Sam125

I used to use registered post from Chiang Mai to States and UK but I find fewer letters go missing if I send ordinary post. Maybe somewhere in the chain someone thinks registered could contain money. I've returned to the post office with receipt to enquire when an item is lost and I'm just met with one of those stupid grins and an explanation that "extra security now in farang country" I guess that means "we don't know, we're not going to try to know so could you let me serve the next person"

I now try to negotiate with customers to accept scanned documents rather than originals. many will which means fewer visits to the post office. I guess eventually post offices will just disappear.

Sounds like something strange in your post office. I have also sent 100s of packages never one lost anywhere. The one time that one was quite late they traced it to the actual flight it took to New York and let me know that if if did not show up registered mail has a set amount of compensation automatically. So if you claimed the compensation sooner or later things will improve.

Use the registered mail option. I have been sending hundreds of small parcels to the US for the past 8 years via registered airmail and in that time maybe one has gone missing, and most likely got lost on the US side.

I agree the fee is usually 55 baht and well worth it.

When the time came around again to start jumping through the hoops for my marriage extension. I went in for my last 90 days report, I asked them when I should report to start the process again. She looked through the passport and said call the day the stamp expires. Having said that the next 90day stamp lasted until mid september. So it is either the local offices making their own rules or it depends how busy the main office is. I was told last year Hat Yai deals with the southern applicants. Just got the call today to go in on the 13th for the next 12 months ext stamp.

Mosha,

Hope that your visit goes smoothly. I will do my 90 day report this month and then probably do my next one in Nov when I do my annual extension.

Sam125

You should have an extension stamp in your passport which says...

Extension of stay permitted up to ......... DATE

What is THAT date?

In the past they made that date to be one year from date of Arrival.

If they are still doing the same then your date should be 30 Aug 2008

And if that IS the date - then you should be doing your extension application NOW !

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the replies!

I do not have a stamp that says "Extension of stay permitted up to xx"

Instead my stamp says: "Application of stay is permitted until 28 Nov 2008" which was signed on Nov 27. 2007.

The terminology: "Application of stay" is what prompted this thread. Most likely it means the same - but you never know with government offices - and that is a generic statement not directed at Thailand.

Lite Beer,

Thank you for the 90 day reminder. I will need to do one by August 25th so I have put it on my calender to do next week.

Non O 1 year extension date calculation?

September 1st is my arrival date stamped in my passport ona non O "marriage" visa issued in the US. With 3 month periods - 4 in a year allowed.

November 1st I appied for a 1 year extension and November 28th an extension of 1 year was granted.

Here is my question:

I assume that my 1 year extension is from Nov 28 2007 to Nov 28 2008 and that roughly30 days before Nov 1 should apply for my new extension.

Am I correct? Or is my extension really good from my arrival date of Sept 1st?

Note the immigration office stamps indicate that I am good to go for a November renewal but I just wanted to be sure.

Thank you!

Arkady,

I very much enjoyed reading your post.

I shall pay close attention to your future posts.

I have the 1,990 baht Premier plan which has been upgraded to 3072/1024.

I never get close to that of course but I was ok with the previous plan which was something like 1500/512 I think.

Here is my question:

Should I downgrade to the Premier 1,090 baht 2048/1024 plan?

I use the connection to upload photos a couple of times a month for a business website in the USA and downlload medium size files at times. Never movies or other large files.

Any thoughts?

Obviously they are getting in somewhere. At dusk, get some help and try to see where they are coming out. When you find the opening, just patch or screen over it. It would be a shame to kill them. Great little mosquito eaters.

This sounds like a good start. Thank you.

I have heard that I will need to put in a screen that opens only one way.

Lets hope that there are not too many openings.

We have enough bats in the roof area between the roof and the 4th floor that the droppings are going through the ceiling tiles to the 4th floor.

I am certain that we want to get rid of them.

How best to get rid of the bats?

The side walls are brick and were supposedly sealed when we moved in.

