daboyz1

Try the quickie first, if it's a no, get the K3.

There is no more K-3. IR-1/CR-1 is the only route now for a marriage visa.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/667521-reopening-of-surin-airport-in-november-2013/

A few things to think about.

Ideally, though it seems unlikely from what I've seen, I'd like us to get hitched next week, then go there in November as man and wife and deal with the greencard there.

1. Does your fiancee have a tourist visa to the U.S.? If not, then that's not going to work. Even if she did have one, it would be tough convincing them that she would not stay in the U.S. and adjust status, which is what you are proposing. It would suck to fly all the way to the U.S. and then have her denied entry at CBP and sent back. Coming to the U.S. on a tourist visa with the intention of adjusting status (immigrating) is considered fraud. Key word "intention"

So, on to the real question. Should we still get married next week? The more I delve into the legalese of US immigration law, the more it seems that if we are married here, she would have to wait about a year before getting her green card and being allowed into the US. I've also found a snag that I don't know if it applies, but it's for sponsoring her to come to the US: I've read that I'd need an income of about $20K USD yearly or more to sponsor her, otherwise she would be unable to enter the US. Does that apply to the situation? I certainly haven't made that much as a teacher in Thailand.

2. The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok almost never allows co-sponsors for K-1 visas (fiancee visas.) I've seen them do it in a case where the petitioner (you) was a university student. That said, they will allow co-sponsors for CR-1/IR-1 visas (marriage visas) So unless you can show tax returns with gross income of roughly 20k USD for the last tax year, you're going to need a co-sponsor.

Another option is to get married ASAP, and get a Thai Non-O marriage visa. There's a process where you can do all the paperwork while living in Thailand with your wife called Direct Consular Filing (DCF), but they require 6 months of residency in Thailand with a visa other than a tourist visa. I don't know how they would feel about counting your tourist visa time in addition to your Non-O time to get to the 6 months. This process moves very quickly. Usually 2-3 months max vs. doing it from the U.S. which could take 7-12 months depending on the visa route you go, and other factors. You'll also need a domicile in the U.S. no matter what route you choose.

Are you doubting the reliability of the bamboo telegraph?

i just got a reply from SSA in Manila

'

Good day,

In the event of your death, your wife may file for the lump sum death payment – a one-time payment of $255.

Your wife will be eligible to survivor’s benefits (monthly benefits) at age 60. However, if she is not a U.S. Citizen and has not lived in the U.S. for at least five years while married to you, she will not be paid benefits while living in Thailand.

All applications for benefits may be filed through SSA Manila. She may reach us by mail, email, fax or phone. Please see our contact information below.

Address: Social Security Administration, American Embassy, 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Ermita, 0930 Manila, Philippines

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 63-2-3012000 option 9

Fax: 63-2-7089714'

so it looks like no can do

Interesting. I wonder if the wife has to be a citizen living in the U.S. for 5 years, or simply living in the U.S. for 5 years? I ask because my wife has been living in the U.S. for almost 5 years, but she's only been a citizen for a year.

The thieves are always around as Jaba "seems" to make it easier to live such a life. Find it hard to believe that hotel owners are using this flood to raise their price for their shitty rooms from 120 baht to 500 baht.

And the politicians don't know how to "fix" the problem? Give me a break.-

What amphur are those photos from?

Pol.Col. Witipoj Pojanakom, commander of Bang Saphan District in the province, said Mr. Somboon would still be charged posthumously with murders per Thai laws.

That doesn't make sense.

Pretty odd I've learned more about social security on a Thai Visa website than I have anywhere else.

I can understand the wife not being concerned for her falang but the indifference towards the car is bewildering

What does this interview sound like an ad for Kenyon International?

My wife says we paid 24K baht for this term for our daughter who is now in M4 @ SH College. This includes the uniforms and most of the books.

However, they have a scam going on where they virtually insist that she also go to special tutoring every Wed til 7pm, Sat mornings, and all day Sunday that you also have to pay for. An extra hour and a half of instruction on Wed is 550 baht a month. Once you pay for these, the school willl often cancel the class at the last minute for some flimsy reason and keep the money.

I just paid the tuition. It was 25427.50 to be exact. I think the second term is cheaper for some reason. We'll see. Thanks again for your post.

My wife says we paid 24K baht for this term for our daughter who is now in M4 @ SH College. This includes the uniforms and most of the books.

However, they have a scam going on where they virtually insist that she also go to special tutoring every Wed til 7pm, Sat mornings, and all day Sunday that you also have to pay for. An extra hour and a half of instruction on Wed is 550 baht a month. Once you pay for these, the school willl often cancel the class at the last minute for some flimsy reason and keep the money.

