Curious About Moving To Thailand

[Castor83]

Hey all,

So I'm in the process of gettin a visa for my Girlfriend and I'm starting to think I should at least think about planning for the worst. So I'm looking at the possibility of moving to Thailand. Just looking for a bit of guidance or advise I suppose, and a feel of whether or not it is possible.

My girlfriend has a house, half the morgage payed and owns half of her mother's house too. Currently she's in Thailand with our 4 month old son and her 9 yr old daughter. She has a, should I say, questionable immigration history! We just got rejected for our settlement application, and while hopefully with more documents and evidence the appeal should go through, it's made me realise moving to Thailand may well be required.

So here's what I know already. At least what I think I know. I've been told to get a job as a foreigner in Thailand, you, or the company employing you anyway, has to show that there is no national fit for the position. Which means you unless you have a shed load of qualification or experience, you don;t really stand a chance.

Well I'm not particularly qualified. I got 9 GCSE A-C and two A Levels, but other than that I've got diddly-squat! I've spent the last 7 years working in a Casino as a Croupier. Now I also know there are no casinos in Thailand, which means I'm pretty much banjaxed! The only real other way I could make a living is playing poker online. But I'm guessing that is illegal too.

So anyone have any ideas of what I should do with my time at the moment to improve my chances of landing a job, should the worst happen? What I mean is, what are the most common industries which hire foreigners? Should I take a course? Or learn Thai?

I've heard teaching english is a very popular one, but I would need at least a TEFL qualification. I don;t really like the sound of that though, as I'm not too sure I would be a very good teacher. Not really got the patience for it.

Any English companies that have positions in Thailand?

So yeah, bit of a random post I know, but if anyone has found themselves in similar situation and has any advice, I would appreciate it.

[Beardog]

How old are you at 50 you can get an OA 1 year renewable visa. If you marry here your amount you must show immigration each year will drop to 400,000 baht opposed to 800,000 baht which may change to 1 million baht or 500,000 if your married. I am not sure on Tefl requirements.

If your from the U.S. you probably do not have a remote chance to marry & live in the U.S. for her(legally) U.S. has got to be the toughest country in the world to get your wife through towards a resident visa or working towards a natural citizenship.

I gave up after the 4th hoop & then finding out that if you are not a top political figure - Forget about it. The U.S. is currently running over a 2 year backlog & consider Thai's to be the lowest order of priority. It is easy to get married here.

Hope something helps & good luck a couple of kids can be challenging at best to start things off!

Beardog

[Castor83]

How old are you at 50 you can get an OA 1 year renewable visa. If you marry here your amount you must show immigration each year will drop to 400,000 baht opposed to 800,000 baht which may change to 1 million baht or 500,000 if your married. I am not sure on Tefl requirements.

If your from the U.S. you probably do not have a remote chance to marry & live in the U.S. for her(legally) U.S. has got to be the toughest country in the world to get your wife through towards a resident visa or working towards a natural citizenship.

I gave up after the 4th hoop & then finding out that if you are not a top political figure - Forget about it. The U.S. is currently running over a 2 year backlog & consider Thai's to be the lowest order of priority. It is easy to get married here.

Hope something helps & good luck a couple of kids can be challenging at best to start things off!

Beardog

Hey thanks,

I'm 27, from uk. Should be fairly straightforward getting a visa, but with her history and my ability to screw up the simplest of tasks, we managed to balls up the application pretty good. Like I say, hopefully it will all be ok with the appeal, but just trying to make a start covering the 'what if' side of things. Only been to Thailand twice so I don't really know all that much about the place to be honest. My girlfriend lives just outside bangkok.

She seems to think I would have no trouble finding work. I'm not so sure though. She is ever the optimist, bless her heart.

[thaiphoon]

You will need a work permit to work legally in Thailand.

[st11x]

I've spent the last 7 years working in a Casino as a Croupier.

The casinos that are opening in Singapore have reported that they cannot find Singaporeans to fill the jobs as people are just not interested, so they might have to look to foreigners. That may be something you can think about while living in Thailand if that is something you want to continue doing.

[ebroguy]

Hey all,

So I'm in the process of gettin a visa for my Girlfriend and I'm starting to think I should at least think about planning for the worst. So I'm looking at the possibility of moving to Thailand. Just looking for a bit of guidance or advise I suppose, and a feel of whether or not it is possible.

My girlfriend has a house, half the morgage payed and owns half of her mother's house too. Currently she's in Thailand with our 4 month old son and her 9 yr old daughter.

