pibill

We when through this several years ago before our marriage and prior to submitting the paperwork for the visas.

These were the steps we followed in the process and had no problem having a visa granted. My wife, myself and two thai individuals (one a family member and one a longtime friend) went to the ampur where they are registered to obtain the Por. Khor. 14 for a requisition to record the fact regarding child maintenance. She was interviewed by one of the deputy district chiefs about the purpose and circumstances and attested that she was the sole support of her daughter, providing food, clothing, shelter, etc. The deputy cheif then interveiwed both the family member and friend verifing their relationship, knowledge of the family, etc and thwt attested to the fact that my wife was the sole support. Also, filled out a Form Cor. 1 application to change her daughter's family name to my wife's maiden name. (don't recall which we did first, but it was on the same day).

Once these documents were granted and officially stamped by the district, we applied for the child's passport (bringing with us the original birth certificate, Por Khor 14 and 1). The documents were accepted and a passport was granted with my wife's surname. Following that we then applied for the visa and submitted all related documents and offical translations to the embassy, which was granted. Although the interviewer did ask the whereabouts of the father and was informed that it was unknown because of abandonment.

Just going through a similar situation except that I'm stateside and its for my wife's sister. The fastest process to having your stepson attend school for the fall semester would have to be the F-1 visa. That visa process can go as quickly as 30 days if all the paperwork is in order and the load at the embassy isn/t overburdened. Last I checked there was an 8 to 10 wait period for student visa interviews in Bangkok (don't know what the Changmai schedule is like). My understanding is that the educational institution or board of ed for the area must issue the I-20, which is mailed to the student; the I-20 has a unique registration number for that particular student. Once the student receives the I-20 they can contact the embassy to schedule an appointment for the student visa. Prior to the interview date you have to pay the SEVIS fee, which you can also do over the internet at WWW. FMJfee.com (you can't set up the visa appointment or pay the fee until you have the required ID # from the I-20). As for the sticky point of pay the tuition, you may be able to circumvent this by have your Mother grant legal guardian status (court procedure); sometimes that will suffice to get around the tuition payment (btw some districts still say student must be a legal resident, apparently its up to the district's interpretation).

The other process would be the K-4 route as mentioned in a previous reply; however, this requires that your wife files for a K-3 visa (children are included on the application with k-4 status). This process would definately avoid any tuition fees but it would probably take 4 to 8 months to get the visa.

Just wondering if anyone could clarify the changes made regarding the purchase of a house in Thailand. My wife is currently in LOS and attempted to apply for a mortgage for a home in Phuket. Originally, the bank told her she needed to put down 20% and show proof of employment/assets, etc. She provided the bank with papers showing ownership of our house in Ban Pong and proof of employment, which included pay stubs and a letter of employment showing the length of time at the company, salary etc. When the bank noticed that she worked in the US and was married to a foreigner, they said she would need to put 50% down and have me sign papers as well (the original intent was to have my wife do a sole purchase). I offered to fax whatever papers they needed and was told that I had to either sign in person at the bank in Phuket or go Washington and have everything validated at the Thai Embassy (neither of which is an option at this time).

Three years ago we purchased the place in Ban Pong and I wasn't asked to sign anything at the Ampur (we didn't go to the bank for financing); it was a sole purchase by my wife, which is how we wanted it done this time. During that same time period a friend in Phuket did make a purchase with financing and was only required to put 25% down and show proof of employment (by the Thai wife). The bank stipulated that the house had to be in the Thai National's name, but he was not required to sign any papers. So it appears that either the government or the banks have made some policy changes, not sure by whom. So, as it stands now it looks as though we can't go ahead with the place in Phuket, which may be a blessing in disguise what with the devalued dollar. In either case I would appreciate any info on the current mortgage/ownership requirements by either bank or government policy changes.

Thanks in advance

Hi,

When i emailed my Thai friend to tell her i'm coming, she said "I'll plan for us na"..."See you soon na"

What does "na" means in Thai?

