schmutzie

Looking for advice or names for the top performing arts schools or programmes in Thailand, eg. something equivalent to RADA in London or LaGuardia in NYC or universities with good quality mixed/combo degrees in arts,dance,theater and music.

Not implying or inviting some to say that "there's nothing in Thailand to compare to those schools" but just looking for programmes that at least come close in structure and could perhaps be an entry point to a career in acting, music or dance.

Would prefer for tuition to be in Thai and should be for +18 years.

2. A Thai vet needs to do this. It'll cost a fair bit.

At Ban Mha ka Meaw in Chang Mai they charge 300 baht (plus 50 baht doctor's fee) for drawing the blood and making it into a serum.

Someone called me a while ago with a similar question and told me that another vet in CM asked 1,500 baht. Talking about a major rip-off.

The second answer was in reply to the question about export docs/vet certificates.

I've been quoted approx. 10k for the "entire" package for that here in Bangkok by two separate pet hospitals.

Thank you for your replies

Does anyone know of good Thai language websites (much like Thaivisa) where Thais can seek information, tips and help on living and working abroad, eg. Singapore?

The fact of the matter is... EEA Family permuts are a right under EU law. (under treaties on the free movement of labour within the EEA, which is why the Family Permit is also required to be free and the embassy have far less leeway when it comes to grounds for a refusal.) i.e. can't refuse on language ability, etc.

However normal visas, not covered by EU treaties aren't free. Regular Tourist visas aren't even able to be appealed if refused (unless specifically applied for to visit family).

There is a reason why some Northern Irish people choose to apply for Irish Nationality (given as a right by being born on the island of Ireland until fairly recently, regardless of which side of the border it was) which allows them to use the EEA Family Permit to avoid the outrageous UK visa fees. (UK visa fees are set at a rate which covers their costs several times over...)

For the OP. The problem with getting his girlfriend a tourist visa will be that, as a tourist, she would need to show a reason for returning to Thailand. If she mentions her boyfriend works in the UK and that you're even thinking of settling in the UK, this will almost certainly get refused. You'd then be looking at a settlement visa, and, I'm sorry, but your cost of 10K for getting married is dwarfed by the visa fee for a regular UK settlement visa (i.e. fiance is 37,500 baht currently (with no refund if refused) and that is then followed by more fees when you apply for FLR once married, and for ILR after two more years.)

Thanks. We're definitely doing the marriage/EEA family permit route.

But thanks for your advice.

Saw this story online and thought you might like it since you're going through the same experience now. Best of luck with your dog!

http://www.dailymail...backstreet.html

WaatWang

Thanks for that. £5000 sounds about right give or take.

We're having good progress finding a foster home in France, but actually it's not a massive saving in terms of cost. Also, it'll add at least 4 months to her departure date, as she will have to

get micro-chipped, re-vaccinated and tested after 30 days, plus 90 days wait period before she could enter France, where she would then spend 6-7 months waiting to get a passport.

But the foster homes there certainly don't charge kennel rates and she would have a loving home for that time.

The quarantine kennels in the UK, despite their efforts, just don't look appealing. But we would at least be able to see her now and again and ship her more or less immediately.

And the process is more or less straight forward.

It's a tough choice to make.

BTW, Looks like Defra might loose the right to quarantine by the end of 2011, but they've been granted many EU extensions before so we'll have to see what happens.

I'd dearly like to know how much money the kennel industry makes on this legislation.

This might also be helpful:

http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/-Importing-animals-into-France-.html

France is part of the EU, so for all these countries the same rules apply:

micro-chip or tattoo

up-to-date vaccinations

Rabies testing

export paper and health certificate from Thailand

import permit from France

Rabies authorized labs in France (where you have to send your animal's blood sample to):

AFSSA Nancy

LERRPAS

Technopôle Agricole et Vétérinaire

BP 40 009 54220 Malzéville Cedex

Tel / Fax: +33.3.83.29.89 50 / 89 58

[email protected]

Laboratoire Vétérinaire Départemental de la Haute-Garonne (recognition date

76 Chemin Boudou F-31140 Launaguet

Tel / Fax: +33.5.62.79.94 20 / 94 30

[email protected]

Laboratoire Départemental de la Sarthe

128 rue de Beaugé F-72018 Le Mans CEDEX 2

Tel / Fax: +33.2.43.39.95 70 / 95 80

[email protected]

Laboratoire Départemental d'analyses du Pas de Calais

Parc de hautes technologies des Bonnettes, 2 rue genévrier

F-62022 Arras CEDEX 2

Tel / Fax: +33.3.21.51 46 54 / 71 48 55

[email protected]

After you have send the blood sample to one of those lab's and you've got the result back, your dog still needs to stay another 3 months in Thailand before it can enter France.

Vaccinations should be given not less than 1 month or more than one year to your dog prior to travel.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all this information,

Two questions as I have the same issue as the poster :

1) How can you send blood to france to test it ? Pay for it ? Get the result ?