Thanks for your quick response. This is actually for my niece. She's alone at the school and lives in one of the small dorm rooms there. My wife and I live in Texas, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get hit with the "special farang" price from the school. My wife also mentioned the uniform costs, which apparently cost more than M3.

My wife is saying it's probably going to be a large increase from M3. I think we paid 8-10k for the last few terms.

Does anyone know the standard tuition/fees for someone starting Matayom 4 at Sacred Heart College in Chiang Mai?

Resort Island Oil Spill Continues To Take Its Toll

Mr. Chuwit Kamolwisit, an MP for Love Thailand Party, during his visit to Koh Samet.

RAYONG: -- A month after the oil spill in Gulf of Thailand that blackened the seas around Koh Samet, a popular tourist resort island, vendors in the area say they are still enduring casualties on their business caused by the incident.

For instance, Baan Pe Market, which is normally crowded with tourists buying seafood fished from the sea and taking the ferry to the famous island, is now visibly quieter than usual, our correspondent at Prachachart reported.

Vendors at the market said fewer tourists arrive at the island, which is located just several hours of ferry ride away from Baan Pe. Uncle Nong, a seafood vendor at the market, said he usually earned 6,000-7,000 baht a day selling food at his shop, but that has slowed to 1,000 a day.

"I have never seen anything like it in 30 years that I spent in Baan Pe," he said, adding that many tourists refused to eat the seafood in the market, fearing that they are contaminated by the oil spill.

Aunty Surie, another seafood vendor, also lament about sharp decrease in her business, and criticised the authorities for helping the fishermen but ignoring merchants along the shore like her.

The media is to blame, Aunt Surie charged, saying that the news reports about the oil spill greatly exaggerated the effect of the spill. "The impact only rests at Ao Phrao", she said, referring to the hardest-hit beach in Koh Samet, "other areas have no problem. Seafood here is safe to eat. Why doesn′t the media report about that?"

A worker at the Baan Pe piers estimated that around 1,000 tourists took the ferry from Baan Pe on typical weekends, but nowadays fewer than 300 tourists show up. Most of them are foreigners, he said.

He also blamed the media. "They are scared by the news you report."

Aunty Surie agreed with the worker, telling our correspondent that while Thai tourists are scared of the oil spill, foreign tourists keep coming.

However, a report on the New York Times revealed that, despite rescue operations by the Thai authorities to clean up the oil residue and assure the public that all is well, the environmental impact on Koh Samet is far from over.

The report says even the water around Ao Phrao is declared unsafe by the Thai authorities, after several politicians swam in the sea to prove their point that tourists can be merry again at the beach.

The report also notes that many foreign tourists at Koh Samet are not aware of the oil spill incident. One of them, from China, is quoted as saying that if she had known about it she would have reconsidered her trip there.

Source: http://www.khaosod.co.th/en/view_newsonline.php?newsid=TVRNM056TTBNRFE1TXc9PQ==&utm_content=buffera3f8d&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

--KHAOSOD English 2013-08-24

Mr. Chuwit Kamolwisit, an MP for Love Thailand Party, during his visit to Koh Samet.

I dream that the thais would have a brain storm and demand this guy as pm and nothing less, You can tell me how much of a bad boy he was/is but infact he,s very open about it and does,nt deny,

Sorry for being somewhat off topic.

I'd bet he can think for himself, and not take orders from exiled criminals.

It's ironic that the police will step in and do something when there's an issue in parliament, yet when a group of armed thugs holds the capitol hostage for 2 months, they wont lift a finger. Maybe the MPs should take the lead from the red shirts and take parliament over and occupy it for a couple months. After all, that's how you get your way politically in Thailand.

Nationalism at it's highest. They're soooooo afraid of a farang actually buying land without the possibility of losing it to an exbargirl. This is BS.

Let me correct that for you.

Nationalism Xenophobia at it's highest. They're soooooo afraid of a farang actually buying land without the possibility of losing it to an ex bargirl. This is BS.

Exactly.

I was out for dinner last night and on the way back my Thai companions started singing a song with much gusto. When I asked them what it was about they said it was about Yingluck being like a crab, she's got legs, got two eyes, but she ain't got a head ( brain ).

A bit harsh I thought. She has got a head, she just doesn't use it much.

I think she is doing a pretty good job, at least she has not told the army to shoot people.

Who ordered the army to shoot anyone?

