Foreigners' Rights Under Thai Law Seminar Announced

[webfact]

Foreigners' Rights Under Thai Law Seminar Announced

For the first time ever a seminar will be conducted in English for foreigners to understand their legal rights in Thailand. The panel is comprised of the Chief Judge of Chonburi Provincial Court and five criminal court presiding judges.

Pattaya City Administration will sponsor the free seminar to be held at Pattaya City Hall on August 24. The Moderator has been selected by the Chief Judge and Pattaya Mayor.

American expat Drew Noyes, Managing Director of PAPPA Co., Ltd. Law Office, will be the Moderator and introduce the panel of judges and moderate the discussion. Foreigners will be allowed to ask general questions, but no questions about specific cases.

ThaiVisa.com members in Thailand and world-wide can send questions to me and I will forward them to the moderator. A link to answers will be posted immediately following the seminar on Thaivisa.com in cooperation with the Pattaya Times newspaper and Pattaya Mayor Ittiphol Kunplume.

To learn more about the seminar on Foreigners" Rights in Thailand click this link:

pattaya-times.com/a7392-local-judges-to-explain-foreigners-rights-in-thailand

The article is featured on the front page of the next issue of the Pattaya Times newspaper, also.

Thaivisa.com members and guests are invited to attend the event. Please register now because seating is limited to 200 people. The seminar is free.

Click this link to register:

thailawseminar.eventbrite.com

This seminar deals with criminal proceedings, rights to protect your property, rights if arrested and more. Drew Noyes of PAPPA Co., Ltd. Law Office is organizing additional seminars to include the Head of the Land Office and a panel of government officials and property experts and lawyers to state foreigners' rights of property ownership, leasing, mortgaging, etc.

A third seminar on Civil and Commercial Law will be scheduled at a latter date to cover divorce, contract law, Wills and other pertinent matters.

Thaivisa.com supports these seminars and will continue to keep foreigners informed on the locations, dates and times of these seminars as well as the results of the Q & A s at the seminars on Foreigners' Rights in Thailand.

Info: drewnoyes [at] gmail.com

[alexakap]

WOW!!!

"Foreigner's rights in LOS"??? Bombastic!!

[TheWalkingMan]

I think Howard would of made a great moderator for something like this as he seems more connected to a wider range of people.

Edit:

I wonder if this will be broadcast over ustream or another site.

Edited July 30, 2011 by TheWalkingMan

[warfie]

We have rights?

[darrendsd]

I bet that's a short meeting.

[TackyToo]

We have rights?

You will be surprised there is a law for foreigners even highly appreciated by locals: "You have the right to remain silent"

[osiboy]

the rights they say you / we are entitled to and what you get will not be the same , ........ a farang who gets beaten up by a few thais in a bar will pay more for that privelage if he goes to, or calls the police for what he hoped would help him get some justice , purely becouse the bar has already paid the police their " tea money ", farangs will only get the rights they can afford !,...........about x 50 what a thai will pay . .............. roll up roll up, the circus is coming to town !

[englishinsiam]

For those of you who think we have no rights this is your chance to air those thoughts with constructive questions.

Post them here and I'm sure the non offensive/racist ones will be put forward.

I have one question -

My wife is about to give birth to our first child. We are hoping to buy a house soon can we put the house in his name now? Or do we have to wait until he is older?

[jonclark]

I honestly applaud the effort as foreigners do have rights - But whilst this may be sound in theory. In practice it fails as most Thais believe that Foreigners have no rights under the law and until the Thai population at large is (re) educated to understand that , shock, horror, we have rights too, nothing in practice will change.

[Pattel]

I honestly applaud the effort as foreigners do have rights - But whilst this may be sound in theory. In practice it fails as most Thais believe that Foreigners have no rights under the law and until the Thai population at large is (re) educated to understand that , shock, horror, we have rights too, nothing in practice will change.

I read this and thought I am going to reply but jonclark said everything that I was going to say.

[Colabamumbai]

Im glad the spray hose in by bathroom works.

[kuffki]

In my opinion its one of the best initiatives so far. However knowing my rights does not make me right nor does it help me in any way what so ever.

