Inspector 2211

...but now wants to complete school and high school?

Oh, that kind of Adult Education.

When I read the subject line, I thought "Adult" as in "Adult Movie", "Adult Bookstore", "Adult Magazine".

...I have found a much much more cost-effective way of staying here long term...

So, would you be so nice and enlighten us as to HOW ?

"Pretend" business ?

Two passports (from one country) ?

Two passports (from two different countries) ?

A combination of visa runs and tourist visas ?

APEC card ?

3-year business visa ?

Retirement visa ?

Marriage visa ?

Well, it is certainly not a failure for those who bought the card from day one.

I enjoyed, still enjoy, ... and hope to enjoy the card as long as possible. It certainly makes my own life "harmonious" in Thailand.

I must admit that I have been very scared... when I read that, in the future, the card would cost only 60.000b instead of 1 million.

At that time I thought that this program would become a product of much lower quality.

At last I am reassured. But, of course, anything can change quickly in this country. I just hope it changes for the best rather than for the worst.

I sometimes wonder that the card might have more success if it was more expensive...

By the way, if you make some "research" on this subject you will find quite a lot of positive comments about the card. But it comes from people who have one, or are wealthy enough to burn some money for it...

Exactly my thinking.

After the visa rules changes, the Thailand Elite card is one of the very few options to stay indefinitely in Thailand if you're under 50.

I'm [almost] 42, so that's 8 years till I'm eligible for the retirement visa.

For me, the amortized cost per year would be $30000 / 8 = $3750 (used to be $25000 - da*n you, Baht runup!)

Or, in other words, a 25% to 30% surcharge on my anticipated costs of living in LOS.

Is it worth it?

Everybody has to decide that for himself.

For me, it's right at the threshold of being worth it.

Folks, please realize that as for so many things in life there is no black or white, rather various shades of gray.

Due to the fact that I'll probably stay another year or so in the U.S. and due to the continuing Baht appreciation, the Elite card becomes less and less "worth it" FOR ME and I will probably move to the Philippines instead.

But again, it's not a black and white decision, rather one of the many gray areas people have to deal with so frequently.

By the way, the subject title reads "Where To Get A Big Ass Stuffed..." on the forum topics summary page.

I left the country because I was working ilegally in thailand in a school with a fake bachlors degree. I left right after the coup, end of september because I heard of ilegal teachers being deported and two were sent to jail, while others suffered a pay cut, were allowed to finish the school year, but then had to quit. The real certificate is not a bachlors, it's a TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), which is valid internationally. I'm a Belgian.

Right now I just want to go back to Thailand, that's the only plan. I'm worried how the Thai government will tackle my previous forgery if they find out. So I'm thinking it's just better to turn myself in, pay whatever fine, but will they let me work again?

Casanundra, I'm sorry if I never asked a question like this before and that I don't have a lot of practice. Clearly you feel more competent. Should I be worried that you might be a Garry Glitter in the making?

I came to the forum to seek advice. If I wanted sarcasm, I'm sure a google search with the apropriate keywords would have given me just what I wanted. All that to say Casanundra, I don't apreciate your sence of humor.

Lopburi3, thank you for helping me refine my question. You definetely seem more knowledgeable and mature than the other guy.

I think you are slightly paranoid.

OK, so you presented a fake university diploma to school X several years ago, a copy of which is probably now collecting dust in a file cabinet of school X, along with hundreds of others, or may even have been thrown out already (as you have left the school).

Why on earth do you think that some other schools Y and Z would know about that fake diploma?

All they would know about is the authentic TEFL which you present to them and which may or may not be enough to get a job at school Y and Z.

I think your worries are WAY overblown.

In Myanmar or North Korea, where the respective juntas suspect every resident foreigner of being a spy or agitator and therefore keep files on them, I'd worry, but not in Thailand.

Confessing to your previous crime will probably do you more harm than good.

Because after you confess, there WILL be a paper trail on that crime at the Ministry of Education, while now there isn't.

In a nutshell:

- Don't ask, don't tell.

- Don't go back to school X.

- You'll be fine.

Last year I was meeting some friends in Isaan and the topic came up.

They told me it was very common for Thai teachers to have payed sex with girls as young as 12.

They did not understand my reaction when I told them it was wrong to do so.

They replied that the girll/boy is offering this service so it is consensual, the teacher not ask for it.

So true.

During my most recent visit to Bangkok (several years ago), I met a Thai guy who claimed to be a teacher from Chiang Mai.

