dsfbrit

I hope so.

I'll be heading down to the local Immigration Office (Jomtien) in the morning to apply for 30-day extensions on my visa, and my Filipino GFs. We've been here since February.

Wish me luck.

Good Luck

I have not seen this discussed anywhere. Is there a problem with buying property in wife's name amd me loaning her the money with the property as collateral (a mortgage),then leasing the property from her for 30 years at a nominal rate. The mortgage could have all kinds of provisions that would protect you if the marriage didn't work out. For instance, baloon payment at the end of lease or baloon payment triggered by your cancellation of lease. In this way you could force a sale if you wanted out.

I am more concerned about the inlaws than the wife. If something happened to her I could see the inlaws being a problem. Anybody see a problem with this arangement? Obviously enforcement of the mortgage would take time and trouble but I am looking to protect a fairly substantial investment.

Tim207, I am by no means an expert, but bought property through the company route several years ago as I had/have similar concerns to you regarding the relatives. Trust the wife but...

Over the last several months I have explored just about every angle on this and I believe that if you (sensibly) decide not to go the illegal company route then like me you will come to the conclusion you have to 'trust' your wife or family to varying degrees.

1. LEASE option - if your wife dies then you have to trust that her family have not encouraged her to change her Will without you knowing. The family connection in Thailand is very strong. My wife has about 30 poor relatives and this number is obviously growing every year.

God the thought of them owning the land and the lease being with them fills me with horror. Yes I know legally I can stay here, but they would NEVER understand the land is solely mine to use - and would be here to visit me/want to live ? a lot. Thats just the way they are.

Tell me seasoned TV contributors - Am I wrong?

2. USUFRUCT- well at least with this option you only have to hope they dont decide to terminate YOU early!!

The above is written slightly 'tongue in cheek', but even though I have drawn up a letter to the solicitor to set up the lease option of land in my wifes name/house in my name - I just cannot send it!!!

If you are old enough to remember the TV programme 'Happy Days' - its a bit like the Fonz trying to say sorry/he was wrong - he just couldn't do it!

Tim207, I repeat I am not an expert - but I am sitting here typing this flipping reply rather than going out to enjoy myself. I have to make a decision what to do about this land thing and its a headache.

If I were lucky enough to be in your position and uncomfortable about putting your trust in the new Thai extended family, then I wouldn't do it.

I would rent for a year (or more) until I felt comfortable or buy a condo - which I can fully own.

Good luck mate with what you decide.

Remember some good advice from TV members

Dont bring any more money into Thailand than you can afford to lose!

What happened to me pales into insignificance compared to what happend to the OP...

I don’t think so. The only money you wasted was 1,900 Baht for the rejected application for extension based on support of Thai wife.

...I received bad advice to change from a retirement visa to a marriage visa, and not being aware of all the rules (ie the money had to stay in the designated account after I had applied for the extension) I was eventually refused

It looks like you have not been reading ThaiVisa regularly. It has been reported time and again that the bank account balance must remain above the required minimum – 400K for support of Thai wife – until the application is approved.

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

Maestro

Maestro / Mobi, Ialso did not read TV regularly and made the same mistake last year when I went to renew my marriage extension and after several weeks went below the 400k Baht.

Fortunately the local Immigtation Officer called my wife and told her that Bangkok had called and were very 'unhappy' about this and she said we had better top up my funds immediatley or have problems.

Like you, I had money elsewhere so no worries topping up the money- I got the visa several weeks later (phew).

I dont know why she called - we usually take a small gift (some tea or coffee - nothing big) - so she was hardly expecting any major gain from it - glad she did anyway whatever the reason.

However Maestro, as bad as the previous posters story is - and I have every sympathy for him - he can probably get a new passport and all those red stamps will at least will go away.

Mobi on the other hand, if you were considering applying for Permanent Residence have you messed up yours run of visa extensions (ie need at least 3 consecutive extensions I believe) to apply for a Permanent Residence???

Is this the case Mobi? or am I - as so often when it comes to visa issues - wrong about this.

good luck to everyone gettting your visas - whatever type they are!

