jbhh

Thank you for your reply, however I am still not sure how to declare my work in terms of my work permit.

The reason I asked about the computer of a client has nothing to do with shady business, I am asking this because this has happened before to a friend of mine, who had been accused by immigration to be working when seen behind a computer in an office... when they went behind the desk to look at the screen he was checking his email... but if I am for example "working" on the administration interface of an php/msql website, it WILL actually be work... in the office of a client. I guess I can always have another windows open with yahoo etc, but I would like to know, how to avoid this whole BS in the first place.

You said:

"If your wife would have a contract to work for that client and you had the right to work outside the place of work, then this is ok."

How do I obtain "the right to work outside the place of work"?

About me helping my wife with the bookings etc, you said:

"coordinating foreign clients demands, foreign client relations, handling foreign client correspondence. "

This confuses me... I thought I have to specify EXACTLY what I am doing in the work permit. How does this comply with me visiting a client or doing programing?

About the 40,000 Baht, you said:

"She pays tax on this amt of earned income after allowances."

This might sound stupid, but I am not native English speaking... are you saying, that the tax report/papers/receipt is enough, no special letter or specially approved paperwork?

I could put 400,000 in the Thai bank account, but I have been told by immigration, that this is not being accepted anymore. Is that correct? I have been told, that Singapore is accepting the proof of 400,000 Baht to issue a 1 year non-O visa... even if that is true and I would do it that way, would it cause problems if I should ever get checked by immigration?

I am sorry for being so paranoid or picky about certain circumstances, but I would really like to do some work over here, and I am just worried that IF I start working, I get in trouble because I don't have the right work permit/paperwork...

I forgot to ask about the 2 staff and the office/business location....

We have a maid who lives in the house, I guess she would be our first staff. The second would be the driver for our minibus. Both get more than the minimum salary required.

Does that qualify for the two required staff?

What about the "office/business" location?

As I mentioned our business would be internet/telephone based, and we want to run it from home. Is that ok?

Sunbelt, you really are a great forum sponsor and helper!

I think I have figured out the way to do this, we will get 2 staff and she will be my employer.

She is getting more than 40,000 Baht a month from a company she is a partner in without really working, that qualifies for the extension of my marriage visa, right? How must the "proof" of her receiving the money from that company look like?

We want to run an internet based business, sell services and products to people living in Thailand and also world wide.

One service will be Hotel & Flight/Bus/Taxi/Transfer Bookings, do we need to get a TAT license if it is a 100% internet based business?

Do we need a special license to sell and send products to another country?

Another service will be graphic and website design.

I am a programmer with over 20 years of computer experience, so I would be the one building and maintaining the website(s), while my wife would do the "real life" part of the business, like customer correspondence, booking a hotel, packing and sending products out. I would like to do some graphic and web design once the website for our business is finished, which would include business meetings with clients. Of course I want to help my wife as much as I can with her side of the business as well, so what would be the best Job Description for me, to be allowed to help her as much as possible?

I was thinking about "Web Designer", but I think that would limit me to ONLY be allowed to do web design, while I wouldn't be permitted to make a hotel/flight booking... is that correct?

Would I be permitted to use a client's computer at their office, or would that be seen as working for that client? If I cannot use a client's computer, can I carry my laptop with me to make a presentation etc, and where can I sit, without appearing to work for the client?

Your advice is very much appreciated!

Thank you!!

Hi,

A friend of mine got a retirement visa about 5 months ago in Hua Hin, all he needed was a statement from Germany confirming his retirement income, and a certified translation of it.

He has virtually no money in his Bank account(s), as he manges to run out of money quite often a couple of days before the next load comes

Hi,

Someone told me yesterday, that is is possible to obtain a "special" work permit when married to a Thai, and I was even offered help in how to do so...

I have searched the Internet for quite a while, but couldn't dig up anything to support that claim. The only statement I could find about this was: "Note: If you are a foreigner and will be applying for a work permit, the minimum registered capital must be 2 million Baht (if you are married to a Thai, registered capital must be 1 million); please add 5,600 Baht in government fees."

I found it on http://www.lawyer.th.com/company-registration.asp (The thaivisa.com forum sponsor's website...)

What about the 4 staff per work permit, if it needs to be a 1 million Baht company?

I own a company in Germany, and I am getting my money from there. I do not really need a work permit here, and I certainly do not want to start a big company that generates enough work for 4+1 people. I just want to be able to engage some kind of work to keep myself occupied, without getting to occupied...

Does anyone know more about this and can give me some more information/advise?

Thanks in advance

jb

Boy was the police lucky the ex-girlfriend of that guy called to tell them he did it... I guess they swiftly jumped onto their Harleys and picked him up.

IF there is anymore behind it, I'd just look who of his or his ex's family members (or his ex herself etc) buys anything expensive in the next couple of month... a little interrogation and the generous person is found. I think it's just a little PR "gag" of the new police boss, though...

At last... the question, whether it was the guy renting sunchairs at 5am or not, is answered

nice one!

Someone said something about privacy... as much as I know this email service is operated by google, right? Here is a pretty good website with all the info about gmail (google mail) and it's privacy "issues".

http://www.gmailusers.com/privacy.htm

Here is some help for those who have trouble setting up their email clients

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=1555

I have a gmail account, with this google apps it has just become my favorite email service

p.s. I have to add it...

Give Thunderbird a try as your Email Client, it's very nice, and many say it's better than Outlook

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

You can also use this Portable Version:

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable

no installation needed, can be used from a USB memory stick or external hard drive on any windows computer

First thing I though, this must be connected to the russian mafia... well, I guess was wrong.

