CWMcMurray

Each brand needs to hire their own sales people... so the staff can add up really quickly.

It does get really anoying if I want to compare brands as you end up needing to talk with a half dozen different sales people who will all tell you the same thing... our brand is better.

The other thing that can be difficult is if you want to make more than one purchase, but different brands. I remember a few years ago I tried to do this in Central department store and was told that it "can not be done".

On a side note, my wife was aproached by "The Mall" in order to open up a store and what they told her was that in order to open up "inside the department store", she would need to hire her own staff and that all sales would need to be paid to the Mall and then after 45 days, the Mall would release the funds minus their 32% commision....

If the funds are taken and the Reds come out, I believe that if any protests take place the police will handle quickly to break things up.... but what happens if the money isn't seized and the yellow shirts come out?

Will they be given free reign to do what ever they want again? Will the police do their job this time around or will it be hands off and will they let the mob rule again?

or....

Is it just a forgone conclusion tha the funds will be seized?

Does the card offer a discount? If so, then you should be thanking her...

For example, I know that if you use the MCard from the mall and spendo iver 800thb or 1000 thb (cant remember which) in addition to points, you also get a discount.

I cant remember for certain, but I believe the Tops card will give you a discount on certain products if you have the membership card.

So maybe she was trying to help you rather than trying to help her self...

I would say it shouldnt be to hard if you have great trade contacts.... find ourt what they want and then when you get hear try to find the goods they are looking for and give them some quotes.

If the proces are good then open up your own trading company and get rolling...

of course if they started charging me for bags, but continued to use double ply (i.e. one bag inside another) and only put one or two items in each bag I believe a lot of folks would get pretty angry...

You would be hearing cries of "they used and charged me for 10 bags, when everything could have fit in two bags..."

Not to mention the inevitable delays in the lines where people will be yelling at the person working at the register, "absolutely NOT !!! you need to unpack and repack those goods into two bags and deduct the charges for the additional bags that I do not want or need!"

We were able to get 90% from Siam City Bank... under wifes name with me co-signing

Just another bit of info... I normally drive to work not far (about 500m) from Thong Law / Sukhumvit intersection... average commute time (door to door) is .....

Normal morning traffic: 40 min

Sat/Holiday/ no school: 20 min

Just writng this to help the current landlord. We just bought a house and will be moving out at the end of March (28th).

Located at Pattanakan soi 50

*Phetburi road turns into Phattanakan road at Sulhumvit 71 intersection. Turn right and just before you get to Srinakarin Road (Jusco) do a U-Turn under the bridge and it is the 3rd soi on your left. It is in Moo Baan Kay Haa Nakorn 3

The place is fully furnished (2 of the 3 bedrooms, family room and kitchen)

Very large Kitchen: with built in cupboards both above and below (8 sets of cabnets above & below- total 16) includes stove and refrigerator

Family room: includes entertainment center, sofa (L shaped), had a dinner table and table in fromnt of sofa but moved them out at our request (so may be available to new tenent)

Master bedroom - 5 ft bed and large wardrobe (6 doors), small wardrobe (2 doors), small entertainement center, large dressing table with chair, attached master bathroom with western toilet & Tub/shower and Heater (built in type).

Smaller bedroom: 3.5 ft bed, childs wardrobe, small dressing table

* Family room and both of the above rooms have airconditioner

Additional small room: not furnished and no air, could be another Bedroom or made's room, but the wife uses it as her work room

2nd Bathroom: stand up shower, western toilet and external electric water heater.

The owner is the perfect landlord (from my perspective), she made sure that everything was working fine at the time we moved in i.e. repaired the front gate, replaced missing light bulbs, cleaned all of the airconditioners, within three weeks of moving in the water pump broke and she replaced it with a new one.

Also when we moved in, she made sure that we had the numbers of the "Gas Guy" and the "Water Guy" and called them both to inform them that she had a new tenant and that they should come as soon as we call.

Throughout the last couple of years, no rent increases and if we needed anything we could call and she was able to help, but at the smae time she never showed up at the house or tried to "get into our business". Just transferred the money the beginning of every month and no problems...

