chilli42

You are not eligible to apply ... yet. You need 5 years of tax returns (somebody who applied recently told me this has been increased to 7 years - can't confirm). The process is very straight forward (nothing devious or hidden) but very tedious so any reliable legal or immigration service can handle. You don't need to speak Thai other than a few basic things - fluency not a requirement. You will need to round up your degree, university transcripts, clean bill of health from the national police in your country etc. Can apply any time but there is a quota by country established each year. If the quota is open no problem. If the quota for your country is full you need to wait until the following year. Seems the best way for you to apply would be directly for yourself and not as the spouse of a Thai national. Just talk to a Thai legal firm and get a facts - they will not charge for this. Then shop around and compair firms (services provided and price).

You don't need to be married to get a PR. Just need to be working with a proper work permit and paying taxes. When I got mine the requirement was 5 years of wrk permit/taxes. The application process slowed to a halt under page previous xenophobic government ... guess there was no money in it for them. Understand from friends who had applied that it is moving again. Lots of paperwork and other documents to source. However, it's less burdensome than a similar PR application would be to say Canada or the U.S. There is so much misinformation about getting a PR because so few people meet even the most basic of qualifications.

I don't know about Australia but a number of countries get seriously upset if you are a citizen of that country and try to enter on another country's passport. I got a 3 hour detention and a stern talking to when I did this to enter the U.S. once (only did it because I had forgotten to bring my US passport along.

P

They won't kill you but it hurts

$5mil is nice but not a lot ... you can live comfortably but not extravagantly. Buy no assets, these will tie you down. Don't get married, there is no need to and she is entitled to half ($2.5 mil is a lot less comfortable to live on). Travel as much as you can and then pick 4-6 places you like. Spend 1-3 months in each of these. Spend your time learning: to fly an airplane, ride a horse, fly fish, ski, shoot 3 gun, wakeboard, trail ride in Moab etc

We are all prisoners here but don't seem know we are holding the key.

Social status in Thailand is based on money and/or power. If you have neither then you are of no use to the locals. No Frang with money and/or power ever stands in line for anything and certainly not for something as mundane as a visa stamp. The culture is what it is, deal with it, rob a bank or use your get out of jail card.

I'm not that good in biology and science but I do know that if the girl has AB, she can accept any blood type. So what am I missing here?

What you are missing is that you are wrong

There are many us and them paradigms in Thailand. The Thai vs Farang thing is annoying, sometimes expensive but not toxic. There is the Thai vs African, Thai vs Burmese, HiSo vs everybody, rich vs poor ... etc. All of these are much toxic and impossible for the victim to avoid. At least you can get on an airplane and go back home to deal with your familiar garden variety profiling.

There is no confusion, foreigners can't own land in Thailand. Woukd have thought that clear to anyone who has been her for a time. You can lease, but that is not ownership. - and the lease is at risk You can set up a company but you don't own the land even if you control it through nominees - might your nominees turn on you, might the law change unfavorably? Land ownership in Bangkok is highly lucrative is you buy well or develop smartly. Lease does not allow you to participate in this. Setting up a company is the best way to go but you better have your partners (who collectively actually own the company and therefore the land) by the short and curlys before you venture down this path.

If only for one year, just obtain an international drivers licence in the UK. It's good for one year and you can drive in Thailand with it.

There is no problem with dual nationality. It's coon enough in Thailand. Just show the Swedish passport as proof of your ability to enter Sweden.

This is out of control. Your son needs to step up and tell everyone how it's going to be done. If he does not do this now it will be the start of a very unhappy arrangement going forward. My Thai wife and I paid for our own wedding and ran it the way we wanted. The generous gifts we received from freinds and family more than covered the cost. It's time for this guy to msn up. It's not right that you be throwing money down a bottomless pit.

One part of me hates to see this happen as do many will suffer economic hardship ... as if they don't have enough of that. The other part of me says that it high time it does happen (add the it lines to that list). Once everyone has had an opportunity to live through the consequences it's not likely that the conditions will be allowed to exist for it to happen again. It's a bit the way I feel when disciplining my kids ... sometimes you just have to be cruel to be kind.

