GuestHouse

Taksin is a Nationalist, he has played on the fear Thais have of foreigners controlling Thailand (a smoke screen to his own corrupt behavior).

So.

Taksin supporters are likely to be afraid of Foreigners or have a dislike of foreigners, more than a few will be the same kind of people who join Nationalist parties back home (BNP/National Front - Right Wing Skinheads) - Yes they exist in Thailand but they don't dress up the same.

So.

If you are wearing an anti Taksin badge then you are increasing your chances of problems with some very nasty people.

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That said

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I do think that taking part in public debate (writing to news papers, discussing political issues with Thai friend etc) is not only valid but to be encouraged. Foreigners are part of Thailand, they have been for centuries and consequently will have an impact on Thai society.

Take part, bring new ideas from your own culture, but do so in a way that does not put you at risk and moreover projects Farang views as valid, considerate and possitively contributing to the country we have come to love.

Supervillain,

If you haven't contacted a lawyer for legal advice I would advise you do so before you do any more work or investment on your rice mill.

To my mind you are taking a huge risk if you have not already taken legal advice.

At the very least you should not be investing the kind of money you are talking about without having addressed the following:

I would have set up a Thai limited company under my control before starting the invest (Talk to a lawyer about that)

Having set up the company I would have got my work permit before starting to invest (Talk to a lawyer about that)

I would have purchased the land on which the Company is going to do business in the company name OR got a 30 year lease in the company name before investing any money in buildings, machinary or other investments. (Talk to a lawyer about that)

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If you haven't addressed these issues with a lawyer, and if you have invested using someone else's name then get legal advice now - today and don't bring any more money over until you have had legal advice.

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You can fool some of the people some of the time

but I still dont hink you will be getting such a great package unless your management or oil.

Management AND oil

Don't forget about your partner's relatives. They can often make the life of the upcountry farang very unpleasant

One of the attractions of Thailand is the geography of the place.

There is ample scope for anyone of us to go 'UP COUNTRY' while leaving the in-laws 'DOWN COUNTRY' and if they happen to be 'DOWN COUNTRY' we can head 'UP COUNTRY'.

This is also why I try to keep the inlaws as far away from my car as possible. I don't want the mother-in-law overcoming her motion sickness....

Trading in wildlife requires a license and each cross border transportation requires a permit and inspection.

Why would a multinational pay the full expat deal and why is it necessary to have an expat.

Well here's an example.

We had a THAI client who was refusing to sign off completion on a contract. The hold point was 'deviations from the contract', something that occurs in all contracts and for which a compromise on deviations is a necessary step to completion.

We had been sending our THAI manager to the meetings with the THAI client manager but the meetings where getting nowhere.

We eventually sent an British expat to the meeting and he closed out all the issues, he never offered any thing different than what our Thai manager offered, the paperwork was the same but the THAI client wanted to deal with a foreigner.

I myself have been to client meetings, and particularly at the proposal stage where THAI clients have shown a marked preference for having a team of foreigners presented infront of the Thai company bidding for the work. I've been to meetings with Thai clients where I have had the distinct impression that the THAI manager was putting on a show for his own Thai staff of how he was managing the Foriegner.

Having a Foreigner working for you seems to be a status thing among Thai managers and they seem to be very happy to spend the company money ensuring that is what they get.

As I say, and as backed up by others, the rates I have given are correct for multinationals assigning their own staff from overseas.... the banks I would add are paying much much more.

If you want to do a quick calculation try this pension calculator from the BBC Pension Calculator

It will give you some idea how much you need to save for retirement based on UK pension rules.

The OP should go speak to a financial adivor in the UK. The pension laws have been thoroughly revised and these revised laws come into affect in April.

As for advice on relying on the UK state pension.....

Somebody from the UK who is in the 20s now will receive their state pension when they are 67 (not 65) - recent changes to the pension laws.

The state UK state pension does not meet the minimum income requirements to stay in Thailand.

I'm in my forties and I have absolutely no expectation that the state pension will be available to me when I retire.

My prediction is they will allow the state pension to devalue over time and supliment it with additional income related payments - effectively making it means tested and undoubtedly those welfare payments will not be payable overseas....

I do not believe that any UK government is going to continue paying state pensions to people with private pensions or (and here's a thing) continue paying state benefits to people sitting on hundreds of thousands of pounds of property.

I might be wrong, but I doubt it.

Not scientific but....

When I lived in Pattaya I watched the local Thai TV news, I reckon that there were at least three murders a week. OK Pattaya is noway typical of Thailand, but tell me a town in the US/UK/Europe with a similar population where so many murders are taking place.

Likewise my wife's Amphur (Rural Nakhon Sawan) has had five people murdered since I have know her (Six years). My home town in the UK, which has a considerably larger population has had one murder in my life time (over forty years).

It's not just murders. Thais I know remove all their jewelry before they take a cab as a precaution against being mugged by the taxi driver.

We must also understand that because you 'feel safe' does not mean you 'are safe'. The test of this is to ask the honest advice of Thais. I'm quite sure I'm not the only person here who's Thai wife or friends have warned against some risk that we have brushed off as not worth worrying about.

The point is, they see the risks that a foreigner unable to read the situation doesn'e see.

It works the other way around too. My wife visiting the UK suggests she migh walk out of town to an Asian food centre located in a local industrial estate, and then wonders why I think her walking alone down the dual carriage way is not a good idea.

We can't say judging oranges with apples and then make statements about feeling safe without realising the missunderstanding of risks that we are all subject to when in another country/culture.

One thing is for sure. You can be as big and muscley as you like, but you are making a mistake to think that a Thai guy half your size can't floor you or worse. (When he can't his friends can).

