Mattd

2 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

I would definitely use a lawyer and she should have an independent lawyer too. In most countries, and I am sure here too.... unless her statement agreeing to give you full custody is stamped by her lawyer saying that she has been explained her rights and the legal implications of what she is doing, the document can be nullified later. She simply says you bullied her into it or she didn't understand what she was doing. I'm going through a similar situation....

 

It may be that she doesn't want the child now...but should it be financially to her benefit in the future she may try. For eg you and your child move back to farangland. Say Australia. She meets a new guy in the future and also moves to Australia. All of a sudden her new friends are telling her the benefits she can receive from the government and you to support the child. 

 

It happened to one of the members here.

This is very good advice and should be heeded, right now the OP wife is agreeable to the loss of parental control, but, who knows what her thoughts or attitude will be in the future, maternal instincts can be very strong and it would be very wise to protect the child against any possible comeback in the future.

13 hours ago, craftyhen said:

who's the wrong crowds?

The ones that come here and spend virtually no money.

Tourist (well supposedly tourists) figures up, however, revenue from tourism well down!

Thailand is attracting the wrong crowds now.

Just now, TonyClifton said:

I don't see why it has to be drafted by a lawyer. Perhaps you can explain to me why if that is a requirement.  My friend is both Thai and American and he can do the Thai agreement which I will then have officially translated for the American Embassy.  The divorce is amicable, it is just a natural end to what amounts to irreconcilable differences.  

So long as the agreement is written in the languages that you both fully understand, one being Thai, then I apologise, ii is not an absolute requirement to use a lawyer.

Tony, as described by Ubonjoe in the other topic, the first step is to get a lawyer to draw up a divorce agreement, which must include who will have custody of the child and a statement that the mother is giving up her parental rights to the child.

This has to be written in Thai and English and form part of the divorce to be registered at the Amphur, it will be signed by the head there, witnesses, yourself and your wife.

Once this is lodged with the Amphur and a divorce certificate issued, then it becomes legally binding.

If the divorce is not amicable, then the courts will decide on custody of the child based on the facts presented to them.

2 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Another one adding conflicting wording.

I only stated the Non Imm O ME Visa was valid for 1 year.

3 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

There are only 4 options available for you to stay in Thailand long term.

I beg to differ, as there were no conflicting words whatsoever, your statement was that 'there are only 4 options for you to STAY in Thailand long term',

By definition, he cannot STAY in Thailand on a Non O ME visa, plus he would also need to have a valid reason to apply for this type of visa and most likely if retirement, then from his home country.

Granted, if he wishes to leave the country every 90 days, then the ME O visa would be an option, not sure that it would work mind if it didn't on on OA visa!

1 hour ago, Tanoshi said:

There are only 4 options available for you to stay in Thailand long term.

The Non Imm O multi entry Visa. Valid 1 year. 

The Non Imm O-A Visa. Valid 1 year.

Thai Elite Visa. Valid 5 years, costs 500,000 baht

Annual extensions of 'permission to stay' based on retirement or marriage.

The above is essentially correct with a correction.

The Non Imm O multi entry Visa. Valid 1 year. - This visa does NOT allow you to stay in Thailand long term, you would be required to depart and re-enter Thailand every 90 days.

As you originally had an O-A visa, then you must be over 50 years old, so in my opinion, your best way forward would be to get a Non-O single entry visa and apply to extend the stay based on retirement for a further year in Thailand, noting that there are financial requirements etc. to fulfil prior to applying for an extension.

2 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

methinks you meant opens at 8 am, not 5 am

I would imagine he means that the doors to Government Building B in CW open at 05.00hrs, to allow vendors and folks going to CW immigration in to the main building, the doors to the actual immigration office open at 08.30hrs.

23 minutes ago, soistalker said:

METV?

Multiple Entry Tourist Visa

The issue with countries like UK stating that they will go 'electric' by 2040 is going to be infrastructure.

On a recent trip back to the UK I hired a car via Thrifty and was given a BMW 330e, which was OK as a vehicle, my own personal thoughts were that I did not particularly like Hybrid cars, none of the driving modes allow you to totally turn the electric drive side off, which I found annoying and when in town, dangerous.

The only way of charging the 330e, with the supplied charging lead, is via a 13A household UK style plug socket, they do not supply a lead that can be used at the charging points on motorway service areas etc. (you can purchase one apparently).

This all sounds fine and I suppose it would be if you have access to a 13A socket, I did not as I was staying at hotels for the duration.

The car does not charge the batteries from the energy, it does put some charge in through braking (KERS type system), by the end of the 10 day hire the car was screaming out to be properly charged and the batteries were critically low.