Asked what he plans to do in Bangkok, his answer was:

"Pray in some of the big temples and f*** some underage girls, because their **** is very tight."

I was just blown away by this answer, mentioning praying and f***ing underage girls in the same sentence.

Oh, how do you disengage from a stiff corpse?

First of all, like most things, it doesn't go stiff in an instant.

Secondly, the stiffness is gone again after about 24 hours.

lol, theres a note worth 300 pounds+, madness.

and walking along the beach with 13 of them in your pocket at 3am = more madness lol

Not necessarily madness, just few alternatives.

What are the alternatives?

Leaving it "hidden" in the hotel room? One of the maids might take it.

In the hotel room safe? Someone in the hotel probably has a spare key, and might make good use of it.

In the main hotel safe? Things have vanished out of hotel safes.

He should have relied on a combination of cash, credit cards and debit cards, but in the end you will have some serious cash in your wallet.

What I do when I have large amounts of cash on me is, I put my wallet in one of the front pockets of my jeans, not in one of the rear pockets. Never had my wallet picked so far.

BTW 15.000 euro in 3 years, that girl made a fortune, 700k baht!!

That's assuming sasha2709 was the only one remitting money to this girl - rumor has it, some girls get monthly remittances from SEVERAL farangs.

No employer will go through that hassle for a restaurant related job especially for a short period of time.

I don't know why everybody's stuck up on the short period of time she wants to work.

Just don't tell your prospective employer that!

Then, when you feel you have enough money to travel, just quit (or even walk out).

However, I agree with some poster above that you'd probably be able to save up more money in 2 to 4 weeks in a western country than in 3 months in Thailand.

These people who want to work in Thailand for around $1000 per month before taxes (sometimes for less than that) always strike me as odd. Personally, I'm saving up money here in the U.S. from a gross income roughly 10 times that amount and once I have enough savings I'll move to Thailand, with no intention of working at the local rates.

Being a permanent expat with all my assets overseas I'm not worrying...

Maybe you should worry.

Can the IRS make deductions from your Social Security checks once you file for Social Security?

I'm almost sure they can.

Experts?

Can they have you arrested at the airport of entry if you ever enter the U.S. again, for, say, attending your father's funeral?

Experts?

Quite a few of us owe the IRS some money (Hi, girlx) or will do so in the future (note to self: Say 'Hi' to self) .

It is just unclear what the long term consequences are.

Can somebody knowledgeable chime in?

I have a neighbour who is Swiss, aged 42 and in receipt of a disability insurance payment (can be confirmed by Swiss Embassy) of around 85K baht per month as he can no longer work. He has sold his assets in Switzerland and wishes to live here in Thailand.

I'm pretty much in the same boat (41 years of age, but I have no pension, darn!).

First I'll try to get the new 3-year business visa to "explore business opportunities in Thailand".

(It will probably help that I have a small company here in the U.S.)

Assuming this works, this will get me to 45/46 (depending on at what age I decide to move to the LoS, could be at age 42, could be at age 43)

Your neighbor could set up a pro-forma company in Switzerland and try the very same thing.

Once the 3-year business visa has run out, there are, of course, several possibilities:

1. Conceivably after 3 years in the LoS one will have a TW and could go for the 40000-baht-per-

month marriage visa.

2. Or one could try to get another 3-year business visa "to explore further business opportunities".

3. Or one could take the plunge and get the 1-million Baht Elite card, which comes with a 5-year

visa.

Once one is 50, one could always get the 800000 Baht retirement visa.

BTW, are there any other countries using this or similar systems?

Sure.

Most, if not all, states in the U.S., for instance.

It's just a magnetic strip that has your name, date of birth and the serial number of the driver's license on it.

Occasionally, rental car companies and banks swipe it so that they don't have to type in your name.

I've never seen a patrol officer carry a magnetic strip reader, however.

The tax on 40.000 baht from work would be around 2800 Baht/month. That makes a total of 33.000 baht per year.

In other words, peanuts.

Your health insurance alone (and I guess you'll get health insurance, yes?) will probably be more than that. Let alone the rent.

View it as the price of admission to one of the most fascinating countries in the world.

Other people's price of admission is the 1 million Baht Thailand Elite card, just for comparison.

And I don't believe Thai government is going to except just any paper with "rental agreement" written on it as an official prove of income.

Have the rental statement notarized.

