nobber9999

Thanks for your input however the main point here is that it's the immigration dept., which can have you arrested for not having the correct paperwork and it is also them who can kick you out of the Country, throw you in jail or have a big fine imposed on you. As I do not want any of these options I chose to double check with them.

My problem is that although the school are trying to sort this out for me, they keep running into hurdles which the Korat Dept of Work keep putting in the way. One other thing to compound the problem is that I am awaiting the IO to confirm that they are now in a position to stamp my passport with a permit to stay. In the usual manner. they told my wife that I have the wrong visa as I cannot work on a married visa (cock and bull comes to mind), I told my wife to speak to them again and a sort of apology was given for duff info!! Anyway, I now know that if you ask any Thai which came first, the chicken or the egg, the answer is of course a Chang (maybe a white one). There is some sort of rule that the Works Office will only issue a WP up till expiry of the extension in the passport and after that you have to renew again and no doubt have a thought of deja vous!.

Anyway, this is my reasoning behind speaking to IO and had I been a newcomer to Thailand and speaking to the Authorities I would be running round like a headless chicken by now.......

I am from the UK and live in Korat. I am 53, married to a Thai and have just renewed my 12 months visa extension but that's where the easy bit ends. A local College wants me to work for them as an English Teacher starting 01/07/10 which I have accepted as its quite good pay and not many hours. I have never had a work permit before but the College have said they take care of all of that. However, the local permit office have told the College that it could take 4 to 6 weeks to issue and they suggested that the College takes me on on a hourly rate in the interim time. The other problem is of course that as I will not be issued with a formal contract till the start of the new College intake year. Having taken 50 steps back, 10 forward and three to the side I am still left thinking that this is just the usual mess the Authorities make of most things here. The Immigration Department told me I "cannot work", at all, not even voluntarily without a permit, the permit office have told the College that I can if I am paid hourly. Has anyone any clues whatsoever as the last thing I want is to have a visit from the Police telling me I'm working illegally! Do I physically need a piece of paper in my grubby little mit or do I just sit back and let the College do the admin bit and just hope its all cosha? BTW, this is a Vocational College so I am not sure if it comes under the strict vetting required by the normal run of the mill schools.

Anyway, I hope someone can flash a torch down that never ending Thai tunnel in the hope that I may reach the light before the U11's run out!!!!!

Thanks for the suggestion but the input filter is always the first thing I check - needless to say, clean as a whistle.

An under the work surface front loader is no problem at all. The supply pipe or pipes (some people have hot water tanks so one supply is from the mains and the other from tank), are long enough to be able to pull the machine out far enough to access the inlet and drain pipe. I would suggest that the connector for the water supply is positioned in line with the machine connector. All of these machines (as far as I know), are fitted with rolling wheels to the rear and then adjustable supports at the front. Just take the load off the front of the machine and pull at the same time. The machine will slide out dead easy. Make sure that you fit a stop cock or on/off valve near the wall mounted water connector(s) as you will need to isolate the machines supply should you need to disconnect it for cleaning the filter(s) or whatever.

lopburi3's suggestion to check the inline screen filters brings up something that I've been wondering:

The next condo I get, I plan to put a front-loading washing machine in the kitchen under the counter. If I do so, how would I ever get to clean out the screen filters? Currently I have a top-loading washing machine in a closet and can easily (and routinely) unscrew the water line and clean the filter. Especially when the condo has to resort to trucked-in water (due to the unreliable municipal water supply in the Pattaya area), that screen can get clogged as often as every week. How would I deal with that with a "built-in" machine under a kitchen counter?

I thought about putting the machine on casters (wheels), but I think that might be a problem when the machine goes into hyper-drive during the spin cycle, no?

Mine is an under work surface front loader but I am sure the internal works are similar. I think the problem is that unless you have the latest all singing and dancing machines none of them have any water pressure regulators. Having said that, yours may well have because of the slow fill up speed. These machines do not have a by-pass where water can flow freely into the machines without first going through the dispenser trays so this is why the water flow appears to be very slow. The actual times shown on your display are calculated from water sensors in the machine which also tell the machine to stop filling etc. Have you checked your water inlet filter? I live outside of Korat and the water coats everything with limeslace and probably many other mineral deposits. If your shower heads and taps need cleaning regulary then I would probably say its your inflow filter needs a good scrub. If the filter is plastic, take it out and pour some Vixol over it and leave to soak for a couple of minutes. That stuff seems to do the trick.

This is more of a check it out posting but it may save a few baht rather than take your front loader to the repair shop. I experienced the problem of detergent powder stains being left on clothes but by using a longer rinse cycle this was resolved. However, since doing that, it would appear that you only need to put in half the normal quantity you would use in the UK. Ignore the detergent marker on the scoop which comes with the powder and also ignore the conditioner level marker in the machine tray. My shirts were also a bit niffy after drying and also had a grayish dirty appearance. All trouble shooting manuals will get you to check if the conditioner if left in the tray after the machine has finished. The answer being pretty logical...... just clean it because it will be blocked with congealed softener. Now, believe it or not, that may be a contribution to the niffy clothes but not the dirty looking clothes. Through trial and error, I discovered that in my machine the conditioner was in fact being emptied out with the first wash and as a result the garments seemed to attract all the grime which comes out of the was. This is a problem you may not know about because all the fault finding manuals and internet sites have no mention of it happening let alone the resolve. I disconnected all the connectors and cleaned them, cleaned the pipes from the supply to the tray but still no luck. It was only after talking to a LG engineer that I was told it must be the water pressure. Now, back in the UK, you buy a machine, plug it in connect up the water and that's it. I assume that the European machines all come with a water pressure valve as standard but of course here you have to bodge up the well pump regulator and make something similar yourself!! However, my water which is pumped to everything by a mitsubishi auto pump does not provide a constant uniform pressure so you need to find a happy medium. Fit a standard bathroom pipe valve to the machine feed pipe, turn it off completely and then on just a fraction. It sounds like there is not enough water going into the machine but it clears the trays and fills the machine to the normal level. Anyway, put something in the machine and set to quick wash. After it has completely filled and is washing, pull the draw out slightly to see if the softener is still there. If it is, it should be working fine and the clothes should smell nice. Two other points to remember, get the washing out of the machine as soon as you can after it stops and also, get washing in off the line before it dries to a crisp. This wont help the washing but makes the ironing a lot easier. Hang indoors afterwards to dry completely before putting in cupboard. If it rains whilst on the line..... go back 2 paces and run the rinse and spin cycle again and include softener again. Someone, somewhere may find this info useful..... BTW, all my clothes smell great now and look clean!

Does sound very much like an intermittent faulty connection. Quite possibly at least one of the causes of the problems all along.

Did it start again after stopping or did you have to get it towed in? Intermittent problems are great to find once they give out altogether.

However, you would think that said connection would quite possibly have been unplugged & replugged when the engine was removed.

What the heck did they do that for ???? Wife was definately right to refuse to pay for that.

As soon as the 1st dealer proved to be a waste of time/want big money, why did you not remove it from there & take it to Honda friend at that point?

Latest news by another nissan dealer is that its the computer box!!! They now say its for a 1.5 model not 1.6 but bearing in mind its the same part number as the one nissan put in I can only assume that an arsehol*e is for taking photos with!!!!!!

Does sound very much like an intermittent faulty connection. Quite possibly at least one of the causes of the problems all along.

Did it start again after stopping or did you have to get it towed in? Intermittent problems are great to find once they give out altogether.

However, you would think that said connection would quite possibly have been unplugged & replugged when the engine was removed.

What the heck did they do that for ???? Wife was definately right to refuse to pay for that.

As soon as the 1st dealer proved to be a waste of time/want big money, why did you not remove it from there & take it to Honda friend at that point?

My wife has a Nissan Neo Auto 1.6GL 2004/5 and the car has developed what must be a minor problem which is turning expensive! Originally, the car started to run very lump at idle speed and after taking it to a Nissan Dealer here in Korat they advised it was a computer box problem which would cost 23,000 bht to replace. This she did and the problem seemed to have been solved until we installed LPG. The same problem started to occur but worse than before (this was about 6 months later). She then took it to a different Nissan dealer who of course blamed the conversion (easy way out as per most garages). Anyway, after they had connected up the Nissan diagnostics computer and with the help of 10 grease monkeys scratching their heads, they announced that they don't know whats wrong so suggested a full service. Told them not to be daft and find the problem which they said they would continue doing. However, a week later and many phone calls it turned out that they had taken the engine out and were still non the wiser. At this stage my wife lost the rag and announced she would not pay them for taking the engine out as they did not consult her and they still had no answer. They agreed but after still not finding the problem the blame shifted to the computer box (brand new and replaced by Nissan Dealer) saying it was a repaired card, the LPG was wired into the control box as well and of course the back to basics of LPG burns at higher temp than petrol...... the valves must be knacked and they need to be sent to BKK to be hardened. Apart from the word BULLS**T which came to mind, my wife agreed for them to do this. 9 weeks later she was eventually given the car back at some ridiculous cost and it seemed to work OK but lacked power. The garage told her not to use the LPG as that was the cause of the computer card going wrong. We then changed the LPG system to one which has its own computer control which apart from economy had no apparent detrimental effect, that is of course till 6 months later!!!! Same problem!!!!! this time took the car to a friend who specializes with Honda's but basically have a similar system. Gobsmacked, surprized, astounded come to mind when he shows us the card which....... has been REPAIRED!!!!! He found us another card which was not repaired but now the engine started to overheat!!! The cooling fans were not cutting in and out when they should and the engine was running erratically and misfiring. Virtually every sensor has been replaced, a new radiator fitted and guess what?? The car is now misfiring big style and after replacing the HT coils the problem seemed to be cured. That was until we went over a pothole in the road and the sudden jarring set off the misfiring again to a stage when the engine lost all power and stopped. I forgot to add that in BKK we had to have the fans shorted to keep them on permanently to avoid overheating.

Has anyone had similar problems or any ideas to point the mechanics in the right direction? My thoughts are possible one of an electrical short or faulty connection somewhere especially after hitting that pothole !!!!

Correct if I'm wrong:

a 600 cc bottle of beer containing 5% alcohol, will increase THB 6?

5% of 600 cc = 30ml

THB 20 = 100 ml

THB 10 = 50 ml

THB 6 = 30 ml

a 1000 cc bottle of whisky containing 40% alcohol, will increase THB 160?

40% of 1000 cc = 400 ml

THB 40 = 100 ml

THB 160 = 400 ml

I read this as being any alcoholic beverage not exceeding 12% by vol will have an additional tax of 20 thb per 100ml and anything over 12% will carry the 40 thb per 100ml. I think that if they started messing around with proportionate percentages then the sales of calculator batteries would rocket!! At the end of the day, it sounds bloody expensive to me let alone the imposition of a further local tax which would produce a beer +++. Does anyone remember the days when they were young and got pissed before they went out on the town???? It still happens back in the UK so why not here?

The other point here is the mention of curtailing the drunkeness during the Song Khran festivities. This in fact mainly refers to the state of the Thai people celebrating as more and more farang tend to stay clear these days. Can anybody see where it says this tax will only apply to such festivals or is this another across the board way of stinging the tourists and ex-pats? I am sure the locals will continue to drink Lowcay or rice whisky (no tax no doubt) which probably costs the local health service a lot more in the long term compared with a few deaths caused by a drunken Thai driver or Thai passenger falling off the back of a pick-up.

Reading between the lines I get the impression that Vietnam and Laos are nice places to go because they sell cheep booze so why don't we all pack our bags and go there??? Remember, it is only the rich people and back packers that Thailand want to attract and the economy says it all. Oh dear........ how the mighty will fall !!!!

A friend of mine went to re-new his retirement visa here in PHuket,"today," and he was told that since he presented a "joint bank account," that the funds shown were not acceptable. Although he had presented the same documents ,bank book, over several years, as of today his accounts now required 1,600,000, not the standard 800,000 baht. His wife is Thai and well employed,as is he, however this seems to be a new twist to the prior procedures? Can anyone explain this new modis operandi by Phuket Immigration?

We had this one last year as well !!!! Like you, my wife commands a very good salary which is well above the 40,000 thb monthly income. When we inquired, we were told that all we had to produce was her wage slips and that would be it!!! Then of course, as is true of any establishment impersonating a headless chicken, it all changed yet again within a matter of 3 months. A long time for rule changes over here you may think!!! Anyway, the outcome was that her income became no more than a pile of dog poop stuck to your boot !!!!!! However, its only irrelevant when they want it to be so it now becomes a bone of contention when you are trying to justify the money in a Bank! At the end of the day, whatever is in a joint Bank Account is only accountable (in Thai eyes) on a 50/50 basis even though it may be all your money!!! So........ back to why you need 160,000 thb...... simple....... 50% of 160,000 is 800,000 which of course is your share of whats in the Bank. I am assuming your friend has a retirement visa otherwise he would only need 800,000 which of course is only 400,000 using the same equation of ever decreasing circles!!! And I thought the Irish had all the Jokes about this sort of thing! What I would suggest is to open a new Bank Account in your own name and then the problem is solved...... whatever is in there must be yours!!!! Just don't mention the temporary loan from your wife to make the numbers up.

Having just returned from the local IO in Korat following the usual 90 days reporting I happened to ask about any change of paperwork for my visa extension. My Thai wife was with me and she potted the question to the Officer concerned and was subsequently given a two page photocopy (in Thai of course)of what can only be described as a market survey form. Although I am over 50 I have a married visa and 400,000 THB in the Bank which of course will stay there for 90 days before renewal. However, the form we were given to complete asks questions about what other income I have and where does it come from, my wife's salary, and a lot of other irrelevant questions. These include what my wife's mother and father do for a living, what their income was and much more of her families personal details. We knew about the photo of our house with us in the foreground but you now have to draw a map of how you get from the IO to the house !!!! Lucky for us its almost as a pissed crow flies but for some it may need a garden worm covered in ink to make a better job of it!! When my wife confronted the IO about the information they are requesting, she was told that a lot of Farang have marriages of convenience and this will help identify them. What comes to mind is the fact that they are not interested in what your Thai wife earns when it comes to proving income but here they are wanting all but your inside leg measurement..... although no doubt that will be on the books shortly!!!

Personally, this strikes me as a case of 'big brother'!! I wonder whether anyone else has been confronted with these new forms and whether N/A is an acceptable answer?

Just had a thought..... to "streamline" things even more, why doesn't everyone just hop on a cheap return flight to the UK or maybe another EEC member Country and just wander in and renew your passport there? I am sure social services would be delighted to assist with accommodation and spending money if they assumed you were no longer a non-resident! I would never take the chance of using local post or courier to send my passport complete with visas from Thailand to Hong Kong where of course there is no corruption. Having just returned from a short break there I do not think it would be more expensive than travelling back to Europe.

A better and more secure way of doing this would be to keep the helpful civil servants in a job at the local Embassies but issue a 3 year passport? This way, we could all get a "I'm backing Britain" badge, the price of the passport would reduce proportionally, there would be almost no chance of losing your passport and you could even spend a few days in BKK sight seeing or is this another pipe dream?

That reminds me... why does my passport say "the United Kingdom" ? Should this just read.... ENGLAND?

Surely there are more than 57 women in Phuket? Why not just arrest them all and discard a few? Were there any ladyboys included in that figure I wonder?

This is all very interesting but has anyone told Juthaporn that there is still a World recession and the average tourist does not have the spare cash to blow as they once did. Perhaps no one has told him that Thailand is already 25% more expensive for travelers due to the ERM? Maybe, devalue the Thai Baht by 25% and then sit back and watch tourists spend money like the old days! The alternative is of course to have free trade with China and flood the market with "authentic" cheap Chinese's imports to sell to tourists? What do you mean he has already put this idea into action? "Younger travelers in developed countries are the target" ? Now, if memory serves me correctly, when I was younger, one was classed as a tourist bum or back packer. Have these young travelers suddenly become wealthy overnight or is Juthaporn classing under 60's as "young"? If so, I feel quite overcome by his statement, although it's all in the mind as the body is no longer what I call young!!!

All of us from Western Europe would bend over backwards to travel for 12 hours to see this 8th wonder of the World - A green Thailand ! Has Juthaporn ever walked down a street and just looked at the discarded plastic bags and rubbish everywhere? I can only assume that he lives at the top of Thailand's highest mountain where fresh air is in abundance and the nearest plastic bag lay strewn around the foothills out of sight. Maybe, get supermarkets to charge for plastic bags - oop's, thought of that one as well. Let's just put everything on the back burner until the next time it's needed!

