Help For Me And Thai Girlfreind

[sikishrory]

hi,

i have been on this forum for awhile now and have searched around for help and advice as im sure there are many farang in the same boat and i only found similar stories but not the same so i figure its time i start my own topic. rather than write it all out again the following is a letter i just wrote to sunbelt legal advisors in bangkok which details everything perfectly. any help, ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

thankyou!

hi,

my name is ***** and im 27 year old chef from australia.

i went to phuket last september to train muay thai for a month and met a thai girlfriend while i was there. we have kept in contact and i am returning to train and to see her again this march for 1-2 months on a tourist visa.

i would like to have a proper relationship with her and probably get married as well. however im not good with paperwork and understand visas and work permits and all of that so i thought maybe you guys can help me?

i am either looking to:

1- bring her back home to australia with me or

2- organise a way in which i can stay in thailand for as long as possible with her. im guessing a work permit is necessary in my situation.

in regard to option 1 i realise she can probably get a tourist visa quite easy yet this would mean that it would only be a short time together for us. also i have looked into the requirements for "prospective marriage visa" and it's so hard and complex i dont think we could make that application on our own.

in regard to option 2 i know my muay thai school told me they can give me a "invitation letter" with which i can probably obtain a 1 year visa with. however i am by no means rich and wealthy and i think not working for a year would be no good for us in the long run. so i am thinking a work permit would be the best out of all the options above, however i dont think i could get one without some help either. i read a lot of stuff on the internet and alot of it conflicts with eachother or is about companies or i simply do not understand it. i would be interested in doing any work i could yet i would prefer to do cooking or security work. i also read that work permit holders cannot stay at 1 job for more than 3 months, is this true?

i think work permit would be the better option as well because i would like to work towards getting permanent residency and i read that you must have been in thailand for 3 years to even qualify and i can't imagine saving enough money for a 3 year holiday with no working.

i realise teaching english is a good gateway but i would prefer not to as i am not good with kids. if all else failed though it is something i would consider.

overall i would prefer to go to thailand because i love the culture and lifestyle yet i think it would be better if i could get my girlfriend to australia so we can both make enough money for a good start in thailand (she can make much more money here than there).

are you guys able to help me in any way and if so how? i'm very interested to know as all of this confuses me and i think for it to work i need some help.

thankyou

[lopburi3]

You need a job to obtain a work permit - that is the hard part. If you are a high level hotel chef there might be opportunities but for most it turns out to be set up restaurant and lose all the money they had. For long term stay in Thailand you normally need to be expat hire transferred here at overseas wage/benefits or a good businessman with a bit of luck. Most working people are likely to find opportunities better in there home country where they have access to tax paid benefits. As you seem to be undecided based on problem filling out Oz marriage paperwork (which I would guess will be much less demanding than living and trying to obtain PR in Thailand) suspect being Oz based during working life would be better for both you and wife/children in the long run.

[Maestro]

A post giving wrong information about "the 3 year clause" has been deleted.

[KamnanT]

One thing is your views on becomming a permenant resident here? The thing with the 3 year clause is if a person wants to apply for Citizenship, NOT Resident. And if it's Citizenship you want may I ask "Why on god's green earth would you want to be a Citizen of Thailand and lose 25% of your future pesnsions etc in Oz?

The OP is correct - one of the prerequisites for obtaining Permanent Residency in Thailand is 3 years of continuous Extensions of Stay. The other requirements (and there are many) include evidence of employment and payment of income tax for at least 3 years. Applicants earning less than THB 100,000 per month are rarely accepted unless they can demonstrate a unique and valuable contribution to Thailand. Add to this the fact that all of the PR applications filed in December 2006 and subsequent years are still awaiting approval and you can see that PR is currently a pretty big hurdle to cross.

To apply for Thai citizenship, a foreigner must first obtain Permanent Residence and then wait a further 5 years (with the exception of a female foreign national who marries a Thai male, in which case there is no requirement to first obtain PR).

Not sure what you mean by "lose 25% of your future pensions in Oz". Entitlement to an Australian pension is not based on citizenship. If you are refering to overseas pension income being taxable in Thailand, then this would depend not on citizenship but on tax residency (different from immigration residency). From the Revenue Department web site:

"Taxpayers are classified into “resident” and “non-resident”. “Resident” means any person residing in Thailand for a period or periods aggregating more than 180 days in any tax (calendar) year. A resident of Thailand is liable to pay tax on income from sources in Thailand as well as on the portion of income from foreign sources that is brought into Thailand. A non-resident is, however, subject to tax only on income from sources in Thailand."

So, if you live in Thailand for more than 180 days in a calendar year, pension payments from overseas are taxable if you remit them to Thailand in the same year. Nothing to do with citizenship.

[Mario2008]

Believe that also males married to a Thai woman can now directly apply for Thai citizenship, without the need to first have PR.

[sikishrory]

i've been researching this for about 3 months now and am clearly getting nowhere. all the information is at my fingertips but it's so daunting. i guess i'll have to leave it with the legal people and hope they can help. thanks for the comments i appreciate it. any other ideas would surely be welcomed. there has to be other farang blokes in the same situation i thought. i'd love to know what other people in this situation are doing.

thankyou

[Arkady]

Working in Thailand may be an option, if you have the skills and experience that are in demand by 5 star hotels or can acquire an English teaching qualification which requires a bachelors degree. There is no point in thinking much about permanent residence at this point as they have not been giving them out since 2006 and it is not clear when, if ever, the process will resume. Males with Thai wives are nowadays entitled to apply for Thai citizenship, after working legitimately and paying tax in Thailand for three full tax years. However, the process can take many years and approval is discretionary with no guarantee of success. Anyway the most important thing is work. If you have legitimate work, you can stay in Thailand indefinitely. If you can't get a decent job here, you are much better off starting a family in Oz and visiting Thailand for holidays.

[sikishrory]

somebody actually private messaged me on here regarding a chef job after reading this. so now im wondering if you cant get your work permit until you arrive in thailand then what visa are you supposed to get? im guessing a tourist visa would be no good.

also is it true that you can only work at 1 job for 3 months until you have to move on?

thankyou

[lopburi3]

If the offer were from a legit source they should be able to provide paperwork to obtain a non immigrant B visa. You can apply for a work permit with a tourist visa but it can not be issued until you have a non immigrant entry. The three month has nothing to do with normal visa entry (it is a special Oz working holiday visa) designed for short term work combined without touring.

[sirchai]

somebody actually private messaged me on here regarding a chef job after reading this. so now im wondering if you cant get your work permit until you arrive in thailand then what visa are you supposed to get? im guessing a tourist visa would be no good.

also is it true that you can only work at 1 job for 3 months until you have to move on?

thankyou

I'm sorry, but your story sounds so familiar to me. Coming to Thailand, falling in love. To be perfectly honest with you: Staying with a Thai girl together for a holiday and living with her, planning to get married without knowing her really is a different ball game. Good luck! :jap: