blackcab

I've talked to many foreigners who have lived here for many years. Not one can quote a real business success story from someone they know. They can tell countless failures, and the "one guy they know" thats in some kind of export business who is doing well.

I've never seen a foreigner in a retail type business that has made it. Just the paperwork, accounting, work permits etc sets you back over 10k baht a month. Severe disatvantage out of the gate.

I personally know several foreigners in Bangkok who have successful and profitable businesses in Thailand. Two of those foreigners are in retail businesses and I absolutely know they make decent profit.

Anybody's anecdotal experience may depend on who you mix with...

Agreed, although in these cases I know the businesses and the business accounts extremely well. I was the general manager for one of these businesses before I moved to my current job. As such I made my comments based on empirical observation rather than anecdotal experience.

It's a single shop house, so not much bigger than a telephone box.

Generally you won't get a FET form for amounts smaller than 50,000 US dollars, so you might want to consider multiples of that if you want to do several transfers.

Yes you want the exchange to take place here as you will almost always get a better rate. So send in your home currency.

Cashier's cheques are not normally crossed.

You do need to show the funds came from abroad in foreign currency. When your Thai bank receives the funds they will give you a FET form which the land office require during the transfer process.

You cannot use Thai baht for the purchase, no matter where the baht came from.

That's what I thought,

At the moment cryprocurrencies like

Bitcoin is in a unique virtual asset class of its own so I think it would be hard to explain it to anyone who doesn't already know what it is

If I came to Thailand with a few kilos of gold, sell my gold and use that money I guess it would be more simple for an outsider to understand

Could I get an fet now for a bank transfer I made 7 years ago for a large sum of cash I transferred? (that account was closed automatically because it was inactive or something similar years ago so I had to open another)

Would they still have records and if so be willing to issue a fet from so many years back?

I think not, The money to be brought in for the purchase of a condo must state that as the reason for transferring the money, and it must be for the exact amount of the purchase price (as stated in the contract). I have bought a condo without going through the "rigmarole". Simply exchanged my Thai Baht into Dollars for the amount required and then back into my A/C here....that way it came from outside the country.

Any worthwhile real estate agent can manage this end of it if you buy through one..

This is incorrect. The incoming transfer does not have to state that it is for the purchase of a condo. There is no requirement for this - however people do it and it certainly does not hurt to do it.

Also the incoming transfer does not have to be for the exact amount of the purchase. Some people use more than one FET to purchase a condo. Others send more money than is required in one go and use the extra for general expenses.

Do the staff in the office for foreign labour speak English? My experience in Bangkok is that in general English might not be their strongest skill - although you might hit it lucky and find a very good English speaker. Of course the staff could always reverse the question and ask how long it will be until you speak Thai.

In addition to the above you will need a completed application form and I suspect they will want a job description as well. These forms need to be completed in Thai.

The only way to know for sure is to contact your labour office and ask.

I strongly suggest you do 2 and 3 together. If you do this yourself and there is an error in the translation (and there often is) you will either have to go back to the original company yourself or get a company at the MFA to redo the translation. That is hard work.

If you pay the translation company to go to the MFA then they have to do the repeat journey themselves.

Are you sure that's not the WP3 from Ministry of labour? When I exited in Laos, another teacher applying for Nob B was declined and requiring a certain document from the district or something? She had a little argument with the officer coz she's teaching to a private school. Apparently, that document is only required if you're teaching in a Gov't school. Of course, the officer win!

WP3 is an application form for a Work Permit to be submitted to labour on behalf of someone who is no yet in Thailand.

It used to be that the WP3 Filing Receipt (A5 sized piece of paper) was accepted in Lieu of the Letter of Acceptance from labour, but nowadays this is normally not the case at most Thai Consular Facilities in the SE Asia region.

So for a person currently in Thailand on a tourist, but will be going to Penang for the B, which doc is needed? Any idea how long this takes ?

You will need a work permit approval letter from the the Labor Ministry.

Did you notice the date on this topic.

Yes but I wasn't sure starting a new topic on the same subject would be correct.

Thank you for replying.

I take it the WP 3 is the application form the employer uses to apply for the letter?

Can I apply for the letter (with required docs of course,) Anyone have any idea how long does it take to issue?

You can apply for the letter yourself with the correct documents. I would suggest that unless you speak good Thai that you either take someone bilingual with you, or you let your employer do it for you.

I say this because if singeing is incorrect or missing you really will need to speak Thai to understand the problem.

Add the bleach to the main wash cycle after a few minutes. You can pour the bleach into the main detergent compartment and wash it down with a bit of water while the machine is running.

Here's why:

https://www.clorox.com/dr-laundry/detergentbleach-reaction/

Did you ask what your maximum severance benefit will be? Under Thai law, the most you will receive is the equivalent of 300 days pay if it is found that you have been employed for more than 10 years.

What sort of severance pay would you get in the US?

Your Thai bank will provide this (either on request or often without you even having to ask for it). Obviously this happens once the money has arrived. You dont need to do anything in particular.

Thanks, but it needs to be stated specifically that the funds have been transferred into Thailand for the sole purpose of purchasing a condo.

Without this stated the funds can not be used to purchase a condo.

That's incorrect. You don't need to specifically state what the funds are for when initiating the transfer. If you state nothing, or even if your state for 'General Expenditure' you can still use the FET form to purchase a condo.