Who ordered the army to shoot anyone. Thats the question the Thai public want the answer too. As you can see by the death counts on both sides Army/Dems 91 kills v Red shirts O kills proven that the army grossly over reacted to the situation or the army was given license to shoot all and sundry (most likely). Somewhere there is the orders on paper and somebody is keeping that as a 'get out of jail' card

Grossly over reacted? I'm trying to recall another country that let a bunch of hired thugs hold the capitol hostage for two months without doing anything about it. That's what happens when the police (more hired Thaskin thugs) refuse to do their jobs.

Also, remember there was a deal to hold elections early, which was the whole point of the protests, but the megalomaniac in Dubai vetoed it.

I would suggest Truemove H for cell data...

Managing a data plan for a 15 yo might get expensive!...

I would just limit her to home use with wifi... You can get 3bb installed for $590B/month...

She doesn't really have a home per se. She is living at a school dormitory going to Sacred Heart in Chiang Mai. She actually just got it few hours ago via shipping. Needless to say I'm the greatest uncle ever (which will last for about 3 days).

She mentioned Truemove and AIS. I think her friends use AIS which I told her I didn't like due to my pure hatred for anything related to the Shinawatra clan in any way.

I guess I'll let her figure it out.

I guess that in Down Town Chiang Mai there will be plenty of free Wi-Fi available.

I thought that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. That's why I bought her the model that has the GSM option. The free wifi was pretty sparse when I lived in Bangkok in 2004-2007. I'm sure alot has changed since then.

Seems they're taking a play from the Chinese playbook. The shocking thing is even Thaksin's son gets how wrong this is. Lets see if dad sits him down for a talk and he comes back and changes his tune.

I just bought my niece in Chiang Mai an IPad with Retina display for her 15th birthday. I'm not in Thailand to help her set it up. I got her the the wifi+cellular version. I'm wondering what is the best route for her to connect to the internet in Chiang Mai. From looking around, it seems a prepaid DTAC data plan is the way to go, but the pricing is somewhat confusing. Do they charge for a certain data speed, or do they charge for the amount of data transferred? Also, I'm somewhat worried about the coverage. She lives and goes to school in downtown Chiang Mai. If anyone has any experiences with the coverage there, or the best data plan to purchase, any advice would be appreciated.

You present yourself as leader of your party to the nation in a general election.If you win the general election fairly and are able to form a government - whether outright or with the aid of other parties in a coalition - you have a personal mandate however narrow the overall margin of seats.Abhisit never had this personal mandate whereas Yingluck obviously has.

This is not just debating theory.For example in the UK Gordon Brown became PM without ever having presented himself as potential PM to the electorate.There was no problem with him becoming PM under the rules of a parliamentary democracy.However in a year or so his authority began to be eroded and could only be recharged through facing the country.When he finally did so he lost - just like Abhisit.

The sensible course is to face the electorate sooner rather than later.If Abhisit had called a snap election much earlier in his premiership he might well have won.

Maybe Abhisit would have won, maybe not. Abhisit and his govt. were not required to call for elections at that time. I doubt the convicted criminal leader of the opposition in the UK (if there was such a thing) would pay for protestors to come to London, hold it hostage for 2 months, and support it being burned to the ground if elections weren't called when he wanted them called. Nothing justifies that.

The bottom line is that Thaksin didn't get his way because one of the TRT/PPP/PTP coalition members left and sided with the Democrats. He didn't get his way, and like a spoiled little brat that doesn't get his way, he threw a temper tantrum. Unfortunately, unlike a child's temper tantrum where a toy or two may get broken, this guy's temper tantrum resulted in people dieing and a good potion of the capitol being held hostage, and then burned and looted.

I wonder how the rural supporters are viewing their savior now with all the broken promises and the latest rice fiasco. Hopefully one day they'll realize that the man only cares for himself. I kinda doubt it though.

An honest question. Has Thaksin or his proxies ever done anything good for Thailand? There has to be something. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.

No. I would have thought the evidence was obvious

Yet his party keeps getting elected again and again. Doesn't say much about the voters.

Or it says more about the farang expat population and their ignorance of Thai history, politics and society.

Farangs can vote? News to me.

As far as I can tell the voters keep electing the same useless people into office over and over since the politicians keep making extravagant promises they can't keep. "All Thais will be rich in 6 months." This rice thing is another one. The credit cards for the taxi drivers.

Then you have the fugitive thinking he's above the law, or for that matter most politicians thinking they are above the law. The constant nepotism. Pretty soon the Thaksin family dog will be an MP. Should I keep going? Because that's just scratching the surface.