Moving To Thailand

[mark courtney]

Hi I am after so advise, my wife is Thai we were married in the Uk back in May 2004,she has gone back to Thailand for the birth of our baby due in November. I wish to move to Thailand to live. Also looking at moving household contents. What is the best way to do this Thank you Mark

[lopburi3]

How do you plan to support your family here? There are as many answers to your everything query as the stars in the sky. We really need something to work with to try and give meaningful advice.

You might start by reading about importation of HHE at http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

[DeDanan]

she has gone back to Thailand for the birth of our baby due in November.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Mark,

Don't get me wrong on what i am going to say, i respect culture as much as the next man.... BUT.... This is your child, and as such you should want the best for the child, and by all means if you think that bringing up the child in Thailand is best for the child i am with you on that.....

BUT WHAT THE &lt;deleted&gt; ARE YOU DOING! if your child is born in Thailand it will have a Thai passport and Thai nationality, with ALL the restrictions that brings, if your child is born in the UK, it will have a UK passport / national and all the freedom (of travel) that brings that we all take for granted.

THINK about it, give your child any benifit you can!

Take care and "choke dii khrap"

DeDanan

[bkkbound04]

i agree...

i think it'd be best in the long term for the child to have a uk passport

but as they say in los up 2 u

good luck with it all

[Nutcracker]

It is really easy and there are no taxes if the goods are used and for your own personal use. Your UK shipping agent will handle everything door to door. All the big UK compamies have agents in Thailand.

[cdnvic]

Even if your child is born in Thailand, if you register the birth at the British embassy it should have full status as a british subject so long as the father is one. Same goes for it's thai citizenship if born in the UK.

cv

[Seksy]

Even if your child is born in Thailand, if you register the birth at the British embassy it should have full status as a british subject so long as the father is one. Same goes for it's thai citizenship if born in the UK.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with this. My wife travelles to Thailand speccially to give birth to our daughter. We then went to Austalian ambassy and after attempts to take picture daughter now has 'citizenship by descend' and TWO passports.

I am pretty sure it same with UK

BTW Prior to travelling to Thainald to give birth my wife spend some time in Oz hospitals but we got far better, more friendly and cearring service in Bangkok hospital (Kasemrad hospital). Familly support was also priceless bith before and after birth.

Daughter is 1y10m and having spend 30% recenlty in thailand she speak fluent Thai and OK English.

[jackjack]

DeDan, not sure on UK rights, but they should be similar to Oz rights as far as children born overseas to a UK/Oz citizen.

The child should gain full UK rights simply by having the UK father, is is the case in Oz. Also the mother should bet ###### near full rights being the mother of a UK child. Obviously all the right paperwork and criteria needs to be met, but it is the case again in Oz.

One of my kids was born in Oz, the other here in Thailand. The second child will have full Oz rights once I get her Oz paperwork done.

It is two dozen of one and whatever of the other as to the pros and cons of having the child here. I was going to return to Oz for our second child, but decided to have her here. In the end it all turned out fine, doctors here can be more and or less caring, dependant on the individual doc. It certainly is cheaper here.

The only concerns I have is the emergancy care if there is a proble. Certainly their are all the facilities here, but depending on where you have it depends on the quality of the docs etc.

Also a worry here was the tendancy for docs and even parnets to choose cesarian births. This concerned me and my wife as we did not want this to happen at the whim of a lazy doctor or scedules to keep. I insisted on my wife asking the doc and the hospital all the questions re this.

I made her ask the hospital what our doctors average of cesarian was compared to natural etc and then got her to confirm with the doc as well and then insisted we had a natural birth, except for emergancy of course. All went well.

As for shipping, yes use a door to door agent if you can, regardless of trying to save some bucks to do it yourself. If you try to do yourself, the customs will see you coming and being farang will extort you for whatever they can get.

I have a friend who just moved here from UK and used an agent, if you want the contact details for them let me know. Also try to get your wife to do it as a thai and not as farang goods etc.

[Steve2UK]

It is really easy and there are no taxes if the goods are used and for your own personal use. Your UK shipping agent will handle everything door to door. All the big UK compamies have agents in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"if the goods are used and for your own personal use".........

Nutcracker, are you sure that that's correct as a definition for being free of duty? Would love it to be true as I'm planning to ship some personal/household effects early next year (no work permit, just Non-Imm O or OA status).

