Always18

What you need is non immigrant visa. Rest of the docs can be get here in Thailand.

On top of my head you need address letter from your embassy or immigration office together with your non immigrant visa and that's about it. If you buy new car the dealer can handle all this for you. And yes, hotel address will be ok.

Before you leave UK get also IDP and then it is easy to convert the IDP to Thai DL. Again you just need non immigrant visa, address letter from embassy or immigration and medical certificate from local doctor.

Many thanks for that MJo.

Hi,

please forgive me if these questions has been asked already but I've looked through the postings and can't seem to find the answers!

My Thai wife and I are shortly re-locating from the UK to Sisaket to build a house but in the short term we'll be living in a hotel for maybe 8-12mths.

As a matter of urgency, I intend to buy a new 4wd pick-up (probably Isuzu as they offer serious discounts for cash) and am unsure what documents are required for a cash purchase.

Do I need proof of residence and if so will a hotel "residence" be acceptable?

Do I need a Thai driving licence? - I certainly intend to get one ASAP.

What is the process for registering and insuring the vehicle?

I would really appreciate any advice or info - a list of required docs would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Im currently living in Bangkok teaching english and I am making my first trip down south. . landing in phuket on thursday morning and staying for 7 days. . as of now thats all i really have planned. . was thinking the normal route patong, kata/koran, phi phi islands. . any other advice, must see places, places to avoid ect. .

im 31 traveling alone. . will do my fair share of partying but would love to explore and see and do some different things as well. . \

thanks

Spent four very happy weeks mainly in Kamala 18mths ago with regular trips along the coast to Surin Beach and Bang Tao Beach - just heavenly.

Be sure to visit the Little Aussie Bar in Kamala if you do go - you'll get a very warm welcome from Ploy, Tui, Nuch and all the other bar staff!

Lots of great places to eat - Mam's Place is one of the best.

I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time.

Just noticed that you have used the same office that I will have to apply to at the end of this year for a "marriage extension" - it would be really helpful if you could list all of the documents that they required and, in particular, did they ask for any of these "photos at home" mentioned on this thread?

Many thanks.

My visa extension is on a Non Imm O single entry extended for reason of marr to Thai wife. Docs required were:

House book

map to house (they have an A4 sheet on which they normally require you to draw directions but I had one which I printed out), directions to your hotel should be acceptable

Marr. certificate (mine was in English from HK) and certified Thai translation

Two 6x4 passport photos

Wife's Thai ID and passport

Main passport pages

Letter from bank stating balance (closer to date the better)

Bank a/c book (they accept a joint a/c) they asked the source of the money in the a/c and I was able to show them an a/c statement from a foreign bank (HK) in my name. They require balance of Bt400,000 for two months

Photos of marriage and in the home together (they photocopied and returned them)

Bt1,900

Two copies are required of all documents, they send one to Korat (main office) for approval and keep one at the office, approval is normally a month later (you will get a one month stamp in your pp) and you have to return to get the one year stamp, best to phone first before you go for the final stamp. They may also make enquiries with neighbours through the police, I guess they would check with your hotel.

The Phu Sing office is actually close to the border at Chong Sangham and is a good hours' drive from Sisaket. It is not normally very busy and is quite friendly. I have been using the office for three years but all the staff changed a couple of months ago.

Thank you so much Pnustedt - that info will be a great help to us.

My Thai wife and I are currently residing in the UK but plan to relocate to Sisaket at the end of the year and live in a hotel while we have our house built on her land (owned in her name).

My current non O multi expires in December and I had planned to get an extension of permission to stay based on our marriage.

We can provide all of the listed documents (including the name change on her ID card) except, of course, the "household book".

Does anyone know if proof of hotel residency (for maybe 6mths or more) would suffice? or could we use her land ownership documents as proof of our address? or maybe her brother's household book with his confirmation that we continually reside there to supervise the building works?

I'd be grateful for any suggestions!

Many thanks.

Your wifes house boes does not have to be in her name and in many cases it would not be.

You do not have to be living where she is registered as living. The house bookd does need to show your marriage.

You can use a temporary address when you do the extension. The hotel address should be okay for the application.

Many thanks guys for your swift and helpful info - this forum really is great asset!

It was before this year - have you checked recently?

Yes. After reading advice on this forum I checked with my imm. office 60 days before renewal was due. I renewed my 12 month marriage visa a couple of weeks ago with joint a/c. No prob.

Maybe I should elaborate further as my experience seems to contradict and upset the advice of moderators.

After reading the advice on this forum that joint a/cs were no longer acceptable I embarked on a hour and half drive with wife to Phu Sing Imm office. There the officer advised me that our joint a/c was fine - he said the only change was requirement for 2 month dep. instead of 3 and that there had been no further interpretation from head office on this. Wasted best part of a day but ok, thought it was sorted.

Went back to extend visa based on marr. end of Mar. The whole office had changed. I was served by an officer who had just arrived from Phuket. A chief officer from Phibun Magsahan was in charge and another officer transferred from Sauvanabaum was present. Our joint a/c was accepted, no question asked, so I queried it, citing questions on the internet. The officer dealing with me confirmed the original reply from the previous Phu Sing officer. My wife then queried the woman in charge who also agreed and this was confirmed by the woman from Sauvanabaum. The officer who originally dealt with me 60days earlier had been transferred to Chonburi.

All documents were then sent to Korat (who have jurisdiction over all Isaan imm. offices) for approval. Needless to say, it was approved and I got the visa extension stamp end April.

So, from the evidence I have, joint a/cs are accepted in Phu Sing, should be accepted in Phibun Magshan, Sauvanabaum, Phuket and Chonburi, and indeed, in all Isaan offices who are under the jurisdiction of Korat.

Just noticed that you have used the same office that I will have to apply to at the end of this year for a "marriage extension" - it would be really helpful if you could list all of the documents that they required and, in particular, did they ask for any of these "photos at home" mentioned on this thread?

Many thanks.

new is that the income now only can be the foreign husbands. As you don't have the income option you have to make use of the money in the bank option, which also has to be the foreign husbands money only. The money has to be in the account for 2 months.

new is also that ou now can only apply at the immigraiton office of your area.

other documents are the same as always:

- wife

- marrriage certificate

- pasport

- passphoto

- copy ID- wife

- household book

- bank book

- bank letter

- map to the house

Contact your immigration office for the specifics what they want.

My Thai wife and I are currently residing in the UK but plan to relocate to Sisaket at the end of the year and live in a hotel while we have our house built on her land (owned in her name).

My current non O multi expires in December and I had planned to get an extension of permission to stay based on our marriage.

We can provide all of the listed documents (including the name change on her ID card) except, of course, the "household book".

Does anyone know if proof of hotel residency (for maybe 6mths or more) would suffice? or could we use her land ownership documents as proof of our address? or maybe her brother's household book with his confirmation that we continually reside there to supervise the building works?

I'd be grateful for any suggestions!

Many thanks.

the wonders of pattaya

wonder if she enhoyed her german sausage

The two quarreled while having sex so she bit him and he called friends to send him to the hospital.

very bad move

when I was at school Belgium and Germany were 2 different countries. Belgium is famous for chocolate, maybe she wanted to get to the soft centre

I suspect she did, in fact, believe he was German, as she was later reported to say that it was "the wurst Wurlitzer I have ever come across...................!".

The documents required for a license include permanent residence certified by Immigration or the Embassy, this is easier with a yellow book, which I thought most people would have. How do people get around this?

Taken from this site:

The following are required to make the application :

1. Passport with valid Non-immigrant Visa. (Individuals with a Tourist Visa don't qualify)

2. Present residence address certified by embassy or Immigration Bureau

3. Medical certificate stating good health

4. 2 photographs Driving License of the respective country Application in person.

Fee : 105 baht for cars and 55 baht for motorcycle. Applications for driving licenses for other forms of vehicle may not be granted.

My Thai wife and I will shortly be re-locating to Sisaket from the UK and I was also wondering about how I get a Thai driving licence so this thread has has raised a few questions in my own mind:-

1) I've seen the above documents listed on the Thai Embassy FAQ web page but also a reference to having to sit a (Thai language) driving test - are you saying that the Thai licence can be obtained purely on a documentary application?

2) We will be residing in hotel for at least 6mths up in Sisaket while we get our house built - will a hotel address suffice for the "residence address" and if so how does one go about getting it verified by the British Embassy?

3) What is the process for obtaining the "good health medical cert"?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer.

we used excess removals (their name from memory) when moving from London,, and were serviced by Transpro/Asian tigers when arrived in Thailand.

