YoungFarangNa

Thais can have dual citizenship

i know that children can gain it from their parents, but can Thais also gain it from their spouse?

I have Italian and American citizenship. After three years of marriage I believe that I can pass my Italian citizenship to my wife. Will the Thai government allow her to be a dual citizen or will she have to renounce her Thai citizenship.

Will the Italian government allow her to have both Thai/Italian citizenship?

I have dual Italian/American Citizenship. I believe that after three years of marriage, I can pass Italian citizenship to my Thai spouse - Will the Thai government allow her to hold both citizenships or must she renounce Thai citizenship? Will the Italian government allow her to have Thai/Italian citizenship?

Will our children be able to have all three American/Italian/Thai?

its pretty low risk but you are forced to sell in a short time frame you should expect a big loss. property doesnt change hands here as easily as it does in the west, people want to buy new.

professional basketball players reproduce so its probably OK, but if I am 6 foot 3 inch and my potential future wife is 5 feet 3 inch, do you think it could cause problems during pregnancy/childbirth.

I speak the language, I love the food and I was working legally in Thailand, but moved on because there were other things that we as a family needed that Thailand could not give us.

Think about what you want in life, and don't fixate on Thailand as being the only option - things will become clearer that way.

What things?

he probably had a cold

haha everyone in this thread must be afraid its them.

sure! because "kissing her on the cheek" is some sort of rape and that's a criminal offense in Thailand

walking down soi 4? she was wearing a see through blouse and a skirt two inches above her bum. i didnt want to be explicit but it was 100% obvious she was a prostitute.

haha everyone in this thread must be afraid its them.

So if your wife was cheating on you, you wouldn't want your friend to tell you about it?

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071026/dollar.html?.v=4

The US dollar has hit a new record low yesterday. So who didn't take my advice earlier this week? Haha.

My friend is married to one of the sweetest Thai girls you will ever meet. She studied overseas and has a decent paying job, speaks perfect english, is lovely, etc. My friend is a farang who also has a good job and is a reasonably good guy however I had the misfortune of witnessing him walking around with another girl and kissing her on the cheek (this was close to the Nana area, from which you can draw your own conclusions). I feel that they are both my friends and I don't think he should treat her this way. Do I have a responsibility to tell her?

farang can only own 49% of a building.

buying property in Thailand as an investment(you dont plan to live there) seems like an all around bad idea.

It generally is - wrong. What might pay is a low end property that is always rented out.

Someone I know, built a 10 rooms (36sqm with bathroom and balcony each, Pattaya, the other side of the Sukhumvit) building for 4 mil baht. Rents them out at 2000B per month. Minimal maintenance (no pool, no security), always full. One farang rents 1 room as his storage.

Still, it's 20K baht per month income on 4 mil baht investment. It's not 5% as he has some expenses about the property.

That same money in an Oz bank would bring more in interest per month and no hassles. Free to pack up and go.

My friend purchased 3 free hold condos today, 1 for 4,900,000 Baht and it has tennants at 40k per month for 1 year (signed contract)

the other two he purchased at 3.5 each and has a rental return of 25k per month for 1 and the other he will stay in while here in Bangkok..

A lot of people say dont buy at the moment and I would agree in some regards, but as the uncertainty from investors has been going on a for a while now, prices are dropping.. Freehold condos with an average return of 8% are not bad in my book.

If I were to rent a condo, it would be in the 30-35K baht range, paying it myself.

That's where the problem is: people paying from their own pocket would be where I could be. Those on company's check will go for something much higher. Would not have a glance at the "middle priced" accommodation, 4-5 million baht.

The affordable properties (unless low end) may remain unoccupied for years or for decades. Or never see any inhabitants except the mosqitoes.

It may be even hard to abandon such a property and run away.

the Bangkok property market is a funny one when comes to rentals. I looked for 4 months on this site and contacting brokers also. There is not many properties for rent bewteen 25k to 40k, although plenty under and plenty over. Thats my experience anyway.

As you pointed out, it is a "middle priced" apartment, but the one I saw (4.9) was really nice. The decor is brand new, it came fully furnished with 3 flat screen tv's, two double beds, fridge etc etc.. Everything brand new! It even had an ensuite bathroom with a bath. It was originally priced at 6mil and sat on the market for 9 months. My friend offered 4.8 and the guy settled (within 12 hours) on 4.9.. bargain and fantastic location on wireless road. 10 minutes walk to everything.

Im going to buy one on the floor below him at the same price from the same guy, if Im quick enough.

make sure you think everything through and make sure nothing is wrong with the property. its pretty strange for him to be selling a 6m property for 4.9m.

who says the propert was worth 6m? i learned a long time ago something is only worth what some else is willing to pay for it.

yeah sure you can sit in your house and delude yourself its worth x, and if you wait long enough you may get what you ask for,if you want to find out its true worth right now try selling it.

the law of supply and demand, buyers and sellers market, maybe the seller only paid 4m for it.

i had the same problem in the uk years ago, the first question i was asked by an estate agent was what did you pay for your house, i told them in was none of their business, i wanted to sell the house for x, they told me i couldnt, as it would drag down the resale value of similair type properties in the street.

i eventually cut them out the equation and sold the house privately, i was happy and the buyer was happy.

the fact that some speculators were up to their eyeballs in debt and couldnt afford to take a loss was not my problem.

if its being rented out for 40K baht a month, then its value if not 4.9m...

