nonthaburial

Here in China, I have two legally paid for satellite systems, one being True and the second being from Vietnam. Last night I watched on the Vietnam system the Barclays Asia Cup, brilliant HD picture with original Audio in English.

I know Vietnam do stream live EPL coverage in English, but not sure if they have the capability to show more than one game at a time, but worth checking out. I can also say, here in China the Vietnam system is a lot cheaper than True and well worth the price

I'll second Madgee's suggestion to get a Business visa and not even attempt to get a work permit. Your chances of getting the visa you want are usually much much better if you apply in your home country. (I've heard Hong Kong is pretty good, but have no personal experience)

You can do visa runs every month or so. In some cities, they have a local office where you can usually (with proper supporting documents from the sponsor company) get a visa extended. They cancel the old visa and give you one that has no "per visit" limit, but has the same expiration date.

That's how I used to stay in China for several months at a time between international trips.

Keep in mind, however, that rules change pretty regularly and the practical application of those rules changes even more often- and sometimes depends on which agent you get when you deal with immigration, and which consulate you get your visa.

Three of us have now agreed the business F visa is the way to go, however, it is not easy to get a 12 month multi Entry first time around and as stated a six month visa is the norm. To obtain this Visa you must get a letter of invitation FROM A CHINESE COMPANY, this letter must state the reasons why you will be in China and I would suggest that it states that you are "a consultant Inspection Engineer visiting(A) ................ for your employer( (American Co name and head office address") It should also state that A or B will be fully responsible for your financial requirements as well as hotels and air tickets etc.

As also previously stated, if you are staying in a private residence you must within 24 hours REGISTER with the local Police Station, this is not the same as a Residence Permit more of a way for Big brother to know where you are, and it is not uncommon for the Police to visit that address to ensure you are staying there. The three times this has happened to me I found a nice cold beer eased the situation.

Finally, HK is very easy to get Visas, however unless you have a HK ID Card you will have to use the services of a Visa Agency, and not go direct to the Chinese authorities, this usually takes two days and is a little more expensive, but as the company is paying what the hell. You will even get one or two nights in HK into the bargain

thanks for the info, I will be employed by an american oil company and i will be visiting the fabrication yards where the company has placed orders for some modules i will be representing the company in regard to Quality the company will jump through the hoops just wanted to know if it was possible

Is this going to be a full time residence job or basically in and out. Will you be paid in China or out ? will you reside in China ? if the answer is no, then you can apply for a 6 month multi entry business visa allowing you to stay for up to 30 days at a time. If after the 30 days you need to stay longer, a quick turnaround trip to HK is easy-depending of course where you will be in China

The retirement age for men in China is 60, and that generally applies to foreigners seeking a 'Z' work visa as well - most Chinese schools, universities etc looking for foreign teachers, for example, stipulate an age limit of 60, because they follow Chinese law. However, there are ways around this on your part by using a company set up, but this is as much as I can tell you myself, so you'll need to consult someone who knows the details of how to go about this. You'd also need the agreement of the Chinese party.

asdecas is correct, and generally speaking the system is pretty rigid, I myself had to leave a position at the age of 65, after three years working for the same company. I was lucky to get the job at 62 but I was classified as a foreign expert in the field of Fire Fighting, and my competition was limited. The same cannot be said for teachers and the likes.

There are of course ways around this, and one is to be recruited as a foreign consultant, but again you will be required to take a very comprehensive annual medical and have to jump through many hoops.

At the end of the day you should ask yourself is all the hoop jumping worth it for a limited period of work at your age

If you want more info please PM me giving me more details such as job offer and location etc.

Landed at Kai Tak in August 1977, spent two years with the Gurkha Transport Regiment at Gun Club Barracks whilst residing on Stone Cutters, got heavily involved with the local sporting areas during my stay. Enjoyed life so much that when my two years was up and was expected to return to the UK with 3 Commando Brigade, I purchased my discharge, leaving the forces on a Friday lunchtime and reported to work in the afternoon to the RHKP Traffic investigation unit as a vehicle examiner.

Before leaving HK in 1996, I worked for the HKFSD, Citybus and Simon Access.

I left HK in 1996 after living in Pokfulam, Happy Valley and Shatin, very sad to leave as I considered them, as I do now that HK is my home, After 10 years in BKK I now work in Dongguan which is only 70Kms North of "home" and I visit regularly to meet up with old friends and ex colleagues.

