parryhandy

I would appreciate some advice on registering my Thai born daughters birth in the uk and obtaining her a UK passport.

She was born sept 2002 and me and her mother were married in Thailand march 2003.

I am now currently living and working 2 jobs back in the uk, so only get back over there twice a year at the moment to see them.

Questions

1. Can i do anything from the uk or does me and my wife have to sign paternity/maternity declarations together at the uk embassy in Bangkok ? Can we still do this seeing as i ve left it so long?

2.I will only have 2 weeks when i come again in probably Sept (holidays permitting ) is this enough time to get it all sorted ? i.e. interview etc..

3.Is my daughter automatically entitled to uk citizenship seeing as me and her mother were married 6 months after she was born.

CIA

Hi Steve,

Firstly, well done for taking the plunge & deciding that you also need to learn some thai! It is a difficult language for farangs to learn & can be quite daunting when you first get started.

Before moving to Thailand to taech English for a year ( in 2004) I took a thai language course here in London and found it extremely useful! Of course, there is no substitute for "the immersion technique" but before you hit the ground running it may be useful to get a good grounding on the principles of the language.

If you are based in London, I would suggest SOAS - School of Oriental & African Studies. They are an off-shoot of University of London and they offer a beginners, intermediate & advanced speakers course. I started off with the beginners course which covered some basic conversations & situations, introduction to reading & writing thai & a whole load of vocabulary. I also did the intermediate course which is tougher but really usefull too.

Check out this link, it seems that the next course starts on Jan 19th.

http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/tt/jan.html

Good Luck mate!

thanks for the input jaffy

ive looked at the course and it does look good but i am in essex and as i said before i am currently working (2 jobs) 7 days a week and havent the time or resources to travel into London unfortunately.If iwas a bit nearer i would give it a try.

The best way to learn Thai is the same you learnt to speak English.....start with the alphabet and go from there.....your wife can help you here and your daughter would probably help you as well. The advantage you have is you can learn with your daughter who probably has a lot to learn herself. Ideally your wife should be helping the daughter to speak English and you can help her with that too. with the both of you learning a second language at the same time, I would think that after a couple of years you would be able to outspeak most people here....

thanks for the reply but unforunately my wife and daughter are in Thailand and im in the Uk so they cant really help me that much.I have looked at the alphabet and even downloaded the alphabet song off one website.At the moment its totally meaningless to me. !!

What i want to do is learn the best way for my current circumstances but make sure i dont learn the wrong way.Has anybody else tried the rosetta stone cd and if so what are their views of it ?

cheers steve.

I wonder if anybody can advise me on the best way of learning Thai ?

I am currently in the uk and have a wife and daughter living near Khon Kaen.My wife speaks enough English for us to get by but am i becoming increasingly frustrated at not being able to speak with my daughter (3 years old ).I have come to realise it is essential that i learn Thai.

I have scoured this forum and a few other language sites and also have got hold of the Rossetta stone Thai level 1 language cd.To be perfectly honest all the information i have read has really overwelmed me.

What i really need is a good starting point . Is the rossetta stone way of learning any good ? I currently work 7 days a week but could find 4 hours a day to study but i just dont know where to begin ?

Could anybody please give me some advice on my best course of action bearing in mind it is the lao dialect of thai that my family speaks ?

cheers steve

I did stay in Thailand for 2 years but really made no effort in learning the language

it will probably end up like china will , thanks to bill gates and co read here

chinas internet

pretty frightening stuff especially this bit

"But at the same time, the picture of the world as seen by most Chinese internet users is heavily skewed in the regime's favor. Information showing the Chinese government in a positive light, or at least being responsive to admitted problems, is easily accessed. Critical information exists online, but it is kept at the level of specific complaints and relatively tame localized gripes. Only the most determined and tech-savvy internet users will succeed in accessing web pages about Chinese authorities' human rights abuses, or information relating to the Taiwan secession movement. On the other hand, information about Japanese atrocities, US abuses at Abu Ghraib, and belligerent vitriol supporting attacks on Taiwan if it declares independence are easily found in Chinese cyberspace. Thanks in part to this filtered view of the world, nationalism and xenophobia have found fertile breeding ground in Chinese cyberspace, while the pro-democracy movement has not. "