She has a, should I say, questionable immigration history! We just got rejected for our settlement application, and while hopefully with more documents and evidence the appeal should go through, it's made me realise moving to Thailand may well be required.

So here's what I know already. At least what I think I know. I've been told to get a job as a foreigner in Thailand, you, or the company employing you anyway, has to show that there is no national fit for the position. Which means you unless you have a shed load of qualification or experience, you don;t really stand a chance.

Well I'm not particularly qualified. I got 9 GCSE A-C and two A Levels, but other than that I've got diddly-squat! I've spent the last 7 years working in a Casino as a Croupier. Now I also know there are no casinos in Thailand, which means I'm pretty much banjaxed! The only real other way I could make a living is playing poker online. But I'm guessing that is illegal too.

So anyone have any ideas of what I should do with my time at the moment to improve my chances of landing a job, should the worst happen? What I mean is, what are the most common industries which hire foreigners? Should I take a course? Or learn Thai?

I've heard teaching english is a very popular one, but I would need at least a TEFL qualification. I don;t really like the sound of that though, as I'm not too sure I would be a very good teacher. Not really got the patience for it.

Any English companies that have positions in Thailand?

So yeah, bit of a random post I know, but if anyone has found themselves in similar situation and has any advice, I would appreciate it.

Sorry Castor , but you have only been here twice and you have a 4 month old son and you are 27 ! that's what I call ' ballsing things up ' ! You should have came here , partied and just went home !

If I were you I would just send her a little money each month to do your duty by taking care of your son and forget about moving here at your age , this is a shit hole and getting worse for all but a few foreigners , and next time you visit a country where sex is so freely available then take precautions !

ebroguy

[midasthailand]

Hey all,

So I'm in the process of gettin a visa for my Girlfriend and I'm starting to think I should at least think about planning for the worst. So I'm looking at the possibility of moving to Thailand. Just looking for a bit of guidance or advise I suppose, and a feel of whether or not it is possible.

My girlfriend has a house, half the morgage payed and owns half of her mother's house too. Currently she's in Thailand with our 4 month old son and her 9 yr old daughter.

She has a, should I say, questionable immigration history! We just got rejected for our settlement application, and while hopefully with more documents and evidence the appeal should go through, it's made me realise moving to Thailand may well be required.

So here's what I know already. At least what I think I know. I've been told to get a job as a foreigner in Thailand, you, or the company employing you anyway, has to show that there is no national fit for the position. Which means you unless you have a shed load of qualification or experience, you don;t really stand a chance.

Well I'm not particularly qualified. I got 9 GCSE A-C and two A Levels, but other than that I've got diddly-squat! I've spent the last 7 years working in a Casino as a Croupier. Now I also know there are no casinos in Thailand, which means I'm pretty much banjaxed! The only real other way I could make a living is playing poker online. But I'm guessing that is illegal too.

So anyone have any ideas of what I should do with my time at the moment to improve my chances of landing a job, should the worst happen? What I mean is, what are the most common industries which hire foreigners? Should I take a course? Or learn Thai?

I've heard teaching english is a very popular one, but I would need at least a TEFL qualification. I don;t really like the sound of that though, as I'm not too sure I would be a very good teacher. Not really got the patience for it.

Any English companies that have positions in Thailand?

So yeah, bit of a random post I know, but if anyone has found themselves in similar situation and has any advice, I would appreciate it.

Sorry Castor , but you have only been here twice and you have a 4 month old son and you are 27 ! that's what I call ' ballsing things up ' ! You should have came here , partied and just went home !

If I were you I would just send her a little money each month to do your duty by taking care of your son and forget about moving here at your age , this is a shit hole and getting worse for all but a few foreigners , and next time you visit a country where sex is so freely available then take precautions !

ebroguy

And so begins the online career of another Thailand bashing Newbie! Mate it's pretty simple really, if you don't like it here.....P@ss off whence you came!!

To the OP, there are many opportunities for employment here, but it is NOT easy! Living in Thailand is much easier if you speak the language and are culturally aware. Cost of living is fairly cheap, food, climate, people and lifestyle are great, traffic sucks but transport infrastructure, whilst crowded, is functional (and plentiful).

Good luck with your appeal but if that fails there are certainly worse countries to live in.