Ask if the condo is owned by a non-Thai via the company mechanism - some are to get around the rule relating to majority ownership of a block of flats by Thais - consider if you really want this additional hassle.

I have read on another thread that Dragonman's dad passed away yesterday.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89342

Dragonman has helped and advised a lot of us here so I thought you might like to know.

As I said on the other thread:

Dragonman, my sincere condolences to you and your family on your loss.

1) It is possible to have a foriegn company registered in Thailand. It is expensive to do and comes with many restrictions

2) A foriegn comapny registered in Thailand can not own land with a value less then 40,000,000 baht like a hotel for instance.

3) Any attempt to get around these restrictions buy using Thai nationals who have no financial stake in the company(nominees) constitutes fraud.

4) Changing the mix of Thai nationals from 51/49 to 61/39 to 100% and then change after land registration is not a way to make it legal, it is soley an attempt to escape detection.

5) At any time, in a period of elevated nationalism, the Thai government can decide to enforce these laws and confiscate any land held in this( Thai Corp with nominee shareholders) fashion.

6) Thailand is in a state of extreme nationalism

7) Governments repatriating land from foriegners has happened in Mexico, South Africa and Zimbabwe amoung many other places.

8) If a foriegn national complains to their own embassy after their company owned land is confiscated, the reply will be 'Som nom na "

P

You are of course right - yes yes yes - the problem with my 'cunning plan' is that my company, with me as the major share-holder, is therefore a FOREIGN owned company.

Game set and match really isn't it!

Thanks for the feedback.

I have to be honest though, I sat down last night and thought long and hard about running a business out here - and the hassle and profit (any?) involved just does not justify the effort!

I am sorry Dragonman I can offer no advice.

Just my sincere condolences

regards

Dave

When you go to change they will ask your wife to sign a paper acknowledging that she understands your new visa status. I did last year and did not know this so arrived without the wife (who was ill). Although they were very nice about it there was no way they would approve without her signature and they even refunded my (non refundable) 1,900 baht so that I could make a new application with her present.

You are 100% correct if you are doing a change of a extension of stay.

But in this case, if he lets it expire. The old visa is based on marriage is no longer valid. He now gets a new visa and new application. He cannot be judged on the old expired extension of stay.

We have argued this point before and won, when the wife left without saying good-bye. She was no where to be found but as we argued it didn't matter. It was a new application, not a change of visa.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

In relation to eventually applying for PR.

If I go to change my current (4th) marriage extension next year to a retirments visa -a few days before it it runs out and my wife signs the form - does it mean the requirement for the PR will still be intact ie I then have 4 years of continuous extensions and the retirement visa will be the 5th.

Is it the same if I go when the visa has expired and she is not around to sign and I start a 'new' visa, is this year 1 then in PR requirement terms.

Sorry its badly worded, but you know what I mean.

It is not possible without the wife signing off. If the wife will sign it is not a problem but they will insist on the wife signing first.

I believe your wife is asking what is normal - this is a joint property system so half of bank deposits should be regarded as hers.

Reang, sorry to hear about your problems. Do you have a solicitor to help you out? Sounds like you may need it before you do anything - or sign anything. This sounds like it could get messy.

I am also bemused to learn yet another little known fact that is the treacle of Thailand visa laws.

Next year I was considering switching to a retirement visa from a marriage extension, not because of being in an unfortunate situation like Reang (yet?), but because it seemed less hassle.

When would my wife have to sign a piece of paper - when I go to renew/change type visa next year?

Alf has made fine points I often think we are missing the historical perspective to the recent on the face of it "enforcement", of existing legislation.

Do the Thai powers that be want to force the likes of little me out of my home ? They didn't seem to feel that way until an interim administration applied the EXISTING law, to stop a certain ex-PM and his cronies from committing what amounted to the rape of the countries national assets.

While they were on, was it not unreasonable to apply this EXISTING legislation to try to draw a line under some absurdly blatant land grabbing on Islands, which again by existing law amount to National Parks ?