2) How/Where do you get the export paper and health certificate from Thailand ?

Maybe I can help a little as I'm in the middle of all this myself:

I believe you can send the sample to any EU approved lab, but it obviously might make sense to mail it to one in the country you plan to import to, ie. France.

Here's a website with links to EU approved labs in the EU: http://ec.europa.eu/...ratories_en.htm

To answer your specific questions:

1. Check with/contact the specific lab you choose. Eg. check the requirements as listed by Biobest in the UK here (download the paperwork): http://www.biobest.c...s-overseas.html

2. A Thai vet needs to do this. It'll cost a fair bit.

Progress.

Looks like, as Louie77 suggested, that there are people in France who help with exactly this scenario.

Really excited about this and totally reversing on my previous statement about feeling uneasy about this option.

My embassy charges approx. 4500THB for the service. However, they do the translation into Thai.

But they add another step, which is to get a marriage certificate from my last place of residence in my native country (not UK). This adds 3000-4000THB the total cost.

Plus they recommend to have the final, embassy-issued document certified by the Thai Foreign Ministry. Another small fee.

Hence my conclusion, that it'll cost roughly 10000THB.

We would just go for a simple registration at the amphur. Not a full-on Thai wedding.

Is it a big dog?

We live in France now And I've seen on several sites, people offering dog services. Maybe try posting an ad on angloinfo.com or expatforum.com

I'm sure they would charge less than a kennel.

These people (in France) do good things for animals and have a large network of people that take in rescue dogs untill they are adopted: http://animalaidsaintaubin.webs.com/ & http://www.phoenixasso.com/index.html

They may know someone how would be willing to take your pet in for the 6 months.

We flew from Malaysia with the pets and cheapest for flying with pets were KLM & Air France. They charge per kennel and not per weight.

Don't give up.

Yes, it's a Golden Retriever (well, for all I know) and whilst she's still a "puppy" at 1 year she's weighing in at approx. 28kg these days. Fairly tall and long etc.

I will look at the link you gave, but I'd be uncomfortable about handing over a dog to strangers in another country. I don't know.

I would not like to say that money is an issue, and somehow I could probably pay my way out of the problem. But there's lot to take care off at the same time with a move back. It'll be hard as it stands.

AFAIK, Malaysia is in the PETS scheme, so I'm curious if you flew via there from Thailand or whether you were based in Malaysia already?

It was suggested on another forum, that someone take their pet on a "long holiday" there before taking it back to the EU. But doesn't make sense as an option.

If you look at the Defra rules, they also state, that any animal covered under PETS returning or being imported from SEA, must NOT transit Bangkok beforehand. They really don't like us.

On a further note, all of the UK based agents I have spoken to can not arrange for the transport from Bangkok. So I am talking with local agents ATM.

Received a quote from Defra approved quarantine kennel:

£510 per month

£900 for various other services (paper work, pick up, vaccines, insurance - quite a list)

Add to that cost of flight/transport and I think we're looking at somewhere around min. £5000 to relocate our dog to the UK.

Just to add, as it turns out, whilst the EEA family permit might be free, getting the docs for marrying are not. I project roughly 10000THB in embassy and other fees before we can go to the amphur.

Not complaining, just saying.

Well, as I now understand, even with the option of letting the pet stay in another EU country with lesser or no quarantine restrictions than the UK, the pet will still have to stay there for a minimum of 6 months

before being able to enter the UK (that is, if we bring the dog to another EU country and get it under the PETS scheme, we will still need to leave her there for 6 months before being able to do the final transfer to the UK).

It's a bit much to ask someone, even family, to look after my pet for 6 months.

So, in case of the UK 6 month quarantine scenario, I would love to hear from anyone who's gone through this (we'll be based in London):

- Was it tough/bad?And for whom most, you or your pet?

- How was the kennel?

- How much did they charge you?

- Did you find/choose the kennel yourself or was it chosen as part of a pet transport service?

Or along those lines. The various companies that offer services obviously claim to take loving care of your pet, but I just have visions of abuse and neglect.

The short version:

Is there any (legal) way to avoid the 6 month quarantine or radically reducing it when importing your pet dog to the UK from Thailand?

The only option I can currently glimpse is that we park her somewhere in another EU country with less stringent quarantine rules, staying with friends or family there, until she can get a Pet Passport (PETS scheme).

A few loud shouts or a raised fists or simply turning to face them is usually more than enough to "repel" most soi dogs in my opinion, after they've been allowed to manifest their territory. I'm a bit surprised they'd bother chasing you on a bicycle.

The main thing is to never become complacent about them but always to be vigilant when you're in their territory. I've made that mistake. It can be that there's a pregnant dog amongst them also. I believe that tends to make them more aggressive/protective.

Did it and all went well. Thanks for all your help.

I had all the items I needed, but as could be expected, all unforeseen needs are catered to on the basement floor: Passport photo booth, photocopy service and ATMs in abundance.

