qpgwmh

I've trawled through a lot of info here and the various options seem very complex. Is it possible for anybody in the know to briefly advise as to what my options might be for living on a permanent basis in Thailand so that I can then investigate the specifics further, please?

Male

29

British

Thai wife, living in the UK with me and married here. Son born here (but has both British and Thai passport)

Not much money to be able to take with us at present (so understand we may need to delay until this improves)

Basic spoken Thai, steadily improving.

Degree educated, middle management employment here (retail marketing)

I can't think of anything else that might be relevant, however, my wife would like to open a Salon when we go back so there may be some 'work permit' opportunity there?

Extremely grateful for any guidance to help me make those first steps.

Thank you.

Thank you for all of the time spent helping me out, your comments are all very much appreciated.

Yes, I did mean ceiling and as for the materials used to construct the inner walls (a small room is being made from an existing large space) all I know is that the walls have been put up and are being covered in cement. Building, alas, is not a specialist subject of mine!

The BTU requirement calculations that I've seen are all quite complex and I don't have the full information to allow me to work it out myself. I now know that the room is 6.1m x 3.8m and is between 3m and 3.5m high. As my wife lives in a rural village she is reliant upon local aircon vendors' advice and my concern is their seemingly finger in the air approach. But we would seem to have little option other than to trust them (a second opinion also recommended 18,000 BTU).

Unfortunately the price quoted for a Panasonic (model CS-PC18HKT) is 28,000 baht and I don't even know if this includes fitting. I've drawn a blank too on trying to find out if this is a fair price as web search results are all in Thai and the English Panasonic website makes no mention of this model. Does anyone know of any way that I can check this price or even look at other 18,000 BTU models (either Panasonic or Mitsubishi Electric) and their prices?

I only wanted to spend 20k!

Thanks for this. I will get the room measured and post back.

Thanks Stumonster. I've had another look but I'm drawing a bit of a blank because many threads touch the edges of what I'm looking for but don't quite tell me what I need to know.

Looking again, it does seem that 18,000 BTU is excessive.

Perhaps some people with aircon already would be kind enough to let me know what room size they have and what BTU size they use?

I know it's a more complicated calculation but as the room is being built new with concrete, cement covered walls, proper windows, tiled floor and closed flat cement roof I would hope that it retains the cool temperature quite well and therefore doesn't require something over and above what you might normally expect for a room of that size.

After reading many threads here on the subject of aircon I have advised my wife (in Thailand - I am in the UK at the moment) that she's probably best looking at either Mitsibushi (Electric) or Panasonic for good quality at a reasonable price.

All I want to know is roughly what size BTU the room needs and what the various models and prices are that fit the bill.

The problem we have is that we don't trust the 'professional' person who has come to look at the room. They say that we need 18,000 BTU (I don't know the dimensions of the room but believe it to be no more than 6m x 3m) and they are trying to push for Daiken which is the most expensive. After much hard work, they are now suggesting the Panasonic CS-PC18HKT which I believe to be one of the dearer options too.

I don't really want to spend more than 20k all in because although it is our bedroom, we are only there for a month a year at most. Not sure if this is realistic though.

Being in the UK and with my wife struggling with them I'd like to find out as much info here as possible to arm her with but all of web searches return Thai script pages that I can't understand. Are there any English language pages with any of the info that I'm after on?

Many many thanks for any advice at all here!

Can anybody recommend good and honest air con suppliers and/or fitters in the Ko Rat (Nang Rong) area?

Thank you

Thanks so much Mahout Angrit.

Everything but her passport is set up here in her married name so we would like to get the passport changed over too. The ID card complicates matters as we're not planning a trip to Thailand before applying for ILR.

I will need to contact the Thai Embassy to clarify if they need a new ID card to endorse the passport with her married name as this is the only solution that I can see.

Thanks

Hi Scouse,

You are an absolute legend (as always). If you're ever down in London then PM me and I'll buy you a pint.

My wife did her Life in The UK before Xmas and made me a very proud man as she managed to cram her study into one week whilst looking after our baby boy.

Are there any criteria for what level of monthly diposable income is deemed to be sufficient or is it more simply a measure of monthly net pay with little/no focus on monthly outgoings?

Thank you

Hello,

I'm getting myself into a right pickle on this one. I've included a lot of detail although the answer is probably a very short one! Any help offered would be very gratefully received - thank you.

I'm really not too sure that the advice given to me by the (UK) Home Office is the best advice. My wife is over a year into her FLR and her passport (and FLR visa) are in her maiden name. It's been no problem here and we're in no rush to change it, however, we want her ILR visa to be issued in her married name (it might even have to be?) so it makes sense to get a new Thai passport (or a name change on the existing one**) prior to applying for ILR.

I make some assumptions here:

a) The ILR visa in a married name cannot be placed into a passport in the maiden name?

A passport which has a name change stamp on one of the pages in it (which I believe to be the way that the Thai Embassy in London action name changes) is suitable for having an ILR visa in the married name placed into it?

The Home Office tell me that I need to go to the expense of obtaining a new FLR visa in the married name (NTLTOC form) however I can't see why this is necessary as once the ILR visa is issued all loose ends should be tied up. When we travel we book flights in her maiden name so that they match the passport so I really can't see how this might be an issue.

Future travel

What do people do once the passport containing the original ILR visa expires? Is it simply a case of travelling with two passports?

Hello,

As my wife still has eight months until she applies for ILR we're trying to find out exactly what we need now so that we have time to make any necessary changes. We'd be very grateful if anybody in the know can offer any assistance?

We have very little correspondence addressed to us jointly although a fair amount of stuff addressed to our current and former addresses individually. Will this pose any problem?

'Evidence of being able to support herself' - my wife doesn't work as she looks after our baby son (born here). Does this mean that my finances are looked into or do I need to pay money into her account each month? It also appears that only my current account statements are requested therefore any debt on credit cards does not need to be disclosed?

We currently rent a one bedroom apartment and whilst we wish to move to a 2 bedroom place, this may not happen prior to the ILR application. Given that we have a child (18 months old at that time), could this bear any weight on the decision to grant her ILR?

Many many thanks in advance for your advice.

Thanks for some interesting insight and useful information.

My wife is naturally creative and has a real flair for and passion for design. We've identified some Fashion courses in London and the next steps are to find out what the entrance criteria are (I don't think that with her Thai College qualifications that she could walk straight in) and at what point in time she would be considered as a home student as the high fees would be restrictive if not.

Hello - What is ABAC and GPA?

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond Mr and Mrs E2B.

It would seem that as each University sets different entry criteria the best starting point would be to draw up a shortlist of interesting degree courses and contact the Universities individually.

May I ask, did Mrs E2B find it difficult to obtain suitable work upon graduation? I am concerned that a non-UK born graduate would always play second fiddle to a UK grad.

Thanks

qpgwmh

Hello,

I'm really interested in finding out if anybody on here--or their partners--have any experience or knowledge of obtaining entry to a University degree course.

My wife and I are at the start of our information search but already there seem to be so many options and differing courses that we are confused. Which is why we're keen to know of anybody's own experiences.

Any advice at all is very gratefully received.

Thank you

Hello,

My (Thai) wife is considering going to spend a few months with her family as they can't come here. When she returns she will do her Life in The UK test and apply for ILR however we'd like to know a little more about whether spending a fair amount of time out of the UK will affect the ILR application.

I've heard, but not had confirmed, that 90 days is the maximum somebody wishing to get ILR can stay out of the country for during their two year FLR period. I don't know if that's true or not and I don't know if that is totalled across all holidays in the period or applies only to consecutive stays.

Can anybody offer any advice here?

Many Thanks in advance

This is all absolutley priceless advice - thanks so much for taking the time to offer it.

Hello,

My wife and I are off to Bangkok soon where we will be hiring a car (not sure where yet though if anybody has any recommendations?). We need to drive from BKK to Buriram/Ko Rat and wanting to plan ahead I'm hoping to be able to get maps and directions beforehand. I'm just not sure where the best places to find them are.

I can imagine that getting out of Bangkok will be tricky but hopefully after that it will be fairly straightforward.

I've never driven in Thailand (although I've been a scared passenger many times!) so any advice and information that you may be able to offer from your own experience would be extremely gratefully received.

Thanks

Anybody else?

"Augmented" is another way of saying "to make larger". Your wife wants a bigger nose?

Yes, exactly that.

A "friend" of mine just had hers done in Sri Racha a little over a month ago. From what I could see at the time, it looked like they "broke" her nose and moved parts around to change the appearance. After the surgery and whatever they gave her for pain wore off, she was in quite a lot of pain. And I could see she was "hurting". Yes the area was black and blue for awhile. And it hurt for a couple of weeks. She is now happy, but if one looks really close (as she will), one side has a slight "bump" that the other doesn't. I told her I would take her back so they could break it again and fix it................she declined the offer as in "NO WAY!!!". And I really can't see the "bump" unless she points it out and l look really really close. Sooooo...overall, I guess she is happy with it.

Thanks Ken. My wife assures me that it's just a case of slipping a slither of shaped silicone in through an incision inside the nostril and that it will bruise slightly and clear up quickly! Hopefully it's not as bad as your friend's experience as we want to enjoy our holiday as much as possible after the surgery.

Does anybody have any first hand experience of this kind of thing though? I'd love to find out about your/your partner's experiences.

Yes, my wife is Thai and she would like a higher nose although nothing drastically different. We have a friend living here in London who has been through a couple of winters with her silicone nose job and no adverse reaction to the climate so hopefully it's a rare occurrence.

Bang Mod, that name rings a bell for some reason.

Good point about the longevity of surgery, I'll look into that.

Does anybody else have any advice?

I have a friend who had a facelift. Unfortunately it got infected and it disfigures him. He is trying to sue but this is Thailand.

Having medical procedures done in Thailand is cheaper but if something goes wrong, it's very difficult to sue and if you do win, monetary rewards are very small. You have to remember, you are a foreigner and recourse is limited and long.

Thanks Gary. My wife is Thai but this would have no bearing upon the chances of something going wrong I guess. There are so many people in Thailand with nose jobs that I'd hope the vast majority went smoothly.

Thanks for this. My wife knows somebody who has had a bad experience at YanHee...