I drove it in the 'save battery' mode for 99.99% of the time, to try and conserve the battery life.

This got me thinking about the change to electric / hybrid vehicles by 2040 and the shear logistical nightmare of achieving this.

For example, the first hotel I stayed at had car parking for around 150 cars and was pretty full for the 4 nights I stayed there, every car parking space is going to have to have a charging point, so that guests can charge their cars, plus some sort of metering system, so they can pay for the electricity.

Terrace houses, how do they charge their vehicles, strew wires across the pavement? This will also encourage kids to play pranks and unplug the cars, or folks stealing the electricity, oh and a tripping hazard .

Flats etc. again, how to provide charging points for each vehicle in these situations.

There have been studies carried out on the effect on the National grid of millions of cars being plugged in, right now it could not cope.

The question also comes, are these vehicles really and truly more environmentally friendly, current battery technology means fairly short journeys between charges and something has to produce the electricity needed to power these vehicles, be it produced by hydrocarbons, wind, nuclear or hydro, of those choices only hydro is sort of friendly, the wind turbines look horrible.........!!

not to mention the Lithium mines, which are a horrendous eyesore that can never be disguised.

I drove the 330e for about 1,100 miles, a lot of those on Motorways and it returned 38.8mpg, so not exactly frugal! (My car here does around about 17km per litre)

17 hours ago, David Walden said:

That's what a visa is for, so you can go the Thai Immigration once you arrive in Thailand and be given permission to enter.  I don't know what staff is at the Thai Embassy in Canberra but I expect there is an immigration section there who process visa requests.  Perhaps they send all off to Thailand in diplomat bag each day.  There about 10 flight a day to BKK from Sydney???

You have stated that you have researched visas and immigration extensively..............

A visa is issued by a Thai Embassy based on criteria laid out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NOT the immigration department, in fact the immigration department can still refuse entry at an entry point in to Thailand if they cause to believe that the conditions of the visa are not being met or abused.

The embassy's requirements for a visa application have no bearing whatsoever on the requirements for applying for an extension of stay from immigration in Thailand, they are not even remotely connected.

There will not be any immigration section at the embassy, or at least that handles visa applications. 

8 minutes ago, David Walden said:

However Thai Immigration via the Thai Embassy Canberra insists that the 18 pages of application forms be signed  by a JP.

Just for the record, Thai Immigration have no connection whatsoever with what is required to obtain a visa from any overseas Thai embassy, they only deal with immigration matters within Thailand.

The income certificate you would need from the Aussie embassy in Thailand to apply for an extension is simple one page document stating your income, no medical or police report are required either.

Don't confuse Immigration requirements in Thailand with those of an Embassy.

5 minutes ago, ELVIS123456 said:

Seems to me a lot of blokes are in 'violent agreement'.

 

My plan for when going back to live in Thailand (long term) if others are interested.

And what I did for several years when I was there long term before.

 

Year 1. Get a 12 mth multiple entry 'retirement visa' in Australia. Easy and flexible (dates times etc.) and easy entry to Thailand (no min baht in hand etc etc) and easy to get residence certificate, driving licence, and most other Govt related things.

 

Year 2. Leave Thailand for a trip/holiday, and return just before the 12 months Visa expires (date of approval not entry date). This gives me permission to stay for another 12 mths. Get a 'permission to re-enter' if wanting to leave Thailand during year 2. Easy as.

 

Year 3. Get 12 mths extension of permission to stay prior to expiration, based on retirement using income stat dec from Aust Embassy and all the other docs. Relatively easy.

 

Years 4 and onward - repeat year 3. Gets easier each time (unless some unannounced rule change).

 

 

 

Which is exactly what was suggested to the OP at the beginning, to get the extension of stay based on retirement towards the end of year 2 is perfectly acceptable and legal, absolutely no need to involve agents and if the paperwork is all correct should not take very long at all, with a cost of around 6,000 THB including, photos, copies and a multiple re-entry permit, less if opting for a singe.

The OP doesn't want to open a Thai bank account for whatever reason, IMHO he will change his mind once here, as it will make life easier for payments, online access etc., however, he can do the extension using the monthly income option, which again, is a relatively easy thing to do.

But if he so wishes to continue via O-A visas, then who are we to tell him otherwise, it is his decision and his alone.

1 minute ago, David Walden said:

I'll just come back to Aus and start all over again...not far for me.

As stated, if this is how you want to proceed in the future, then it is your prerogative and makes all further discussions about monthly income and Thai Baht accounts irrelevant. 