We live about an hour and a half from Korat in a small town.

Hiring labor is not a problem but I would like to know what we are doing....

Thank You!

Why not send her a letter purporting to come from a close relative stating that you regret having to inform her that you have been killed in a road accident? This saves her face and she probably receiving a great deal of sympathy. If lying is part of the Thai way of life, use it to your advantage.

Perfect diplomatic solution!

Well, I feel a little better knowing that others are having the same challenges.

I can't help but think in western ways - more money etc.. My wife says that is not the answer as we offer a high (for Isan) starting wage with no limits for skilled workers.

We have also noticed that she will train in a certain skill and they do ok, then they are trained in a new skill and do ok. The problem arises when they go back to skill #1....

My wife has a small luxury export garment business and in the Korat countryside we find that expert seamstresses that can think for themselves is very difficult to find at any wage. We have a starting wage of 200 baht for 8 hours and time and a half for over-time. Plus various bonuses for attendence and learning new skills, finding new workers etc.. We would be happy to pay 400 to 500 baht a day for loyal skilled workers.

Perhaps we need to move to Korat or Bangkok?

Maestro is saying that you do not need to go to a consulate and get a new visa. Just get a new extension of stay from immigration based on marriage after you can show 40K/month family income. Then if you lose your job, you would still be able to remain.

Not sure if this appropriate but my recent experiemce was fairly straight forward - my Non Imm B multiple had ran out - I am not employed here but as a freelancer I travel and work throuought Asia and get paid into my UK and Thai bank account from overseas commissions - so I dont need a work permit - I was in Melbourne and took my Marriage certificate, Thai wifes House registration, ID photocopy and birth certificate of my baby (not necessary - nor was any proof of earning demanded), and they gave me an 'O' visa without any further question - come back tomorrow and do you want that a multiple entry or 90 day? multiple please says I- very well sir.

I am 50 in July and will after that apply for a marriage visa and I believe I do not have to prove any monthly salary, even though I can - I am going to get my legal boffins to do it as for about GBP100 its worth the time and hassle I save, even though I will have to go with them to immigration of course - but I think it is all pretty straight forward.

I am very confused now, as I have definitely been told that income/salary declaration would not be required when i next applied - after July birthday for a 'marriage visa' - this is the best known legal company in Th'nd selling their services and they have a dociument called 'marriage visa' with all the bits and bobs needed for it - certainly the reason for my being allowed the 'O' is because I am married, but this is not the visa that my advisors call the marriage visa - are they trying to just wheedle cash out of me? They took nothing for the advice on the 'O', but will do so when i apply for the so called 'marriage visa' - as they call it. Is there really no such thing as a marriage visa? if so why would they and so many use this term if it did not actually exist?

Peter,

Perhaps you received some other type of visa and are now getting a "marriage visa" which is just an informal term.

To get the marriage visa you often do not need to show any source of income at least I did not have to in America. However, you will certainly need to show a source of income to extend it at one year intervals. Typically these start after 90 days.

I am not sure what advantage there is to using a law firm as the whole process is very simple although if your time is in short supply perhaps by signing a power of attorney they can make appearances for you - perhaps.....

In any event you should ask them exactly what they will do for you. Please post the details after you talk to the law firm again.

So say for arguments sake i went for a flying visit to the UK it would be better to pick up a NON-O which would then require a 90 day border bounce, after that if i met the 40k per month requirements i could get a extension of stay based on marrige correct???Can the 40k per month be based on salary or different from salary and is there any extra paperwork required if you are working on a O rather than a B based on marrige and finally how many extension of stays are you entilted to?

cheers for help guys

It has to be salary.

If it is yours you would need a letter from the British Embassy certifying you income if from the UK.

If your income was in Thailand you need records of tax payments.

Or it could be your Wifes income. Again she would need Tax payment records.

You can extend this way every year indefinitely.

I thought that a marriage visa extention:

Does not have to be salary.