I believe a famous ex HK person, in the name of Derek Currie who played professional soccer with the then Seiko before moving to Carlsberg as a PR chappie is also a Thai resident, I tried unsuccessfully to uncover him in Thailand but if anyone knows "puff" please tell him Stroudy says hello.

As a Brit, married to Chinese, and operating a number of businesses in China, let me give my thoughts on the OP's questions.

Shopping Malls in China are generally very large attracting a lot of customers, however, the Malls usually have two types of sales outlets. Firstly the Mega stores, and secondly small booths operated by small identities. The latter is a difficult one as no one is allowed to buy and sell directly from them, all incoming purchase payments must go through the Malls cashiers and the Mall usually pay out after every three months BUT before paying the booth operator, they claim back all overheads owed to them. This for a small operator is painful as cash flow is kept to a minimum.

If this interest shown by a Chinese business person is large, then surely Mr. Google would be able to locate your wife's source and they would likely go direct to the supplier instead of going through a third and fourth person.

I personally would be very wary, especially as a middleman appears to be involved. Do not lay out any expenses,supply any samples or release information at this stage, insist on meeting the interested party face to face and keep the middleman away at all cost.

As for advertising or producing documents in Chinese, again I suggest that you do not go to that expense. Surprisingly the use of the English language in doing business in China is very low, for a number of reasons, (1) English standards are poor (2) The Chinese will try to put you at a disadvantage by wishing to communicate in their language even if they are able to speak English. Therefore it is critical that when you meet, and I would suggest on your home turf, as opposed to coming to China, that you use only your neutral interpreter. If you should get this far then PM me as we have an office in Bangkok and our Chinese manager speaks fluent English and Thai as well as his native tongue, he would be very helpful to you.

This offer is to help you and is not a business proposition.

Good luck but tread very carefully in the minefield.

Don't waste your time, it must be done through HK

For how long?

Please read more carefully, dates are clearly stated

What a load of cobblers, obviously written by someone who has no bloody idea. In the last 36 years, I have worked as a chief engineer in HK, Manila, Bangkok, Kunming and now Dongguan, I can assure you the costs of living have rocketed hugely. I left BKK in 2009 ONLY 4 YEARS AGO, and I visit regularly every. 2-3weeks and I notice the huge increase of COL there. Where did the OP live before, obviously not in the same world as most of us

The guy has obviously got problems, whether they are mental, personal or business orientated. As a a few other have commented, "his" bar does look a tad empty, however, if he owns that business outlet, although not very professional, what's to stop him legally doing exactly what he is able to do in his own home. Lets not forget, any customer entering HIS bar, complies to the bars regulations.

Yes mental breakdown is a nightmare so all of you on your high horses stop being do judgematic and ENGAGE BRAIN

Enough said....... There are so many so called innocent <deleted> on TV in reality many are naive, inexperienced and not fit to comment, just want to jump heavily onto others misfortunes

Grrrrrrrr, different country but SAME SAME, I live in China with a high so Chinese wife, she has two brothers, one the Toyota agent for a large Chinese province, the other one of the top cancer specialists in China. One of the brothers has a 19 yo daughter being educated in LA, but she got herself into a DUI SITUATION, so she "deliberately and deviously" did not follow up on her education visa, problem is, he father, is now remarried with a new daughter. His new wife does not tolerate the daughter in question, resulting in a request from my wife, can she stay with us for two weeks. After arguing and trying to be fair I agreed, only to find when the so called 2nd daughter arrived she was to stay for three months.

I went ape Shiite, and was told thisis the Chinese family way, but this 19 yo only showed herself as a guest When food was being served, she is am dog orientated fat, rude , lazy, spoilt, total waste of space LIKE MAJORITY OF ASIAN/ CHINESE YOUNGSTERS ARE.

This nearly broke my marriage BEWARE

Apologies double post original removed

Reading on TV the number of deaths involving motor cycles, amongst members, it appears to me that 99% of members would be better off on a push bike. Why on earth any expat needs a MC when a car is far the safer option is beyond me. And before I get flamed, I, in the past have had 1000cc motor cycles in

HK and Manila and I am still in this world

I really have problems getting my brain around these types of things. The law is the law, it seems as if those with BIG NOSES appear to think they are above the laws. Lock him up and throw the keys away, that may stop other chancers trying it on. People like this give us law abiding citizens a bad name

UnionPay is a Chinese brand, but its catching on world wide. However saying that I could not find an ATM in places such as Indonesia or the UK that would accept.