Exactly.  Step one... don't borrow.    If you can't pay cash for it, don't buy it. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what about the 100s of companies (owned buy the rich thais) that went belly up in the crash ? they can get away without paying their debts. farming is a bussiness like any other and should be seperated from personel exposure. Also didnt the PM promise to wipe the slate clean in the 1st trt election campaign then promptly backtracked as soon as he was elected ?

The folks out here (in Minburi, Chachoengsao, Samutprakarn, etc.) are about as connected to the unrest in the south as you or I are. And it's hardly corruption. Rama V gave individual families tens of thousands of plots of land out here when it was considered to be a land far far away (from Thonburi/Sampeng/etc.). And similar to the Thai Chinese, these Muslim Thais are often frugal and reluctant to sell real estate (whether in this lifetime, or as family assets over generations).

so who has sold this land if nobody sells ? Also if a taskin aide knocked on your door tommorrow Heng offering you a crap price for your land , would / could you say " no thanks" ?

everybody is so quick to judge, but i cant help but think this has happened very soon after the deportation of that american invovled with the burmese hilltribes who IT admitted he knew very well.What saddens me is the anger showed so readily (rightly so if true) about ITs misdeamenors but where is the anger of the many human rights atrocities accuring everyday in Thailand , also involving children.Thats right its not our country blah blah blah,- but we dont mind living here and turning a blind eye to it.

Would not sell the spread on the life expectancy of the children who were once in ITs care/home.

In principle, the idea of creating some kind of tech-hub in Phuket is quite good, but as many of you have pointed out, its a long way from the vision to the reality.

Personally, if this kind of project was to be done properly, it would be far better to do it in Phuket than, say Bangkok.

For now, wait and see I guess.

Why do we have to "zone" the tech industry? I thought the great thing about the internet was that you could live and work wherever you like. Just get CAT and TOT to lower the price per megabyte and the entire Thailand cound be a tech-hub.

ASIC

because of the reason for most red tape - vested interests.

these people live in cloud cuckoo land.How does taking away the only source of real income these women may have improve their rights ? Id love to introduce these organisations leaders to say a 100 such women and see what happens when they explain what they are doing .Pound to a penny they would need bodyguards.

Making the trade illegal and sweeping it under the carpet only makes it more brutal . L ook at Thailand , you could hardly describe the bar girl scene as brutal , because of its openness the girls are treated very well on the whole.Organisations like this just makes things worse.

i love pool but unfortunately there are no places to play where i am (rural north east) the reason being that to have a pool table in your bar/club and charge for it requires a liscence from the police costing 100000 baht a year.A friend of mine looked into it.There are apparently 4 confiscated pool tables at our local police station stacked up gathering dust.

what was the name of that film staring sandra bullock where someone hacked into a similar system and suddenly she was a wanted criminal overnight.There are some quite frightening abuses that could occur if the info on these cards is taken as a given and there is no other way of coroborating the information that they give.

ive read this topic with interest and would just like to wish bruno all the best and applaud him in his actions.Seemingly more and more governments around the world see fit in commiting illegal acts to control their people which is disgraceful.

His advice to French nationals as regard to the overstay is obviously sound and the above post confirms it.I just hope any French nationals who currently find themselves in Thai immigration prisons sue the embassy when they finally make it back to France if they took the advice of the French embassy website.

Hats off to Bruno for pointing it out and BOZO YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN A COMPLETE WASTE OF SPACE.

is it just me or does that read like they tried to cover it up again ?

The police will be out of business if you just do the right thing.

wrong . the police will always have to find "criminals" one way or another.If there was no crime tomorrow do you honestly thing the police could fund itself ? there will always have to be "criminals" the way the police is funded and paid in this country.

