seaeagle

As others have indicated, 2 signing possibilities are available on a joint account : either account holder, or both account holders. In almost all cases, people tend to choose the either option.

However, if that were the case, she wouldn't need to forge your signature, she could just withdraw on her own.

If the amounts were withdrawn in cash, then all bank counters have CCTV, and the other signatory would've been there, I'm sure. If the amounts were taken by way of a cheque made out to a 3rd party, and your signature forged on the cheque, then I would guess that, especially here, the burden of proof will lie with you.

Good luck, mate.

Some Thai schools in the "Thaksin-influenced" north haven't even implemented the Abhisit free-education package.

Sadly, another initiative that I doubt it's worth holding breath for.

You seem to presume they will stay on Phuket, but why? If they have a good education and want to remain in Thailand, Bangkok will in a lot of cases offer better opportunities.

And of course if they have a real good education they have already left Thailand, otherwise they can't have that good education.

To answer your questions: my kids are not mine by blood, and 100% Thai although I don't raise them that way.

I hope one of them will follow me in the diving business, and the other one seems to be too intelligent for that, so he may get a real good education.

Thanks stevennl - not a bad reply. In essence, that's what I think - they'd have to move away to make any sort of decent career.

For those kids who wish to stay here, and for those parents who want to stay close to their kids (ie not go to Bangkok, or presumably 'back' overseas having settled in Phuket themselves) I'd still hope to hear of opinions on a future in Phuket.

Hi,

Just want to see what the rest of you all think about the kinds of jobs / careers that your kids will have when they grow up here on Phuket. I'm looking at both 100% foreign, and 50 / 50 Thai and other.

My own feelings are that, being 100% foreign, they're going to be in some difficulty when they leave education. Unless they follow in parent's footsteps, and carry on the 'family business' if there is one, I'm stumped as to what an 18 / 20 year old could do here.

For mixed kids, then there is some leeway with being employed as a Thai. However, I look around, and just wonder what there is here for a mixed kid with a decent education. We have the hotel / leisure industry, and (lol) the real estate industry. There's no manufacturing, big government departments, financial / banking, industries here at all.

So, as parents with young children, what do you envisage them doing when they grow up?

Thanks for your input.

Been a couple of years since I was around here, and I see that those few bars beside the Riverside Hotel (?) have been bulldozed.

Is there anywhere else new in town that has any life suitable for a farang night-out? Not expecting anything Pattaya / Phuket - like, but somewhere you can have a beer and chat with a 'pretty' would be nice.

The one sure thing is that the Thai people won't change anytime soon to adjust to you. Nor should they be expected to I suppose.

**********

And this is one of the many things that winds me up about living here. They're always moaning, looking for ways to make more baht, complaining about lack of tourists then in the same breath complaining about too many farang around ------ yet they won't change their attitude and behaviour and practices to manage these issues.

I spend time in the north, not north east, as well. Their behaviour is much the same up there - thieves and vagabonds, without any sense of community or common good. Self, self, self.

You often hear that "Thailand is for Thais". So, my answer to the original question is, "Well, they can keep it - I'm off, too"

Something as simple (?) as trying to buy a desk pad is defeating me! Even the big office supply shop in Central doesn't have them.

Anyone know where to get them in Phuket?

(BTW, must tell you the amusing story of said office supply shop in Central. Saw a desk pad in their catalogue, pictured on a desk, pointed to it and asked for it. Girl promptly despatched the warehouse boy to go and get it .............and he returned with his trolley, with the desk on it!!)

Guy I know does lock up storage in Chalong. Try him on 081-0825707.

gas in the house is not a good thing to do put the bottle outside

Why? Most people keep the bottle in a cupboard underneath. No problem.

What??!! It's only no problem if nothing ever happens. In this country, expect something to happen!

Keep it as far away from the cooking area / living area as you can manage.

Silk Air often do 3 / 4 night packages through local agents. This way, you'll get a decent hotel in an all-inclusive cost. Check out to see if any are available at the moment.

A few years ago, we had 4 nights at a nice hotel on Orchard Road. Sorry, but can't recall its name, but was part of a Silk Air deal.

I like Singapore - bit of 'class' attached to it when compared with this place. Proves that if encouraged properly, Asians can drive on the correct side of a road, and keep between white lines!!

My wife, who's got dual Thai and British nationality, made this tongue-in-cheek comment to me this morning. I think it's brilliant, and to try and bring some humour into the current chaos (and potential worsening "civil war" events, if some of the press is to be believed), does anyone think it could 'technically' work?