Plus, have your Thai bank account show an incoming money transfer of 20000 baht each and every month.

These two things together should constitute proof.

I am kinda desperate. I have more than enough money to start a life in Thailand (about 5 million baht)

I think that's the part where you are overly optimistic, while at the same time being overly pessimistic about being able to meet the 40000 Baht per month requirement.

I wouldn't move to Thailand with a mere 5 million Baht in savings.

At your age, 3 times that amount would be much more reasonable.

What if you have a heart attack? Some men have a heart attack in their 40s.

While open heart surgery in a Thai hospital would conceivably be less expensive than in the west,

it still could wipe out about half of your 5 million Baht faster than you can say "peep".

and I also intend to work and pay tax,

Work as what?

As an English teacher?

You didn't say whether you're a native English speaker, but your TV handle suggests otherwise.

Do you know that many professions in Thailand are closed to farangs?

That's why I'm saying, you're too optimistic about your 5 million Baht.

but I am not amused by the fact that I'll be kicked out after 90 days when I would fall below the 40K/month limit (although my financial buffer is sufficient to cope with situation during a few years).

Again, don't worry about the 40K so much.

At 20K (rental income) plus 10K (your wife's official income) you're already 3/4 there.

The missing 10K - pay it to yourself (as another poster has suggested) and stick it into

a savings account. It's just transferring money from farangland to Thailand, that's all.

Is being old really a better reason to stay in Thailand than loving your Thai wife and being married to her for almost 6 years now? Seem so.

Look, I'm also not happy about the new visa rules (specifially, that the 3 mio Baht investor visa was abolished) but that's life.

You're only short 10000 Baht per month. That's such a laughable amount, many guys spend more than that per month for beer.

Maybe supply outstrips demand with unqualified or local hire teachers or efl in internattional schools but the majority of well paid jobs are recruited for from overseas to experienced teachers and as far as i'm aware this demand is still high.

I don't want to rain on your party, but you state that you're 22 and at 22, I'd hardly consider you an experienced teacher, more like a rookie teacher.

Would I have considered myself an experienced software engineer at the age of 22?

Well, maybe.

Would others have termed me an experienced software engineer at the age of 22?

No way.

i'm lucky to have a good job here (uk) which i'm gonna do for a year or two (couldn't do it forever) to save before doing a pgce and moving abroad eventually teaching - thats what i want to do careerwise.

the idea was to be able to put down a deposit for a flat here before i move abroad and pay off the mortgage from there, taking on a tenant to add to my mortgage payments. i just felt it would give me a bit of security if teaching didnt work out or i had to come back, or even if i stayed abroad it would give me a wee boost to my income after the mortgage is cleared should i retire outwith the uk.

are there any problems with doing this i've not considered?

i'm only 22 so i don't know a great deal about mortgages etc.

You fail to mention what you expect to pay as the monthly mortgage payment.

Take my case: The monthly mortgage payment for my house here in Northern California is just below $2000, and a typical salary for an English teacher in Thailand is 30000 Baht or about $700.

Do the math...

You do state that you want to rent out your flat (condo).

The risk with this is:

- if the renter moves out, how do you find a new renter while in Thailand?

- if the renter trashes the place (cigarette burns, water damage, pet damage, ...), would you find out before it's too late?

- assuming the renter HAS trashed the place, even a little bit, how are you going to repair the damage when you are in Thailand?

Hire a professional contractor by phone? Some of these contractors are crooks!

Believe the contractor when he tells you on the phone that everything is picture perfect now?

Believe the contractor that the actual cost of repairs slightly exceeded the estimate and you now owe him, say, 3000 Pounds (not unrealistic) ?

I think, in your situation an investment in stocks/bonds/mutual funds is called for, not an investment into a flat/condo.

If you strongly believe real estate will outperform traditional stocks and bonds, consider investing into a REIT (real estate investment trust).

General rule #1: Don't rent out a property you cannot keep an eye on.

General rule #2: Don't expect to make investments (flat, pension fund, whatever) in the west based on a Thai salary - do it the OTHER WAY AROUND!

Cheers,

Harry C.

Yes, there was a brief note on orf.at and an even shorter one on derstandard.at

I don’t know what’s wrong with my Google search today but I cannot find the Internet links to those two articles. If you still have the links, would you kindly post them?

(Incidentally, as a general rule, for foreign-language, i.e. non-English, texts it is preferable to post only the link, not the entire article)

---------------

Maestro

Maestro, neither of these articles had a link.

Some sites work with a "session cookie", i.e. all you ever see is "derstandard.at" in the URL window of your browser, no matter where you are at the site.

While orf.at usually does have URLs, this short article didn't.

Nothing on the Internet today about the body of Christoph von Hohenlohe having been flown to Marbella yesterday or today.

Yes, there was a brief note on orf.at and an even shorter one on derstandard.at

orf.at:

Christoph Prinz von Hohenlohe in Spanien beigesetzt

Zehn Tage nach seinem Tod in Thailand ist Christoph Prinz von Hohenlohe, ältester Sohn von Ira Prinzessin von Fürstenberg, in Marbella in Südspanien beigesetzt worden.

Der 49-Jährige war in Bangkok nach seiner Inhaftierung unter ungeklärten Umständen gestorben. Die Familie verlangte nach spanischen Pressestimmen von heute eine Untersuchung.

Der Prinz aus dem süddeutschen Adelsgeschlecht war in Thailand festgenommen worden, weil er angeblich mit einem gefälschten Visum ausreisen wollte. Im Gefängnis klagte er über Übelkeit und starb wenig später. In Marbella ist auch der Vater des Adligen, Alfonso Prinz von Hohenlohe, begraben, der vor drei Jahren in dem Badeort an der Costa del Sol gestorben war.

derstandard.at:

Christoph von Hohenlohe beigesetzt

Ältester Sohn von Ira von Fürstenberg starb unter ungeklärten Umständen in Gefängnis in Thailand

Marbella - Zehn Tage nach seinem Tod in Thailand ist Christoph von Hohenlohe, ältester Sohn von Ira Prinzessin von Fürstenberg, in Marbella in Südspanien beigesetzt worden.

Der 49-Jährige ist in Bangkok nach seiner Inhaftierung unter ungeklärten Umständen gestorben. Die Familie verlangte eine Untersuchung.

Christoph Prinz von Hohenlohe wurde in Thailand festgenommen, weil er mit einem gefälschten Visum ausreisen wollte. Im Gefängnis klagte er über Übelkeit und starb wenig später. (APA)

The American press have reported that a man named James karr, who is currently under arrest in BKK for "an unrelated sex charge" is now wanted by the police in Colorado, USA. The story as reported is sketchy and incomplete, but apparently this man is suspected of being involved in the

Jon Bennette Ramsey murder case. For those of you who are unaware that case was a big story over here in the states some years back and it comes as a great shock that after so much bungling the police finally have a suspect.

Have any of you expats residing the LOS heard anything about this? Apparently the American authorities are flying to BKK to request extradtion back to Colorado.

Cordially,

Hunter

I have posted a CNN report about this in the Bangkok forum, since I cannot start a new topic in this (News) forum.

Regards,

Harry C.

(CNN) -- Authorities have arrested a "possible suspect" in the decade-old JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation, law enforcement sources told CNN on Wednesday.

An investigator with the Boulder County, Colorado, District Attorney's office is bringing the man from Bangkok, Thailand, CNN Denver affiliate KUSA reported.

Sources tell CBS News that he is a 41-year-old American and second-grade schoolteacher and that he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.

The man was being held in Bangkok on sex charges, sources told The Associated Press.

Prosecutors in Boulder have not confirmed the person's identity but are expected to hold a news conference later today.

KUSA reported that a man they call a suspect was arrested Wednesday morning and has confessed to certain elements of the crime that are unknown to the general public, KUSA reported.

JonBenet's beaten and strangled body was found in the basement of the family home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996. She was 6.

A grand jury investigation into the death of the child beauty pageant winner ended without charges in 1999.

The investigation focused a spotlight on the child's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died in June of ovarian cancer. She was 49.

The Ramseys said an intruder committed the crime, but they remained the subject of suspicion and speculation.

In 2003 a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Ramseys, blaming the police and the FBI for bungling the investigation. The Boulder County District Attorney's Office concurred with the judge's opinion the following month, saying there was little evidence against the couple

The Ramseys left Colorado and had a house in Charlevoix, Michigan, where John Ramsey unsuccessfully ran for office in 2004, and in Atlanta, Georgia.

CNN's Kelli Arena contributed to this report.

I wonder how the police found out in the first place.... ?

At US airports, if you "look" like you could be a mule (young, single, nervous working-class traveler coming straight from, say, Columbia) they will force you to have an X-ray taken.

