osten

Last post got cut off...

...predominantly Thai area, which has many benefits.

Also, it is only about 25 min drive to Sukhumvit (outside of rush hour). Finally, i am only about 20 min drive to the airport.

Hope that helps.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

I live near Sukha Pi Baan Som, off of Rahmkhamhaeng Rd. I like the area because pollution not quite so bad, there are more and more expat friendly places opening, but yet it is still predominantly

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

I'll have what the OP is having....<deleted>?

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

It was done as sarcasm... The leader didnt understand......... The man was quoting as sarcasm HE WAS NOT PROMOTING HITLER..

Even though it is a BAD gig to do this he was not in the promotion role.......... He is Blue/ democrat party and was not promoting the man with a funny moustash!!..

He was saying YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT JUST LIKE HITLER... he was not impressed with what was happening......HE supports the Blue!

Please dont flame the guy for doing this..ask your girlfriend!!

Of course it was done in sarcsam. Surprised by how many people here didn't see that?

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Karen Army.....heads up....get it, heads up, Karen long knecked tribe...............oh please yourselves

One of the dangers of being flippant about this situation is that you open yourself up fro all sorts of smart replies.. personally I think you have stuck your neck out here

Quite true monty1412, you just ran rings around his comments.

So refreshing to see people with a sense of humor on this forum.. :):)

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Hello,

I have installed an infrared security camera at the entrance of my business, but the camera is not yet connected to anything. So, I am in need of someone who can physically do the connection to my computer and set up the software to do the recording. Does anyone know of a local technician or security company that could do the job at a fair rate?

Thanks,

Osten

The HSBC ATMs on Rama 4 road, opposite Lumpini, also do not charge the 150 baht fee for withdrawing from foreign bank. Further, they also enable maximum withdrawls of 40k baht each time, rather than 20k. This can save money on transaction fees on the side of your own bank.

Thanks fto the member above for the tip on the Citibank ATMs not charging the fee either.

Osten

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Walking with your laptop and gear at 3:30 in the morning. One would think that you had gone for a drinking session with friends after work and were on your way back home. At that hour even the blind would have deduced that you would have probably been drinking, and your senses would probably have been a little numb. You claim to not be drunk, but that does not mean you were not drinking.

Soi 28, at 3:30 am is not very lively and is mostly dark and deserted. The basic rule of thumb, avoid places that are dark & empty, or seedy Soi's with no foreigners. After 8 years, you probably should have learned that at that hour the best option was to grab a Taxi back. If you were just looking for some fresh air, then you were probably not as sober as thought you were.

You must have missed my post that says I was merely walking from the club to get a taxi on Sukhumvit, about 1000 feet away.

I was actually working on my laptop til 3 am, as I work American hours, for what it's worth.

Has anyone else at the 'cigar club' experienced any muggings or attempted ones?

Did you report it?

Soi 28 is generally a quiet and safe soi with some very wealthy residents & presence of security guards.

Yes, I reported it, and the police are actually making progress, thanks to my family's persistence.

As for the guards, you're right, but they were ALL sleeping when this occurred. Worthless.

Osten

".... in hindsight, I think I was very lucky to have escaped physically unharmed."

That's one way of looking at it.

How do you walk arounf Sukhumvit ar 3 AM with all those valuables on you?

I was walking from my cigar club on Soi 28 directly to Sukhumvit, to catch a taxi. It is a total of no more than 1000 feet.

I know better than to walk all over town with valuables, unlike a few posters suggested, which is why I was walking directly to get a taxi (they don't go up and down Soi 28). Next time, I call the taxi to the door though. Had I not stopped to use my Blackberry, I think I would have had no problem...lesson learned.

There's a program called 'Prey' that you can install on laptops, if it's stolen you go to an Internet cafe and mark it as stolen - when they turn it on it tries to connect to a wireless connection, takes webcam pics of them, and flashes them a message saying report to police station etc...

I had a similar program installed on my BlackBerry, called SmartGuard, which let me turn on the GPS remotely to track the device. We saw where they went with the phone ten minutes later, but then they apparently wiped the device and the program and it stopped tracking.

Good to know about "Prey." Will check it out.

