koolbreez

If you have a college degree, and hopefully have completed your masters level, then it can be easier getting a teaching job here. Without extensive experience in another field, and hopefully able to speak Thai fluently, you won't be considered for other jobs here, like restaurant/nightclub management, or a cook.

You can not get a work visa, and work permit before you come here unless you already have a job. You can get a tourist visa, and look for a job here, but remember there are roughly 20,000 other kids your age from all over the world wanting to do the same thing every month, very very very few of them succeed, without being rich.

If by some pure luck you do get a legal job here remember there are no real labor laws so you work long hours, no overtime pay, with limited days off during the month. Very very few jobs are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Thailand is not really a nice place to work, except for the top level, and mid-management jobs with major international corporations, and that takes getting those jobs before you get here.

The other option, and what lots of people do, other than teach English, is open their own business, but that takes lots of desposable cash, and an expertise in something that can make money, then all your waking hours spent at it, employees will rob you blind.

Get as many tourist visas as you can before you leave your home country (3 is the max), then get ALL your cash together, buy a plane ticket (most airlines allow changing the return date up to one year out for a small fee), and try to last one year living here. If you can stay here one year without ending up in jail, getting deported, or being destitute on the streets, then you have a small chance of making it here at your age. It is a small chance, but at least it is a chance.

Good luck, and remember your health insurance usually requires you paying cash here, then they reemburse you if you get hurt, and have to go to a hospital, or clinic. If you try to skip on the bill you'll be arrested when you try to leave the country, if not sooner. Initially, being a foreigner, everything is your fault if accidents happen.

What you fail to realise in sluffing off the fact no pro, or golf name will be associated is how image concious Thais are in trying to build a customer base. Local foreigners are more likely to warm up/practice at the course they play at before they go out for their round, and are not in Thailand to improve their game. They aren't here, and didn't come here exclusively for the golf. You need a Thai base of customers, and they won't show up without some status, and prestiege, no matter how good the facilities are.

As a foreigner this whole investment will be cash, with no loans. You have no clue what is involved to open the doors. It is not just renting some land, buying some equipment, planting some grass, and you're in business. This is a very visible business so you will have to build a building, zoning changes to contend with, security, business incorporation fees, licensing, insurance, legal fees, accounting fees, maintainance costs, sourcing, advertising, bribes (as a new competitor to someone already in business there will be expensive bribes to get licensed). This isn't a business you can hide behind some door, it is extremely visible so has to be completely legal.

Think in the range of $400,000US -$700,000US just to open the doors for just yourself for the first year, and that could easily go over $1,000,000US in initial costs to be able to cater to customers. You're not taking an established business, and building from there, you're starting from bare ground, and that can be expensive, no matter what country you're in.

Do some research, and not just watching the movie "Tin Cup"...lolol. Land rental, and equipment purchase won't be your biggest problem to realize any kind of ROI, it will be trying to break into the very cliquish golf practise crowd.

It doesn't sound like you have any golf pro standing that using your name could contribute to profit from its use, so lessons, and prestiege from practicing their are out unless you hire a recognized pro, at considerable cost. You don't seem to network with golfers just from the questions you're asking, and that also imply trying to cut corners on requirements.

You can be criminally liable in Thailand if someone gets hurt from an eradic golf ball. The nets also stop intentional out of course drives to see what golfers can hit on a bet, at your liability. Kind of like golfers that intentionally shoot for the windows of the houses next to fareways.

With the implied underfunding, no pro golf standing to attract golfers, and your name not associated with the golf crowd at all, you can expect to loose all your money with no return on your investment in the first year.

reserve+1

You're out of luck. There are no provisions for an ED visa that does not involve going to school regularly. You can not study at home on your spare time, and get that visa.

Past visas have no influence. You might also consider the Los Angeles consulate, as they also will issue 3. All my West coast clients use the LA consulate.

They are the worst, and will only issue one tourist visa. If you look like a backpacker they will give you a real hard time as my client experienced last April, and he is 45, but did have his backpack with him, hitting the embassy in the morning before checking into his hotel, as it was too early for check in. It was not a pleasant experience for him. Dropped off paperwork in the morning, picked passport with visa up the next day.

Was a very good party. The band was exhuberant to say the least, and met all requests, even ACDC. The cat, and magician were special treats, and I did get lots of pics. Only a few suggestions for the next party, one of which was mentioned by my girlfriend, and one noticed by myself.

My girl friend noticed that although the food was excellent there was a marked lack of Thai food for those that prefered it, and I was a little set back having to pay bt95 for a soft drink, when the OP mentioned free soft drinks. Medication precludes me from alcohol, although I did nurse one beer all night just to remember the taste, and left half of it, as did my girlfriend. Are our two leftover punches good for the next party....lololol?