If we were in their position, would we have not done the same ?

As of yet there is no evidence whatsoever of the application of this EXISTING legislation on any single TV member who just wishes to be left alone on his little piece of heaven and contribute to the local economy.

If anyone has such evidence please post it so I can run around Pong shouting "the sky is falling".

Please do not feel I am putting my head in the sand and hoping things will just go away, far from it, my whole retirement plans ( IE: my life ) are at risk here. I just can't see the motivation for the Government to persecute the likes of me which would surely send a message about investing in Thailand which would take more than a generation to correct.

I agree with you that it is, as always in Thailand, the political and vested interests that are behind this but there is a high potential for collateral damage. I believe that "what you don't know CAN hurt you" so my focus is to try to establish as accurately as possible just how vulnerable the farang who has used one of these companies is. If he is using nominees to TRADE in a prohibited business (land) then I am sure he is as vulnerable as Shin and Singtel, but I'm not sure it extends beyond that either legally or politically. The latter we can only wait and see, the former we can establish to a degree of reasonable certainty in terms of what the law actually says. I saw an article in the press the other day which was saying that if others got off the hook then that should apply to the Shin deal also. I guess that is their dilema and it is probably what is exercising the minds of those in power now. Mr. T had already worked that one out. There is a strong body of opinion that would like to see him prosecuted but the price could be substantial damage to the Thai economy through loss of the entire farang corporation development capital (all the major hotels and resorts in Phuket etc.) plus a knock on effect in the tourist industry not to mention half the lawyers in thailand being reported by farangs for negligence. I'm sure it is the subject of a lot of discussion in the ivory towers. Unlike an earlier poster I do believe that this board will be monitored by the political factions. It's like a vulnerability study post facto. Anyone who has lived in Thailand a long time recognises the act first, think later reaction of the powers that be here and the "I don't really know what to do, so I'll close the doors" reaction of local government offices.

I think thats pretty much the situation we are in now but I'd still like to be as certain as possible about what the law actually says.

Nobody has yet replied to my question in post 25. Maybe it was too 'flowery' - so I will try asking the 'meat' of the question here again - as Alf reminds us above about these companies trading in a prohibited business - eg land.

What if my (currently dormant) company now starts trading in a legitimate business, recruiting a couple of Thai staff and paying all the taxes etc... I give exampes of sorts of business that may work for me in the referenced post, but that is irrelevant to the basic premise- that if the company now starts trading in a legitimate business then there is no longer any problem - am I wrong??

Alf has a fine point.I often think we are missing the historical perspective to the recent on the face of it "enforcement", of existing legislation.

Do the Thai powers that be want to force the likes of little me out of my home ? They didn't seem to feel that way until an interim administration applied the EXISTING law, to stop a certain ex-PM and his cronies from commiting what ammounted to the rape of the countries national assests.

While they were on, was it not unreasonable to apply this EXISTING legislation to try to draw a line under some absurdly blatent land grabbing on Islands, which again by existing law amount to National Parks ?

If we were in their position, would we have not done the same ?

As of yet there is no evidence whatsoever of the application of this EXISTING legislation on any single TV member who just wishes to be left alone on his little piece of heaven and contribute to the local economy.

If anyone has such evidence please post it so I can run around Pong shouting "the sky is falling".

I concur 100 percent with your thoughts.

I would include another group they were targettting- ie farang and other non-thais - buying land, developing it and selling off the houses they had built.

Its why I asked a couple of weeks ago if anyone knew of any horror stories yet of farang being arrested/tarred and feathered or lawyers offices being raided or whatever.

There was not one story- nobody posted any bad news - and I figured / expected if there were bad news stories at least one flamer might post - keen to let me know how miserable my life was about to become.

I then decided to ask the same question again in 3 months time and apart from finding out some background info - pretty much forget about the whole thing for now.

When I saw this thread though it awakened my curiosity again - a bit like picking at a scab!!!