Like the "war on drugs".The police will be paid for results so results will be achieved one way or another.

NB -

I read your post, and I wonder - are you really trying to tell people that they should do things your way?  One month's paycheck away from being absolutely penniless?  With a wife and new baby to feed?

What DOES happen if you get caught and thrown in IDC and deported?  Or go down in a motorcycle spill?  Or if your wife or baby get sick and need medical care?

You are looking at the "money in the bank" rules like they are arbitrary and meaningless numbers that are just thrown out to harrass you.

Guy - the money rules are there to keep irrepsonsible people from trying to raise families with no financial ability to withstand the "bumps in the road" common to all lives.  You are EXACTLY the kind of classic case of marginal foreigner that they are trying to keep from proliferating here.

The fact that you cannot even vaguely identify with why the rules exist is downright scary. 

Your salary is actually not that bad for Thailand.  But the fact that you have nothing saved means that you are just a thin wisp of misfortune away from serious hard times.

Now that you are in the situation,  I wish you and your family best of luck.  But it certainly will do no one else much good looking to you as an example of how to operate here.  Your way can be done - but it is the least wise way to proceed, and your chances of ending up in trouble are way above the norm.

Good luck.

Indo-Siam

I dont think its a question of trying to tell people anything.Most people cannot afford to lead their lives with a what if this happens mentality or the majority of people would not get out of bed in the morning and give up now.Most people have little choice and are forced /lead into the lives they lead .Ok you can argue that person x should not do this because he/she does not have the viable means to do it but then your talking about oh id say over a billion people on this planet should just give up now and forget trying to live quite, poor peaceful lives because they havent got the means to cover every eventuality.Also when he made his decision regarding family, life etc maybe his circumstances were different then and now this his only viable way for any kind of future for him and his family.

Now the next issue is my up to now quite amusing story and resulting question:

What I impatiently anticipated all these years finally happened last months. Some of the staff at Thaiembassy Vientiane are of a similar calibre as that annoying spectacled women at Thonglor Post Office (those who live near know what I mean). It was revealed to me in no uncertain terms that I had been a 2-months tourist in Thailand for long enough and that in future I will have to obtain a long-stay-visa (her words, not mine), requiring a bankstatement and an explanation from the embassy of my country. Curiousity got the better of me and I couldn't help but overstay my allotted time at her desk due to my questioning as to what kind of explanation exactly might be required.

I was handed a leaflet explaining about the retirement visa. It took all my strength and courage to compose myself for a renewed, uninvited approach to her desk on this fateful Thursday morning, pointing out that I am not approaching 50 years of age yet and questioning whether this was really the right visa for me to apply for. All additional information I could secure was that the same applied to me at 45, except I need only have 300.000 Baht and renew the visa every 3 months.

The bankstatement I can provide, what other documentation is involved and what this "long-stay-visa" is supposed to be I still don't know.

Does anybody out there have any suggestions what I could or should do or not do, other than ignore the "advise" I received; or giving the dog and the motorbike to the GF and go home?

natee i had the same in Vientiane last month.What she was trying to tell you is that you no longer get any more tourist visas from her office and that the only visas they like to give out to you now are the year long marriage support visas requirements- 200000 baht in bank (300000 at her office ? soon to raise to 400000 baht in july everywhere) or one year retirement visas 800000 baht in bank , 50+ years old etc..

I have cuurently been staying on 90 day mrriage visas but she told me i must apply for a one year support visa (see above) next time. I asked her for requirment details for this and she like in your case game me the piece of paper with the requirements for a one year retirement visa (im 36 !!).

Your best option is to scan the board for info and apply for a multiple entry tourist visa which i am led to beleive are available in Penang.

Another option is to marry your girlfriend then apply for a one year support visa requiring that your combined monthly income is 40000 baht or that you have 200000baht (goes up to 400000 baht in july) in the bank or a combination of both.Or being married you can apply for a married persons multiple entry visa again available in penang i beleive.

