suan tua (personal property) not joint marital property (sin somros) as it would be if married to a Thai husband.  Apparently, until about 20 years ago a Thai woman married to a foreigner could not buy land because half of it would be his so when the law was changed to allow them to own land it was specified that it was hers only and not to be split 50/50 in a divorce. BUT, I have also read that it is subject to the normal split......

@Captain 776 Thanks for that tip about Siam legal.

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

 

Your wife does not even need to transfer the land to make it worthless to her husband. She can grant her sister (or anyone else) a usufruct for life. This will have the practical effect of making the land worthless and almost unsalable (assuming her sister is not aged or very ill).

Well in that case, would a usufruct to me be as good ? We have touched on the subject when talking about a future house, I was ambivalent about it as if things between us went downhill I wouldn’t want to stay there anyway but if it helps to keep his hands off it then it might be worthwhile.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

You shouldn't be sleeping with another man's wife, end of.

Who said we were living, or sleeping, together ?

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Where divorce is mutually agreed the divorce can be processed, very simple / quick, at the local amphur office, very small fee.

 

Given the length of the separation, meaning that by Thai law she doesn't need his agreement to divorce, could she not get the divorce at the local amphur office?

 

Just asking?

 

 

Yes, she was under that impression but the amphur office told her she would have to go to court as he was not willing to have an uncontested divorce. He was at home in Europe at that time.

 Hopefully now he is back here he may change his mind and just sign the papers.

@CharlieH ....No, only married here.

@Mavideol I hate to admit it, but at the back of my mind I do wonder if he has somehow heard that she has land and somebody to build her a house, and now he sees a chance to make a few baht out of it.

 Som (The GF ) tells me he is a scumbag who only married her for the visa, but as a “woman scorned” she may not be completely objective about him.

 Som did not ask what visa he is on here now, it cannot be a marriage visa ( that would have needed her cooperation) so hopefully he is on a retirement visa and if he wants to play dirty at least she can take half his 800,000 and stuff up his visa extension next time !

My GF is still legally married to another foreigner, although they have been separated for at least 10 years when he went back home, vowing never to return to Thailand apparently. Her marital status has never worried me, but a year ago she did ask for a divorce which he refused. That was about the only contact (via Messenger) that they have had for years. Now she has just found out through a Facebook contact that he is back here.

 As I understand it any property acquired during marriage is split 50/50 ? Does that include anything bought with her money after the separation ? She has bought two blocks of land that we were planning to build on sometime. Would he have any claim on this land if they were to get a divorce ? I know he cannot own the land, but I would hate to see the guy take half the value in cash. I don’t know what he is worth in terms of assets here, probably not much so she would not be getting much from him.

 I did think of suggesting to the GF that she transfer the land into her sister’s name until she gets a divorce, but if he wants to be an <deleted> that could be years.

 I would certainly want to get it sorted before we start thinking seriously about a house on the land. I have told her to see a lawyer but she seems to think there is nothing to worry about ....mai pen rai  No dear, this is serious !

OP, my concern would be that when you get your 12 month extension it is dated from the original expiry date, not the renewal date ( at least, that’s the case with mine from CW). In other words, if it is due on April 1 but you get your extension early before 1 March it will show April 2020 as the next due date.

 When that date comes around the IO might think that since the new rules will have been in force for more than a year by that time you should have been sticking to those new rules.

3 minutes ago, GregKeo said:

Searat7 you obviously didn't get your moniker from expertise in sailing. That vessel was never a yacht! 

 Have you never heard of a motor yacht ?

52 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

I think TransferWise works fine... Very convenient app, low cost and to date all transfers have shown up on my BK Bank as foreign...

Transferwise use Bangkok Bank as their local intermediary, that’s why your transfers show as international. If you were using another bank here it would be a domestic transfer from BKK Bank into your account.

 As for the cost, because of their sliding scale fee structure means they can get quite expensive for larger amounts. I did a practical test, sending AU$1500 by both my bank internet transfer and Transfer-wise and despite TW’s better exchange rate and using their cheapest payment option I ended up with more baht from my bank because of their fixed, flat rate, fee.

According to your Wiki link, it’s what we called a choko in Australia. You don’t need seeds, just leave the whole thing somewhere dark until it sprouts then plant it out.

https://m.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Choko-Vine

23 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

What rigmarole. Just go to your local Post Office and the new passport comes back within a week.

Well in my case, DFAT stuffed up which meant I had to supply more evidence of identity, and then the application seemed to disappear somehow. Only after putting in an official complaint did anything happen but one thing that is consistent whether you apply in Australia or overseas is that you have to apply in person. So how did Assange apply in person while hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy ?

After the rigmarole I had to go through to get a new passport, in Australia, I am curious as to just how he managed to get one inside the Ecuadorian embassy. Did embassy staff go visit him to verify his identity and witness his signature ?

52 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

Going cashless will put beggars out of business.

I was reading a story in the Australian media, some buskers are now carrying terminals so that people can use cards as the cashless society means many people don’t have cash to pay them.

 While I did mainly use EFTPOS and Paywave back home, I did still carry small change too. Here I have never used my debit card in a store, only online where it requires an OTP to authenticate the transaction.

17 hours ago, mfd101 said:

My experience of visiting the Embassy on expat business (ie stat decs etc) is that they are very efficient (in & out quickly) and have pleasant & courteous professional, locally engaged staff.

What Stat Decs ? Shows that this is an old article, as do some of the other “facts” ......Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull ?