Sorry, couldn't edit previous post to change picture format so here it is as a jpeg...

IMG_0376.HEIC


Very happy with CS LoxInfo, highly recommend 

On 8/31/2018 at 9:14 AM, HampiK said:

I am happy with CS LoxInfo.

My 35/15 line is more than enough for 2 YouTube, 1 Internet call and a remote desktop connection to outside Thailand at the same time.

In 1 year usage I had 2 times no internet connection (about 3 hours). The rest of the time everything was fine.

 

So I can't complain with LoxInfo. Here in the Condo I also saw TrueMove, AIS and I think 3BB.

Thanks that's the name of the ISP I've just gone with (I couldn't for the life of me remember it as it's not one of the big ones)

Had it installed yesterday & (touch wood) it's been working great - By comparison I was at my mate's condo (same complex) in the morning & his True internet is really "Choppy", I need remote desktop access to my machine in Singapore & it was losing the connection every 10 minutes or so, got so bad that I ended up using the hotspot on my SIngtel SIM.

32 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

Ok let's not get this into a discussion about Singapore maids but you were indeed told bolx,  I have never heard of any rejections of single males who applied for a maid work permit. I know more than a handful single guys without any pet who employ a helper in Singapore and none had any issues about it. 

 

 

Agreed & it was 6+ years ago so even if it was true then, rules/regulations changes all of the time.

Back to the OP, I think there's little hope of her being able to take her maid over to Thailand, I'm really curious as to whether this would be a deal breaker & she would give up any plans to move to Thailand to go to the Philippines insted - Big sacrifice (especially if you have kids), so the maid must really be a part of the family (I know the "Good" families treat them as such).

Good Luck to the OP, moving to a new country is never an easy step/decision to make (even when you're a single bloke with no ties/commitments)

2 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

Huuh?   I never suggested anything along these lines....  not sure what you read into it.

 

btw - you are wrong as well about a single male not being able to have a maid in Singapore.

Sorry a combination of this sentence "Also not sure if it is in the OP interest that the maid will be away at least 8 hours per week studying should he go down the road of this option." & the fact that I looked into this as an option to take my Filipina GF to Thailand (obviously she wouldn't actually be a maid but I would have "employed" her as such).

I also looked into "employing" her as a maid in Singapore when her work permit had finished & she was struggling to find another, was told by my mate's wife (both Filipinos) who ran a Maid Agency & by our HR Department that a single guy in Singapore was not allowed to have a live-in maid - mate's wife did say that I might be able to get around this by keeping a pet.

Maybe I was told a complete load of blox, but like I said, that's what I was told by 2 different sets of people.

quick check of MOM brings up https://www.mom.gov.sg/faq/work-permit-for-fdw/can-any-single-person-employ-an-fdw... 

19 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

but clearly the plan here would be an illegal one with being on a ED visa while working?  Also not sure if it is in the OP interest that the maid will be away at least 8 hours per week studying should he go down the road of this option.

 

As a side note, even those studying Thai get impacted by this crackdown. After catching a few people working with ED visa Samui immigration has now started to change things somewhat randomly ("we give you one month stamp and then you have to come back while we look into the school / your attendance record"). In addition, it is not only immigration which seems to constantly change rules wrt ED visa but the Ministry of Education changes requirements and paperwork all the times as well.  A year ago you could get a one year ED visa from your home embassy without much problem (aside from a lot of paperwork and fees), now they talk about 3months after which you will have to do a language test before you get another 3 months.  Certainly a process which is very much in a transition period and as such adds a lot of uncertainty to one's plans.

I believe the OP is female & I'm assuming has a partner/family

I do know that a Single guy in Singapore cannot have a Live in Maid, though have heard you can if you have pets.

It depends what you want it for.

All will stream reasonably high quality TV & the limiting factor is usually the source of the stream so more speed won't always help.  Why don't you try the lowest one & if you're not happy, they'll always let you upgrade to a more expensive option.

A better question might be which provider to go with as their performance varies depending on which are you're living in.

FWIW I've gone with one I've never heard (Sorry, I can't even remember the name, but I'll be flying over this evening so can post it later if you're interested) as it was recommended to me by the lady who works in the Condo management office, my friend stays in the same Condo complex & has True which he's not happy with at all, other options were AIS & this one so we'll see. 

14 hours ago, MumblesGirl said:

Thanks all. I’ll look into the Education visa. Otherwise I think Thailand is out and Philippines is back on.

Unless you're Filipina yourself, she must be some maid if you're going to be deciding where your family lives based on her eligibility to move there with you.

I'm not trying to be cruel, I've lived in Singapore for 10 years & have lots of friends who are maids, but at the end of the day it is a job & when an Expat family decides to move on (as happened last week to one of my very close maid friends) they find another family (as she did last Sunday).

Do you have kids? - my 1st instinct was you did hence the attachment to your maid (lady I mentioned specializes in newborns-toddler so families get very attached to her, but she typically only does 3 or so years with one).

I must stress, I love the Philippines, have visited > 35 times in the past 10 years & have (well had) a house in Davao, but when it comes to choosing a place to live, there's no way I would live there over Thailand (& that's as a single guy nevermind if I had kids).

Anyways, please don't take this as Philippines bashing (I really do love the place but I couldn't live there full time, which is why I've recently split up with my Filipina GF of 8 years as equally there is no way she wanted to move to Thailand).

Good luck with whatever you decide & please feel free to PM me if there's any information I can help you with regarding moving to the Philippines.

PS  - If I did have to move the Philippines, Davao (or at least somewhere in the Visayas) would be my 1st choice.

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

 

I believe the maximum number of years increased from 30-35 a few years back, but they’ll happily let you pay in for more than the 35

Very easy to check #years NI & projected pension entitlement online, if nobody beats me to it will post the link when I get home from work


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

Am sure this link has been posted many times on this thread, but for anybody who's not aware it's very easy to check your NI Contributions here: https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

That does not appear to be correct, at least in my case.
 
I will reach retirement age in 4 years (if I get that far). I have been paying my stamp all my adult life (far more than 30 years) and about 5 years ago I was told that I had paid enough and did not need to pay any more as I was not working. So I stopped. I have made no contributions at all since well before April 2016.
 
My forecast has always been for the full maximum new pension amount (now £164.35).

Unforgotten [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4192812/] Season 3 was well worth the binge viewing. Recommend.

36 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Good luck. I liked your post until the Oh Nuts part.

Why Oh Nuts? I had a place for a few weeks there and every morning when I woke up I would say to myself: Oh Nuts, why did I rent a place here!

I like the area & have a few mates who live around there.

I've did rent a Condo for 30 days in central Bangkok (Trendy on Soi 13) & hated it (too polluted for one), so I wanted somewhere a little further out but easy to get into town & to Swampy (also considered something on the Airport Link line but decided that I'd be flying late at night / early morning so would be using taxis anyway).

If I move to Pattaya, it would probably be Naklua, Pratumnak or Jomtien - Somewhere a little outside of the madness ?

1 hour ago, johng said:

You'll be staggering a long way to the BTS from Pattaya.

 

Also check out the locations at night /early morning as there could be an open air karaoke,Ice crushing factory,boom box pickup truck etc etc etc and not much sleep.

 

 

Lol, sorry, I missed that the thread was in the Pattaya forum ?

FWIW I followed a similar approach for the last 3 Condos I've had in Singapore (They don't have listings in the management offices here, but DDProperty & PropertyGuru are great sites to see what's available) & plan on following exactly the same when I finally move over to Thailand full time (Bangkok is a convenient stop gap whilst I need to commute to Singapore for work).

Great advice about checking the place out at different times of the day, have stayed in my mates Condo in the area for long weekend 3 times so walked around the area at all times of the day.

Sorry again for being OT, hope the approach is something that people might find useful (+ DDProperty Thailand is a good site to check what's available & prices, in Pattaya as well as Bangkok ?).

My approach is to:-

1. Visit the different areas to get a feel for where I want to be (scoping out Condos as I'm walking around)
2. use Google Maps to see what condos are in the area & Hipflat / DDProperty to get a feel for the place
3. Come up with a shortlist, then visit the office there to see what Condos they have available  

Then negotiate (Just scored a 5-6 year old, 45sqm 2 bed, 1 bath Condo staggering distance to On Nut BTS station for 20K :))

On 8/23/2018 at 1:31 PM, Hans Rayong said:

In most Western countries, the Mother and Father of the child get equal rights and obligations. Under Thai Law, this isn't the case. According to section 1546 of CCCT, when a child is born and the mother is NOT married to the father, the father has no LEGAL RIGHTS over the child. Only the mother has rights (and obligations) over the child.

A person could be named on the birth certificate as the father, but his rights are NOT legalized under Thai law. Even with a DNA test, he could be the father on the birth certificate and be the biological father, but he won't be the LEGALIZED FATHER.