Some people transfer funds with no intention of purchasing a condo then change their mind. Others transfer smaller amounts and use the combined value of the FET forms to complete a condo purchase.

That said, there is no harm in doing it.

The Queen Vic on Soi 23 has OSH. Also the last time I was in the Royal Oak on 33/1 had it too.

The pub food in the Robin Hood on 33/1 is quite nice.

Leaving the house is not a solution, the intent is to buy it.

I don't want to rent another house cause the one where we currently live is a great deal, houses like that are at about 30,000 baht/month, more that we would pay every month with a loan!

I know I might have no choice, but I'm here to see if somebody knows a solution or at least has some advices about what we could do to get a loan.

I finally found a property in Bangkok that complies with the 1% rule. About 3m baht to buy it and 25k a month income from rent.

That's the first property in Bangkok I've heard of that fits the rule.

Was the construction permit, architect's drawings and invoices/receipts all in your name?

Under the Thailand Condominium Act, the land office simply need to see that the purchase was funded from overseas because the sale of a condo to a foreigner is only legal if funded from overseas.

What if the foreigner worked (and has an income) in Thailand.

Can that foreigner still only buy a condo with funds brought in from overseas ?

Correct. That foreigner can still only buy a condo with funds brought in from overseas.

The only exception is if the foreigner has permanent residency. If you have permanent residency you are exempt from showing a FET form and can use funds from within Thailand.

You do need to show the funds came from abroad in foreign currency. When your Thai bank receives the funds they will give you a FET form which the land office require during the transfer process.

You cannot use Thai baht for the purchase, no matter where the baht came from.

That's what I thought,

At the moment cryprocurrencies like

Bitcoin is in a unique virtual asset class of its own so I think it would be hard to explain it to anyone who doesn't already know what it is

If I came to Thailand with a few kilos of gold, sell my gold and use that money I guess it would be more simple for an outsider to understand

Could I get an fet now for a bank transfer I made 7 years ago for a large sum of cash I transferred? (that account was closed automatically because it was inactive or something similar years ago so I had to open another)

Would they still have records and if so be willing to issue a fet from so many years back?

Gold won't work either. It must be foreign currency. Only your bank week be able to answer the 7 year old transaction question.

Worth a try though.

You do need to show the funds came from abroad in foreign currency. When your Thai bank receives the funds they will give you a FET form which the land office require during the transfer process.

You cannot use Thai baht for the purchase, no matter where the baht came from.

Agreed - that's the standard building regulations. What they have told you is that you can rent anything, regardless of the size as long as it is a legal construction.

If you are paying for it after the split, I suggest you keep possession of it until you can sell it.

I would suggest advertising it at a price that it will sell. You will undoubtedly owe the bank more money, but that's one of the costs of the divorce.

Better than sitting on a depreciating asset that you pay the full price for and is worth very little at the end.

I've talked to many foreigners who have lived here for many years. Not one can quote a real business success story from someone they know. They can tell countless failures, and the "one guy they know" thats in some kind of export business who is doing well.

I've never seen a foreigner in a retail type business that has made it. Just the paperwork, accounting, work permits etc sets you back over 10k baht a month. Severe disatvantage out of the gate.

I personally know several foreigners in Bangkok who have successful and profitable businesses in Thailand. Two of those foreigners are in retail businesses and I absolutely know they make decent profit.

If you have sliding doors the easiest way to secure them is to lock the doors then place a piece of wood on the rail between the door and the frame.

Of course you put the wood on the inside of the doors

To our OP, why do you want to replace the wooden doors? Unless they are actually falling apart wood looks so much nicer than plastic.

And therein lies the problem.

Traditionally sliding doors have the sliding part at the outside, so laying wooden blocks at the inside has no effect, other then that the burglar may stumble over them.

For that reason, and also so that I can have my insect screens at the outside, I have all my sliding windows and doors inverse installed.

As advice to the OP, go either with Euro PVC ( Veka) or Inoutic if you want quality.

Here's a picture of one of the single sliding doors we have currently:

The short term parking at the airport is past terminal 2 on the left. It can be very congested indeed. The first hour costs 20 baht.

My wife recently had the test at Samitivej. They have a full range of tests from different countries. We chose the NIPT+ from Taiwan, which tested for the highest number of abnormalities.

Cost was 45k. There were other tests in the 30k range.

I'm definitely not an electrician, so I have no idea what any of this stuff is - but here are some pictures of the inside:

It was a few hundred thousand baht for the control unit, wiring and installation/setup. The light fittings were extra. That is for a reasonable sized house with several rooms and switches.

The team that fitted it also did the cctv and the wifi. They are Thai and don't have a website.

Btcino is an Italian company but their products are available in Thailand. You can download lots of product information here:

http://www.download.bticino.it/bticino/action/viewHome

The entire system is programmable, so any light switch can be programmed to turn on (or off) any light, set of lights or combination of lights in the building.

As an example, you can have a night button. Press it and selected outside lights, stair lights and bedroom lights all come on at the same time. At any time you can reprogram any of the switches to any format you want. Every switch is also a dimmer switch (if you are using dimmable lights).

The app can remotely turn on or off any lights, plus you can have preconfigured settings for different areas of the house or the whole house.