This should not be taken as us not enjoing ourselves, we did, there was ample entertainment for the cost, even without the drinks, but the party was tailored around Western food, and drinking alcohol, with no alternatives for those prefering Thai food, and no alternative to alcohol, except for extremely overpriced soft drinks, contrary to the OP. I don't think all members, or their guests, are solely Western food eater, or alcohol drinkers. The party was well planned, and executed though, and we did have a good time. These are just observations to maybe make the next one even better.

Just an addition to what has already been mentioned. There is no country around Thailand that will issue 3 visas at once. You can only get that many before you leave the USA. The best you'll get that is close to here is 2 from Laos.

There is technically a requirement as a tourist that out of a years timeframe you're supposed to be out of the country for three consecutive months, but I've never heard of it being enforced. There are embassies that threaten it at their discretion, and with a red stamp, but as far as enforcing it later, there are usually ways around it.

Can't legally work on a retirement visa, and yes you'll loose the remaining allowed extension before it expires if you change to another type of visa.

On the other question with the OZ passport, you'll get 30 days on arrival, and can extend it for 7 more for bt1900, then you have to leave, and reenter the country to stay any longer. No way around it if that is how you want to enter the country to begin with. A better bet is to spend the bt1000 for a real tourist visa, or two, or three, before you leave OZ, with just one tourist visa you can stay 60 days, and extend it for 30 more days for bt1900, a much better deal in the long run. With more tourist visas you do have to leave the country, and return to do it all again.

The safe haven against volatile currencies has always been gold, going back as long as there has been currencies traded, as long as simply protecting your wealth from depreciating was the purpose, and not looking for growth. As far as the safest currency, that would be the Chinese Yuan, that has a goverment set exchange rate, that does not, and will not float on the free market, but because of that fact it is hard to aquire outside of China.

Sunbelt Asia might be a good company to contact for help. They have extensive experience in setting up business' of all kinds. They have an office on lower Sukhumvit.

Are you looking at a one time shipment, or will this involve regular consignments? At a valuation of under $2000, and a one time shipment only, there are ways to avoid most of the paperwork, depending on the actual bulk of the product, and how fast it needs to arrive, except for agricultural product, my specialty.

Message me the product you are exporting, and I might be able to help you. I retired 9 years early exporting a specific food product out of Thailand, and into both Canada, and the USA.

California has strange laws, and with you owing them money there might be some stipulation that they can charge you with a felony if you don't pay them, kind of like writing a bad check for that huge sum of money, It can be a felony.

If you can be charged with a felony, and convicted, for not paying the state then you would loose your passport. That is the only thing I can see as why the state might have a hold over you, with the threat of a felony conviction.

The last tourist visa has to be used by the 12th, it has nothing to do with when your current visa you entered the country on expires. Just do a border run before the 12th, and get the extra sixty days from the time you reenter Thailand instead of the extension. Bt2000 for a border run, and that might include lunch, or bt1900 for the extension with taxi fairs not included. I'd use the last visa before the 12th.

Living in California was the first mistake. The laws governing alimony in California are strict. I believe alimony originated in California, but I might be mistraken.

It sounds like the divorce was hostile, and the ex wants to ruin your life for whatever reason. Did the Thai wife enter the picture before, or after the divorce?

There will be no problem for you leaving the county as long as the judge that handled the divorce can be convinced you will continue to pay your legal obligation to her, which might be hard given how long you seem to have went without paying.

The amount you pay is usually determined by a means test, that being how much you make, and her ability to care for herself with her work. It sounds as though she was a stay at home mom without a career given the amount you are paying. It also is usual that the amount of her alimony combined with the child support amount at the time of the final decree was about sixty percent of your income at the time.

If this original income amount you made has went down, and because of reasons out of your control prevent you from still making that income amount (like health reasons, not because you simply don't want to do that job anymore), then you can petition the court to have the amount reduced (you don't need her permission), or eliminated if she is now employed in a career where she can reasonably support herself, as it sounds as though the kids have reached the age of maturity, and it is no longer necessary that she maintain a home for them, or if she has remarried, or that you can prove she falls under common law marriage requirements in California, and she isn't formally married simply to continue to receive funds from you.

Contact a good divorce attorney as it does sound like you can afford one, but given that you have made an offer to settle for a lump sum amount, it might be hard proving you can no longer afford to pay her. Where is that money coming from, and why can't you afford to continue meeting the obligation? Moving to Thailand isn't a good excuse.

If your passport is revoked while you are out of the country, the last country you entered on the computer is contacted, and when they find you you are usually jailed until they deport you back to your home country. The embassy has nothing to do with t. The revoked passport number is also placed on a watch list.

Add me to the list +1. The girlfriend would kill me if I didn't bring her.

koolbreez +1

There is evidence of graft. Millers have been using rigged moisture gages to rob the farmers by showing the rice as being to wet, and paying the farmer less as a result, then pocketing the difference. There are instances of more rice showing up in storage than was harvested, and the list goes on.

The sceme is so sucessful the military has now authorised the government to use military warehousing at Don Muang for storage.

The biggest factor though is Thaksin's dream of creating a rice cartel with the countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This would give him the ability, he dreams, to control roughly 60% of the world export rice harvest, and better allow him to dictate price. The key player Vietnam is to decide in the next few weeks if it wants to be part of the cartel.

This is what Thaksin has been learning with all the time he's spent in Dubai around the oil cartel, and now he wants to be the rice cartel king. He was hoping by taking the bulk of the Thai export rice off the market he could manipulate world prices, but now realises he can't, and needs the rest of the area around Thailand under his control in order to have any chance of doing it. His biggest stumbling block is India (not invited into the cartel), and all his effort is doing is moving India into the number one exporter spot, even ahead of Vietnam within the next year.

The fine is bt1500, and for that you get a nice red overstay stamp in your passport. The reason for the one day grace at the airports only is lots of people forget that the next day starts at midnight, and a 1:20am flight out is really the next day. Squeezing in as much time staying in Thailand as they can sometimes gets the count wrong on the number of days the visa was good for...lolol.

My experience with overstay was taking an overnight bus for a crossing into Laos. No grace day crossing overland, and then had to wait 45 minutes for the only overstay officer to get back from breakfast at the ChiangKong crossing. Almost missed my boat.

Not sure about a change of rules, but if the school you work for has a high turnover of teachers that could explain it, if it is in fact a regular school, and not just a language school. There have been lots of changes in the last few years in how language school visas are handled. If it is a language school you work for it sounds like the change now treats foreign teachers the same as foreign students in extension time frames, and the cost.

Going to Bali you will be flying back so 30 days, but going to Laos you'll probably cross overland (15 days) so a stop at the embassy in Vientiane beforehand, and an overnight stay for a tourist visa might be in order to cover the last of your trip.

I hope the volunteering was worthwhile for you. The visa you did have has no effect on coming back as a tourist, and getting a visa exemption stamp. As mentioned above how you enter determines the length of the stamp.

Spend the bt1000, and get a single reentry permit. It is good for as long as the retirement extension, and will protect you in case you have to leave the country unexpectedly. It is almost foolish not to get one the same time you get the extension. My immigration officer that processed my extension recommended to me to spend the bt3800 for the unlimited reentry permit given the amount of times I leave the country every year, and in just 5 months it has already been worth it. I spent an extra 2 hours in NongKai on one trip in the past as I'd forgot to get a reentry permit beforehand crossing into Laos. That wasted 2 hours just sitting around dampened my client's disposition somewhat to say the least.

Look at the one that is directly related to Thaksin's devorced wife to fill the spot, and also brace for PT's desolving when Yongyuth's case finally goes to court on his legitimacy to lead the party, and be a MP because of the Alpine golf club land title case that was fraudulent. It is not over just because he stepped down from that post. He's still an MP. He is banking on the 2007 amnesty bill, but to qualify he had to serve his sentence, but he didn't.

Simply look at your passport, and find the last entry stamp into the country. From that date on a calender count out 90 day blocks, and this will give you your next reporting date. You have 7 days before, and 7 days after so by simply counting the days since you last entered the country will give you a date within that grace period. No need to embarrass yourself going to immigration, and showing them you can't count...lolol.

If you are traveling during that time period then mail in the extension by registered mail. All the information how to do this is on their website.

3 tourist visas are valid for six months, and that is what you should have applied for. If you send your passport back to have those visas canceled, you will be charged full price for any new visas. The fact you are in Bulgaria has nothing to do with anything, your passport is from the UK, that is what they go by.

At this point it is cheaper to keep the visas, and use them like normal, one on first entry, then a border run for the second. At this point don't get an extension. Do another border run to Vientiane in Laos, and go to the Thai embassy, and get another tourist visa for bt1000 (it takes spending the night). This gives you 60 more days, and an extension if need be.

You enter on the 2nd December, and that expires in 60 days, not on the 27th of December. That 27th of December date only refers to the date the visas have to be used by. You esentially loose one of the visas, but following my directions covers your full time in THailand. The reason for getting another tourist visas in Laos is if you cross the border overland without a tourist visa then you only get a 15 day stamp, and that doesn't work for you. The tourist visa gives you 60 more days, and that will cover your 3 month stay.