Just trying to help her find a new tenant not looking for or expecting any "kick back or finders fee". If interested, just send me a PM and I will give you her number. If you need to speak in English, let me know and I can get her daughter's number (her English is as good as a native speaker)

The OP is not talking about joining the Armed Forces Preparatory Academy to become an officer. He is asking about conscription.

Is this the course that can be taken in High school in order to avoid the draft? I had Thai freinds in University here who did that and was planning on doing the same for my Thai/American son. Are you saying that this is not an option for Luk Kreungs?

Did the same and studied here in Thailand... I went to Mahidol Univerity International College and their were quite a few foreign students and the Thai students were all very nice and more than willing to communicate in English.

They were also always inviting me out on the town with them, so you are very likely to spend more time out partying with your Thai freinds than with Expats, but nothing wrong with that at all and you are sure to have a great time.

MUIC is quite far from the "City Center", but from my knowledge if you go to Thamasaat, Chula or Mahidol you should be fine.

We had a door like this made and put in one of the townhouses we rented a few years back... If a remember correctly, it was 3,000 thb to have it made and installed.

KK has already signed an Franchise agreement with a Thai company, should be here within this year....

Thatbeing said... if your Embassy requires proof, they may accept this and in the case that immigration may want proof in addtion to your letter from the Embassy this may also work (technically not required, but have seen posts by some that they have been requiredto show proof).

It may be best to get the mother's rights terminated first and then buy the home in your children's name

From my understanding it should be posible, but then the land can not be sold without the courts permission. I do not know if the purchase will require your wifes involvment at all.

If possible I would advise not letting it be known to anyone as it sounds like the wife is not of the highest character and if she knows that the house is in the child's name, she may get interested in getting back primary custody really quick becuase if the house belongsz to the child then it stands to reason that who ever has primary custody will also "get the house".

Not sure about the above, but it is definately worth investigating.

I would hate to contradict the Legal advisors above, but I believe the process is much more complicated than that... If he a "male" then he will need to apply for PR first and once aproved for PR he will then need to apply for Citizenship.

Last I heard no one has been aproved for PR since 2006....

If he was a women married to a Thai man then it is much closer to your post as foreign women do not need to get PR first. I also do not believe that women will have any income requirement either.

This being said, women still need to wait a lonnnnng time... I do not know the number of years, but I remember reading posts on here of Women or Husbands with wives going through the process who have turned everything and have been waiting a couple of years already with no news.

Yes, natural born US citizen just means that you were a US citizen at birth and did not need to apply for US citizenship.

The kid in the future will get unemployment benefit, which he/she will not get in Thailand and the mother being married to an American will get child endownment as she can not work. So I have been told?

The above is not exactly true and where the child is born will not affect any of the above benefits.

Thwe child will be a US citizen regardless of where they are born "as long as at least one of the parents meets the required criteria" if not then if they are born on US soil they will be a US Citizen (but from my reading of the OP earlier post, he meets the requirements so his children will be US citizens regardless of where they are born).

Unemployent benefit is actually paid by each individual state not the US government. When you are working for a US company and are fired/let go (does not apply if you quit) they can apply for unemployment, and max time allowed is 6 months. This will not be affected by where the child is born.... only where they decide to work when they grow up (fyi... Thailand has a lump sum serverance pay).

Also, the mother would not get any Child endowment from the US government for not being able to work... in the US they have "Welfare", but in order to qualify for this they would need to meet the income requirements... basically the mother would need to be unmarried with no income and she would need to be a US citizen / permanent resedent in order to apply.

Not mentioned, but Social Security (old age pension) is deducted from a workers salary and I believe that the MIN required years of working in the US to receive any beneift is 13 yrs (very small if this is all you work), but again this would depend on where the child chosses to work once they grow up rather than where they are born....

Short answer.... it makes absolutely no difference where the child is born, unless at least one of the parents does not meet the min "time of residence in the US" needed for thier children to become US citizens.

just want to add.... when looking to the future i.e. if the kids were grown up and out of the house "taking care of themselves" and the mortgage was paid and I already had a decent nest egg ...

I would agree with many of the above posters and say 25,000 - 40,000 (in today's THB) would be plenty to live comfortably.

I used to spend a whole lot less when I first moved here... i.e one bedroom studio, taking the busses, 35 thb per meal...

but now I have a wife and two little ones, so we needed a bigger place (just got a mortgage), have a car (car payments), shoot just considering the cost of pampers and milk/formula for two kids we are already talking close to thb 7,500/mo.

Once you add in the mortgage, car payments, food, electric, cable, internet, medical, gas,water, etc... it doesnt cost a whole lot less than it would to live a similar life style in the US (especially if you add in the cost of tuition for 2 kids at adecent Bi-ligual school).

My wife works as well and we are still able to stay within our incomes and have a little bit to put away every month ... but it costs us many multiples of the thb 12,500 that Wee GB is living off of.

That being said, we do not have any plans to head back to the US, as it looks like we should be able to make enough here to live a nice lifestyle and have enough to put away for our retirement.

I do not think you should have any problem in declaring gross income from rental property (i.e. you would not be lying on your sworn statelemtn to the US Embassy).

Since it is in fact your real "income"; the fact that you may have a mortgate or credit card bills or any other debts to which you are making payments should not matter... this would still be a true representation of your income.

As far as I know there is no requirement to deduct all monthly expenses from your income it is after all. monthly income... not monthly "spending cash" after deducting all expenses...

I don't have a visa yet...I'm looking at my options. However, while in Thailand, I like to travel to other countries. How much is a re-entry permit, and is there a limit to how many I can buy once I have the ED visa? I know that with this visa you go check in with immigration every 90 days. Is this the same as purchasing a permit? 1900 THB right?

How often do you plan on traveling to other counties? and will it be by Air or by Land?

If by air and at less than 30 days in between trips (15 days if coming back in via land border), you may not need to worry about getting any visa... just get your 30 day exemption stamp every time you vome back to Thailand.

If less than 60 days in between trips, a tourist via may also serve your purposes.

It is not mandetory to be on a student visa or extensiln for the purpose of studying in order to study in Thailand.... you can study on a tourist visa or a visa exempt stamp.

Good groups my a.., In Cm the term was American shares 20 years ago and continues today in various formats. Of the dozen or so groups that I know of, I know of none who have continued for any length of time without someone absconding with the money, they high bid for. This apparently is a system set up by and for people/small business who have few assets, seasonal income, who think they know and can trust each of the participants. Those who took the money and ran, invariability had a highly mortgaged house, auto, etc and left in the auto with cash from 2 or 4 funds, in which they were members. A verifiable solid business will have a bank/personal contact who can arrange short term loans, the share system is for people described previously, while it would seem loan sharks handle the remainder. The op seems to fit the latter group.

Well, since he is looking to borrow rather than invest... it is pretty much a moot point...

Not to mention that you probably only want to be part of a group where everyone is an established business owner (so no one is tempted to pack up overnight after they 'pia share'). There are more than a few groups around in the amounts you require and more, but you should ask yourself first if such a group would let you in or not.

Yes, I have also heard that the "good groups" (i.e. those that have been going for years and no one has done a runner with the funds) are very selective and it may not be easy to get invited to join.

But if you have been working here for 5 yrs and have developed some contacts during that time it is not impossible to believe you may know someone who can give you an invite.

So now that the far left and far right have rung in.... the reality is likely to fall some where in between the above 2 posters opinions

What about one of those "loan groups" I know a friend of my wife joined a group of friends where each person puts money into a pot and then one of the group members get to take the money for a set amount of time paying interest back to the members on the money they borrowed.

I think they all vary in terms of the amounts of money, but I think I remember her talking about it and I believe the group she was in had about 3-4 hundred thousand that could be borrowed.

You may want to ask around to your Thai friends and business associates as usually the groups are "invite only"