Everytime I leave the house I come back with 25 plastic bags. I want to stop killing the Earth and start recycling. How?

Could this be Thailand's version of a "sub-prime" bubble? Speculators who took out loans and are now sweating bullets because they can't sell OR rent?

Unless the banks reveal their exposure to speculators in the residential condo sector we'll never know. But I wouldn't be risking buying any Thai bank stocks anytime soon.

Actually Thailand's financing of housing is pretty conservative at the consumer level because mortgage finance is relatively new to the Thai market. In the UK, mortgages as a % of GDP are 135%, in the US it is around 85% while in Thailand outstanding mortgages as a percentage of GDP stands at only about 16%.

This, of course, fits with the sort of anecdotal evidence we read about in this thread - rich Thais buying condos out of petty cash and leaving them empty rather than Thais leveraging themselves up to the hilt in order to make money from rising asset values. In other words dont expect to see a sub prime mortgage crisis in Thailand. Of course where the banks got caught in 1997 was overleveraging to the developers - sometimes 10x capital or more. In this cycle they have been very much more cautious.

the problem with what you describe is you almost make it sound like its "hip" right now for Thais to buy condos out of petty cash. since this small group probably spends alot of time socializing with eachother, it seems like it could become unfashionable rather quickly. one person says stop buying condos and then everyone else listens. or maybe not.

First, what are the factors of a real estate bubble? Yes, prices have risen and there has been a huge increase in demand over the last few years in Bangkok condominiums. What percent of these condo's are owned outright by the owner and what percent are financed? Does Thailand have sub-prime mortgage loans? If so, what percent are they of the total mortgages? What is the foreclosure rate in Thailand and is it increasing? Can anyone give a historical analysis of Bangkok's condo market? Where is the market headed (if you think it is going to decline, please state facts why you feel that is so and not the usual 'I can't afford it therefore it must be overpriced' stuff).

they got your money upfront. anytime that happens i think you are bound to get lousy service, but at least you got a cheap price all the way back then.

earlier in the year the government passed those 30% deposit regulations and the SET crashed, only to have the laws withdrawn and a quick recovery. Somebody made billions. I would avoid the SET at all costs.

I feel very bad because I shorted the dollar 2:1 over the last 18 month so I have been robbing you guys blind. The Fed has no choice but to cut interests rates again. The subprime crisis is in full blast. If the Fed does not cut rates another .5 points (twice) the market will tank 5-10% quickly. Next year will likely see very slight growth or a possible mild recession. Of course, there will still be money to be made. But, sadly the USD is going to slide furthor. A weak dollar is much better than a weak economy. Get out of the USD. Youve been warned.

Can someone explain:

1. "shorted the dollar 2:1 over the last 18 month"

2. "the market will tank 5-10% quickly"

Many thanks.

1. i bought an etf that was leveraged inversely 2:1 against the dollar vs other currencies. in other words, if the dollar went up 1 point, i lost 2 points. if it went down 1 point, I gained 2 points.

2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_financial_crisis" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mort...inancial_crisis</a>

If the Fed cuts rates, it will help keep banks from going bankrupt and it will mean that less people default on their mortgage. The downside is that by lowering interest rates, the dollar will weaken.

Alternatively, its possible that the Fed does not cut interest rates. The US economy enters an unavoidable recession, the rest of the world follows and the dollar rises after money is pulled out of emerging markets.

An easy way to get out of the USD is to buy CurrencyShares ETFs

http://www.currencyshares.com/

I feel very bad because I shorted the dollar 2:1 over the last 18 month so I have been robbing you guys blind. The Fed has no choice but to cut interests rates again. The subprime crisis is in full blast. If the Fed does not cut rates another .5 points (twice) the market will tank 5-10% quickly. Next year will likely see very slight growth or a possible mild recession. Of course, there will still be money to be made. But, sadly the USD is going to slide furthor. A weak dollar is much better than a weak economy. Get out of the USD. Youve been warned.

You are right America is finished. The upper 1/3 of the wealthy shall move to South East India China and even Africe. All the illegals shall leave also and go home.

In ten years all of America will be poor than Africa is today. Those working in America will be lucky to make equal to 80 baht a day. While in Thailand the Thia's will be making 1000 Baht a day.

Wow, sick burn dude!

Americans would be better off by at least diversifying and picking up some gold/foreign currency holdings.

I am also long the Yen.

I will bump this thread in 6 months when the dollar is down another 15-20% and you guys are complaining about how expensive Thailand is now and I will be accused of trolling when I said that I made 30-40% while you lost 15-20%.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Those who are right will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I find it depressing that many relish the prospect of US ecconomic woes.

If the US Ecconomy 'tanks' then it is more than Americans that need to worry.

Perhaps a re-read of 'The Grapes of Wrath' is order, or indeed a first read for some.

Here. Here.

Nobody should take satisfaction in a faltering U.S. economy or $. I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the U.S.A. is still the driving force in the world. No U.S. markets, then Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and other manufacturing economies in trouble. If the Americans aren't buying , then there's real trouble ahead.

yeah thats why the government has no choice but to cut interest rates again.