The only thing that tripped me a bit was that the entrance to the main immigration office hall is hidden behind a partition wall in the smallish form-filling entrance area.

Hours are mentioned in another thread, but they are:

8.30 - 16.00 with a lunch break between 12.00 - 13.00

Did you know if you go the family permit route, your wife / husband ect can work, no need to apply for a work permit.

Yep. And that's a big bonus. Nothing like getting her out there if anything to find friends and "integrate"...All the other things that apply to the EEA family permit I mentioned are big winners IMO.

Now the small business of marrying!

What I can't currently get my head around is that it seems like it "cheaper" or "easier" to get have my Thai GF come to the UK with me as "non-EEA wife/family" than it would for me to bring

her as my wife to my own country...!?

That is the way the system works; daft as it seems.

If an EEA national is exercising their treaty rights in another EEA country then they can use the EEA regulations to have their non-EEA family join them. But if they are living in their own country then they have to use that countries immigration rules.

However, if they have been exercising their treaty rights in another EEA country and their non-EEA family has been living there with them, if they wish to return to their home state they can use the EEA regulations to take their family with them.

As with most things to do with the EU/EEA, it's complicated!

Well, from my perspective, it's kind of a blessing. And since there's nothing untowards in our application, I can only applaud that one bureaucracy has more common sense than another. But that's another discussion/topic.

From what I gather, under the EEA-family permit, my Thai partner would be able to study and work and receive NHS cover whilst in the UK. There's the caveat about not being a burden on public funds, but I think that's common across all visa types and is not an issue.

The one thing I cannot see mentioned is whether she will have to demonstrate English proficiency as per new regulations of Nov 29th 2010. Will she have to take the test as part of the EEA-family permit application?

AFAICT she does not need to.

I'm biased, but:

Buy a Macbook Pro with 3 year Applecare factored in to the price.

If you're feeling adventurous drop the Applecare, but factor in a battery replacement or similar within the first 3 years as a minimum.

You can partition the drive and dualboot Windows and MacOS. You could even simul-run Win using either VMWare or Parallels.

Unless you're using certain Win only apps all the time, or gfx-intensive Win apps, or have certain devices that only have Win drivers and one or all of these are essential

in your daily routine then it's really OS-agnostic.

You get a slick and sophisticated UI that your Grandma could use, but if you're feeling more

adventurous, there's a a best of breed UNIX environment running under the hood.

It'll be your new best friend. And a good looking one at that.

BTW if you google for the TM7 you'll be able to find a PDF version of the form.

My Office (Mac) copy didn't parse the Thai type for the doc version, but the PDF is fine to print in Preview.

There's no scope to sit out the 2 year requirement to apply for unmarried EEA permit, as I'm basically out of money now, which is why I'm going back to the UK.

I'm not against marrying, if that would facilitate being able to apply for the EEA permit. I just have to get my head round, how much "easier" it actually is as a chosen route.

I'm not so much against risking or paying fees for normal UK visas, it's just finding the best option.

What I can't currently get my head around is that it seems like it "cheaper" or "easier" to get have my Thai GF come to the UK with me as "non-EEA wife/family" than it would for me to bring

her as my wife to my own country...!?

I still need to read through all the various docs to scope out the pros and cons of the options.

I'm also keen for her to have NHS cover (she gets sick a lot IMO). Just one of the many things I'm worrying about right now.

Thanks for the replies (and TM7 link). Very useful for a first-timer and hopefully for others too.

Citizens of EEA states have various treaty rights which allow them to live in and travel to other EEA member states without requiring visas. These same rights apply to their family members. See EEA Family Permit. and EEA and Swiss nationals - visa application guide. Note that the permit can be used either to come to the UK to live or to visit; but she must either be coming to join you or traveling with you.

However, being your girlfriend is not enough for her to qualify. She must be either your wife or your unmarried partner (which means that you must have been living together outside the UK for the last two years in a relationship akin to marriage).

Otherwise she will need to apply for a visit visa under the UK's immigration rules. That you are not a UK citizen is no bar to you acting as her sponsor. See Visitors - visa application guide.

For where and how to apply and current fees (EEA Family Permits are free), see UK visa application website in Thailand.

Thanks for this.

As you imply, it looks like we fall short of the 2 years of "living together" so the EEA "unmarried" option is out of the window for now.

So it's a toss between a marriage and trying for the EEA family permit or the standard visa route.

I think I'm reversing on the marriage at the moment and leaning towards a visitor type visa. I just want her to have the best/most options to actually "get involved" in a UK life and actually "have" a life.

Rather than twiddling thumbs in the house.

From what I know it's scheduled to happen sometime in March. However, whether it'll be under the Big-C name or a new brand is apparently up for grabs.

IMO it makes sense for them to make it a different brand.

Other than that, I think the BIg-C takeover will mean better conditions for the staff there, eg. a slightly more decent overtime pay (or one that actually adheres

to Thai Labour Law).