CWMcMurray

I will tell you once I get information from the Bank this weekend (can't find the rates on SCIB website), but from other Banks it appears that most will offer a short 3-4 year "teaser" fixed rate and then the rate will switch to a floating rate which is currently somewhere between 5.25-6.25% depending upon the Bank.

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

Well latest update...

Received a call from the Sales Person at the Housing Project. They advised that they received notice from the Bank that the mortgage was aproved and that we could come in this weekend to sign the contract, but that we would not get "offical notice" from the bank uptil the contract has actually been submitted.

That being said,the Housing Project has confirmed that if the Mortgage amount is less than 90%, then we will have the option to back out and the depost will be refunded in full.

So will we are likely to have the final answer beginning of next week.

If you are on good relations with your baby's mother now and she doesn't mind if you take your daughter overseas; I would advise getting a copy of the letter, ID and tabien baan signed (but not dated). Then just hold onto it until you plan on heading overseas.

It sounds like the baby's mama doesn't have a problem now, but who knows about the future, so as long as you have copies "pre-signed" then you have a fail safe if the relationship ever deteriorates.

Damb... stupid me, I knew I shouldn't have bought that 532 square foot fully furnished 4 bedroom condo in Manhatten... If I would have just saved my pennies a bit longer, for only about 7 million baht more, I could have bought a 36 square meter condo in Pattaya...

I have heard that if the child is born in Thailand, the first time he/she leaves the country both parents will need to agree, either by acompanying the child or via written condsent.

... but not having done it my self, I cant say for certain if this reg is actually enfiorced on the ground...

A person born on or after November 14, 1986, is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:[6]

1.One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born

2.The citizen parent lived at least five years in the United States before the child's birth

3.A minimum of two of these five years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.

I agree that except for the cost, the advantage is to be born in the US.

TH

The above is correct and if you read closely, you will see that it does not matter where the child is born....

There is still the issue of whether or not your grandkids with be US citizens, but this will not change if you simply have your child in the US.

For example... I am a US citizend, born in the US and lived there until my 28th birthday.... when my children were born here in Thailand, I still needed to show proof that I (the citizen parent) lived for at leaset 5 years in the US before the Embassy would issue my children their birth certificate and US passports.

This means that even if your child is born in the US and then comes back to Thailand, they will still need to pass the same test when they have kids.

As long as the school is registered with the Ministry of Education you can get an ED visa.... it doesnt matter if they are teaching Thai, Scuba, Muay Thai or jumping up and down on one foot.... as long as they are registered with the Ministry of Education you are good to go.

KTC Royal Orchid Plus card... they were very accommodating and no deposit required.

They do not have a whole lot of information in English, but were very friendly and willing to give a card to foreigners without any hassle.

Well the latest is that they asked for another copy of my passport and asked me to sign a release for them to check my credit history with the National Credit Bureau. They advised that we should have the answer by the end of the week.

Thanks everyone for the info... went in today and no problems and no payment needed, also only took 15 minutes.

Report date was the 5th and went in on the 11th

Short answer yes... it would make sense to wait until you are 50, otherwise you will need to pay tax on everything.

Once you turn 50, get a 1 yr OA retirement visa from your home country, you can then clear the goods with duty free privilege (do long as you haven't been living in Thailand for years already- they will look at your passport).

But please remember that Thailand does not offer a blanket tax exemption on all items... the standard that is used is "what is required to set up your household in Thailand" and yes this is a very subjective standard that will differ depending upon the customs officer who is handling your case.

You best bet is to draft an invoice and give to your customs broker in Thailand to verify with Thai customs first.

Does that mean if less than 7 days no fine?

Is it possible to do a 90 day report anywhere in BKK on a Saturday? Chaeng Wattana or any of the BOI places?

Well it looks like they may have just been waiting until after the new year like my wife thought....

The wife just received a call from the Bank today (SCIB) and they asked her few more questions about her business and about my job. They told her that they would be sending someone to her shop to take some pictures and that she should be getting a call from a manager soon.

They also asked her if she was in a hurry to sign the contract or not? Not really sure why they would ask that question unless they were planning on approving a mortgage, but he couldn't provide any details, would only say that a manger would be calling her "soon".

So wish me luck !!!

2 bags of clothes purchased for USD 8 per kg valued at 10,000 ? So that must mean that each bag weighed 625kg... those are some pretty big bags

I applied for and received a Platinum card from KTC, they advised that the Min salary was thb 40,000 per month as well as the WP and copy of bank books for 6 months.

I was missing some of the "requirements" WP was not quite yet equal to 2 yrs and bank nook was not regularly updated, so missing a couple of months in between.

They seemed really happy to help, advised that I should not worry about it and that it shouldn't be a problem. Tokk about 2 weeks from the time I applied until I received the card in the mail.

Not sure if it helped, but I requested a Suplimental card for my wife and she is also working and has a good credit history.

I don't think this thread itself is enough to be a pinned thread, though some of the links should probably be put somewhere in a pinned thread- will look around for a good place (maybe in the opening guidelines & useful information thread).

What about just adding the link to "Posting guidelines and Recomended Links" ?

If you want info in English your best bet is to go with one of the non thai bank credit cards i.e. Citibank, HSBC ect...

You mentioned that you think that Thai Banks will offer "a better deal", but I did not find that to be the case... they all seem to offer the same interest rates and the same min payment requirements. They also all seem to offer pretty much the same in regards to rewards... so not a whole lot of difference between them...

The above is not necessarily true...

The ASEAN-China Free trade agreement does not mean all products coming from China are Duty free...

The duty amount for every commodity may be different and not all commodities are covered under the FTA... also not every commodity that is overred becomes duty free, some may just reduce the duty rate (i.e. from 10% to 5%).

Also, in order to qualify for the reduced Duty amount, the shipper in China would need to provide a "Form E" certificate of origin that has been certified by the Chamber of Commerce in China...

MNCs have anti-discrimination policies that prevent them from ever saying anything like... this job is only open to a Thai National... but the statement they listed above is compliant with their anti-discrimination policies as it makes no mention of race... it is simply saying that they can not provide any support in getting a work permit.

While it may result in the same thing for now... the way this reads is that if the Thai government ever changed it policies on who requires a WP(if for example, they ever allowed those with PR to work without a WP), then a foreign national could qualify for the job.

I you are looking for travel rewards, Many Banks have a Thai Airways card that you may be interested in. I have one from KT but I hink there are 4 or 5 banks that also have the same thing.

Well, no answer before the new year.... hopefully hear something back the beginning of Jan.

Banks all said that we should have an answer within two weeks and it has been a little longer than that...

Not sure how much stock to put into this, but the sales person at the moo baan said that if they will not offer any mortgage they will normally tell you within a week...

The wife's opinion is that they are waiting until the new year because it is likely that the Bank wants the mortgage to be on the books for 2010 instead of 2009.

Just want to add, that I am not saying that at the above amounts you will be living comfortably without having to stress about finances or that you will have a whole lot to put away for retirement.... but I think at those amounts you will be entering into the "middle class"

I would also venture to say that their are a whole lot of Thai families with 1 or 2 income earners making above 75k per month.

Thanks for the heads up, I will definitely make sure to bring this point up with the Finance company.