thaigold

Sounds like a normal day in Los Angeles. I recall some years ago, some dear Russian immigrant friends who had a lovely two story home with pool, just south of Wilshire Blvd. Walking distance to the Wilshire Ebell Theater http://ebellla.com/theater/index.htm and its upscale environs. However, two blocks south of the home there were tank traps on Olympic Blvd to prevent the predators from cruising the neighborhood.

The message here is - if someone wants your goodies, they will make a try. In LA there are bottom feeders who will kill you for 1000 EU. 20K in the LOS is a fortune. Possibly an "inside job?"

I guess the question begs; why should Thailand open its borders to long stays simply because they have expired their visa options? The only legitimate reason for a long-stay is; work; study; the monk hood; or retirement. Thailand is a proud and sovereign nation. It does not have open borders. Case in point - the UK. Lax immigration controls and thousands coming in on the dole, and unwilling to assimilate.

I know many Farangs who have lived here for years and neither read nor speak the Thai language. This a cultural slight that is not missed by the Thai authorities. Would any sane person emigrate to France and not learn French? Of course not.

Like all nations, the Thai education system is, in the foremost, dedicated to imbuing children with love of king and country, and the necessary tools to fit into the Thai cultural melange. Just as the USA was the center of the universe for me as a child, the same holds true in Thailand through Matayom.

This is a positive, and is the primary reason Thailand "check's all the right boxes" in tourism and retirement.There is something to say for this overlooked political asset. The Thai disinclination at becoming embroiled in First World mischief-making is a blessing-in-disguise.

One need only to look to Britain and the U.S. for proof of this supposition. One person's view of progress is an anathema to another.

How sad. I certainly hope his assets are not in Thailand. If this she-devil is truly guilty, then hopefully she will receive the type of Thai justice that obviates any burden on the court system

Some people say, what harm do the fakes do? If a person can afford the real thing, they will buy it. Anyone who buys a fake iPhone, or Gucci bag is doing it out of vanity, not real need. Were I to buy an iPad, I would buy from Apple, not MBK. The point is, there are no lost-sales at the iStudio. Replica products are exactly what the name denotes. Copies.

Where's the economic damage? I've yet to meet a Thai who can't differentiate the fake from the real thing. I bought a Frank Mueller several years ago at ***, it worked wonderfully, and all our friends in San Francisco were enthralled. The question being; how could I afford to waste so many dollars on a watch. The point is, this watch company didn't lose a sale. I would have never bought the real thing in the first place.

A win / win proposition.

Where is Meechok Plaza?

Just as the other poster states, use True "inter Sim." Two levels of service; 1 baht a minute or 3 baht, depending on your needs. Highly recommended.

Actually you do not need 800,000 baht on deposit. The regulations state that you prove to Thai authorities that you have available income of 65,000 baht a month / 800,000 baht a year. This could be 400,000 in a Thai bank and proof of 35,000 baht a month coming from offshore sources. In fact you could have less in the bank, but this would only be advisable to retirees with seasoned retirement visas in their passports.

In short, you must show Thai Immigration that you have access to funds in the amount of 800,000 baht, both in-country and offshore available at the time of visa application. You just have to prove your financial responsibility. It is possible to live upcountry on 15,000 baht a month and leave the balance in a Thai bank. There is also a hidden advantage here, in that baht deposits are returning more revenue (currency Exchange) in dollars and euros than U.S. or Euro banks.

Get the visa - just smile allot, and present a neatly ordered application package. Easy.

Best just to bring in 100 Dollar bills or Euros. There is no valid reason not to carry cash.

I've been using 3G in Bangkok for about 5 months. It started out quite fast and reliable, but as things usually go here, has degraded to a crawl at best until about 5:00 AM in the morning. I don't see this improving with more players and customers.

That's because they are advertising it as 3G but it is not real 3G. It is what they call 3G, but it's over the 2G frequency. Thailand still doesn't have 3G.

Once they actually get the licenses, you will get a 3G signal from a tower for 3G in the 2100mhz spectrum (right now you are getting it over the 850mhz, which is what they use for everything else), which is real HSDPA. RIght now, all they have is slightly faster 2G (sometimes) and they are selling it to you as 3G.

I've been on 3G for a year now and usually get 2500 to 3000kbps - streams You Tube and a 700MB torrent in 2 1/2 hours or less. No complaints here.

My question is; what torrent client are you using? I live in the Victory Monument area and get excellent downloads using 3G / True Move / IEC / i-Kool / and another service (unnamed). I get crystal clear AVI files in just over two hours. I recode the avi's to DVD format, and voila - HD quality on my Sony LCD. I suspect you may have a transfer / speed modulation problem with your client settings. If you advise as to your client, I'll be glad to send a couple of neat tutorial links. Torrenting is art, technology, and intuition - served as a salad. Living in Thailand you need to add some spice.

Even in the US, I.P.s will throttle you - sometimes you need to adjust your system's wants against your torrenting needs.