Did it under the Thai national exemption (ie me) and we indeed given tax free exemption. Highly recommend transpro (maybe ring them and ask who they work with in your part of the UK). But I was out of the country of a clean 12 months, so no debate there.

Key to doing it cheaply and hassel free, as others have said, is to have door to door delivery. An established agent already has deals going with the theives, sorry, customs agents down at the port authority, so they are already paying for things to get through with a minimum of fuss.

The last thing you wat to be doing is heading down to the port yourself. It will just cost you more.

Many thanks guys for all your helpful tips.

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

When I got a container with my furniture and personal effects shipped here from the UK, the local handling agent telephoned me and invited me to pay a cash amount 'for which there would be no receipt' instead of the duty. I cannot remember exactly how much unfortunately (getting old), but that itself implies it was not prohibitive! A friend of mine did exactly the same, and it seems to be standard practice.

Thanks for the pointer stbkk - was this a local agent acting on behalf of a UK freighting company?

I'd appreciate it if you could post details of the companies you or your friend employed (if you still have them) as I've not been impressed with the so-called "inclusive service" offered by many of the big UK international movers - they all seem to expect me to ferret out the import duty details myself.

Any other tips would be equally gratefully received!

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

Many thanks for the swift reply lopburi3 - and the clarification about work permit requirements.

The levels of duty which I have been advised would likely be payable on personal household goods imports seem to vary up to about 50% of "CIF" value (for a bicycle) - which I'm told means the product of the cost of the item X the insurance value X the cost of freighting the goods. If this is the case it would certainly mean a prohibitive duty.

I accept your point about whether our household goods would be either appropriate or relevant in Thailand - we are both committed to sourcing our needs within Thailand if at all possible - and have narrowed our list considerably but there remains that "hard core" of possessions (cookware, crockery, cutlery, kitchen equipt, DIY tools, furniture, books, computer equipt., CD's etc etc!) which we would both rather not have to start replacing unless there was no other option!

I'd certainly be grateful if any other contributors can clarify this "12mth living abroad" criterion?

Hi all - and the usual apologies if this topic has been covered already, although I have searched all the relevant postings so far without success!

My situation is that my Thai wife and I will shortly (about Oct/Nov 2009) be re-locating to Sisaket (from the UK) where we have bought a plot of land and plan to build a small house.

We had hoped to ship part of our UK household personal belongings to Sisaket and initially I did not intend to continue working but I am re-thinking my position in view of the prohibitive import duties placed upon household possessions when shipped into Thailand.

There appear to be very few scenarios where such imports are allowed to be "duty free" - either the "returning Thai national" who has lived abroad for 12mths or the "foreigner" who has a work permit (or residency).

I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone about how the "12 mths" is calculated so that is my first question dear readers! - is it a 12mth unbroken, continuous period? - is it a cumulative total of 12mths? - is it a 12mth period but during which there was a 2mth return trip to Thailand from the UK?

Assuming my wife does not qualify for that exemption, my next question is how do I obtain a work permit? - what documents are required? - can I get one whilst I am still within the UK?

My work (if I choose to continue with it) is carried out entirely over the internet or telephone and does not appear to fall within any of the prohibited categories - I currently have a non "O" multi visa which expires in Dec 2009 and I intend to extend my permission to stay in Thailand based upon my marriage.

Are there any on-going tax implications (within Thailand) of obtaining a work permit? - the whole purpose of obtaining such a permit would be to avail ourselves of the duty-free household goods importation so any extra serious hassle caused by the work permit would not make this viable!

My thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

Answer: Don't Drink and Drive!

esp in Bangkok, and with the taxi so cheap!

If you do take a taxi it's probably best if you have a drink or six beforehand.

I don't indulge, but if there is one thing that would 'drive' me to drink, it's Bangkok taxi driving.

Good question, I have no idea. The machine the cops had at the roadside looked pretty basic to me. I only had to blow in the general direction of the thing, it was held around 20cm from my mouth. The ones in the UK have an actual mouthpiece.

Made me wonder if it wasn't a home-made device or an old asthma inhalator painted up to persuade you to cough up some tea money... but then why would it have given a negative result? Maybe it was broken He should take it back to Pantip for a refund.

Assuming one is found to be "over the limit", does anyone know what the likely penalties would be?