otherstuff1957

The process varies with your nationality.  It's pretty easy if you are from the US.  It's expensive, complicated and difficult if you are from the UK.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

As speculation swirled over whether the president might fire him, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Trump "remains confident in Secretary Esper."

 So, any bets as to who the next Sec of Defense is going to be?  If Trump's mouthpiece said that, it's guaranteed that he's on the way out!

Like most other schools, mine will be opening on July 1.  We are currently trying to organize classes so that the students can practice Social Distancing.  Personally I think that trying to make 10 year old stay at least one meter away from each other is an idea that is doomed for the very beginning.  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of schools end up just going through the motions after the first week or so.

I filed a 1040 and 2555 for 2018.  I'm not collecting any SS benefits.  I used my Thai address in my US tax return

Well, I just deposited my Stimulus Check.  My local BKK bank branch could not handle it, so I went to the main branch on silom. Up on the second floor I was given the choice between cashing it for 2000 or so Baht and depositing it for 477.30 Baht. Since I don't need the money urgently, I deposited it.  It's supposed to clear in a couple of months.

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

They have special exemptions in the laws to make sure foreign teachers can be paid much less than a normal job.

 

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.....simple.

Actually the University jobs pay the same for Thai and Foreign teachers. 

At Primary and Secondary schools Foreign teachers have much higher salaries than the Thai teachers.  When you compare teachers with comparable experience the Foreigners usually start at at least 30K, often 40K, while new Thai teachers usually start at 15K.  As a Foreign department head, I earn more than twice as much as a Thai department head (I accidentally saw the salary list once).

3 hours ago, racyrick said:

What was the date that your checked was supposed to be sent? April 24th or May 1st

Thanks

There is no date on the envelope, but the check itself is dated May 1st,  so it took about 1 month to get here.

If anyone else got their check, which bank did you deposit it with?  I have accounts with Bangkok Bank, KrungThai Bank and Kasikorn.  I'll probably try BB, but I wonder if one might have an advantage with foreign checks over another.

I got my check in the mail today! ????

I no longer have a US bank account. 

I file taxes every year using my address in Bangkok and filing both a 1040 and a 2555 (no taxes owed or refunded).

I have not filed my taxes for 2019 yet, as there is no mail service to the US at this time, so the most recent filing was for 2018.

The check was sent to my Bangkok address and it is a real check, not a debit card.

1 hour ago, AlfHuy said:

The 3rd paper called Statement 3

Here, the owner of the property has to come to immigration and testify to the officer that...... person X , relationship, allow.....

I, guarantor that Mr. ..... is still living at. ....

 

Is this the tm.30?  I thought that was was no longer being enforced?

There are tons of famous people who have lived in my hometown, but the only one I knew personally is Zeliko Ivanek, a largely unknown actor who I went to high school with. 

Anyway, a partial list of famous people from my hometown who I never met:

Steve Jobs

Hewlett and Packard (Bill and Dave)

The guys who founded Google (HQ across the Highway from my old home)

The guys who founded Yahoo

Some of the Grateful Dead

The Kingston Trio

Joan Baez

Condoleeza Rice (never met her, but we have several mutual acquaintances)

Herbert Hoover (former US president)

Erle Stanley Gardner (wrote Perry Mason)

I just mailed in my 90 day report.  I know that it is "not required", but a wouldn't be surprised if we are all told to make up the missing 90 day reports on the first of August!

Notice that the USA is not even on that list?  That is because there is no accreditation done by the US Federal Government.  Accreditation is done at the regional state level.  

This does not mean that Thailand will not accept degrees from the US, but they might ask for a letter of accreditation from WASC or some other regional body.  Despite it not being on any of the OCSC lists, they did accept my B.S. from the US along with my rather dodgy Philippine Graduate Diploma.

36 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Treat them like a tax collector!! ???? 

Isn't that a bit too harsh?

18 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

OK to open the malls, but not schools?

Kids are mobile disease vectors.  They can spread a disease more effectively than anything on Earth!  If one student with a cold or flu comes to a primary classroom he or she is guaranteed to infect at least two or three classmates.  They are especially likely to spread C19, as children are usually asymptomatic and won't even know that they have caught it and are spreading it.

Most schools in Thailand are scheduled to start on July 1 and most Thais live in extended 3 or 4 generation families, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a wave of grandparents falling ill in late July. 

The school they want to get into should have a website.  It will be the name of the school .ac.th.  Unless the website manager is not working due to Coved19, the webpage should have news and announcements, including the date and location of the next admission tests.

^^^ C19 is not a 'super flu', it is a 'super cold'.  Although scientists don't know yet, it may very well not give give long term immunity, just like catching a cold one year does not give you immunity the next year.

If a vaccine cannot be developed, just as an effective cold vaccine has never been developed, then the long term effects will have many big businesses cheering it on.  A future with C19 will be a world with average lifespans being reduced from 80ish to 70ish.  This means that many people will work for 45-50 years and then die.  If only a minority of retired people live past 65 or 70, the big winners will be pension funds and social security systems. 

You can look at your Google Maps travel history.  I did and noticed that it did not differentiate between my walking past a building and actually going inside.  Unless the app can somehow get phones to identify who's phone has been within 2 meters of yours, the data produced by the app will be of limited use, to say the least.

Although it is very difficult to model the behavior of C19, as it seems to act very differently in different countries (although some of those differences are due to variations in testing and reporting) I do think that low population density areas (about 1/2 of the US) could come out of lockdown right now.

Foreign teachers are considered to be temporary contract employees.  Consequently there isn't much difference between a private or a government school.  Each school will have their own contract stipulations.

Certainly Thailand, and other low casualty countries should be phasing out the lockdown.  The hardest hit countries - US and UK should probably be a bit more cautious. 

With single digit new cases and declining numbers of deaths, it is just ridiculous to continue lockdown here.  However, they should be careful about opening the borders again.

On 5/11/2020 at 1:07 PM, damascase said:

Looking for a degree from a non-existent institution - doesn’t that automatically disqualify you for any academic title other than a bought one?

Farminton is a fake university. 

Framingham, on the other hand, is a real university that offers both on-campus and online classes.

^ I was told at the post office that surface mail to the US would take about 2 months.

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

As far I know every Android phone come preinstalled with this little app and you can check for every minute of the last years where you have been. Try it!

https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

And then think about if you trust Google to keep that data secret...

Interesting. I spent a few minutes looking at my history and it says that I have visited several places that I have walked or driven past, but never really entered.