Osten

dam_n - that is terrible. Good that you're OK.

So you were carrying your Blackberry, MP3 player and laptop.. I assume the laptop was in your backpack or something?

Yes, my laptop and accessories were all in a backpack.

Terrible indeed, but I feel lucky the longer I think about it, considering the circumstances.

Osten

I was in Jaco, Costa Rica last year, just walking down the street in the early evening, minding my own business. A lady approached me and asked if I wanted to buy some marijuana, to which I politely replied "no thanks." About five minutes later, a police truck pulled over off the road, and said they wanted to search me for drugs. They did, and none were found. Immediately thereafter, I figured out the lady dealer was in cahoots with the police, who assumed I purchased because I stopped to talk to her.

My guess is it was probably a similar deal here. Seller on beach surely in on the whole charade. Sad, but I learned my lesson in Costa Rica. If one wants to partake, best never to do so from a street dealer, especially in a foreign country.

Had it been a similar deal then an on the spot 'fine' would have been paid in order for the seller to get his/her share.

If you read the post you'll see that the joint was bought in Patong and the bust was in Nai Harn. Not on the same patch.

Good point. I overlooked that in my initial read. Though, as others have mentioned, I can't help but wonder how they found the weed on him. Was he publicly smoking, or they just decided to search him out of the blue?

I was in Jaco, Costa Rica last year, just walking down the street in the early evening, minding my own business. A lady approached me and asked if I wanted to buy some marijuana, to which I politely replied "no thanks." About five minutes later, a police truck pulled over off the road, and said they wanted to search me for drugs. They did, and none were found. Immediately thereafter, I figured out the lady dealer was in cahoots with the police, who assumed I purchased because I stopped to talk to her.

My guess is it was probably a similar deal here. Seller on beach surely in on the whole charade. Sad, but I learned my lesson in Costa Rica. If one wants to partake, best never to do so from a street dealer, especially in a foreign country.

I think the problem is that Maxnet/3bb blocks port 25. Try changing to port 587 and send. I use a third party smtp server where my mail is hosted, and can send with no problems if using port 587. Hope that helps.

Just wondering what the actual punishment will be, if convicted. Moreover, if there was NO cash on the table, how could it be proven that the chips were worth real money...or doesn't it matter?

Thank you for informations, How do I apply Fiber optic international link with NIX(CAT)? Do you know how apply?

I would like to know about this too. I professionally trade the U.S. stock market while in Thailand, and would be willing to pay the cost for a direct fiber link. If anyone knows how to go about doing so, it would be much appreciated!

Osten

In the four months since I've started this thread, I've managed to legally adopt my stepson under Thai law. He also now has a tourist visa, which he received while still just my stepson.

In one week, we will go to the USA together, using his tourist visa. As he cannot legally attend public school while under a tourist visa, I now want to get him U.S. citizenship as quickly as possible.

I've done my homework and Googled tons of web sites about the scenario, but most of the adoption laws discuss orphaned children, not stepchildren who were adopted abroad.

I would like to know the best route to go about getting citizenship for him. I am under the impression the IR-3 visa is only for orphans who are adopted, and therefore applying through the I-130 is the best route. If I go this route, can this be done while in the USA?

Thanks for any feedback or input here.

Regards,

Osten

Hi Sumgmt,

Thanks for your insightful reply.

My step-son is 12 years old, and will turn 13 before he would begin his next school year. He would attend school in a small town near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He presently has only Thai citizenship. However, I am also in the process of legally adopting him. If the adoption can be completed in the near future, would that simplify things, or would it not really make a difference for school attendance?

It's too bad that other Americans ruined the system, as I have no intention of abusing it by bringing a bunch of non-Americans to attend school. The only person I am trying to get to attend is my step-son (soon to be legally adopted son).

If my step-son is staying with his American grandmother, a lifelong district resident, would that be considered "closely related?"

By the tone of your post, I get the impression you are a lawyer here in Thailand. I know you're not allowed to blatantly promote that in this forum, but I would like to meet with you to discuss this in person if that is the case. Unfortunately, I leave for a multi-month business trip to USA in 5 days, so time is of the essence. Could you kindly send me a PM?