I'd really appreciate input from anyone who has done household/personal effects import in the last 6 months since the concession was withdrawn on the Customs website.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

It is really easy and there are no taxes if the goods are used and for your own personal use. Your UK shipping agent will handle everything door to door. All the big UK compamies have agents in Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"if the goods are used and for your own personal use".........

Nutcracker, are you sure that that's correct as a definition for being free of duty? Would love it to be true as I'm planning to ship some personal/household effects early next year (no work permit, just Non-Imm O or OA status).

I'd really appreciate input from anyone who has done household/personal effects import in the last 6 months since the concession was withdrawn on the Customs website.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A foreigner needs a work permit to import household and personal goods. The Thai can bring goods as a returning national.

[LivinLOS]

But still expect to get stung..

I had everything in order but was simply blackmailed into paying something.. Had someone haggle it down to low levels but it was stressful)..

For me with all paperwork they just knew it was valuable.. They spread it all around an unsecured aread where anyone could walk past (10's of thousands of USD worth) some even outside to the elements (electronics etc).. Then said 'of course its 'possible' to get this cleared legally but it might take weeks or months and we have to charge you storage.. The final straw was when they eyed up a few high end marble audio speakers (3k USD per pair) and said 'maybe we have to open thos up to check nothing is being smuggled inside them'..

Welcome to Thailand..

[Steve2UK]

But still expect to get stung..

I had everything in order but was simply blackmailed into paying something.. Had someone haggle it down to low levels but it was stressful)..

For me with all paperwork they just knew it was valuable.. They spread it all around an unsecured aread where anyone could walk past (10's of thousands of USD worth) some even outside to the elements (electronics etc).. Then said 'of course its 'possible' to get this cleared legally but it might take weeks or months and we have to charge you storage.. The final straw was when they eyed up a few high end marble audio speakers (3k USD per pair) and said 'maybe we have to open thos up to check nothing is being smuggled inside them'..

Welcome to Thailand..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm kind of resigned to being stung to some degree - but having a real problem trying to anticipate how much for what. From the anecdotes I've seen, it seems that high end/luxury items (e.g. the marble speakers) are going to get hit - but then I gather that customs can also get "keen" over something like a used hedge-trimmer! On top of that, I've just been told about them holding an imported dog to ransom.............

Seems like a lot of valuable items = importer is wealthy = hit for the max; or certain item (e.g. dog) really matters to the owner = hit for the max. But how much?

I'm trying to sort out what to dump and what's worth shipping, so I'd really appreciate examples from people (without work permit and without Thai wife to do it as returning national) who have imported "standard" household/personal effects - with some idea of what they had to pay.

[colinj]

Hi Mark.

Have you thought of the alternative of not sending your household goods to Thailand. My mate moved there from Australia a couple of years ago. He found it cheaper to sell everything in a couple of garage sales and take the cash to Thailand. Most basic household furniture items were cheaper in Thailand and he just took personal items, photo's etc and his PC with him and his family on the plane when they left.

Paid a bit of excess luggage but it was a lot cheaper and less hassles than shipping all his stuff there.

[ozzydom]

DeDan, not sure on UK rights, but they should be similar to Oz rights as far as children born overseas to a UK/Oz citizen.

The child should gain full UK rights simply by having the UK father, is is the case in Oz. Also the mother should bet ###### near full rights being the mother of a UK child. Obviously all the right paperwork and criteria needs to be met, but it is the case again in Oz.

One of my kids was born in Oz, the other here in Thailand. The second child will have full Oz rights once I get her Oz paperwork done.

It is two dozen of one and whatever of the other as to the pros and cons of having the child here. I was going to return to Oz for our second child, but decided to have her here. In the end it all turned out fine, doctors here can be more and or less caring, dependant on the individual doc. It certainly is cheaper here.

The only concerns I have is the emergancy care if there is a proble. Certainly their are all the facilities here, but depending on where you have it depends on the quality of the docs etc.

Also a worry here was the tendancy for docs and even parnets to choose cesarian births. This concerned me and my wife as we did not want this to happen at the whim of a lazy doctor or scedules to keep. I insisted on my wife asking the doc and the hospital all the questions re this.

I made her ask the hospital what our doctors average of cesarian was compared to natural etc and then got her to confirm with the doc as well and then insisted we had a natural birth, except for emergancy of course. All went well.