She laughingly said, "So, there'll be lots of Thais going to Britain now claiming Asylum from warfare in Thailand".

Now, given the way you can't step on a UK-bound plane without a visa, I doubt you could do this directly.

However, if you got a Schengen-tourist visa for, say, France. Landed there, went through the Channel Tunnel, and then said on arrival in UK, "Hey, I'm claiming Asylum"..............

Okay, I'm making a light point here, but if the Foreign Office can warn UK citizens not to come here, close their embassy, they'd be hard pushed to refuse an Asylum application on the grounds of "personal life danger" in Bangkok!

What ya reckon?

An option for all you guys who've had Settlement Visas refused recently.............

Always thought that the Kodak shop, beside 7/11, and opposite Siam Commercial bank, provided the most consistent internet usage.

Following my original post, obtained my new Non Imm O multi-entry visa in Amsterdam with no hassle whatsoever.

Went in Thursday morning with the paperwork. Friday was 'Queen's Day' national public holiday, and I went to collect it on the Tuesday morning.

Cost was 120 Euros, and paperwork consisted of 1) Application, 2) Photos x 2, 3) Copy of Marriage certificate & English translation. No need at all to provide proof of funds, such as bank statements.

Now, why can't Penang do the same, eh?

Wonder if we'll be wearing our usual 'away' coloured shirt??

I need to get another 12 month multi-entry Non-Imm 'O' visa.

Previously, I've got it in my home country of UK (the Birmingham consulate), and also last year while on holiday in Brisbane, Australia.

Am going back to Europe soon for 2 months, but the last month will be 'on the continent'. So, rather than waste a month of my new visa by obtaining it in UK, was wondering what the visa service in Amsterdam is like.

Anyone had good, efficient experience with the Thai consulate in Amsterdam for these types of visas?

So, Mr T's mob gone from vote-buying to monk-buying, then?

We moved from northern England to Phuket in 2007. Obviously, education, and the whole future for our daughter was considered very thoroughly before our move. Our daughter is now 4 1/2 - very early in her life, and who knows how things will pan out in the future. But, we took a top-down approach to our thoughts - ie what would she likely be doing in her early 20's? So, this is what we considered for a place like Phuket:

1. Career / job

The only opportunities and industries on this island are in hotels / leisure or in real estate. Very limited, we thought.

Bangkok would have a much wider range of careers to consider, but she would be up there on her own.

Undoubtedly, there are many more opportunities, good careers, and good salaries to be had in the 'west'.

2. University education

Nothing worth considering in Phuket, and only half-decent universities up in Bangkok. - unless you pay an arm and a leg to buy your way in to one of the good ones.

In any event, anybody with a good job in Thailand has come from a rich family and / or got a degree from USA, UK, or Australia to, at least, supplement the poor quality degrees you'd get from a Thai university. Their degree awards mean very little on the world stage - an overseas degree carries a lot of weight here.

3. Secondary education

Quite good at an International School that follows, say, the UK curriculum, and offering IGCSE examinations. These will follow "proper" areas of education, rather than following the Thai tenets of 'Nation, Religion, Monarchy' that would be offered in Thai schools.

Secondary education at International Schools will be expensive. It's free in UK!

4. Junior / Primary education

Similar points to above. We (and I stress this is view shared also by my wife!) both think that the Thai behaviours of obedience and no desire to question / reason, are drummed into kids at an early age. A Thai government school is, in our eyes, totally out of the question for mixed race kids, or totally foreign kids.

Thai government and private schools will run English Programmes - fair enough. But that is just the Thai national curriculum taught in the English language. Probably the best Thai private school on Phuket is Kajonkietsuksa School. However, it's important to understand that this is still a Thai school teaching the Thai curriculum, which is solely run for profit. Vitally, the school publicly acknowledge their total Thai-ness in a quote from the school manager, K. Permkiat, "We follow all the Thai traditions and customs here. We have a quite clear idea on these issues and if people are looking for Western culture then they won't find it here."

So, even at this early stage and age, you have to seriously consider the benefits of International Schooling. Again, this costs a whole bunch of money. Free in UK.

***

I'm not going to discuss anything else other than education : lifestyle, family relationships etc. You can consider them separately at your leisure, I'm sure.

In conclusion, what we have decided is to stay here through our daughter's primary and junior schooling at an International School on Phuket. By the time she reaches, say, 10, we expect to head back to England for, in our opinion, the most important stage in her education.