There are 3 exceptions mentioned in article 1547:

1. If there is a subsequent marriage between the parents
2. If there is a registration made at the amphur
3. If there is a judgment by the Court.

Exception one is easily understood.

Exception Two is more complex: Both parents must consent that the Father is the legitimate Father and the local authorities (Amphur or Khet in Bangkok) will normally require the child to be old enough to understand and accept this situation.

In Thailand, each registration office is different and they often do not apply the same rules. However, they will normally legalize the Father ONLY when the child is over 7 years-old, able to sign his name, able to consent, and all parties will have to give their consent to the local registration office.

If the child is younger and there is an attempt to register the Father's rights at the amphur, the applicant is often told to get a judgment from the Court before it will be possible to legalize the rights of a Father. After a Court decision is rendered and, if it is positive, becomes enforceable (after 30 days), it is then possible to use the judgment to legally register the parent’s rights at the amphur.

Exception Three: Re a judgment by the Court, see the section below called "action to legitimate a child under a Thai Court".

Hypothetical question, but what would happen if your partner died & though you had your name on the birth certificate you hadn't legitimized the fact that you were the child's father?

Would the child be considered to be an orphan?

11 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

You got a Thai retirement extension via email from Singapore?  Wow.

No, we were talking about the Proof of Income letter from the British Embassy

I'm on my 1st Non-Imm O which I got in July from Penang using the 800K in the bank route, however I was advised that Penang like to see some proof of income as well as the 800K, hence I got the POI letter.

Fri: Flew to Bangkok, updated my bank passbook, got a letter from the Bank proving funds & picked up my POI Letter

Sun : Flew to Penang, watched the World Cup 

Mon: Banana Visa put the application in

Tue: Flew back to Singapore with a shiny new Non-IMM O (multi) 

As I said, getting the POI letter was very painless.

14 hours ago, nong38 said:

Hello Mike, what area would that be exactly, we can contact you personal if required.

Currently splitting my time between Singapore (for work) & Bangkok, but plan on moving somewhere else in Thailand (I'm still in scouting mode) when I finally retire (was supposed to be 7th September but I don't want to let me team down as we've just taken on a big project so maybe 31st March 2019(.

5 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

There are threads about going back 10 years.  Brits are still whinging about the ease of being an American or Aussie for immigration purposes. 

No whinging from this Brit, I found the process to be absolutely painless & did it all via email from Singapore (took about a week between applying & the letter arriving at my address in Bangkok - Don't know if it would have been more difficult if I'd have used my SG address)

On 8/11/2018 at 12:19 PM, Tanoshi said:

Even the British Embassy don't check the documents you send as proof of income.

They take the figures you state on the form.

I think you may be getting mixed up with the US Embassy, as the British Embassy do need to see (& far as I can tell check) proof of income whereas the US Embassy works on an "Honour" system whereby they accept what you put on the form without further proof.

There are reports that Immigration are starting to ask to see evidence of funds going into your bank account if you use the income route, I don't know if they've cottoned on to the fact that it's easy for some people to get proof of income without actually getting the income.

As far as I'm aware the recognised list of people who can sign a life certificate is the same as the list of British people that can sign a driving licence and passport application, plus the equivalent Thai people with the same/similar qualifications. I've signed several forms in the UK over the years and, since retiring in Thailand, have signed two passport applications for friends over here. I did query the official/rubber stamp requirement with the Passport Office because, being retired, I don't have one and was told: "no problem, just state your profession and add retired in brackets". 

Ripper Street, I don’t know why but I’m really enjoying it


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

I've not tried it myself, but this site https://mobiletopup.com/ has been recommended on other threads/forums & can be used to top up AIS, DTAC & True (+ a couple of others)...

My AIS (PrePaid) SIM was valid for 3 months when I got it, every individual top-up (even 10 THB) extends it for 1 month, so last time I was in Bangkok I topped up 5 x 100 THB & so added another 5 months validity to the 6 weeks that was left to run.

I believe the maximum is 12 months so If I'd have done another 6-7 top-ups, it wouldn't have been extended any more than the 12 months

Following with interest as I use a Android box at the moment & the channels are disappearing quickly 

Kodi is more or less a waste of time now (though I do admit I've not looked for a new repository for some time) so I tend to mainly use Terrarium TV & 1 other which the name escapes me now but probably isn't worth looking into as the developer has declared he's winding it down./

Edit: If you do want an Android box, fully configured to watch loads of sports (plus tons of other channels/movies) check out http://www.footymadstreams.com/