I keep telling tourists I meet here in Hua Hin, that they should never have a loud verbal fallout with a Thai in public, because that's about the only thing that really makes them go mental... and to make a point I usually end my lecture with: "...and they will have no problem killing you, if you tick them off enough!

Well, if there is anything true about "...police investigators believed that the Russian tourists probably quarreled severely with a beach chair concessionnaire which led to the later violence..." and considering that just about EVERY beach chair in Jomtien is for rent, and the fact that only a hotel security saw some guy run away from the beach, it probably was the guy renting the chairs.

That's scary though... Thai people who work in the tourist industry should (and usually do) have a think skin towards "stupid unfriendly tourist" at least that's the impression I got. If I just think about all the girls that have to put up with their dumb ass short time boy friends, I am amazed how they can deal being with some for more than 5 minutes.

They should really air some sort of "Thai way of life / how to not get killed by a Thai" video on the airplanes that makes people understand that the land of smiles is ONLY the land of smiles if YOU smile...

I'm not trying to defend the shooter, whoever it is, that person needs to be put away for good. If it was the guy renting the chairs, and this hole thing was a renting dispute (which I believe, at the moment) then I like to

imagine the following happened:

The girls sit down on the chairs.

The guy wants to collect the rent.

The girls think he has no right to do so.

They get in an argument.

The guy gets out his gun, and shoots them.

Outcome could be

He has to pay a little fine for having the gun

He gets off the murder charges, it was clearly self defense.

Well, we will see.. TiT

Maestro, you've summed it up nicely. Tourists have homes outside Thailand. Mine is only about a 78,000 baht round trip away. Well, with devaluation of the dollar, maybe 72,000 including air fare, lodging, visa purchase, Western food, etc.

And when I insisted on taking two weeks to make a visa run, my employer did not understand. As if they could imagine living 11 time zones from their loved ones; as if they would fly home without seeing family.

If I understand you correctly you have an employer, and worry about the tourist Visa?

Sounds to me, you're one of the reasons they tightened the law in the first place...

I use a program called Earthbrowser, it's great for following these kinds of things, updates in real time almost.

this was 13.30 today

Nice day for the FMP!!

Hey ourmanflint!

Can you share with us the link for "Earthbrowser" ? Thanks!

dseawarrior

YTFSE

http://www.google.com/search?q=earthbrowser

nice program by the way...

May I also recommend: Google Earth

I used to pay about 600-800 baht per month.

I have a PC running 24/7 and usually there are at least 2 TV's running more than 12h a day.

No Air-Con, even though I am Falang, I have no problem with the heat, and use fans it gets to hot.

I moved into a new house and I kept all my equipment, except the old refrigerator, I have a brand new one that officially uses a little over 100 Baht electricity a month.

My electricity bill is 2500-3000 baht now... I have no clue why.

Was thinking to unplug and tunr off all the appliances one time and see if the meter is still running, but never got around to do it.

Thais kill each other as likely as a farang over a (family) dispute, simple as that.

let's see and wait what the story behind it really is, before judging anyone...

I think it realy doesn't matter if he is a "good" or "bad" guy... he obviously pissed off enough Thais that have enough power to get rid of him, and anyone that stupid shouldn't live here in the first place. I know enough people who have a lot more money than he ripped off fromt he Animal rights organization, but they don't try to stick out and show off their assets... so noone wants to have it...

And that "they" took his assets... well... IF they would be forced to give everything back, wouldn't it be fair to pass all of "his" assets on to the Animal Rights organization that paid for it in the first place? When someone steals a car for example, he/she doesnt get to keep it either after being conficted and having paid/sat in jail for it.

I find it hard to believe that you can afford a $2 mil yacht as a chairman of an animal right organization, not to mention the properties...

Another thing...

In germany the law is that less than 20% (don't know the exact figure, I remember 8% but that sounds to low even for me hehe) of the donated money has to be spend on the actual cause, the rest can be used for paying the expenses... I wonder why he didn't just buy all that stuff in the name of the organization in the first place... for the staff to relax or something

Do you suppose that they might reconsider all the new Visa rules that were to go into effect in one week?

October 1st not September, If I remember right for the new visa rules...

in one week is October, right?

Now that is some solid evidence!

He's going to have a hard time getting his head out of a tight situation like that

Just curious... was it legal (after Thai Law) to buy and send the pills to another country?

I agree with... whoever it was, that is retired now.

If you stay for more than 3 months in Thailand, your not the average tourist.

And this rule is only for the tourist visa, so if you get yourself a non-immigrant visa of any type, this wont affect you, you can renew your visa as many times as you want. Basically it's a big kick in the behind to get yourself a legal status in Thailand, if you want to live here.

I do agree though, that "Thai Brides" services will be the coming big business. Maybe soon we wont see real estate office poping up like 7elevens, but marriage services

Isn't it funny, how everythime you try to make it hard for people, you end up creating new business areas for corruption?

Hello,

a collegue of a friend of mine has recently gone to Bangkok to change her Tourist Visa to a Non-Immigrant B Visa. She said the whole process took 45 minutes and she was out of the immigration office with a non immigrant visa.

This really confuses me, as EVERYONE I know says I have to leave the country and apply for a visa at a Thai Embassy.

She is a teacher I must add, but she could not tell me wether this is something special for teachers, or not. Also, I do not know if she has a Non-Immigrant B oder ED, but then again I don't see why they should make a difference between O/B/ED/EX when it comes to issueing them at BKK or not...

Does someone know the exact rules and regulation behind this?

I'd rather go to Bangkok and get my non-immigrant O or B, then having to fly to KL...

Thanks,

JB