It can be retirement income or investment income etc. or almost any type of income. You simply have to document the income: Embassy letter or tax returns etc..

Have the rules changed since last year or have not correctly understood the post - with this hot weather that is always a possibility!

So I am very curious is the consensus that food does need to be refrigerated or one is at risk for food poisoning?

I have a 2 small kids so I am very curious.

One more question:

4) Is online filing of Thai tax returns (form 90) reliable? And how long does it take to get a password and user ID?

Thank you!

My Thai wife has a new sole proprietorship (Oct 2007 startup) and will be filing a Thai form 90 with no tax due.

1) What is the filing deadline March 15th or the end of the month?

I do not have a Thai tax ID number as I have zero Thai source income (I am American with a marriage visa/extension and US source income that is all earned 1 year plus before being brought into Thailand).

2) Is an ID number for myself needed for my wife to get an additional spousal deduction? Note, she probbaly does not need my spouse deduction to bring her liability to zero - but next year I should be helpful as a deduction.

She has 4 employees earning about 5,000 Baht per month. She withholds 5% and pays 5% herself (for the employees) for social security plus some small fee for workman's compensation insurance.

3) Does she need to file any special year end forms for her employees? Note she does not do any withholding as there are not many employees and their income is low.

Thank you!

I went from

Indy -- Speed 2048/512-- Promotion 1,000 Baht

to

Premier -- Speed 1536/512 -- Promotion 1,990 Baht

Much better for overseas sites

Normally you have to push CTRL +F5

This would force all proxy servers between your PC and your webhost to supply you with the latest version...

Up till now I never got an old version this way, with webhosts both in the USA and a few in Europe.

Thanks everyone!

But especially Monty.

CTRL + F5 fixed the problem!

Now I wonder what are proxy servers?

Delayed website updates:

Recently I have had mixed luck updating my websites

They are hosted in the US and I use a premier ttt connection in Korat to upload.

In the usa my sites have the changes right away. here it can take days to see the changes or just seconds it changes all the time.

Any ideas on why and how to fix the problem?

I have tried hitting refresh while holding down the shift key

Note the overseas site is viewable I am only having problems with the updates.

Thank you!

Sam, I am not sure who your comment relates to. I am the OP and I have no reason to refile. Actually, I was hoping I did need to refile, but Lanny's advice shows what I did last year was correct, unfortunately.

Note, I use H&R Block's Taxcut and find it very useful since my tax situation is straight forward. It is cheap and easy to use. However, you are correct that it does not replace a good tax adviser. For my purposes, having read Lanny's advice on other tax matters on TV in the past, his free advice here is more than sufficient (thank's Lanny).

I was talking about the individual who seems to have not included his Chinese income on his US return. Note we may be not understanding him.... and perhaps all is well with his taxes.

My take on tax software is that it speeds things up and can be helpful but can also be less than perfect and sometimes dangerous lets say.

Lanny has answered your question well.

I have seen similar situations and the good news is that you should simply refile and move on you are unlikely to get into trouble with a simple mistake for low dollars and I assume that it is low dollars or you would have had a tax advisor otherwise....

Do not got to H&R block or any of those types for tax advice beyond the simplest of returns.

Or to Korat. But be quick as they are on the hit list to be closed in a couple of months.

quote]

Lopburi and lite Beer thank you!

I will make my copies today and send all by registered mail.

I am in the Korat area where around 80 days ago I extended my marriage visa for one year.

Can I mail in my 90 day report and if so what is the address?

Thank you!

It is normal to turn over your passport and you should have a copy on hand always anyway.

It is very normal practice to have to turn over your passport (without receipt) for up to several days to various government agencies in virtually every country (at least in my experience in Asia) for processing. I have brought personal goods shipments into Thailand twice (as well as China, Malaysia, etc), both times original passport requried. Returned by shipping agent in a few days.

Let's try to keep the paranoia to a minimum

TH