I have had my UnionPay debit card for over three years, issued by my mainland bank in China, it is excellent for purchases over the counter where no fee is levied, however if you use it as an ATM card outside of its issued country then a fee is charged.

l quite often have a few hours to wait at the main KL airport, I have always found it very comfortable, green and cool. There are many food outlets and a number of food courts as well as upstairs seating areas with TV's. and free Internet

If you get bored, grab the train for a five minute shuttle to the other terminal ( there are two terminals) and have a wander around, however, if you are a smoker then only T 1 has a smoking area.

I assure you there are many other worse airports to be held captive in.

They added new channels last night. Mine had problems, called them and obviously I have an old box requiring upgrade/swap. Hopefully will have it before I come home tonight. Give them a call...

Thanks for the response, however as I said I am in China so calling them will probably not be of help. This box is also about 6 months old also.

Perhaps patience is the key and slowly the missing channels will reappear !!!

went to bed last night after watching all the latest news etc on True, woke up this morning to find that I have lost all my Gold and Platinum channels, although the channel identifications etc all show.

I have also noticed that whilst going through the channels, it appears a lot of them have been moved.

Now the major problem, apart from the loss of the channels, is that I am in China and did rent the box etc legally through my Bangkok address, however calling True for a service visit is not an option.

Has anyone else got the same problems. Is it me, my equipment or True who is to blame ??

Youre stuck between a rock and a hard place. All tourist visas in China are valid for 30 days and single entry. Your best option if you know a company in Kunming, is to get them to write you an official letter requesting you to travel for official business, you then apply for a business visa. These can be for 3 month multi entry, but you still have to leave every 30 days and re-enter. Being in Kunming also doesnt help you as its pretty isolated there. When i lived there I used to fly to Hk or BKK everytime.

Another problem is that the rules change constantly and this could mean that getting any visas are made harder. I think only a marriage/family visa or work permit gives you the right of residence, which leaving every 30 days is not required.

In short, the answer is no. If you are to work in China, your employer must issue you an official letter inviting you to China, this requires a L Visa which is a tourist visa. On arrival in China, you will have to go through every hoop you could imagine, this will mean visits with your employer to the local Security Branch , and these can be difficult. When everything is done, you will then have to leave China and apply for a Z Visa, this with all your documentation gathered in China.

With a Z Visa in your passport, you then have more hoops to jump through before being issued a resident visa which allows you to work. From my experience, in can take up to a year to get this done. However, the bulk of the work to gain such a Visa is usually done by your employer, if they know what they a doing it does help, if not you will be going round in circles.

Another issue is that nothing seems to be the same around China, where will you be hoping to work in China ? And one more thing, it is generally accepted that getting a work permit for a foreigner over 60 is very difficult.

Hope this helps

Couple of points here. (1) Has insurance been paid out for the flood damaged BMW, if not then I think (maybe wrongly) that you have a case to argue with customs as the parts are not available in Thailand (2) Although from the picture the car did not look too badly damaged, but to be classified as a write off then it suggests chassis is damaged. I am sure you have seen vehicles 'crabbing" along roads in Thailand, these are usually damaged chassis that have been badly repaired! So we realise that in more advanced countries chassis damaged vehicles are usually written off, but not so here, so bringing in the whole vehicle which COULD be repaired to Thai standards would, in my opinion be courting customs problems.

To me the answer would be to strip everything you need from the write off and try to bring them in as used spare parts for your flood damaged car.

Final report, purse with full contents delivered at 3pm today.

Just an update, we had a call early this morning, purse has left Don Sak and expected in BKK early this evening and will be delivered tomorrow morning.

Now that is exceptional service, thanks again Seatrans

The message was simple, YOU WERE VERY LUCKY, there are some GOOD people out there but they appear FEW and FAR between.

thanks for your input, with the number of posts that you are credited with, I must bow to your greater experience, as I am sure other posters in the thousand post range will also acknowledge.