Hi Elkangorito,

The mains supply comes to the pump via the switch which is intended to cut off the supply before the water is lower than the top of the pump. As you gathered from this, the pump is a submersible and is 750 watt if memory serves me correctly. The switch will sit across the top of the well (2'6" appx. concrete rings) and dangle the weights down into the water. The cable from the pump will enter the switch along with the mains supply.

Thanks for the info about floating sensors with long cables but here in Nakhon Ratchasima they still use a bucket with holes in to take a shower!! OK not quite that bad but not far off. The cable to the pump was not a problem but the cable to the floating sensor was, insofar as I required it to drop a lot further than 2m before turning the pump off. With the new sensor it remains clear of the water so I just attach the cable myself.

What do you want this float switch to do? Will it directly switch the pump motor or not? If this is the case, what size is the motor (in kW or Amps please)?

BTW, there are float switches available with 30 foot long cable.

Having just purchased a replacement liquid level control switch I find that there are no instructions inside the box other than terminal markings for suck or blow control. Unfortunately, my old control unit was a single float type and the new one has two almost spherical weights (which I presume are zero buoyancy) so I am unable to copy the installation. The switch is straight forward rather like the pull cord light switch in bathrooms but I need to know the configuration of the two balls. Do you attach the switch to one and then take another line to the second ball? Just as a matter of interest, the original super dupa single float switch comes only with a 2m length of cable which is great for a water tank that can cut the pump if the water gets too low but no dam_n good for a 25 foot well.

Has anyone any contacts for buying mushroom logs in bulk (mushroom bottles). My farm can cater for up to 20.000 logs but I prefer to keep this down to 10,000 a time to avoid flooding the market and reducing the price. It also provides an opportunity to sterilize one growing room whilst the other is utilized. I heard that some of the best substrate comes from South Thailand and they charge 3 baht a log but then delivery to Korat bumps it back to the 6 baht required here. The min order from the South is 10,000 logs but the local suppliers can only cope with about 1,500 at a time.

Any contact phone numbers and names would be much appreciated.

Yep the Marriage Extension is more difficult than the Retirement option. You always get a 30 day under consideration stamp. As your passport is stamped for you to come back on June 25th it appears that is what you have.

It should look like this. The top one is the 30 day under consideration stamp. The next one is what you will get when you go back.

Yes, thats the stamp they have put in my passport. I have just found out that for some reason they still have to sent married visa applications to Bangkok for approval first!!! I was not told that if I went to KL, Penang, Aus and quite a few other places, the Consulates there have full authority to stamp a married visa themselves following visa change or new visa.

Thanks..

First one question. Did you pay 1900 baht for an extension?

Aslo what exacly does the stamp say? I think it says your extension is under consideration. It is normal for an extension based upon marriage to get a stamp telling you to come back in 30 days while they consider your application.

The money has always had to be in the bank for 3 months on the date of application for retirement extensions. For an extension based upon marriage the rules say 2 months.

Before you get all excited about the new visa thing look at the stamp again. I am not sure what getting a new visa was all about.

Anyway your money will be in the bank for over 3 months before your current extension runs out. But I think they used the 2 month rule.

Hi. Yes, I paid 1900THB for an extension and the IO have stampted it "under consideration" with a date stamp to report in person again on 24/06/09 which is the same day my retirement visa expires. Previously, the stamp has always said "stay is permitted" for another 12 months.

I understand the money in the Bank bit although I was never told only 2 months for changing from retirement to married visa.

My concern was that after being told by the IO I saw , that "consideration would take at least 30 days if not more, the max extention they would grant would be 7 days. Possibly enough to get across the border but difficult booking a flight back to the UK at such short notice.

I will wait with baited breath..... thanks for you help...

Hi all, not being able to find an answer on an existing post I wondered if anyone could offer some advice?