It helps that I'm 6'8" (203cm) and 360lbs. (163kg.) of pure muscle

I've seen bigger men weeping at the loss of their life's savings to a 42kg girl they tried to save from a bar.

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As for Crime, well I don't have bars on my windows in the UK, nor here in Italy..So what's all that about?

It an extract from a letter reputidely written by Jack the Ripper.

And is simply another example of Anti-Sematic <deleted>. Not Thailand related and in contravention with at least two of the rules on here.

So you are saying there are companies queing up to pay 5,000 US$ before salary (+30%) for people that they dont even particularly need to be in Thailand.

No, I am saying they pay the rate. The OP's question relates to multinationals and I work for ONE multinational, perhaps others pay under the rate. But I don't work for them.

What's needed here is a Thai version of Ester Ranson

Heaven forbid...

But no you are right, and while I distest the woman it is undoubted that her consumer rights campaign had a huge impact on improving Consumer Expecation - I'll take my hat of to her for her work in promoting awareness of Child Abuse and forcing the topic into the public areana.....

So, I agree we Thailand could do with someone like her...

However, I can see it now, turning up at the office of som Thai business shark to highlight his illegal goings on..... She'd be shot within a month.

Can you show me any other people where the complete country has a 5 day water fight in the middle of a drought season?

India, and just for good measure they add colour to the water.

Meanwhile, the areas around the borders of Holland/Belgium and Germany together with Rio and Venice are enjoying Carnival this week..

Now there is Sanuk!

My wife loved the UK and when we discuss the possibility of me being assigned back there for a spell she immediately starts planning trips to the lake district, days out in the countryside and all the other things she enjoyed while there.

I have two different experiences of this:

When my wife appliedd to the British Embassy in Singapore (where we were both living and working legally and both holding valid employment passess). The embassy refused our application on the grounds that my wife had not been in Singapore for more then one full year (She had been in Singapore 11 months at the time of the application!).

My wife returned to BKK and submitted what was sucessful aplication in BKK.

Within one year of moving to the UK we moved again to Italy.

So we are now in Italy and may be applying here at the British Embassy in Rome some time later this year for a second Spouses Visa, the first will expire in July of this year. I have made enquiries and have already been informed that the British Embassy will accept my wife's application provided she has her Italian Residence permit. (She has this ducument and therefore can apply here).

Had she not she would have to return once again the BKK.

So. If you are going to live elsewhere then I suggest that you make sure your wife receives a full resident's permit and that you speak to the local embassy to get the EXACT requirements with respect to your wife being elligable to apply locally.

My own view is that it is probably easier if you simply find a job in hte UK and work at meeting the UK requirements.

I personally think unless you are REALLY needed out here in Thailand.

You are making the wrong judgement of why this level of payment is made. It is not the price of the individual in Thailand, it is the price of that individual world wide.

My employers work internationally but we have a very small number of people who are willing/able to work overseas. They are needed in any one of our 38 offices world wide and importantly could go to a competitor overnight. That sets the rate.

Also, Thailand is treated to some extent as a 'reward' assignment, so a guy spends 2 years in Nigeria and is then sent to Thailand for his next assignment. So it is not that the company can get a local guy cheaper, it is more they have people they want to keep and who they look after.

I think it's fair to say that the level of Sanuk increases markedly when Thais are paying the bill themselves.

I think having or enjoying Sanuk is very important to Thais, but I my own observations are that while they feel it is important, and they are delighted to join in Sanuk when they find it. Thais, like the rest of us are bogged down with all the worries of life.

To expect them to be fundementally different from the rest of us is just plain silly.

Again, I would go talk to a finacial advisor.

I've been living overseas for almost twenty years, I'm a high earner and I still receive consistant advice not to bank offshore.

You should be looking at ISA's and looking into the new pension laws (Changing very much in favour of people with cash to invest after April).

I presume we are talking about your life's savings and that you are intending to retire - Hence your savings are irriplacable - You really ought to be looking at Security as your first priority.

I have colleagues who have invested and banked off shore and who I know have regretted doing so.

I've spent twelve years working in Thailand in a engineering office with Thais who’s education ranges from high school level to Phd. A great deal of my work has been reviewing documents written in English by Thais.

As a result I am pretty familiar with the kind of mistakes Thais make in their written English.

Having read VisaLady's posts, I note that the grammar, while not complete, is remarkably correct. But there is something else, the punctuation is almost spot on.

I'd conclude that the author is a native English speaker and on that basis that they have other problems that perhaps need to be addressed to the health branch.

Nice post Soph, best of luck back home and best of luck with your studies.

I think you'll find when you step off the aircraft in the UK it's like you've never been away. As for the weather, well there were more than a few days in the high eighies last summer.

..... Oooh I've just thought.... REAL BEER.... Lucky S0d.

John,

I know Sriracha is not the most exciting place on the planet (I lived there for three years) but you need to get out more.

Read this and smell the coffee

I put forward a question in response (link above) that bears a lot of consideration

Base Salary (From where ever you are coming from)

+

25% on base overeas uplift

+

Housing allwance (Should be in excess of Bht30K/moth for single status and Bht45K married status)

+

Living Allowance (Bht25K/month single Bht40K/month Married + 10K per child)

+

Car or (20K per month car allowance - check they give you insurance)

+

Flights home once per year for each family member (door to door expense)

+

Full medical insurance for all family members (including evac home if necessary)

+

International school fees for each child over 4yrs and under 18yrs

+

Shpping costs for household goods in/out of Thailand (half standard container is usual)

+

One month in Hotel with 'reasonable' open expenses until you settle in

+

Visas for all famiy members

Also, you should not loose 'service; while overseas in Thailand, membership of company pension/health plans should be maintained.