That should cover secondary and possibly any university education. After that, she stands on her own two feet, and we'll be back here for my retirement, I suspect.

Hey, this is just a plan, and all the best plans have flexibility to change in them. It's important to have a vision and consider the future, but who knows what will happen. But, as regards education, this is our thinking and the rationale behind it. Good luck in your considerations.

It is illegal in Thailand for men (and women of course) to go bare-chested in public. You must wear a top at all times!

Years ago, my M-I-L got all flustered when I was driving my car without a shirt on. "Polit lock. Polit lock", she kept saying.

Thought she was talking her usual <deleted>, but there may have been something behind it after all!

Premier League defends owner test

By James Skinner and John Sinnott

The Premier League has defended its "fit and proper person" test after Stoke manager Tony Pulis said the system had "broken down".

Pulis wants Portsmouth investigated as the club has had four owners this season and has huge debts.

...

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former owner of Manchester City, would have failed the test when he and his wife were charged with corruption in his native Thailand but had already sold his stake in the club.

"Shinawatra sold because he knew that he and his wife would fall foul of it," said a Premier League spokesman. "In essence he decided to sell before he became a distressed seller."

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/football/...rem/8522777.stm

-- BBC 2010-02-08

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You say you're married. Is your UK bank account a joint account with your wife? Or does she have a UK bank account in her own right?

If the answer is 'yes' to either of the above, then just let her do the transfer. There are no exchange controls in Thailand for Thais. A Thai transferring money to their own bank account overseas is no problem.

Okay, caf, I now note your original post said "protect". Your thread seems to be more concerned about protecting the home, but not the invested money that bought the home.

In that case, to protect your occupancy of the home, the usufruct and superficies is fine, because you can't be chucked out during whatever term of agreement has been made. Notwithstanding, one directly from the wife can be voided.

However, I don't think my points are useless. They are helpful, and I'm certainly not moaning. Many people here want to also protect their cash investment, not just the bricks they live in. Few would want to continue to live and occupy a house where an estranged family was close by, even if they had an agreement allowing them to do this.

Most would wish to sell up and leave. It's important to know that a usufructuary or beneficiary couldn't do this. Okay, you may create a lease, but that's only like getting a monthly income, or a small lump sum relative to the real value of the property. You simply can't realise your investment back without the freeholder agreeing.

Put it another way, what does a buyer look for? Either freehold title or a long lease. It's more than likely that a usufructuary couldn't give either of these. You say you can get the value of your house back. Technically, yes, but who on earth would enter into a property purchase with a deal like this?

I tend to get more than a little bored with many foreigners in this host country of ours who think that superficies and usufructs are the best things since sliced bread. All they do is give a right to occupy and use the land or house. As my lawyer described it to me : "She can't chuck you out!" (As long as it wasn't given by 'her' of course)

And that is a about the extent of the protection you have.

In my book, any investment I make is one that I can turn back into cash if ever I want to. With these, the usufructuary or beneficiary is never the freeholder - that is usually the Thai spouse, other family member, or corporate body. So, who do you rely on to sell the place if ever you want to? Yes, the goodwill of the freeholder. And guess where you stand if you don't have cooperation of the freeholder? Well and truly <deleted>-ed.

So, the message is still the same. Be in a long and happy relationship, or don't spend more than you can give up and walk away from.

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm going to look into setting up a nationwide account and putting the money I need for the trip into that then just use the visa debit card to withdraw money. Thanks again.

No - read Pattayaparent again!!

If you have the lump sum already to put into a UK bank account, why do you want to pay debit card fees every time you want to take money out?

Transfer once-only all your 6 month money over to your bank account here, and withdraw for free from your Thaibank account anytime.

Keep a little in your UK account, and use that card over here only in an emergency.

Done the same recently. Got a local officer at the police station to do it, and since it was Chalong, Phuket, I expected to pay a little bit of money.

He only went and did it for free!

Here, a bank officer is not allowed to do this kind of thing. Witnessing and veryfying documents like passports can only be done by the police and lawyers, I'm told, Even though it may say other officials can do it on the Co-op bank documents, it's not allowed for 'other officials' in Thailand to do this.

Care with the wording - it has to be spot on with what Co-op say to tie in with the regulatory framework in CI or IoM, or wherever. Check their website - I'm convinced that they'll state the required wording somewhere in the account opening procedures.