scorecard

I wonder how he 'measures' the accuracy of their advice? Perhaps it relates to the payments they receive from their hangers on?

I did a calculation based on being in Thailand 365 days a year. Turned out I owed 650Baht personal Thai income tax. My acct. took a look, and said: - In your case I can't see any way the Thai RD could find any relevant details on you. - The revenue which is from an old age pension. I'm sure the RD would NOT want to touch these funds. And they are protected by a double tax agreement. - She added, even so I'm sure we can find a factor to reduce your taxable income to under the threshold.

You can believe or not believe things like this happen. I have no doubt whatever that you can find similar things in every city in the big world. A Chinese business colleague took me to dinner with his 2 very very wealthy gay friends (partners) in Shanghai. We went to the private room assigned and in came about 6 beautiful girls in g strings all I guess 19 / 21 years old. They left and in cam about 15 young men, all in tiny g strings. Whispered comment from my work buddy revealed they were from 13 to 21 years old. No lady boys all had nice bodies all masculine. One of the super rich gay boys was the 'financier' for the night and mentioned that there was no limit on expenditure because the dinner was to celebrate his gay lovers birthday. First highlight was for the birthday boy to select 3 bikini clad boys to stand over his entree plate and ejaculate on his food then feed the entree to him, with cum, on spoons. My Chinee work buddy mentioned that there's a number of similar places in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzen and more cities.

There's always twists. I had legitimate international business dealings with a very wealthy / very successful Thai lady some years back. She had inherited wealth and had built her own big international business empire. To some extent she was copying her mother. At that time she was mid 30's, beautiful slim fit body. She owned a massive modern home with about 12 bedrooms in the Supan Kwai area, every bedroom was a lage suite with several rooms and bathroom etc., and parking at each 'suite'. Why? Because to compete with her mother she wanted about 8 to 10 live in hot boys, all between 18 to 25 years old. Almost every evening she had dinner with her 'boys' all dressed in just small speedo bikinis (Live in: famous chef and kitchen staff, security, drivers ... ) When dinner was completed the kitchen staff withdrew and she selected 1 or 2 or 3 boys to entertain her. The rest went back to their rooms. She directed the activities which started with the selected boys doing nude / erect parades then told to come close so she could perform oral sex on each boy and lots more. Plus she liked macho gay / bi boys and loved to see macho gay boys engaged in gay sex activities. All the boys had very large salaries, big motorcycles etc. Plus credit cards all paid by the madam. A lot more to the story but not today. She was happy.

"What I can not understand, is them being underpaid, by billionaires!" That's how they became rich - don't pay your bills! Trump. "So, I can understand taking away their passports, and also limiting their freedom, due to the difficulties in importing and keeping track of domestic staff" - They have no right whatever, regardless of any circumstances to hold someone's passport. Can't hold someone responsible for the activity of other unrelated people. I'm aware of a case about 20 years back of an expat family from Europe living in Bkk, they had a timid Filipino maid, she had been with the family for some 20 years across 3 or 4 countries, she had wanted to go back to her family in the Philippines for a long time but the family had locked up her passport and she couldn't escape. A farang lawyer came to the house to pick up some documents (not connected to the maid), she took the risk of speaking to the lawyer. Within the same day the RTP had got her out of the house and into the sanctuary of the Philippines embassy in Bkk. Then quickly on a flight to Manila. European husband and wife did 3 or 4 years jail.

The corrupt exposing the corrupt... I guess some folks are aware of his early history destroying infrastructure so that people in Thonburi had no choice but to buy very expensive water from his water trucks. Such a pleasant man. His sons still have a lot to answer for. My own son, when at uni, worked as a barman in one of the big bars in the radio city complex. Owner of the bar where my son worked gave regular pep talks to his staff early evening. Always mentioned 'if Chalerm's sons or their thug minders appear listen carefully to what they say and serve exactly what they ask for and move back, never ask for money, never try to engage them in conversation'. There was an incident when a young barman bumped slightly into one of the thug minders on the busy stairs, no damage done in any way, the young barman apologised but was quickly grabbed and his hands held behind his back by 2 thugs whilst another thug and a son beat him up. My son came home from work early morning, he woke me up and told me what had happened. He had never experienced / seen violence and it shook him. My son was a strong rugby player but this experience really shook him. I guess about 12:00 am he called the club office and resigned and quickly hung up. Son asked me if I would please increase his monthly allowance (which I had offered to do several times previous to this incident) so that he didn't need to work. Why would anybody miss Chalerm.

You seem to be saying that because their names are on a list of folks who joined the RTP many years ago they are all entitled to hold the position of national police chef. I'm well aware that this is the way it has been working but it's not the law / regulation.

Where does Hezbollah's fighting / financial strength come from?

"So, I can understand taking away their passports". They are human beings, entitled to equal status in every way. Nobody has the right to withhold their passport, never. (In reality a passport is owned by the issuing country.)

Well they should be severely punished. I've worked in India, many times seen staff in the office (including well qualified senior accountants and junior staff) strongly abused. Their boss was a 24 yo niece of the conglomerate owner, if the staff (any staff, di / all levels didn't instantly stand up and respond to her demand for their attention (perhaps on the phone lookin in the opposite direction and conducting a business conversation) she would pick up a heavy book and throw it at them, across the room f needed. There was a 15 yo office boy, he was always clean and neat and keen to work, he responded very quickly and politely; the 24yo boss would often march up to him and smack his face hard both directions and yell in his face 'not fast enough'. On one occasion she also smacked the bottom of the try he was carrying with coffee and tea cups, a cup flew up and cut his face. Boss lady abused him and did nothing to attend to the blood on his face. Other staff all quick smart put their heads down and got on with their work. The boy had a clean handkerchief, he used that to try to stop the bleeding but ensuring he continued to do his work.

What a stupid comment. If the cops actually arranged that you would be the first to scream about the police not following the law / Thailand the lawless country where the cops make up the rules as they go. If the action you propose was applied to someone in your family would you be happy? I hope not. Now go right ahead and tell me I don't have a sense of humour.

Never miss a chance to talk negative...

Any evidence of that?

Yes, but keep it simple. The PM involved made a very big deal about this but there were many comments that the dishes he cooked on air were very simple basic everyday Thai cuisine items.

Well the US has a world champion mother of all liars on the presidential election ticket, maybe he can advise re lying.

And here's another example, spent 17 yrs in self exile, since returned in dubious circumstances charges massively reduced, now able to walk around / talk freely, now regularly featured in Thai news and seems to have quite some power (and he's a billionaire, the adage money = power comes to mind).

I asked my Thai adult son about the above (son takes his kids to temple once a month. He's found several temples in / around Chiang Mai where there are proper monks who will sit with children and explain the teachings for 30 minutes. Son tells the monk I 'I have put a donation in the temple donation box' and he does, usually 100Baht. I mention the post about monks amassing money for the future. He went to see his childhood buddy who became an ordained monk on leaving school and is still at the same large temple teaching kids Prathom 1, 2, and 3 in the school inside his temple. Son's monk friend responded that there is no regulation or anything similar allowing / encouraging amassing of funds for the future. But also mentioned that local fake 'versions' of the rules abound.

And from experience Telstra is a nightmare to deal with. I went back and in error started a mobile account and an internet service at a big Telstra shop. First problem, tried to pay the initial account 'cannot pay anything at a Telstra shop. I looked perplexed and said again "I want to pay ...." Secon staff member intervened quickly saying "do you speak and understand English. he said you cannot pay here." I finally permanently departed Australia and discovered that cancelling both services was a total nightmare. Telstra call centre lady said 'why can't you just let the account continue?" After 20 minutes of explanation and she wouldn't budge I gave up because I had to board my departing flight.to be told 'not possible, you have to be in Australia to cancel an account'. After many e.mails I finally got someone who understood and made a special to recognise that I was outside of Aust. The officer responded 'I can cancel your account but you have to pay all outstanding charges first. I agreed to this and got a final bill which I promptly paid by bank transfer from an Aussie bank. Then another e.mail, 'the arrangement for you to cancel from another country has a special AUD40- fee'. I paid that by Aussie bank transfer then an e.mail why did you pay AUD40-? Another long e.mail 'now all understood'.

Especially the wealthy who build new temples and ensure their family name is ip front and centre in very big signage. Thai friend pointed this out to me as we were driving past a new temple, and also pointed to the high value big parking garage to the side, with family name in big letters, garage big enough to house 4 or 5 big luxury cars.

Which leaves many question marks: - Who is entitled to life insurance? - Copy of the actual specific documents showing full name, DOB, start date and end date, details of benefits etc? I asked the son of my BIL about Conscript Life Insurance. He said 'never heard of it' and he asked at the office where he's posted 'never heard of it'. - What military business profits: what companies, and what happens if no profits?

I got 'approval' at the time of my interview (27 years ago and some factors / processes will of course have changed). I don't now if other applicants received any advice about refusal or difficulties. As Jayboy says the regulation is now that a total of 100 can be approved per country per year. When I applied the maximum was 50. I'm aware that there's still a high rejection rate. From several non planned social discussions* it seems that many foreigners believe proving 3 consecutive years of work permits and proof of paying personal taxes means automatic PR. (*and I've had 2 personal message here on AN / ThaiVisa from foreigners sharing they got rejected and don't understand why - they submitted proof of 3 years of WPs and payment of taxes. A couple of times I replied saying that I really can't comment but asking whether the person had submitted the additional documents required and can 'pass' these requirements and asking whether they had attended an interview. The answers were 'what other requirements ' and 'what interview?)

One further point. I suspect most foreigners who might be interested to apply for Thai PR are aware that the rejection rate is very high. When I applied the regulation was that 50 foreigners could be approved from each approved country. but the reality is that only very small numbers actually get approved. for the year I applied the total number of applications approved was 5 (five).

"...childlike naivety..." Example, Thai lady neighbor, qualified lawyer but never sat for the bar exams and has never practised law. She asked my son to join her that evening to hear a presentation about massive wealth creation 50% a month or similar. She mentioned to my son "I don't think there's anything illegal because it's in Chiang Mai and CM people don't ever do things like that. My son refused to attend. Six or eight months later she asked my son to help her regain the several million Baht investment she had made, she got a promise that she would get 1% return on investment at the end of the first month but nothing happened. She waited but of more recent times discovered that the person she had transferred the several million Baht to had disappeared. End of story - she asked my son to be a good neighbor and give her half of the money she had lost. Son totally refused to discuss it with her, they have never spoken since.

If approved the foreigner receives a Certificate of Residence book (a PR book) which is issued for lifetime, there is no expiry date on any of the documents, there is no annual review or anything similar - It's issued for cheewit (lifetime). It automatically cancels on the death of the foreigner. A PR holder doesn't have to submit 90 days reports etc.

I was not legally married when I applied for and got PR 27 years ago. I went to the old office at Soi Suan with a Thai friend who had been helping to prepare documents (his main purpose was to learn about PR and later start a paid service to help / advise PR applicants. We were both well dressed, white shirt, long pants, coat, polished shoes, recent haircut. We lodged the application documents and paid the lodging fee and walked out of that room. Within 1 or 2 seconds an officer quickly came out into the hallway holding my application docs. He immediately said (in perfect English) "Are you xxx xxxxx?" I responded "Yes". He continued "do you have about 2 or 2.5 hrs free time right now?" I responded "yes". He continued "If you wish I will do the interview right now". I replied "Yes please". He took me and my Thai friend into a smaller room and introduced himself properly and then said "Let me have about 5 to 10 minutes to properly read your application docs". Then he said "The main criteria for Thai PR is having already worked in Thailand with an official work permit (WP) and the work is contributing to the development of Thailand and having paid all your personal Thai taxation". He continued "The regulation is working for 3 years with a WP but in reality we don't consider PR applications with less than 7* years of continuous WPs and taxation clearance". (*This has since changed and it seems that 3 years is now accepted.) He continued "you 'qualify' re the 7 years, so let's continue with the interview: - He looked at my advanced education documents and asked a number of relevant questions, which he preceded by saying "PR is to some extent reserved for foreigners who contribute knowledge and skills to the development of Thailand. So please tell me how your degree based knowledge is contributing". I explained then he said he wanted to talk to 2 or 3 of my Thai staff and he asked for 3 names of my direct staff and their tel. numbers and he asked if they could all speak English. I quickly found 3 names and tel numbers and confirmed "they all speak good English". He called each person and did ask for good relevant detail of how their knowledge and skills were improving under my supervision / guidance. And asked general question "Tell me more how you are personally benefiting from working this the foreigner mr. xx xxxx." They all mentioned we have good clear discussions and we have no hesitation to ask questions, make suggestions etc. - He asked what monetary plans / activities I had to support myself in old age. - and more... - My thai companion asked if being married to a Thai lady was a factor to gain PR. - Immigration officer replied 'Well we would prefer to see a stable personal situation but in reality the application for PR is about you rather than any details of wife. - More general discussion but no discussion in Thai language (this is 27 years ago). The Immigration officer then said "This concludes the official interview and I am going to recommend that you be approved for PR. You will receive an official approval letter closer to the end of this year". He then asked If I had any further questions or discussion points.