I was looking to buy a house for my TGF family in Korat - with the difficulty and the risk I will wait until farang can do without risk. So Thai builders miss out and the family does not have such a good life. Why cannot things be made easier for farang to make Thai people life better - because that is all I want to do!

I think you have made the wise decision. Do this until you feel comfortable to do something else. Lets face it, its complicated enough trying to fathom out the true impact of the visa changes (another thread so lets not dwell on them here), without trying to wade through the subtleties of property ownership at the same time.

Maybe in a years time all will be a lot clearer

I guess if you follow the method suggested by Khun Jean - ie rent and use the interest generated by your money outside Thailand to pay towards the rent - the impact of renting on your finances

may not be too bad at all.

good luck with it.

I am impressed with the quality of feedback on this thread.

So much so, that I am going to ‘go for broke’ as the Americans would say and ask for your feedback on my whole situation.

True, as I have stated in others posts - I set up the company in Pattaya to buy our house.

However, being just 49 (52 now) years old I could not see me doing nothing the rest of my life, so figured one day I may use the company to actually DO something.

It was one of the benefits I saw with the company route that came as a ‘freebie’ option as it were. I could use it in the future to set up a proper business – if the mood took me (3 years ago I never really thought I would want to work again, funny how 3 years without any pressure can change that view a bit).

Because of my background - I have worked in the computer industry all my life – I thought perhaps an Internet café – but there seemed so many of those.

I also enjoy learning and whilst at my Thai lessons considered setting up a language school. I have a University degree in Computing and Maths and so I figured I could take the TEFL exams and would be qualified enough then to also teach there as well.

However, I thought that would leave my wife out of it – she is not really into the office life nor academia.

My wife however does love Karaoke – and wanted to set up a Karaoke ‘garden’ for Thais – not Farangs, but as sweet as my wife is – her management skills are nil – and it would mean I would end up running the business side to all intent and purposes.

I gave up the booze 3 years ago and the thought of having to listen to the noise drunken Karaoke singers make, whilst I am sober seemed just too much!

So before I shut the company down and tranfer the land etc… which seems the preferred option - if I were to run a business here, via the company I currently have that is not trading - would the company be made ‘legal’ and the land ownership then no longer be an issue?

Or is the current company structure just too flawed?

This would not be just a ‘smart arse’ move to make the company legal and keep the land – that would be just too ridiculous – However I am a great believer in fate – and if I could run a business and make the company ‘legal’ it may kill the proverbial 2 birds with one stone.

I wonder?

Your comments would be appreciated.

Its a very good post - well thought out and well argued - sadly I suspect it is flawed.

I set up a company and acquired land using this method.

I would say though, although I would never consider an expert in law, the following quoting a personal example from the UK is worth considering.

In the UK I set up and worked in a Ltd company for many years

This was so so I could work as a contractor/programmer/consultant call it what you will - in the computer industry.

Typically I used to work for a company (ie: Lloyds TSB, Abbey National...) for 6 months or so.

My company had just me as an employee - it also could claim tax breaks, travel, training costs etc...

My company HAD to exist as the agencies and companies like TSB would only deal with this kind of set up - to avoid me receiving the rights of a employee (sick pay, holidays...) if my contract was extended too long.

For example after 2 years in one company you may/could try to claim 'permy' status.

The company was legal, it was accpeted practice by all including the Inland Revenue.

However, after some tax changes by Mr Gordon Brown -bless him - called IR35 ( I still have nightmares over this phrase!), it was decided to remove all the all tax advantages from companies/ people like me.

After I and others funded court cases for the Computer Industry Body(PCG) to take the Inland Revenue to court to overturn this legislation (we lost) - a term 'disguised employee' was defined by the Inland Revenue.

It was pointed out that if the company ONLY existed to 'employ' one person - ie me - then I was in fact an employee of TSB (say) in all but name.

In eventual court cases, companies like mine were 'tested' to see if they were a 'real' company or

just there to avoid the 'disguised employee' scenario.

I wont bore you with all the details of these court cases - mostly won by the Inland Revenue(not all curiously), but I am certain that if I end up in court in Thailand, they will apply similar REASONABLE tests to my 'company' over here.

They will consider if

- Has it ever traded - NO

- Was it set up for ANY other purpose than buying land - NO

Lets face it - It therefore is a 'disguised' farang land ownership company only.

I made a mistake when I set up this company in Thailand - I checked out many issues relating to the land ownership / company thing - I did not however realise that the company structure itself was the weak link.

So as good as your argument is - I sadly and respectfully suggest, that if I have to go to court - I will lose.

My advice to anyone reading this forum and thinking of setting up a company to own land - there is no confusion - DO NOT DO IT!

good luck to all you 'land owners' like me who are still weighing up all the options and hoping the problem will just go away!!!

And good luck to those poor devils who bought condos through the company route as well!!!

This is a dull if reassuring piece of feedback relating to my 1 year extension of visa (marriage). This is my 4th extension.

My wife and I went to Pattaya Immigration end of August with all the relevant documents and 406k baht in the bank.

Went back once at the end of September and a second time today and I received my extension.

They did not visit the house. They were very helpful as usual.

I only went back there for 2 months not 3 months, before I got the visa.

In fact this feedback is very dull indeed.

I know things have changed since 1st October and I in no way wish to trivialise the distressing problems some people are having, but I hope lots of people will continue to provide feedback on actual experiences - good as well as bad - so we can get a balanced understanding of issues relating to visa extensions.

Sometimes its only the bad news that gets spread about.

good luck to you all with your visas - i dont have to 'worry' about it for another year!!!!!

my licence has expired already.............. do l need to go to the British Embassy or not? if l dont could you tell me where my nearest office is l live in Sukhumvit 71 THANKS

My experience in Koh Samui is that the imigration office is the best and cheapest option for the residence certificate.

However there may be a slight problem at the licensing authority since your license has already expired. In Samui (and it may be different elesewhere) is that if you want the 5 year one you actually have to go on the day that the original 1 year one expires. If you go before the date they only issue another one year license and if you go after you may actually have to go through the process again including the tests .. but at the least you only get a 1 year license again. If you go on the actual expiration date they renew it through to your next birthday after the 5 year .. so it may in fact be longer than 5 years. The cost of the 5 year license is about 500b ... plus you need the photos and the medical and residency document.

This process is another one of the wonders of Thailand and I understand it happens in the same manner for Thais and farangs and in fact has only just recently got better for the Thais as in the past they had to go back to their home village to get or renew their license.

It was the same for me in Pattaya when I did my 5 year car and 5 year bike licenses last year (need 2 licenses here in Thailand). I was told I had to go on the day it expired or would only get a 1 year extension.

Errmm, strange as it may sound, but that is not the case at all in Pattaya.

If you apply whilst your licence is still valid, you will only get a one year licence not a licence for five years.

If you did as you said you did and managed to get five year licences, be thankful that they were having an off day...

I stand corrected - I actually had to go back the DAY AFTER it expired - I actually thought I had written that - apologies for any confusion!!!

I still can't see them count the days visually. If I stay in Thailnd for a 180 day period, I probably have gone in and out for 12-15 trips out of the Thai country. I may have total over 90 days or less in the 180 day period. There is just simply no visual way to count the total days from tons of stamps of all the nations unless the immigration check in staff can do remote viewing or have psychic abilities.

Also the highlighter use seem up to the immigtation staff. I did not have any highlighter on visa stamps and a my friend has 2 visa stamps after Oct 1, one has highlighter, one doesn't have.

If you have a passport with only few stamps, and have 3 obvious stamps of Thailand, then its obvious and easy to count, but for many of us who are in and out constantly, the only way to keep track the total days is by a very advanced computer program that has to be connected to every single immigration computer at every corner of Thai. The program has to set the day of the begining of each person's 180 day cycle, since each one came in diffrent time after Oct1, then add all the entry days each visit, since each person has different number of visits and different number of stay days each visit. This system is the only possible way to calculate the total days of each person, if the Thai really want to enforce the rule, the system is the only way, othwerwise, there is no simple way to do by visual unless you have only a few visa stamps.