[ThaiBasil]

Where are you going to live in Thailand? I know up north just near the Golden Triangle there is a casino across the border into Birma. That might be something, I don't know anything else about it or how things work in Birma, but just thought I'd mention it in here. Also I had a friend on Samui who managed to stay there 6 motnhs a year just by playing poker online. However, he was just by himself and lived in a cheap bungalow. He made about 25 USD a day avarage, guess thats all you need then.

Hope this helps,

[mrtoad]

I would encourage anybody to try and work and move overseas, but there are some important ingredients that you need to be successful, otherwise you could find yourself living a fairly miserable existence here in Thailand. For a start, there is plenty of employment available, although with your qualifications it will be in teaching, and the pay will be poor, and also likely to be illegal, i.e without a work permit. You also need to consider things such as savings; do you have any? Medical insurance, do you have any? I'd suggest that you think long and hard about moving to Thailand without a plan, and think about other options where you may well be able to obtain decent employmet, or at least put yourself in a position so that her visa application will not be turned down. Sorry to sound harsh, but I think you need a dose of reality -Thailand is not the place to move to at the moment, especially in your current position.

[pattaya_girl]

Hey all,

So I'm in the process of gettin a visa for my Girlfriend and I'm starting to think I should at least think about planning for the worst. So I'm looking at the possibility of moving to Thailand. Just looking for a bit of guidance or advise I suppose, and a feel of whether or not it is possible.

My girlfriend has a house, half the morgage payed and owns half of her mother's house too. Currently she's in Thailand with our 4 month old son and her 9 yr old daughter.

She has a, should I say, questionable immigration history! We just got rejected for our settlement application, and while hopefully with more documents and evidence the appeal should go through, it's made me realise moving to Thailand may well be required.

So here's what I know already. At least what I think I know. I've been told to get a job as a foreigner in Thailand, you, or the company employing you anyway, has to show that there is no national fit for the position. Which means you unless you have a shed load of qualification or experience, you don;t really stand a chance.

Well I'm not particularly qualified. I got 9 GCSE A-C and two A Levels, but other than that I've got diddly-squat! I've spent the last 7 years working in a Casino as a Croupier. Now I also know there are no casinos in Thailand, which means I'm pretty much banjaxed! The only real other way I could make a living is playing poker online. But I'm guessing that is illegal too.

So anyone have any ideas of what I should do with my time at the moment to improve my chances of landing a job, should the worst happen? What I mean is, what are the most common industries which hire foreigners? Should I take a course? Or learn Thai?

I've heard teaching english is a very popular one, but I would need at least a TEFL qualification. I don;t really like the sound of that though, as I'm not too sure I would be a very good teacher. Not really got the patience for it.

Any English companies that have positions in Thailand?

So yeah, bit of a random post I know, but if anyone has found themselves in similar situation and has any advice, I would appreciate it.

Sorry Castor , but you have only been here twice and you have a 4 month old son and you are 27 ! that's what I call ' ballsing things up ' ! You should have came here , partied and just went home !

If I were you I would just send her a little money each month to do your duty by taking care of your son and forget about moving here at your age , this is a shit hole and getting worse for all but a few foreigners , and next time you visit a country where sex is so freely available then take precautions !

ebroguy

Seems we have a newbie to Thai Visa - ebroguy.

[Castor83]

"Sorry Castor , but you have only been here twice and you have a 4 month old son and you are 27 ! that's what I call ' ballsing things up ' ! You should have came here , partied and just went home !

If I were you I would just send her a little money each month to do your duty by taking care of your son and forget about moving here at your age , this is a shit hole and getting worse for all but a few foreigners , and next time you visit a country where sex is so freely available then take precautions ! "

Thanks for your rapid judgement and condescending tone. I actually met my girlfriend in England. The first time i went to Thailand was years back for the tourist bit. Last time was for the birth of my baby. Nice to know you are a compassionate person though. I like the suggestion of "I would just send her a little money every month to do your duty..." Your mother must be very proud.

And yes obviously I shouldn;t be jumping on a plane and moving to thailand without any kind of plan. But as I said in OP, I am just starting to realise this may be necessary at some point and was wondering if anyone who has moved out there has any advice. To be honest I don't really care for criticism at this point.

Interesting point Tiptip. Well my girlfriends house is in Pathumthani (sp?) and her and her mother's house is in Lop Buri, but I don;t think moving would be too much of an issue. Never though of looking at the bordering countries for casino work. With regard to the online poker. I can easily make around $50 a day. That is something I have proven is possible on a long term basis. But is online poker legal in Thailand??? My girlfriend seems to think it isn't. And given there isn't really any other form of gambling that is legal, I would be inclined to agree with her.

