StevieAus

On 5/12/2019 at 12:42 PM, BritManToo said:

Cameron ........ pigs head.

May ................. no children.

Farage ........... imported wife.

Corbyn ........... 2nd imported wife. 

 

No normal people in politics these days, in the UK or anywhere else.

Sometimes I really wonder how they can claim to 'represent the people'.

I married my Thai wife in Australia so according to your definition she was imported.

Now we live in Thailand does she cease to be an imported wife and I become an imported husband ?

17 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Yes.

 

Virtually everything is covered. A few very new or rare medications or tests not yet on the standard list are about all that is not. And hemodialysis is restricted to patients unable to do peritoneal dialysis.

 

They have to use the government hospital which covers the area where they are listed in a tabian ban. That hospital can as necessary refer them to higher level or more specialized hospitals but they must get the referral letter for it to be covered.

 

It is well worth choosing  where you live with an eye to the level/quality of the hospital. The best situation is to live in the ampur where a regional level hospital is located. Second best is to be in any other Ampur Muang (provincial capital). Living further out you may have to utilize a community level hospital as first point of call and  their capacities are limited so you end up having to constantly get referrla letters to go elsewhere.

 

And make sure your family are not still listed in tabian bans in some other province far away...not unusual as Thais dislike having to deal with the bureaucracy so often don't change their listing when they move,It will be a problem when they need medical care. Change the listing to where you actually live.

I don’t think that is correct even when you are listed at your local hospital there are services for which you have to pay.

My sister in laws brother recently had to pay for a stent to be fitted at a large public hospital in Chiang Mai after suffering a heart attack and being taken there by ambulance after treatment at the local hospital.

Her mother had to pay for a CT scan after cancer treatment and the sister in law and her brother are members of a Higher level government scheme.

Going back a few years ago and the so called 30 baht scheme was in operation I took my wife’s grandmother to the local hospital for dialysis treatment and each time we paid.

Others have told me of various treatments for which they had to pay in government hospitals.

9 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Holding passports to ransom is normal practice in LoS, particularly in tourist hot spots.

If this is the case then why are the hospitals not being paid?

On the occasions I have visited both private and public hospitals in Thailand I have never been asked to surrender my passport I have been treated and asked to pay at the end.

Perhaps I have an honest face or not considered fit enough to do a runner !!

31 minutes ago, Kay McDonnell said:

Does anyone know which other countries in the world, have this mandatory rule for foreigners?

The difference is that apart from some countries in this region I cannot think of any Western countries including my own Australia where a fifty year old with the equivalent of 800, 000 baht in the bank can just turn up and live there therefore the issue doesn’t arise

Unless you are a refugee or asylum seeker you have to go through a very rigorous process to obtain residency which as we often read on this site often isn’t granted.

If you are successful you are then entitled certainly in Australia to free treatment.

For others who are visiting they have to pay.

4 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

Or over sixty . Confused yet ? And even if you had the insurance is the company going to pay anything when the time comes ? I do not trust insurance companies as far as i can toss them. Your just tossing money out the window. I will just save my money . Is insurance mandatory in Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam ? NO!

I wouldn’t be relying on receiving any decent medical treatment in Cambodia or Vietnam whether you have insurance or not.

Malaysia has an excellent hospital system but you are expected to pay as I understand do most of the locals.

I have just returned from a trip to Melaka where I fell ill requiring outpatient treatment.

The service and treatment was excellent but I was asked to produce my passport which was returned after I had paid the bill.

Maybe this a policy that should be adopted by Thailand to deal with the non payers.

4 hours ago, AlexRich said:

Property doesn’t always go up, that phenomenon in places in the west is a fairly new trend, when you look over several hundred years of data ... and those stagnant times could appear again. Thailand is another ball game all together ... you get a 30 year lease? As I said some may make money, but many others end up in a depreciating asset that is difficult to sell. 

I would be very interested to see data dealing with increases in the price of property in the west over the last several hundred years.

Who kept such records particularly as the UK Government didn’t record births deaths and marriages until about the 1800s.

I don’t know about property but land in the North here keeps increasing we have done ok with our investments

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

They were in Issan and Pattaya, I'm in CM.

Fair enough, but I am sure there is more than one good lawyer in Thailand I suspect that they thought with their hearts rather than their brains saw many cases in Aus as well over the years but for some reason in many cases common sense seems to leave expat males here,

8 hours ago, batata said:

you fall into the same hole as many of us did, investing in a property in Thailand thinking about the savings you will make while living there and looking into a future value appreciation... later realizing the difficulties of re-sale and the potential of being thrown out at any time without any consideration, in Thailand the best way of life is to rent, can leave any time without looking back

Thrown out, I know people who have lived here 40 years plus but they are honest, you must have some hidden past, and as far as property and land my Thai wife and I have made very good profits on our investments.

Sorry you live such. Sad life in this great land

3 hours ago, Wiggy said:

For me, the photo accompanying the article sums up the Thai police farce (sic) perfectly. Just a few plods wandering around aimlessly and completely clueless, with not even a notepad in sight. Utterly useless.