As for shipping, yes use a door to door agent if you can, regardless of trying to save some bucks to do it yourself. If you try to do yourself, the customs will see you coming and being farang will extort you for whatever they can get.

I have a friend who just moved here from UK and used an agent, if you want the contact details for them let me know. Also try to get your wife to do it as a thai and not as farang goods etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jackjack,it might pay you to check re child born overseas status, I read a immigration communique recently that said any child born shall de deemed to be the nationality of the mother.

[lungbing]

I would agree with colinj.

I moved here four years ago but just before that I went to a number of car-boot sales in UK and sold everything I owned.

We had much more fun buying everything new over here to furnish our home and as has been mentioned there were no large payments for shipping, no hassle with customs, nor getting the goods from the port of entry to where you are going to live and no tea money paid under the table.

Basically I just brought over my clothes, (you try and get size 11 shoes here! ) my CDs and a few books.

[samran]

Jackjack,it might pay you to check re child born overseas status, I read a immigration communique recently that said any child born shall de deemed to be the nationality of the mother.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This only applies if the parents are unmarried. If married, child can be registered as British at the embassy automatically.

[mark courtney]

Even if your child is born in Thailand, if you register the birth at the British embassy it should have full status as a british subject so long as the father is one. Same goes for it's thai citizenship if born in the UK.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK thanks for the info. Mark

[mark courtney]

DeDan, not sure on UK rights, but they should be similar to Oz rights as far as children born overseas to a UK/Oz citizen.

The child should gain full UK rights simply by having the UK father, is is the case in Oz. Also the mother should bet ###### near full rights being the mother of a UK child. Obviously all the right paperwork and criteria needs to be met, but it is the case again in Oz.

One of my kids was born in Oz, the other here in Thailand. The second child will have full Oz rights once I get her Oz paperwork done.

It is two dozen of one and whatever of the other as to the pros and cons of having the child here. I was going to return to Oz for our second child, but decided to have her here. In the end it all turned out fine, doctors here can be more and or less caring, dependant on the individual doc. It certainly is cheaper here.

The only concerns I have is the emergancy care if there is a proble. Certainly their are all the facilities here, but depending on where you have it depends on the quality of the docs etc.

Also a worry here was the tendancy for docs and even parnets to choose cesarian births. This concerned me and my wife as we did not want this to happen at the whim of a lazy doctor or scedules to keep. I insisted on my wife asking the doc and the hospital all the questions re this.

I made her ask the hospital what our doctors average of cesarian was compared to natural etc and then got her to confirm with the doc as well and then insisted we had a natural birth, except for emergancy of course. All went well.

As for shipping, yes use a door to door agent if you can, regardless of trying to save some bucks to do it yourself. If you try to do yourself, the customs will see you coming and being farang will extort you for whatever they can get.

I have a friend who just moved here from UK and used an agent, if you want the contact details for them let me know. Also try to get your wife to do it as a thai and not as farang goods etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Thanks for the info, I have one contact to move but any more you can give will be a great help. Mark

[LivinLOS]

Re the household items..

My stuff was not a lot.. I had 3 pallets air freighted (cheaper than shipping surprisingly).. I alos got rid off the vast majority of stuff but I have items that were either valuable / personal / or extreemely hard to get in Thailand..

I brought over a complete high end front projection Home Theater.. Costs of purchasing that stuff locally (much of it cannot be bought locally) and the hit I would have had selling it was impractical.. A fairly extensive audio and DVD / Media collection.. a few computers etc.. Thsi wasnt knives and forks cups and saucers which I would never advise bringing..

Considering it was only 3 pallets and ALL paperwork was in order AND I had shipped it in my GF's name who had lived outside of Thailand for a few years I was hopeful.. I think it nearly skipped through until they sussed what it was and its value.. The way they just split all the boxes and spread my stuff all around the parking lot was a major freak out..

The bill started at 80k baht.. Dropped to 40k in the first day.. I sent a Thai contact up who haggled for a while but that wasnt making much more progress.. Then on a tip from a buddy I went and got the boss of the place personally during his lunch break.. Deal being anything paid under the table generally gets split between officers.. By getting one man who could push it and doing it in private meant it was only one person to pay.. Cost in the end was 15k baht which was not bad but the stress of 5 days of fighting this process was a killer and I did feel screwed over (not the amounts but the tactics used)..