7 minutes ago, maximillian said:

And who will have to pay the bill ?

Becker or the company who installed the underground tank ?

Unless he is very lucky, then Becker will have to, reckon there is not much hope of getting the company to pay it.

6 minutes ago, Evilbaz said:

At the risk of contradicting you Ubonjoe he stated $830 per fortnight which is greater than 1660 per month plus $1000 per month from another pension.

I believe that exceeds 65000 Baht per month required.

OP - just state income on the Stat Dec - don't confuse the IOs.

Good point, meaning a total income per month of around 2,924 AUD, so about 76,000 THB.

1 hour ago, David Walden said:

I do qualify in all your references.  It is my intention that when living in Thailand to make  trips back to Perth West Aus often.  Usually cost about $300 Aus return if you avoid school holidays.  I plan to make sure after 12 months that I will be back in Aus and return just before all expires.  I believe as you suggest this should give me 2 years (about).  After that maybe start all over again.  It a good idea to study up bush lawyering of Thai Immigration requirements.  It sure could come in handy sometime.

From what you have stated in a previous post, then you do not qualify on the monthly income requirements alone.

Obviously it is entirely how you want to proceed, however, at some point in the future it would be wise to open a Thai bank account for your daily needs if you intend on living here on a near full time basis, otherwise you will be subjected to higher costs due to exchange rates and ATM withdrawal charges, getting THB from an Aussie bank via the ATM system in Thailand.

Once you have this Thai account opened, then it would be a fairly simple process of transferring funds to it from Australia, making sure that you have at least 800,000 THB in the account for at least 60 days prior to the end of your last permission to stay on the O-A visa, (unless, like Joe suggests, you elect to use both income and the bank methods) The rest is relatively easy to get the extension of stay for retirement purposes from immigration in Thailand, certainly a lot less involved than renewing your O-A visa in Australia and a lot less expensive. All you would need to remember to do after this is to get a re-entry permit for those trips to Perth.

Subsequent renewals would require the money to be in the bank for 3 months prior to applying for the extension.

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

How are you going to meet the financial requirements when it's time to renew the visa in one year?

Actually, if the OP plays his cards right and takes a trip out of Thailand just prior to the visa's use by date, then he will not have to renew anything for near on 2 years, by which time hopefully he will have everything needed in place to make an extension of stay, based on retirement, at immigration in Thailand and avoid a repeat of getting the O-A visa.

At some point during the tenure of the visa the OP needs to open a Thai bank account and transfer sufficient funds to it, or have sufficient monthly income and the income certificate from the Aussie Embassy in preparation for the extension.

On 11/09/2017 at 2:11 PM, retarius said:

He's too young to get a license.....parents are at fault for allowing him to ride. Sorry not much sympathy.

Totally agree parents wise, however, if he is indeed 15, then he is not too young to get a motorcycle license, whether he had one is a different matter!

51 minutes ago, Becker said:

Well, it seems the mystery is solved. It turns out that the tank I had them put underground in my garden a couple of years ago has sprung a leak

Glad to hear that you seem to have found the problem, as I said before, this is a problem with underground tanks, personally known a lot of people that have had problems with one and ended up costing a lot of money in water and to fix. Honestly, you are much better off with a tank above ground, yes they do not particularly look nice, if you are lucky, then it can be tucked away hidden somewhere unobtrusive.

Yes, get the meter checked out, best to be safe than sorry.

15 hours ago, Becker said:

It's about 4 meters below ground. The thing is even with a broken pipe it's probably not possible to run up such a bill since the pressure in the water pipe is so low it's only a trickle at the best of times.

I assume that you mean that the distance between the meter and the tank is about 4 metres and the pipe is buried below ground?

Is the tank above or below ground?

Below ground tanks can consume huge amounts of water if the valve is not shutting the water off and the water leaks away, I would be checking this, as well as any broken pipe between the meter and the tank, is it garden or concrete that the pipe / tank are under?

If it is garden, then there would normally be quite visible signs of the ground being water logged.

Personally, I would replace any underground tank with one above ground, they are are far more accessible to maintain not to mention that the below ground ones tend to be a nice habitat for all things nasty as well!

You will have no problem in obtaining a ME non-b visa so long as your company provides the correct documentation, this visa will allow you to conduct business meetings etc. a non-b visa is not solely issued for working in Thailand with a work permit.

Sold, to the next high profile Thai that is due in court.............

13 minutes ago, elviajero said:

It would be interesting to know if existing Thai Insurance policies will be accepted.

What is interesting is if the premiums against the level of healthcare offered are yearly or for the duration, if they are yearly, then they are extremely overpriced.