So Sherlock what do you expect them to do, the lady obviously doesn’t know the guy, probably hasn’t got the rego of the motorbike.

The article states the police have interviewed some locals and will be examining CCTV footage, with this type of crime and without witnesses that’s about all that would happen in most countries, if you are lucky.

4 hours ago, RobbyXNorway said:

It is unfortunate that our (I'm Norwegian) young ladies are so naive about the world outside Scandinavia. Many believe that they can handle themselves and are "on par" with men if it comes to physical confrontations. Which is not true.

 

So, ladies, please dont go alone. And dont get stupid drunk or high. Take care of yourself. It's a crazy world out here.

 

Hope they catch the scumbag and crucify him.

That good advice should also be followed in many other countries

including my own Australia and from I read in the media a Scandinavian country close to your homeland.

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Depends on how much the place was worth, and if it could be resold.

Houses in my moobaan were sold new for 1.8Mbht 6 years back, 20% are now abandoned with no resale value at all.

I could get out of the bad air here in CM if I had only rented.

I also have several pals who bought a house in a woman's name and left with nothing.

I don’t think your several pals are too smart particularly if they live in CM where there is an excellent female lawyer I have used for many years as have many friends.

She would have protected their interests.

On 5/12/2019 at 8:05 AM, bkk6060 said:

Just another example of the lack of flexibility owning affords.

Which is why smart people rent....

This smart person and his wife don’t rent and have done very well out of land and property sales.

Also this smart person doesn’t break the law which is very smart.

7 hours ago, Paul Catton said:

Does the maid actually vacuum clean? Or perhaps, hand polishes the ornaments!  Couldn't resist.

Ours does also she washes the ornaments, polishes the furniture vacuums and washes the floors etc etc

At Thai rates great value

7 minutes ago, GreasyFingers said:

I have been living here for 6 years and submit a tax return every year through my accountant and have not had a problem. As others have said this may be illegal but who is to know until the tax office says something.

The statement above that everything in the government is linked is not necessarily true, or maybe not checked. I do not get the age pension, after 3 appeals, because Centrelink deem me to be a non resident but the tax office has not picked up on this.

I think you are correct there Centrelink seem to be linked to the Immigration system as I know a couple of friends resident in Aus who over the years have had certain benefits automatically reduced for periods they were overseas.

1 hour ago, bmanly said:

What happens if all your savings are in a super account and you are over 60 y/o? There is no tax on Super Pensions when you are over 60. So can you draw that Super Pension for the rest of your life and live in Thailand with no complications?

Exactly but the poster has other assets which may attract tax

23 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

It may not have come into play for the OP, but I wonder how many travelers are unaware that there are two airports in Bangkok that are not just a few minutes apart.  Not everyone is a seasoned world traveler.

The fact that they have different names should be a clue which would be on the ticket if flying from the other airport.

I found out years ago that transferring between the two can take a long time always stay overnight safer and less stress.

On 5/6/2019 at 4:08 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

Problem with Malaysia is it's a fun devoid zone. I stayed in Penang two nights and then went back to LOS for some sanuk.

Might be all right if married already.

Totally agree with that comment we have just returned from a trip to Melaka the hotel wouldn't serve alcohol in the restaurant none in the rooms, trying to get a beer in a restaurant was like pulling teeth, wouldn’t even let you bring in your own that is if you could find somewhere where it was on sale.

What are the other” lot of changes” you only mention one the others are not new.

I use the income method for me easier or need

to visit the Embassy a letter from the bank instead and cheaper.

On 5/10/2019 at 10:17 AM, epicstuff said:

A good rule of thumb is . If you not living with her,  why  get married in the first place?  The other rule of thumb is, why would anyone get married in the fisrt place? If you  love each other you will stay together........ why does anyone need a legal document for that? It doesnt offer any inssurance or other benifit as far as I'm aware...  This stupid  antiquated social concept of marriage for romantically dumb people has a lot to answer for....

Staying single obviously doesn’t assist with spelling.

On 5/10/2019 at 8:17 AM, ezzra said:

There's a huge club of dejected, bamboozled and screwed men in Thailand that have been taking for a ride to proverbial cleaners by local unscrupulous women who from the get go set out to cheat, control and steal properties and wealth from unsuspecting honest hearted foreigners who's their only mistake was to trust, and dare i say, to love a Thai women...

Over the years met quite a few Aussie men who suffered the same fate at the hands of Aussie women.

Not me fortunately.

7 hours ago, soalbundy said:

At my school in England we had a French girl in my class who always came bottom of the class in the French language exams.

As for not understanding some native English speakers, that isn't unusual, some Brits, especially the younger ones aren't capable of stringing two sentences together in a logical way which added to regional accents can make them difficult to understand. I once met an English teacher from Birmingham in Bangkok and even I could barely understand him, he had a degree in English literature, God help us.

You are lucky he/ she wasn’t from Glasgow or certain parts of Yorkshire ( beautiful places that they are) or you would have struggled.

11 minutes ago, evadgib said:

The answers you have received couldn't have been clearer and would be supported by an FoI request if any doubts remain.

Exactly, unfortunately some people just don’t want to accept what is reality.