Regards,

Osten

You have not mentioned the step-son's age nor the state & city to which he would go? I have been sending Asian students to public high school programs for many decades. If he has only Thai citizenship then he can go on a J-1 visa for the first year and if for the following years normally an F-1 visa. From 1992 many school districts were urged to check very carefully on non-American students enrolling in the public systems as some American families were bringing whole villages of friends and relatives from abroad to be educated FREE on the basis of those families paying their school tax. There are two issues--the student needs a visa to enter and stay in the USA and the student if not closely related to the taxpayer/property owner is considered an out-of-district student and must pay the tuition that school district charges for students attending whether American or not. Some of our 19,000 districts have very reasonable tuitions ca. $ 2000 while some are very high, $ 16,000.

I don't know if the stepson can apply for PR by himself. As I said, the reentry permit would preserve your wife’s PR for up to 2 years out of the country because of your employment overseas. You probably need to see a lawyer about your options, the consulate is not in the business of giving advice.

TH

Thanks, TH. I'll get with a lawyer. That is indeed probably the best option, as it's a bit tricky.

Interesting situation. I think your best bet would be to submit I-130 petitions for wife and step son in Bangkok, it should only take a couple of months to get the visas allowing them to get green cards. Your wife should apply for the re-entry permit, keeping her permanent resident status good for 2 years while out of the country and the step son can stay in the US indefinitely, and apply for citizenship when reaching age 18.

TH

ThaiHome,

Thanks for the suggestion.

To apply for the I-130, doesn't my wife need to intend to reside in the USA? If so, that may be a problem because neither of us plan to actually reside in the USA. After we married in the USA, the reason we did not apply for permanent residency was because she was required to stay in the USA for a period of time AND intend to actually live in the USA. That's why we opted to just get her a 10 year tourist visa instead, as it made more sense since she only needs to go to USA a few weeks per year to accompany me on business and visit the family.

Is it possible that my stepson could apply for permanent residency, on the basis of his stepfather being a US citizen, but WITHOUT his mother actually living in USA?

I really appreciate the help, as the US embassy has not been very helpful at providing me with a clear suggestion.

Regards,

Osten

Look into the "K-4" visa, there might be something there for you

TC

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked it out, but it appears that a K-4 is only available if your wife has applied for a K-3 visa. Since my wife and I married in the USA, she was not a K-3 visa applicant. Further complicating the matter is that she has NOT applied for US residency because we plan to live in Thailand, but child needs to go to school in USA.

Anyone else have any helpful suggestions?

Thanks again,

Osten

Teacup,

Thanks for your reply. I also came across that same thing on the State Department web site. However, I still am unclear as to which visa to apply for if the school says he may attend without an education visa. The school has said their only requirement for attendance is for him to live with somebody in the district, and the type of visa doesn't matter to them. So, that being the case, would I still go the F-1 route or not? Seems like a circular task, as the F-1 requires an I-20 first, but this school doesn't require an I-20. As for the immigration route, I believe that would take too long, as he wants to start school this fall.

Anybody else out there have similar experience with this and can shed some light?

Thanks much!

Osten

Hello everyone,

After getting no clear answer directly from my embassy, I'm hoping that someone on this forum has experience that can assist with my question.

I've searched this forum extensively, but have not yet found this exact situation discussed anywhere. Excuse me if it was already covered and I missed it.

I am an American citizen living full-time in Thailand. I am legally married to a Thai lady, and we got married in the USA. My wife presently has a 10-year tourist visa to the USA, which is all we need because we don't live there. My Thai stepson wishes to attend public school in the USA starting this fall. The public school has agreed to accept him, and he will be staying with his American grandmother while his mother and I remain in Thailand (running a business). The question is exactly what type of visa do I need to get him?

The obvious answer is an F-1 education visa, but I don't know if that is necessary, since his stepfather is an American citizen. To receive the F-1 visa for attending public school, the law states that he must pay tuition to attend. However, the school says he can attend free because he'll be staying with a tax paying resident of the district he will be attending.

Is there a different type of visa I should be getting, or do I still need to go the F-1 route? If the latter, is there any way to avoid paying regular tuition fees?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Regards,

Osten