The general meaning is a lot like "is that ok?", or "is that correct?" or even "do you agree?", usually expecting an affirmative response to validate what the individual was saying.

Sounds like Maestro got the immigration officer's interpretation right and although it doesn't help Jaiyen17's situation, maybe we should all use this interpretations as it appears to be the worst case scenario. Hopefully, with enough complaints from tourists the regulation will be revised to make it less open to individual interpretations by officers.

Just read this post, my condolences to their families and friends. I dread every time the wife and I have to catch a bus to areas not serviced by an airport. Sometimes I think the major cause of death in Thailand is road accidents; has anyone ever seen any stats on the most common causes of death. Wouldn't be surprised if traffic accidents were high on the list.

Prior to the change in government I had flown into and out of Thailand with oneway tickets. The last time into LOS was a few days after the Tsunami. The booking rep did ask for a return passage but issued the ticket after I told them I was returning to get my family out of Phuket and wasn't sure of my return. I and my family have also flown with 1-way tickets out of Thailand as well. As for return booking dates I have as recently as last summer booked flights with return dates greater than 30 days and many times prior to that date. Unless the new requirements enacted in October for tourist stays have changed with regard to length of time for the return booking (on entry to LOS the agent would on occasion check for a return ticket but not necessarily the date of return) you should be able to have a return date that exceeds the 30 day visa stay.

What would you recommend as a good curriculum for learning about MS Office?

I highly recommend "Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows for Dummies" (not sure if they have a MS Office 2003 available). I taught MS Office to adult ed. students for 10 years and found the dummies series an excellent booklet for starter students. As for more advanced students, there are a number of books out there targeting specific areas, most of which are twice the price (or more) than the dummies series. I never had my students purchase any advanced materials and provided them with my own handouts, which covered my classes.

If you haven't purchased the software as yet, recommend you stay away from the newly released 2007 version as it has numerous changes/look compared to older versions and there are probably a number of bugs/kinks that will require updates/fixes.

If you are familiar with Wat Po (located just south of the Grand Palace) I suggest you bring your wife there. You can find many who have been trained in maternity massage either directly inside the Wat Po grounds or leave through the west end gate and their school is one block down from there. Most thais can give you directions to the school on that street. It is one of the best schools for massage in Thailand and one of the advanced courses is maternity massage. Also fairly inexpensive.

The Wat Po grounds also house the Reclining Budda if your familiar, the massage area is located to the south and west of that building, and the west gate is beyond that as well.

The Thainum Riverside Hotel is probably the best place to stay if you wish to stay with Ban Pong. I have stayed there serveral times as my wife's relatives live a short distance from there. The last time I stay was in April and the rates were 800, 900, 1300 and 2000 baht for the various sized rooms. All rates included breakfast for two. I have stayed in both the 900 and 1300 baht rooms and have look at there other sized rooms as well and felt those two were best for the comfort and money. 800 baht rooms a bit to small and 2000 baht rooms were nice if you want what I would call a jr. suite. All reasonable when you consider that it works out to about $19 US to $46 US.

There are several very nice places to eat along the river, check with the front desk for transportation, sometimes they will offer to help. A number of the resturants offer some farang dishes although they would be missing out on some very good Thai food.

I'm sure you already have a place set for your marriage but if you need a resturant to accomodate your guests let me know an I will have my wife get the name of an excellent place with wonderful food and very nice atmosphere. I think the name was Chochiyapuk (best I can do with phonetic spelling) and will get you the directions if interested. I had about 30 family and friends join us there in April, staff very accomodating and we gave them a two day notice with number of guests and all the dishes we wanted prepared.

My wife was wondering where in Ban Pong is your future wife's property, she was wondering if it was nearby her house.

If you need any additional info regarding eating places in the area or transportation to and from Ban Pong to BKK, etc please post or email directly.