CWMcMurray

You state it is an internship, for which no work permit is required as it is considered part of your education. Believe you will need to be registered at a recognized educational institute in Thailand. Your school should know more about this.

I asked not for me, but for my GF :-)

But anyway, when I seached for internship in the forum I found that some guys wrote you need a WP for every kind of work - even as internship. Now I'm a bit confused

I went to a Thai Univeristy and researched and went through this whole process...

The issue is whether or not it she is attending a Thai Univeristy or a Foreign University.

If a Thai University:

Then she is here on a Non IM ED visa and it is not possible to get a work permit on this type of visa. What she will need is a letter from her university stating that the internship is required for graduation. She will then need to take this letter to counter number one at Immigration (Suan Plu).

They will then imput it into their system, no work permit required. (They may need to ask their supervisor as this situation does not occur very often).

If a foreign Universtiy:

She will need to apply for Non-B and go through the normal work permit process.

Did you find out what the problem was/is yet? The wife & I were thinking about buying one or maybe the Innova some time in the near future.

Not yet... decided to call Toyota Thailand Headquarter office andspoke with a customer service guy.

They had their corporate "mechanic" call the dealership and have them send over all the inofmation.

Brought the car in and the dealership said they checked everything including the controller and everything was operational except for the motor. They said that they were going to change the motor aain and then send it to Toyota Thailand for testing.

I could then pick up the car and use it until they were able to take apart the motor and see if they could determine the problem. The manager advised that it seemed like the motor was burning out every three months, so they should have an answer before the motor goes again.

He said he does not believe it is a faulty motor, as it is statistically nearly impossible that I could have gotten 3 bad AC motors. He said that they will issue me a written report of the investigation.

Got a call back a few minutes later, he said Toyota Thailand wanted to send their corporate machanic to the dealership to check everything. Called the next day, the corporate mechanic could not find the problem either.

So the motor was changed and I picked up the car Tuesday....

We will see how things go from here.

I understand that the more wives that would be willing to get involved the better, but I don't believe there is such a thing as class action lawsuits in Thailand.

This means that at the end of the day even if we had 1000 wives wanting to get involved, only one could be the plaintiff.

As for all of the nay sayers... why should people give up before even trying thats just

"Better to have fought and lost than to have never fought at all"

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So if we have three wives willing to get involved then there is no reason not to start, perphaps as things get rolling along more wives will be willing to join in.

Regardless of the number of wives involved one of the first steps would be to find a lawyer willing to take the case and following up with them to see how strong the case is and the plan to move forward.

As things get rolling along perphaps many of the 30+ may be able to convince their wives to join.

I was wondering... considering the importance Thai's place upon the number of gray hairs a person has, do you think that some one his age could ever be an effective leader given the social structure of Thais.

Wouldn't all young Thai's be sheepish, shy and defer to the older folks? Will the culture even allow him to be a leader?

We also got the bank to lower the interest rate by 0.5% by making the first month's payment at the time we picked up the car instead of the end of the month.

I don't think it really matters if the person complaining is Thai or Non-Thai.... but if the OP's Dad is Thai, that means he is Thai so why can't he just call himself.

Easy answer call the labor department and ask for their advice... after that come on back and let us know what they said and maybe we can try and help.

> Any suggestion will be much appreciated.

Buy a secondhand stall and equipment.

> And one more thing, can you give us some advice in starting this kind of business. Thank you.

Good signage willhelp you.

If you are a farang I question your sanity.

Why did you say you question my sanity for planning this kind of business? Is it a bad idea? Can you suggest a much better business with a small capital?

I don't question your sanity... if the food is good and he is willing to work nearly everyday all day, he could do well. Not the buy a Benz and retire with millions kind of well, but the "steady little earner" kind of well, making as much as he could at an office job (or a little bit more).

There is a street that runs parallel with Ramkhamhang road with entrances to RAM and ABEC. Their are tons of small food stalls and the streets are packed with people every night.

_{Wanted to add one more point:}

If he is marketing to the college crowd he will most likely need to sell duringthe evenings... if you work days, you may not see much of him anymore. It may be a good idea to find a location with a lot of companies (factories even better) and hit the lunch crowd. It would be possible to make about the same and then he would have Sundays and other public holiday's off (allong with all of his customers).

Cars are definitely not an investment... they are a convenience item.

I haven't seen any no money down promotions, but I have seen 50-60 k down for some low end vehicles.

Abhisit does care as I know him but not very close!

If you have been here a long time and had a chance to meet him on various occasions and develop somewhat of an opinion about him you will find he is really caring and understanding of all issues.

BB

I hope you are right... If you are correct I wish him the best of luck and hope he reaches out and tries to help ALL segments of the Thai population.

I may not have liked the actions of those who supported him, but I think any politician that could do the above would be very good for Thailand.

Not saying he is that man, but it would be nice if he was, I am willing to reserve my opinion until I see what he does.

I don't know if it is worth making a huge stink with your boss, considering that it is only 300 thb and it sounds like you were responsible for paying back the the money anyway.

That is as bit crazy that the bank would allow them to do this... I would have a word with your bank about this.

Please update us after talking to the bank... I would think "legally speaking" if anyone broke any laws it would be the bank.

I am guessing I would not be breaking any laws if I asked the bank to give me all of your money, but I am pretty sure they would be breaking the law if they complied with my request...

Rule of the day, open a separate bank account with a different bank and transfer all money out on Pay day.

But how reliable is this?

I have always been afraid to do this... I figured that if anything went wrong, by the time I found out there was a problem it would probably be to late to zip down to Suan Plu in time to report without having to pay a fine.

Well that's good to hear.

It would probably be more if you are filing together.

There is 150k taken off the top, before your regular deductions.

If you file together that's 150k.

Seperately it would be 300k total. Not positive that's really possible, but think it is.

If you have a business that's generating that much money, who does your books? They should have tax answers for you.

What legal form does the business have? Is it a sole proprietorship in the wife's name?

This makes no difference to the tax payable on the salary the husband gets paid but if it is a sole proprietorship it is relevant to the way the proprietor's personal income tax is calculated.

--

Maestro

If my wife has a sole proprietorship, is it actually possible to file separately or do we have to file a joint return?

The way the deductions and exemptions are set up here, you would think that everyone would rather file separately if they could...

What are the special considerations on how income is declared for a sole proprietorship?

I completely agree with you... just making a point.

The plan you propose make more sense and is more likely to be successful.

The difficulty will be finding the perfect test case. If the husband of the Thai woman who files the case qualifies under the current system for a visa extension, then no damage caused and they may not even hear the case. I don't think just the fact that the regulations are unequal is enough, I believe that you would have to find someone who was actually damaged by this dual policy

So it will most likely need to be someone whose family is likely to be or has already been broken up over this. I also believe a lot more people would be willing to help to prevent a family from being torn apart rather than just some people saying that the rules aren't fair.

Anyone out there in this position?

I think the Issue of Inequality in the issuing of Thai Nationality for Farang Husbands, has been addressed in a Post 358 on Page 2 of this thread... Click Here

The Supreme Couret has already Ruled in Favour of Thai Government. (See post)

This issue is now moot...

But the Inequality between Thai Men and Thai Women is a different Case...

and this is the Issue we should be pursuing.

Equality for ALL Thai Wives

CS

I agree with you that these are two separate cases and I believe you are right in saying that the case you laid out may in fact be a stronger case, but I disagree that the nationality question has been decided definitively and is moot.

First off, unlike in western courts precedent is not as binding. Also, some of the elements may have changed since the case in 2003...

1. There is a new Constitution, some of the wording changes in the new Constitution may leave openings for this case to be revisited.

2. Not sure if this point was argued or not in the original case, but could it be argued that the original decision that section 9 of the Nationality Act, B.E. 2508 (1965) is in fact Constitutional but is in contradiction with CEDAW that was signed in 1985? In that case the Nationality Act itself is in violation of an International Treaty signed 20 years later and will need to be revised accordingly? (different cause of action, but would have the same result as the original if won)

I fully support your idea for the case, but I believe it would still be possible without a non-B (if my understanding is correct)

Option 1: 400,000 thb in the bank (can this be a joint account?)

Option 2: Get a non O visa (3 mo validity), then get a work permit and then get an extension for purpose of living with Thai wife. (No need for a non-B )

Not certain, but it is my understanding that if you loose your jobyour work permit would be canceled but not your extension of visa. Then you would simply need to be gainfully employed before your next extension.

What about the issue of conferment of Thai nationality... if this was brought and it was found that Thai females were in fact being treated unequally what could the remedy be?

If they just removed the right for Thai males to confer Thai Nationality, then what about all of the Foreign ladies that have already received nationality. I don't believe that Thai nationality could be taken back, but if they are allowed to keep Thai Nationality then in order for Thai females to be "made whole" they should have the option to infer Thai nationality on their Foreign husbands as long as they were married before the date of the new ruling and rule change.

Otherwise wouldn't any Thai woman who was married before the ruling and the changing of the rules still have a case???

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Like wise if we are talking about visa extensions and they tightened the visa regulations for Thai husband wouldn't it be difficult for them to do that without grandfathering all of the foreign ladies who are getting extensions under the current system. (if they don't grandfather them in then the Thai males with foreign wives may have a case)

And then the same argument would apply... in order for Thai females to be "made whole" they should have the option to have their foreign husbands grandfathered under the same rules as the foreign wives as long as they were married before the date of the new ruling and rule change.

Otherwise wouldn't any Thai woman who was married before the ruling and the changing of the rules still have a case???

I bought a Toyota Avanza last year and I have been having problems with the A/C.

About 5 months in, the A/C stopped working and went to get it checked out. The dealership said that the A/C motor needed to be replaced. They fixed it under warranty and it was good for about 3-4 months and then the A/C stopped working again.

I took it back to the dealership and they again said that the A/C motor was dead and needed to be replaced. It was covered and I didn't have to pay, but this time it took a bit longer to fix as they had to get approval from management. They said that they couldn't understand why it needed to be replaced again after only a few months. They said that the A/C motor was going to be sent back to Japan for testing...

Its been about another 3 months and it looks like the A/C motor is going again. It has been the same each time... the air starts having problems, it is about as strong on level three as it normally is on level one and there is a very faint clicking sound. I expect it to completely die in a couple of days.

One other interesting thing is each time before it completely died it would go through what seemed to be completely random changes. The air would come out very faintly and then it would kick in full strength and go weak again. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on at all and then after driving for about 10-15 minutes it would just start up for no apparent t reason. Other times it would start with the engine and there would be not problems, then turn off the car to fill up the tank, turn it back on and no A/C.

It seems unlikely that I could have just gotten 3 bad A/C motors... I am guessing that something is causing te motors to "burn out"

Any mechanics out there who could give me a clue... I need to go back in to the dealership again and I would like to have some clue about what could be causing the problem before talking to them.

Thai gold is a more liquid asset... so I would say that most Thai women's preference between Gold or Diamonds is directly related to their feeling of financial security.

The less secure they feel about their future financial situation, the more likely they would prefer Gold.

The more secure they feel about their future financial situation, the more likely they would prefer diamonds.

(this is the real reason... all of the Bar girl/country bumpkin/Hi-so girl freind comments above are just stereo types of people who normally fall into these two categories)

Just determine which group your girlfreind is in and that will give you your answer...

If you are interested in opening some outlets in Thailand or selling to large department stores who may wish to include your product line, you should contact the two companies below...

Central Marketing Group (all of the Central Department Stores including central world)

The Mall Group (all of The Mall, Emporium & Siam Paragon department stores)

We brough photos of us together and all the rooms of our home and a map to our house.

If they came we never heard about it...

I read this tread it was quite interesting and provides a lot of good advice for someone who was not treated fairly when dismissed from their job.

I would be courious to know if anyone has just a received their severence as a matterof fact, with no need to fight for it.

Has anyone ever been in the situation where they have been dismissed in a manner that should require a severence payment and the company in question just gives them the severence due...

"Here you go Bob, thanks for the 5 years have a nice life..." that sort of thing

as you may know, according to thai law, you are to recieve a certain amount of severance pay relative to time spent at a job here.

what i am curious about, is if anyone here has ever had employment terminated in thailand, and did they recieve it or not- and if not, why not? did you not know about it or they legalled or muscled out of it somehow.

I would go back and re-word your question, if you get fired in accordance with procedures set out by the dept of labour ie warnings etc, and have committed certain "offenses" and get fired for those "offenses" you dont get any serverance.

It is still an interesting question... we have seen posts by many folks who were denied the compensation laid out by the Thai Labor department regulations.

Many times you only hear about something if there has been a problem, I would also be interested in hearing if anyone has received the severence package without any problems from employers.

If no one has ever received their severence package without a fight, that would be good to know...

If you are talking about the brand name Pampers, then as the above poster advised you need to contact P&G. You also may want to check if they already have an office in the country you want to ship to. I believe they have offices in around 100 countries...

P&G Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd.

20th-22nd floor, the Emporium Tower

622 Sukhumvit Rd., Kwaeng Klongton

Khet Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

Thailand

Phone: 66-2-664-5000

Fax: 66-2-667-5068

Just took a quick look at the website and edited to mention that they have a B2B section on their website: http://www.pg.com/b2b/index.shtml

Of course it all depends upon the owner's attitudes, but I would think that the phone interview with the owner will not be a huge difference from what youy may expect from a phone interview back home.

This is someone owning an american franchise, who most likely is very well educated and has a lot of experience with westerners and western management styles. The fact that he is recruiting an American Manager from overseas just reinforces this opinion.

The culture issues will be more challenging if you get the job. From what I have learned, it is better to come in quitely and spend a bit of time watching, learning and building relationships with your subordinates before making any sweeping changes (this doesn't mean becoming their best buddy).

Give it a couple of months of assessment and then work toimplement changes. If you come in like a bull ready to shake things up, you will most certainly have problems.

If you want to give advice or disagree with your boss, best to do it in private, not in front of everyone. The same should be done with people under you as well.

This is just a rough guideline and like all other stereo types, could be completely incorrect for this specific owner and this specific company...