The Pattaya Expats club gave a talk on all these changes a couple of weeks ago. It was stated there, as in other threads on TV, that the days will be automatically counted by computer.

However, they pointed out that there are only 16 points of entry at the moment that have computer systems in place to deal with this. One of those is - naturally - the new airport. They did not detail the other 15?

Neither did they say how entry points that are not yet a part of the computer network would handle this, but did point out it currently takes up to a month or so for data collected manually to be input into the computer network - I assume this is part of the same network that is used at Suvarnabumi?

If indeed this is the case - and Pattaya Expats Club have been pretty good up to now with info on these visa changes - then with a time lag of up to 1 month with manual input - it would seem difficult/impossible to me to accurately count these days???

Markg, KuhnJean

Agree with much of what you say.

I notice that one of them was honest enough to say that one buyer had dropped out and one had continued with the purchase. Flippantly I could say that is 50 percent dropping out then isn't it - mind you it would be a bit of a strech to say that on a sample of 2!

As the sentence before mentioned 'foreign company setup' I guess it means these were shell companies used to 'buy' the land - nothing to do with the Coup if that is what they were referring to.

I am one of the people that bought a property / land through the company route (doh!!!) a couple of years ago and I would now, like all/most people on ThaiVisa advise everybody never to do this.

Why then would a foreigner invest in a property other than a condo in his own name - if he is given the full facts.

Maybe I am missing the point here - not the first time - but how CAN a foreigner invest (ie: own) a house with land ? and if he cannot this must surely have a major impact on the growth of this area of the market?? - Coup or no Coup ?

Then there are the new visa changes - no more 'investment' visa etc...

I think we are being fed the proverbial 'crock...'???

my licence has expired already.............. do l need to go to the British Embassy or not? if l dont could you tell me where my nearest office is l live in Sukhumvit 71 THANKS

My experience in Koh Samui is that the imigration office is the best and cheapest option for the residence certificate.

However there may be a slight problem at the licensing authority since your license has already expired. In Samui (and it may be different elesewhere) is that if you want the 5 year one you actually have to go on the day that the original 1 year one expires. If you go before the date they only issue another one year license and if you go after you may actually have to go through the process again including the tests .. but at the least you only get a 1 year license again. If you go on the actual expiration date they renew it through to your next birthday after the 5 year .. so it may in fact be longer than 5 years. The cost of the 5 year license is about 500b ... plus you need the photos and the medical and residency document.

This process is another one of the wonders of Thailand and I understand it happens in the same manner for Thais and farangs and in fact has only just recently got better for the Thais as in the past they had to go back to their home village to get or renew their license.

It was the same for me in Pattaya when I did my 5 year car and 5 year bike licenses last year (need 2 licenses here in Thailand). I was told I had to go on the day it expired or would only get a 1 year extension.

The thing is I am visiting the UK in the New Year and when I was last there, it seemed to me the specs of the UK machines were ahead of those in Thailand and seemed to be cheaper. I did not make an exhaustive study, but many laptops came with 100GB drives as standard - over here it seems to be 60GB - Penguin's examples show disks around this capacity.

The examples l'm quoting are not the most up to date models but older, low end clearout models so don't take too much notice of those specs.

Also not sure how easy it is to get a Dell shipped and maintained here in Thailand should I decide to go this route?

Shipping any computer into Thailand means running the risk of being at the mercy of customs. Unless it can be brought it in as hand luggage then l don't think l would want to risk it myself. As far as l know Dell only deal with corporate customers in Thailand. If you need to get something serviced then l think l read it gets sent to Singapore.

Penguin - have you decided what to buy yet ?

