CWMcMurray

I have never been a fan of the coup, yellow shirts or the legal wrangling used to wrest the power from the elected government, but I do not see anything wrong with the government document... (this does not mean I like Taksin in any way what so ever)

It seems like a well written and fair assessment of the situation and the planned action also seems very reasonable. It looks like they are taking a very reasoned and level headed aproach to the situation.

It could have just been a one day "information collection" exercise. As others have said, if fully implemented, this would make a huge bottleneck in the visa extension process.

It is possible that after the huge increase in ED visa extension applications, they may have done it one day only in order to try to assess if there was a "problem" with people on ED visa extension, but not attending class.

If that is the case, there may be some immigration officers meeting about the "results" of the one day random testing and we may not hear anything about it again for a while or ever.

I think you are right to stay out of it. At the end of the day, you do not have any standing and it is upto the owner of the land to fight, comrpomise, or roll over and play dead.... it is their land after all.

I will not comment on whether or not it makes a whole lot of sense to make improvements to rental property, but...

Even if the owner has told you that you can only use her builder...what you can do is to get quotes from a few others to compare the price.

If the other builders are significanly cheaper you could always go back to the owner again and try to bargain to either use a different builder or to negociate with her chosen builder to get the price down to a competative price or make up the difference.

I though that the Cambodians pulled their Ambassador out of Thailand and Thailand did the same in Cambodia over the whole Taksin thing?

That may be why no one is answering the phone...

I though that the Cambodians pulled their Ambassador out of Thailand and Thailand did the same in Cambodia over the whole Taksin thing?

That may be why no one is answering the phone...

Obviously customs officers do not have time to look up prices of every shipment that comes through Thailand, but they are not stupid ...

Most times, they will use the invoice value of goods unless it raises a red flag... This will depend upon each customs officer, those with more experience will have been around a while and be more familiar with market value of many products. Usually as long as you are in the "fair market range" they are not going to say anything (at least if it is cleared by a broker).

If you try to clear on your own, I have heard some say that they will try to jack up the value a bit. I do not have any first hand experience with them doing that, just second hand information I have read on this forum.

Obviously if the value is ridiculously low and they catch it, then you have just given them free reign to put just about any value they want on it. They will find the highest possible fair market value and use that. You can appeal the decision and offer to submit proof of the value of the goods or international money transfer to try and prove your value accurately shows the true value(amount paid).

But obviously the proof would need to match the value on your invoice, otherwise you are just offering proof that you have tried to defraud the Thai customs department. Since in many cases, that is exactly what the person was trying to do, they do not have any proof to submit and will be forced to use the higher value assessed by customs.

Most people who use the real value of goods do not have problems, but people who tend to try to "undervalue" their goods to avoid customs duties will eventually get caught and burned.

Some things that may raise red flags and get customs to take a second look at the invoice are statements like.... FREE of CHARGE or SAMPLE or VALUE FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES ONLY... rough translation into "Customs speak"... Please take another look at the invoice amount as it is more than likely undervalued...

Just to be safe, I wouldn't count on your employer letting your extension go till the middle of Feb. Even they say that they will, I would try to get switched over to extension for styaing with Thai wife before you stop working.

You may very well not have any problems if you trust them and they do not screw things up for you, but why put your self in a situation where you have to depend or trust in your former employer? You have enough time to be able to easlily handle this by doing everything "by the book" and this will ensure that you do not have any problems.

If I were you, I would transfer the funds into yout THB Bank account no later that the second week of Jan (the sooner the better).

Then a couple of days before you are scheduled to stop working, I would go into Immigration to request your 60 day extension. You shouldn't need any proof of income, but just bring everything just in case.

You shouldn't have any problem in getting the 60 day extension, but if they ask just tel them the truth... Your job is ending and you would like to change the reason for exstension from "Working" to staying with your Thai wife and you have already transferred the necessary funds into your Thai Bank account, but need the 60 day extension in order to allow the funds to become seasoned.

There are exceptions.... you should check with BOI (Board of Investment), but in most cases you will need to put in a serious level of investment to qualify for BOI approval.

I am sure others will follow with some additional information on this...

There are different types of "Customs Clearance" procedures in place for Courier and SEA/AIR freight.

Courier companies can do "bulk clearance", if the goods qualify (depends upon value of goods and commodity). What this means is that no official import entry needs to be done by the importer of record.

All Air/SEA frieght shipments must be cleared using an official import entry. This means that the importer of record must be registered with customs. If the consignee is a company, then in order to register for paperless customs processing (this is a one off thing), they will need to provide their customs boker with all of their paperwork (company registration, por por 20 ect...).

If importing under your personal name, then you will need to provide a copy of your passport (picture, visa, entry stamp pages). If a Thai national, then they will need to send a copy of their ID card. Your broker will also need local address and telephone number.

But just as an fyi... even if sent via courier it is possible for your goods to be flagged for formal customs processing. This can happen if the goods are over the min value allowed for bulk clearance or if based upon the commodity Thai customs requires formal import entry to be done. One example (there are many) of this would be for Food Products that require a permit from FDA...

Also Duty and VAT are based upon CIF value of goods, not invoice value...

For example:

Lets say the invoice value is THB 600

Cost of Freight (DHL): thb 2800

insurance: 6 thb (1% invoice value)

------------------------------------------

CIF value of Goods = 3,406 thb

If Duty = 10% then......

3,406 *10% = 340

Vatable amount: 340 + 3406 = 3746 thb

VAT (7%) = 262 thb

Total Duty and VAT owed => 262 + 340 = THB 602

All eatable products will require an import permit from the FDA. You will need to apply with the FDA office in your local area.

Just want to add another bit of information I learned wen speaking with the bank...

They advised that if you have income from overseas it can be considered, but it will need to be transferred into your Thai Bank account monthly... if you simply withdrawal from an ATM every month, then it can not be considered.

Do they charge you 1900 each time?

Will they allow you to time it to coincide with your 90 reporting?

Just curious about your visa status after submitting your application.... do you still have to do your annual visa extensions just like every other year or is there a special "Under Consideration for PR" visa status given???

You could have someone here in Loei sent the stuff EMS to Pattaya, that would take a couple of days, OR you can have a nice drive.

Best Idea yet.... it may cost you max 80 baht to have them overnighted via EMS

Also if you resign, you will not be entitled to any severance. Severance is only payable if you are fired by the employer.

So depending upon the length of time you have been working for them, you may be able to avoid the whole process. You can let them know that you realize how much severance you would be entitled to recieve if they fired you, but you are willing to compromise and if they give you your back pay you will agree to resign from the company.

Ummmm..... did you read Camerata's Guide To The Permanent Residence ???

I don't mean to be rude, but it is full of first hand experience.

Thai professionals are not nearly as underpaid as many seem think..... their actually is a growing middle class in Thailand

Can I hijack this thread to ask a couple of questions about studying in Thailand?

1) What are the costs for standard degree level programs?

2) Are they respected in the west?

3) Would they realistically allow you to open up the network required to find reasonably well paid jobs IN Thailand/Asia at large.

4) Are only the schools in BKK respected or are there other respectable schools outside of Bangkok?

Thanks

1) I paid around 70k (ish) per quarter (these rate may have gone up a bit, not sure)

2) I know many who have went on to study at decent schools in the west for their Masters, not as sure about those entering the work force. I guess it would depend on how well you could sell yourself and how the experience abroad has made you better for the job in question. Just as an fyi .. both Chula and Mahidol have respectable World rankings.

3) I can only speak for my self, but I did an internship for a Thai company while studying and it led into a good job here in Thailand after graduation... I don't have any first hand experience to question two because o my answer to this question

4) Not really sure on this one...

I agree with the above posts... I went to and grasuated from MUIC and knew people in the Biology program.

MUIC Biology major

Buffalo State University (SUNY) seems to have some agreements with local institutions here in Thailand to take some classes in Thailand that can be used towards you Masters

NIST - Buffalo State (SUNY)

Another Link for Buffalo State (SUNY)

I found the below contact information and pic on the linked websites...

To register for a course or get additional information about our program, please contact us via e-mail ([email protected]) or directly at (66)-(0)2-635-0112

Nikolaus Mische, Ph.D.

Director

Buffalo State College

Program Development East Asia

aah, I wasn't aware you live in the city.

Maybe consider moving to a quiet countryside place?

Even if you move out to the outskirts of BKK you can still find some decent places that will take her out of the feeling of living in the "City"

As long as you have a vehicle, it may only add about an hour or so onto the comute (depending upon where you are working)

For your sake, I hope that you are a troll...

I am sure that others will be along shortly to advise you on what a great idea this is. They will also surely advise you on how you will undoubtedly be making millions and living in the lap of luxury if you open a bar in you newly met girlfriend's name.

Actually the salary requirements are the min required to qualify for a 1 yr visa extension.

You can get a work permit for less... the problem is that you will then be required to do visa runs every 3 mo...