Conceivably, the same happens in Bangkok. For instance, a male working-class Peruvian visiting Bangkok just doesn't fit the profile of the European sex tourist. Nor the profile of the businessman.

$3K for their life. Unbelievably stupid.....Oh well

Look, the minimum wage in Peru (and, by coincidence, Thailand too) is something like $100 per month, if you're lucky enough to have a job.

In other words, they did it for the equivalent of 2 1/2 years of [minimum] wages.

In the west, the equivalent would be approximately 10 times as much, $30000.

I can imagine stupid young guys would do a lot for $30000 here in the west.

It's the equivalent of a tuned up Civic or something like that, a pocket sized street racer.

There are young uneducated unemployed guys here in the U.S that would KILL for that kind of

money. And occasionally they do.

Also I was looking for some appropriate job in Thailand, but I guess its impossible for farang.

It's not impossible, in fact there was a job offer for a PHP/MySQL programmer recently in the TV classifieds, but the downside was, they offered only 20000 Baht per month for a full-time position, non-negotiable.

is 4M baht enough to start this condo business? (rental or buying/rennovating/sellling) Can I make over 40K baht monthly?

or should I think of something else?

At first glance, it sounds like a compelling idea:

Buy 4 condos at 800000 or 1000000 Baht each (which seems to be pretty much the low end of the market in Pattaya, in my humble opinion), rent them out at, say 8000 Baht per month (which also seems to be the low end of the rental market in Pattaya, again only in my humble opinion).

In other words, the theoretical return-on-investment is approximately 10% per annum.

HOWEVER:

- who guarantees that you can really rent them out 100% of the time ?

- who guarantees that some renter doesn't totally trash the place, cigarette burns, water damage, damage by pets, you name it ?

If you figure in all of this, the return on investment will probably be closer to a typical stock market type of investment. Still good, you say, real estate is more secure than the stock market. And this is where you could be wrong, as:

- Condo buildings in Thailand are not maintained as well as condo buildings in the west, and it may happen that the condo building (and all condos in it) actually DEPRECIATE due to that.

- There could be another "Asian economic crisis" or "crash" just like in 1997 that erases property values.

Now, about your 45000 Baht per month job offer:

This seems slightly better than what Joe Average English Teacher makes (30000) and better than what Joe Average Programmer makes (20000, according to a programming job offer recently posted on TV). If you serious about moving to Thailand, take this offer. But (read on):

About your $100000 net worth:

This is *not* enough to move to Thailand for good.

What if your 45000 Baht job evaporates / you get fired?

Are you willing to work for 30000 Baht as an English teacher?

My advice:

- Don't move to Thailand until you have a net worth of, say, $250K or $300K (there are some people on this forum who will laugh even at that amount of money and will suggest that you need $500K or $600K to be comfortable).

- If you decide to move to Thailand anyway, rent an apartment for some time and thus you can experience the condo rental market from the renter's side. Then, after, say, a year or so, if you really want to stay in Thailand for good, buy one condo to live in and start looking for another one to rent out. After a few more months, buy a second condo to rent out and view it as a "test balloon". You will see how difficult or easy it is to find a renter, and will get a much better idea about the real costs and the real cash flow. After another year or so, if you still think it is a good idea to expand your rental business, buy one or two more. By employing such a step-by-step strategy, you are not putting all of your eggs into one basket and can call a stop to this renting-out-condos experiment when it doesn't turn out to be such a good idea after all.

Just my 2 cents.

if vehicles install NGV engine and the expenses of the installation is equal the amount of tax.

Hard to believe.

The Honda Civic GX (CNG = compressed natural gas) vehicle costs $24440 list in the U.S.

The cheapest gasoline Civic costs $24760 list in the U.S. ($15560 if you get the automatic transmission).

That's a price difference of approximately 9 grand.

And as far as conversion is concerned:

I happen to know that four CNG injectors cost $2400 for the Civic, and it's not only the injectors you need, you need the high pressure (3600 psi, no less) tank a.s.o. a.s.o.

Maybe they are talking about LPG (liquid propane gas) vehicles, I hear that the conversion gasoline to LPG doesn't cost much. A LPG tank is not a high pressure tank, only a low pressure tank, for instance.

Many people mix up LPG and CNG, but they are completely different animals.

(Oh, by the way, a CNG "fast fuelling station" costs several hundred thousand dollars, on account of needing a three stage or four stage compressor, whereas a LPG fueling station probably costs only a few thousand.)