I have lived in Thailand for just over 3 years with my Thai wife (not rubber stamped till Oct '08) and reside here on a 12 month retirement visa. I was asked Via BKK Masons and the local Rotary if I would like to help doing voluntary bits and pieces such as teaching in the local Temples. I said I would need to check at immigration as to exactly what I could do on my existing visa and let them know. The answer is of course didley squit but as my address reporting was due last November I decided to check with the IO at that time. It was decided that I would need to change to a Married Visa so my wife and I went through the options with the IO and it was decided best to sort it out when renewing my existing Visa which expires 25/06/09. In past years I have killed two birds with one stone and renewed my visa at the same time as address reporting as both dates were within 30 days of each other. The fact that my wife earns over 70,000 THB pcm seems to be totally disregarded if calculating monthly income so I made sure I had over 400,000 in my Thai Bank Account on 17/03/09 onwards. I am 52 so do not get full pensions yet.

Anyway, the obvious stops there and the ridiculous takes over....

My wife and I went to the IO in Korat yesterday and were told that my application should be made at least 30 days in advance. Also, my money had not been in the Bank for 90 days till 17/06/09 which is something they have not queried in previous renewals where renewal is carried out up to 30 days beforehand!! The paperwork which they previously told us we needed to produce (copies of wedding photo's etc etc) were ignored and then were told that it would take at least 30 days to make a decision or maybe longer. To remind me of this they stamped my PP using yet another half page, reminding me that my visa ran out on 26/6/09 and I need to report to them on 25/06/09!!! Also, I would need to return to the UK and apply for a new Visa!!! During this conversation my wife's head had spun 3 time around and the paper knife she was toying with looked more like a lethal weapon pointing at the IO. My wife, who is a Accounts Manageress for an International Company and speaks fluent English and had done all the talking to the IO's in the past, was becoming more and more frustrated as she was never told about most of the requirements now being insisted on.

It is obviously too late to change the money in the Bank amount so as to retain the existing visa but I find it totally ridiculous that having already jumped through the hoops to obtain a retirement visa, they now insist on doing the same again to change the visa type. I have read that as I already hold a visa I can visit Australian Consulates plus Malaysia etc who are able to issue ALL types of visas. I am looking for urgent answers as I am assuming they do not permit extensions of 30 days and I do not wish to get black balled for overstay. Can anyone help please????????????????

Rules changed Nov. 25th of last year.

Only you can show the income now. But the 400,000 baht in the bank option is back. It has to be in your name and be there for 60 days.

There has also been a recent announcement from immigration assigning offices. If you do not live in the province you willl not be able to use the Korat office.

thanks for your help on this one. I find it quite amazing that I wasn't told this when I reported for address at the end of November (after 25th Nov) and the person giving us the advice was the number 1 woman in Korat immigration!!! As like most of us we use internet banking so do not have "original" statements but I did read that I can show the money in a Bank outside the Kingdom or did this purely refer to Asian Countries??

I must say that it doesn't seem to matter which Government is in control (loose sense) they all seem to know how to keep ex pats here and how to attract more ex pats to spend their money or do we just stay here for the smile???. I hear Vietnam has arms wide open to all and will even give 3 or 5 year visas to boot. BTW I am English and aged 52.

My Retirement Visa is due for renewal at the end of June 2009 and I have to do my address reporting at the end of this Month.

There still seems to be some confusion within the Korat Immigration about the "money in the Bank" ruling. When I went for my last 90 days reporting we asked about changing my visa to a married visa as we maybe setting up a Company within the next year. We also asked whether we can use my wifes income as I feel reluctant losing over 20% on money exchange from the UK. We were told that the 40,000 thb per month in my wifes name was adequate provided she has the tax return supporting this. This she does plus a lot more to spare. They told us to change the visa then do any work permit at a later date.

However, my wife phoned immigration to check again what she needed to produce and she was told this time that the regulations changed in Jan 2009 and the 40,000 must be in my name. I have looked everywhere regarding any Visa changes in this respect,effective 2009, but cannot find anything other than a post saying the translation dating from 2006 showed "and" not "or" in error.

Can anyone shed a bit of light on the subject or has someone in officialdom got the wrong end of the stick????

Hi All,

Does anyone know whether you can buy sugar soap (for cleaning walls etc prior to painting) over here or is there an equivalent with a Thai name. No doubt the UK stuff comes from China so chances are there must be a local version.

If they don't have it here its a big shame cos some of those restaurant walls could do with a dam_n good wipe down with the stuff.