Try V P Tower - 5 minutes from Ratchathewi Hospital and BTS. Private, on quiet soi - nice garden, restaurant and pool. Highly recommended.

http://www.vptower.com/

Your best bet is 3G with an air card if you are in a service area. Most of BKK, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, and Hua Hin are covered. You will be paying about 30 to 50 satang per Megabyte of data transfered, both up and down.

Turn the monitor right way up.

Then right-click on the desktop, you should see something about video options or a video control panel (depends on your video card), you should find a 'rotate display' option.

Yes, since your head is upside down - easy. Re-orient your head to the vertical, or turn the computer upside down. Either way, problems solved. And a friendly suggestion: get off the Lao Kao and drink Sang Som...you'll love it.

Thank you for the link, I must admit that I had missed that page.

However, even you must accept that if the applicant is from an Anglophone country then asking them to take a basic English test would be rather pointless.

That they are mostly members of the Commonwealth is not surprising, for obvious reasons. However, most Commonwealth nations are not Anglophone, and applicant's from those countries will have to take this test.

As said before, unless one entered the UK under the provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC, in order to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain everyone has to satisfy the knowledge of language and life in the UK requirement; no matter their nationality and whether they are an Anglophone or not.

The 'Embassy wonks' you refer to are operating under the immigration rules; they don't set these rules, Parliament does. Surely the US has a similar system; government employees judging whether an applicant meets the requirements laid down by the US government for the visa for which they have applied?

Again, if you believe that simply getting married means that an American citizen will automatically and easily obtain a visa for their spouse to live in the US, you should read some of the posts on this forum by your fellow Americans!

What the relevance of D-day is, I can't fathom.

Surely you would accept that being able to speak the language of the country in which one lives, even if only at a basic level, can only be of benefit?

Not racist, not a class thing (and if you believe there is no class system in the US, you must be very naive!), simply common sense which can only be of long term benefit to the applicant.

Thanks for your comment. Please understand that I was not willfully impugning UK Borders policy - just a bit of contrarian fulmination on my part. My country has major problems with immigration, troubles that make Britain's pale by comparison. It was just the fact that Borders chose such a seemingly minor component of immigration as a focus of immigration control. Especially since it was in such a private and socially sensitive area.

Some say, and I quote, "It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual."

We Americans have our own crosses to bear - in California, if I call a government office I first get a generous menu of languages to choose from. Heck, we recently had a 200 thousand Latinos marching in the streets of Los Angeles with Mexican flags. Just imagine 500 Americans marching up Rachadaprarop waving "Old Glory" and ranting in protest. Well, we both know the answer to this one.

I'd also be interested in where you got that list of 'exempt' countries from. Immigrants from those countries are not exempt from the current knowledge of life and language requirement in order to obtain indefinite leave to remain, and the official announcement of this new measure I linked to earlier says 'all non-European.'

So, can you please provide a link to confirm you assertion. Preferably a government one, or at least one to a source a bit more reliable than the Daily Mail!

The reason I mentioned this proposal was a hangover from the previous government was to show that it is not new; indeed it has been discussed on this forum before.

In you first post you rant about East Asians, in your second it's South Asians. Make up your mind. Although, if you're using the Daily Mail as your source, it is hardly surprising that confusion reigns over your posts. Whichever group it is that you are against, they too will have to meet this new requirement, just as they currently have to meet the same requirements that Thais do.

Surely even an American must have noticed that many Thais; especially those who are most likely to meet and marry Brits or other foreigners, can speak some English.

Finally, you should read some of the posts on here from your compatriots about getting a US visa for their partners. Even with this new test, the UK system is a lot easier and certainly a lot quicker than the US one. Perhaps you should seek to put your own house in order before criticising others?

Actually, it came from your own government's UK Border Agency's web site.

Here's the page in all its flaming glory:

http://www.bia.homeo...nguage-partners

And yes, the US Embassy is a tough call, but I can assureyou of one salient point - if an American weds overseas, and the spouse can only speak Swahili, that legal spouse would be welcomed into the UnitedStates.

This whole kafuffle is a bit odious, like class-consciousness revealed. Judging people by their language, voice, tone,and inflections is so passé'.

Thank heavens we Americans have no Lady Bushes or Lord Brad Pitt's.

Your questions:

Contrary to common beliefs, we Americans are fully capable of enduring British friendships. I think we proved that on D Day – no visasrequired then. And yes, I have British friends at work throughout the Thai constellation. Propriety deems further comment on this unnecessary.

The use of the term "Legation" was inserted strictly for the"amusement" of the poster who opined on my initial visa comment. It was also an allusion to the seeming withering of the Embassy grounds – especially with the mini-Disneyland standing where Queen Victoria once proudly guarded the stately entrance off Sukhumvit. Oh, and the fact that the British Legation, oops, I slipped "Embassy" is rumoured to be outsourcing its visa services.

As previously asked, how can the exclusion of a British spouse possibly be the business of an embassy wonk, caught up in the labyrinthine corridors of some mismanaged British bureaucracy? And mismanaged it was – you folks still have freedom of the press. Goggle it.