From the models l listed the IBM is the front runner, everyone l know using an IBM is happy. The only thing l can't pin down is the speed of the hard drive. Almost every medium priced laptop l look at has a 5400rpm hard drive but l haven't found the speed for this model. I could assume it is 5400 but even for an outdated IBM it is very cheap so l'm concerned it might only be 4200rpm which would be a deal breaker for me. There is a mention in another topic about Commart, sounds like the place to buy if you are in Bangkok then. If you want to buy the most up to date models then l would only look at Core 2 Duo models. Same power usage as a Core Duo but 5-15% better performance depending on what you need to use it for.

You are right - Dell would be a lot of problems. I will wander down to Dcom in South Pattaya tomorrow and start my search. Will start with the IBM Thinkpad and go from there - very reliable as both you and Gary A have reminded me.

Good luck with your eventual choice.

I just bought a top of the line IBM Thinkpad. I bought it based on the performance of my previous IBM Thinkpad. If the new one is anywhere as good as the old one, I will be VERY happy. The 3 year international warranty impressed me too. Apple and Lenovo (IBM) laptops are the top two in the reliability ratings.

Could you provide a link to the spec and how much ? where from ? please - much appreciated.

Old Man River and Dragonman . Thanks for the feedback and advice.

I am slowly (very slowly) piecing this all together - thanks again.

May I slightly hi-jack this thread and add - where is the best place to buy?

I would certainly like to add Dell to this list.

I live in Thailand (Pattaya) and would probably prefer to buy a new laptop locally to replace my 5 year old Dell.

Both for ease of problem solving (ie when the battery bursts into flames probably easier to replace locally) and to put the money into the local Thai economy.

The thing is I am visiting the UK in the New Year and when I was last there, it seemed to me the specs of the UK machines were ahead of those in Thailand and seemed to be cheaper. I did not make an exhaustive study, but many laptops came with 100GB drives as standard - over here it seems to be 60GB - Penguin's examples show disks around this capacity.

I did not check the full spec though as I wasn't interested in buying at the time, but my approach to buying a new PC is always to buy the 'best' available at the time - so it will last for years without seeming out of date too quickly.

Also not sure how easy it is to get a Dell shipped and maintained here in Thailand should I decide to go this route?

How about buying duty free ??? have no experience of this - sounds full of problems if wanting to get it fixed!

Penguin - have you decided what to buy yet ?

I am off to look at the UK websites again - like I say I wouldd rather buy in Thailand.

Comments would be appreciated?

The position on death of the spouse is as follows:-

If there is a correctly drafted Will, with you as Statutory Heir, the property will become yours, (subject to Ministry of Interior approval) but you have to sell or transfer within 1 year. Obviously as you are the temporary owner you have to cancel the lease. The way around this is for you to retain the lease, so that you can live there for up to 30 years, and put the ownership into "executorship" ( namely you) until you have sold or transfered the property. Thus the property will be sold with sitting tenant. Obviously which one is best depends if you have someone trustworthy to transfer the property to, and if you really want to live there.

ando. The Leasehold Amendment Act 1999 allows for sale or (by inference) inheritance, if the terms are included in the Leasehold Agreement. If there is no such clause the lease ceases on death of lessee(not lessor) and may not be sold or sub let.

Thanks for this feedback Dragonman.

So if in this scenario I eventually decided to put the land in the wifes family name and I guess do a lease for 30 years ? , but this time with the family - then would the family have the right to modify the land ie: build a small 'home' at the bottom of the garden and move in!

A silly scenario perhaps, but I am trying to understand the 'power' of the lease and my control over what goes on in - for what is to me - my home.

I think - to be honest - this is my real concern about the lease thing - the control I have over my personal space. After all if I rent a place and do not like what is going on in the immediate vicinity - I can move easily - same with full ownership(even if the company ownership - is a bit dodgy) - but with a lease - not so simple???

Thanks again for your time and help

A good informative post - thanks.

You have a wife and kids. May I ask why you are not/have not applied for a marriage extension rather than using this method to stay in Thailand.

I am not a flamer - I wont come back with some smart arse comment - just trying to understand all the issues related to recent visa changes and the impact on people.

I currently have the extension based on marriage, but may switch to te retirement visa next year if it seems there is too much hassle with the 'marriage' extension!