Like i said originally I don;t know much about Thailand really. But what I've seen, I have liked. I love the food, the climate, the slower pace of life. I'm quite good at picking up languages, so I doubt it would be a problem to learn thai if i really applied myself. I'm travelling there again in a few weeks to see the missus and the little fella, so I guess I should just take a bit more notice of everything.

As for savings etc. Well this visa and appeal and cost for the birth of my son and travelling out there have pretty much spent all those. But I don;t have many outgoings really and could easily save a few thousand £ in a couple of months if necessary.

Not too sure about teaching really. Maybe it would be owrth getting some kind of qualification while we are waiting to hear about the appeal. Can't hurt I suppose. Any suggestions for a good career choice? Not looking to make alot of money or anything.

Thanks for all the replies...

[chiangmaibruce]

Where are you going to live in Thailand? I know up north just near the Golden Triangle there is a casino across the border into Birma.

I think perhaps you might mean Poipet in Cambodia - I haven't heard of any casino across the border in Myanmar/Burma. It might be worth the OP contactin them though, just to see if they employ any foreigners. There was a thaivisa thread in the last week or two about gambling at that casino

[MRFortuner]

Hi Castor.

I am 29. I have been living and working in thailand as expats for the pass 5 years. I love thailand and really do. I am surviving on work permit issued by my company. However, I want a permanent place here in Thailand. Permanent Residency and Citizenship is very very hard for all foreigners irregardless. Troublesome but doable. I have a gf. she is from bangkok.

This is my way of securing my place in Thailand. The following step was discussed with my girlfriend.

1. Save money. Ask my girlfriend to beautified her bank account statement. Consistant Transaction with saving before the next pay cheque. Keep her credit rating as empty as possible. Don't buy car!!!

2. Have my girlfriend expand here network to people working for the government (immigration).

3. Save enough money. (really depend on individual)

4. Get married in Thailand.

5. Save more money.

6. Ask my girlfriend to ask some of her trusted friend to open a business with me. 8 of them and 1 me!!.

7. Register my company with all signature and a start up capital (thats why need to save more money).

8. Hired myself and sign myself a work permit as I am part of the shareholder.

9. Work for 2 year in my business. Expand my network. Learn Thai (write and read). I know how to speak. Beautified my bank statement, p&l, balance sheet.

10. Apply for permanent residency. Pull many many strings. give some under table money to expedite your application.

11. Congratulations. I no longer survive on my work permit.

12. Save more money.. Nightmares starts.

Its not a good time for you to move to thailand now. advise to you is to save money now. your wife should be commit and help you to pull some strings over her network of friends. You will probably need 2-3 (max. 4 depending on your commitment) years preparation before you can startup ur company and sign a workpermit for yourself. after that, you are together with your family. you might have missed the 4 year of your child growing up. but at least, you will be together at the end. there are many 4 years for you to chase up. you can still attend your child's wedding without having to travel with a visa. right!?!

[Mossfinn]

Have you heard of Castors twin in Greek Myth?

[ThaiBasil]

Where are you going to live in Thailand? I know up north just near the Golden Triangle there is a casino across the border into Birma.

I think perhaps you might mean Poipet in Cambodia - I haven't heard of any casino across the border in Myanmar/Burma. It might be worth the OP contactin them though, just to see if they employ any foreigners. There was a thaivisa thread in the last week or two about gambling at that casino

The article is a bit outdated but Golden Triangle Paradise Resort has a casino: http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2929

It also says somewhere that the Golden Triangle Paradise Resort is one of 34 casinos that ring Thailand's borders.So I guess if OP googles a bit, he might find a job there somewhere or can gamble an income (if he is good).

About the online gambling, not sure if it is legal, my friend had it paid to his bank account back home and he could easily access poker games online.

[lazygourmet]

Where are you going to live in Thailand? I know up north just near the Golden Triangle there is a casino across the border into Birma.

I think perhaps you might mean Poipet in Cambodia - I haven't heard of any casino across the border in Myanmar/Burma. It might be worth the OP contactin them though, just to see if they employ any foreigners. There was a thaivisa thread in the last week or two about gambling at that casino

In June, I've noticed two farang working (supervisors, I presume) at one casino in Poipet.

Forgot the name, but this is the one where "Jackgolf" stops for buffet on their daily border runs.