I have three kids with my Thai wife of 18 years. We chose western names for them. We never even discussed nicknames and I am certain had the relatives had brought it they would have felt the sharp end of her tongue. After all it's no business of theirs at all. There was a half hearted attempt by the inlaws to use a nickname with my eldest son. It died when he told them that if they ever used the nickname he would never speak to them again (at 5 he had the same sharp tongue as mom). Needless to say that ended it. The two siblings were spared the absurdity. My advice would be to ignore the relatives on this matter (and all other matters) and don't use a nickname with the child. If the relatives wish to use a nick name go ahead and let them - just be sure you and your wife don't use it. The child will decide for themselves if they accept it or not. My guess is a big "not" as she will likely grow up wanting to attach herself to the frang culture rather than the Thai ... particularly if she attends an English language school.

The national interest might be well served by a right sizing of the military

It's high time to bite the bullet on irresponsible loans/borrowing. It may or may not be a disaster - uncharted waters. But continuing to gild the lily by covering up the irresponsible spending with even more loans is delaying everyone form taking the actions that need to be taken to get back to sustainable economic growth. let the cards fall where they may, mankind has survived worse. Perhaps it's simply the bankers that have the most to lose.

No vision, no will, no leadership.

Education as a means to build a better future for the country never has been a national priority or dare I say even on the radar screen. If it were, the fact that Thailands teaching standards were behind those of Cambodia and Laos would never have come as a surprise. A most overdue discovery.

I think it's rather straight forward. Somone mentioned greed. That is an emotional reaction on the part of a buyer. The fundamental purpose of a business is to maximize profit and pricing is one of the major mechanisms to achieve this goal. Be honest with yourself, you woukd do the same if it were your business. In a market economy, prices are set based on demand. It's got nothing to do with cost. It certainly has nothing to do with what the price and demand situation is in a market thousands of kilometers away. Prices keep going up because the demand continues to support it ... period. So unless you are advocating Thailand move to a planned/controlled economy there is only one thing you can do and that is to vote with your Bhat (stop buying and substitute) ... and console yourself that being an economic refugee in Thailand means your purchasing power is considerably higher than were you living in your home country.

The best place I have taken my children is the BKK airport to get on a flight leaving for Canada. If confined to Thailand (a pity for the kids) then their favorite spot is the Cartoon Network water park in Pattaya. When they were toddlers, filling the back yard pool it's inflatable pool toys and inviting a few other toddlers over was far and away the top fun choice.

Odd to be sure but you have to admire that he has a mission. Lets face it, anyone doing good is held up as being suspect. At the same time sad since nobody in this country is going to appreciate it ... muttering "farang bah" as they toss their rubbish anyplace convenient.

Anyone can work in Thailand. You only need a work permit if you are getting paid for that work.

That's easy, it's the neighbor who has tapped into your meter box and is stealing your electric every month

Never had a problem with serous crime in 27 years. Break ins and petty theft for sure that is the norm. Crime is often a case of wrong place and wrong time. If you are bottom fishing you are putting yourself in harms way. If you dress (ladies) or behave (drunk men) inappropriately ditto. Finally, there are more foreigners here than the past many more of these are not the best their country has to offer.

Ten times a small number is still a small number. Thailand has a few nice places to be sure but let's face it nobody comes here for the scenic beauty, that is to be found elsewhere in the world. I guess what bothers people is that foreign nationals are singled out to pay more. It's the principal of this and not the amount. Thai's are not expected to pay more for anything in my home country. You might be tempted to say that is because Thailand is a developing country. That is true but I think it's obvious that the money to build a top quality education system and many other essential fundamentals to progress the country have "stuck" to the hands of the those in positions of privilege. The benefits of the economic growth of the country have gone to so few. So should foreigners pay more? Maybe. Does anyone beleive that this extra money will be used to elevate the quality of the parks? If you think the answer is "yes" then stay here a bit longer and you will know the correct answer. So tell me, is there any reason to feel good about being singled out to pay more?

I live by a canal. Can't sit outside at night. We live in a traditional Thai teak house so lots of gaps in the walls.

We used to wake up covered in bites. What worked for us was screens as the first line of defense and then added mosquito nets. These can look good and they do work. Though I still find it quite satisfying to roast/zap a few mosquitoes before going to bed on one of those battery powered zappers that look like a tennis racquet.

I use a VPN service called Anonymizer Universal. So far, it's bulletproof. Of course it's not free.