I'm so sorry 7by7, but your facile political whitewash just doesn't hold up under real scrutiny. In a clever misdirection, you lay this visa fiasco at the feet of the former Labour Government and state that the new coalition is simply bringing forward the implementation date. The inference here is that this law was the invention of a prior administration – so no blame affixes.

By the admission of the British press http://www.dailymail...nts-system.html the state of the UK visa process is in a "Shambolic" condition. A quote from aleading British daily characterizes the current South Asia dilemma as follows:"Over ten months the total number of visas handed out to Bangladeshis rose six-foldfrom 3,380 to 21,226." Obviously Britain does have a serious problem in its UK Border offices.

However, many people out here stand stunned at this draconian invasion into a British citizen's personal life. The very fact that a government agency has the power to trespass and intrude upon one of the most private aspects of man or woman's life is obnoxious and a bit Orwellian in this American's view.

Furthermore, it is common knowledge inside the British Legation in Bangkok that the level of English acquirement in the Kingdom is not noteworthy. By simple reasoning the application of these culturally insensitive rules are a de facto immigration barrier to the Thai wives of British subjects. It is an insult to Thai culture and the Thai people. It is ill advised.

It is also interesting to note that certain countries fall outside scope of this new regulation – and note; most are former colonies and possessions of the British Empire. Your official listing, not mine.

We consider that the following countries are majority English-speaking countries:

§ Antigua and Barbuda

§ Australia

§ The Bahamas

§ Barbados

§ Belize

§ Canada

§ Dominica

§ Grenada

§ Guyana

§ Jamaica

§ New Zealand

§ St Kitts and Nevis

§ St Lucia

§ St Vincent and the Grenadines

§ Trinidad and Tobago

§ The United States of America

But then that may be why we Americans call ourselves freemen, not subjects.

Yours to ponder

Now let me see if I've got this right. If a British man marries a Thai national after September 2010 (Bangkok Post July 24^th), then she must show a command of the English language. In the absence of this language ability, no visa will be issued. In other words, a British citizen who marries a Thai national – his wife is denied entry to Britain until she can pass an English fluency test. Unbelievable!

England is under siege by thousands of North Africans and East Asian hoards who freely emigrate to Britain with no language skills, and absolutely no desire to assimilate. Yet Britain, due to its skewed cultural norms allows this conquest by emigration, while concurrently denying a native born Englishman his Common Law right of a wife of his choosing – in his own home.

The British Embassy owes all of its expatriate residents in the Kingdom, including the Royal Thai Department of Foreign Affairs a direct and unequivocal apology for this racist rant, and the offensive directive as proposed. This diplomatic faux pas needs a prompt correction. How these racist remarks escaped the British Embassy employees charged with the vetting of such a blunder is beyond belief.

In fact, if a clarification is not forthcoming, the British Ambassador needs to hit the podium and explain…post haste

You failed to state the crime your "friend" committed. If it was drug related, your "friend" is damaged goods - so you better say adios amigo.

So, unless your "friend" is a close relation (blood), best to send letters - you visit, you'll get yourself an associate jacket - especially if you are under 30-years of age. You don't go to Klong Prem for not wearing a helmet.

There's an old saying that goes, "A girl can always run faster with her skirt up that a dude with his pants down." These short skirts are merely "anti-assault" equipment. I'll bet a 100 baht that a girl in a short skirt can outrun a girl in a Burqa any day of the week.

When you can't spell Thailand

Thigh-Land

Her only error was in choice of locales to pull off her scam. If she'd done her homework she would have gone to Manila. There, she could have faked her own demise, got a death certificate - 6-months in hiding and Viola! A resurrection and the insurance payoff safely in the beneficiaries bank account. A bit of tongue in cheek here, but there are insurance resurrections in the Philippines on record.

NancyL, Thank you for your detailed response. They sound like some excellent options and I may well see if I can sign up for them The only pain is that I would have to miss two or three days during the last week as I would be starting back at work... Nevertheless, this is by far the best option I've seen so far. Thank you.

Anyone out there with any other ideas?

You might want to visit the AAA Language School in the Vanessa Bldg behind Central Chidlom. A friend of mine went there for a few months and made remarkable progress. Thai reading and writing are relatively easy. It's those darn tones that make it so difficult. My understand is that this school is able to impart tones in their written and spoken form in a manner that sticks.

In general the Royal Thai Embassy in Vientiane/Laos issue around 3 Double Entry Tourist Tourist Visa per Person/Passport before rejecting people.

Currently no red stamp.

Has anyone actually asked the Thai Embassy or Consulate in Vientiane about the exact Tourist Visa rules? I wouldn't want to go all the way to Vientiane (from Bangkok) for a new Tourist Visa only to end up being rejected; it would be a huge waste of time and money. It would be good to know beforehand whether we'd be rejected so that we can plan accordingly.

Golly…just like any country on the planet, the Thai people can pick and choose. It’s common sense.

The question, just as it is in any country: Why are you here, and when do you plan to go home?

In my country – USA – it’s the law. You must prove that you are not an intended immigrant. Easy.

I just wish my own country would protect its borders as well as the Thais do.