It'd help a lot if the police were paid a liveable wage instead of a pittance. Without an increase the corruption issue will remain alive.

You're right, of course, Dr. Pat.

I wonder how much would be sufficient enough in order to get them to actually police?

Hard to say....but a family man police officer genuinely can't afford things like school expenses for his kids

my sister in laws husband is a policeman and has just got promoted to chief petty officer or just above. 18 YEARS in earns 12k baht a month.Very nice man and not an ounce of corruption in him.Cant work out how the police are paid over here though because when i first came here i ended up lending him (paid back no problem) 10000 baht because he had not been paid for 6 months from the previous branch he worked for.Then before promotion a month or so ago ago he was on 260 baht a day.Wife and three kids .

because at the moment the Thai system is unflexable as regards to part time work or underpaid or voluntary work especially regarding the internet ? so people have to bend the law right ? but technically these part time helpful moderators could be arrested and deported if someone saw fit ?

Not having a dig just trying to affirm my belief that even mother theresa would struggle to come Thailand and not break some law that could be enforced if necessary.

so you do or will ALL get paid at least 50-60000 baht a month for moderating according to the new minimum wages for 1st world workers.

come on you moderators do tell ? do you all have work permits to moderate on this forum because according to them rules its classed as work ?

I need to get some fingerprints from paper as evidence in preparation for a criminal case, but I'm having difficulty convincing my local police department that such a thing is possible, even though the technology has existed for decades. Does anyone have any thoughts on where I might get the paper examined using standard and accepted techniques, by an organization or agency whose findings would be admissible to and "trusted" by the judicial system as reliable?

Sorry, I am not at liberty to discuss details of the case.

Thanks,

Chuck

talk to a lawyer.Also the police here do have forensic teams but if your the defendant dont expect the police to help.If your the one prosecuting you will have to pay to use forensic specialists i would imagine, but a good (not easy to find ive heard in Thailand) lawyer will explain everything and should have their own investigators.

sounds like your girlfriend and family are going for the quick kill.Take the advice of others here and rent in the village for at least 2 years (not in house with her family).They will not be able to control themselves for 2 years and you will find out that because you are farang you will be constantly bleed dry.Land ownership here is very complex and you need to look into all the details first.Theres at least 10 different types of land many of which cannot be sold , only past on too family members.If its rice land it wont be worth much at all.Sounds like the family may have debts they need to pay off quick.

I feel so sorry for the boy! And this old German bastard deserves what he got! These people think they can do whatever they want just because they have money. Just imagine what this boy had been going through!

The German should consider himself lucky the police arrested the boy.

A similar incicent happened to me some years ago in Silom Road. Needless to say by the time the police discovered they weren't going to get any money out of me, the boy had moved room. End of case, apart from being recalled for three days on the trot to the police station to be gawked at by all. Not a pleasant experience when you're getting over 32 stitches to the face and head.

What the fxxk are you talking about? You sickening pervert!

so its ok to stab people then if YOU dont agree with their lifestyle . cretin....

Well, I hope that while he's retiring to a nice, quiet life in Kanchanaburi, he's writes rabidly and creates some real criticism; starts his own press/publication; speaks out.

really dont think people can comprehend what great risk these people take by speaking out not just to themselves but their families as well . I rember reading a tiny piece in the Bangkok post about a year ago about the ex- Thai VAT employee who had testified to a senator about massive vat fraud by a certain well known corporation.Ayear later before his testamony ever came before a comittee he was mysteriously shot and killed by a motorcyle gunman and nothing has been followed up since.

Would you put your life and more importantly the life of your innocent family on the line when most of soceity seem too greedy to care ? There are only a few people left who can afford to speak out sadly.

I have never ever known of any one of these business people facing a problem.  I am certain that the intention of the legislation is not to catch people doing what you describe.

I believe the GM of a certain Australian Company that took over management of a certain bankrupt Thai Corpoartion would disagree with you.

TH

can you give us the details of this story please or a link ?