As the saying goes" The one who is right is the one who has the rights to be right"

I would love to see a seminar where some kind of panel or agency would be set up and foreigners living in Thailand can lodge complains that will actually be dealt with, but i am dreaming now

[Dag]

Noyes 'll get it sorted.

[EyesWideOpen]

I had to double check for the little red satire letters , but did not see them. As someone noted, whatever minor rights you may have that are written on a piece of paper in a government office somewhere , the reality is you have none. The mindset here is pretty clear. If you are driving down the road and a Thai runs into you, the policeman at the scene will tell you it is your fault, because if you had not come here the accident would not have happened. Against this backdrop, they want to talk about foreigner rights ?? Too funny.. Hey, maybe they should have all the Thai police attend this seminar............

Edited July 30, 2011 by rhiekel

[hansnoi]

I had to double check for the little red satire letters , but did not see them. As someone noted, whatever minor rights you may have that are written on a piece of paper in a government office somewhere , the reality is you have none. The mindset here is pretty clear. If you are driving down the road and a Thai runs into you, the policeman at the scene will tell you it is your fault, because if you had not come here the accident would not have happened. Against this backdrop, they want to talk about foreigner rights ?? Too funny.. Hey, maybe they should have all the Thai police attend this seminar............

The policeman story pops up every time a foreigner wants to express here his/hers enthousiasm for living in Thailand. Interesting.

[scottishjohn]

Why all the negative responses? We have opted to be in LOS, so let us see what is being said with an open, and (maybe) positive mindset!

Edited July 30, 2011 by scottishjohn

[baboon]

Small,cautious steps in the right direction? Anyone?

[MAJIC]

Why should this be an issue,shouldn't we expect the same rights as a Thai?

Sounds to me Farangs rights will end up somewhat lesser,than what the Thais have.

[shakatak]

i agree

[rkidlad]

Why should this be an issue,shouldn't we expect the same rights as a Thai?

Sounds to me Farangs rights will end up somewhat lesser,than what the Thais have.

I agree completely. The sad thing is - how are we going to get the same rights when some foreigners here think we don't deserve them?

I'm happily married with a Thai citizen. She has a British passport and enjoys all the same rights as I do. I don't want a Thai passport, but I want to feel I have rights for the 6 months I live here.

[ronz28]

Good idea, its needed. I can't be there or or probably even watch a live stream but would like to watch a video or listen to a podcast, etc. if that becomes available after the event. Thanks.

Edited July 30, 2011 by ronz28

[EyesWideOpen]

I had to double check for the little red satire letters , but did not see them. As someone noted, whatever minor rights you may have that are written on a piece of paper in a government office somewhere , the reality is you have none. The mindset here is pretty clear. If you are driving down the road and a Thai runs into you, the policeman at the scene will tell you it is your fault, because if you had not come here the accident would not have happened. Against this backdrop, they want to talk about foreigner rights ?? Too funny.. Hey, maybe they should have all the Thai police attend this seminar............

The policeman story pops up every time a foreigner wants to express here his/hers enthousiasm for living in Thailand. Interesting.

Because...........as you are making your merry way through life here, and things go wrong to the extent where your " rights" suddenly become an issue, the person standing in front of you will be wearing a brown uniform, and he will be explaining your lack of rights in broken English to you....As some posters have said, I agree this is an over due issue that should be addressed, and I wish them the best of luck. The current Thai position seems to be we are simply tolerated guests that are lucky to be here, while the foreigner position is that he has flown half way around the world to spend his/her money here, and should be treated as a welcome visitor in the western tradition. Hopefully a middle ground can be reached.

The policeman " story " is not a story, it happened to me in a major accident where a Thai ran a red light in front of me. I sat in the police station with a broken shoulder while the police sargent explained to me how I was supposed to pay a bunch of money to the police. I had my girlfriend carefully explain to him that would occur when he saw pigs flying outside... He finally relented, and warned to me to never ever come back to Chantaburi. That was my first experience with my " rights" in Thailand.

[tamsom]

Thai law does not recognize dual citizenship, but in usual applications, it does not seem to be a problem ie. always enter and leave Thai territory under the same passport. Please be careful if your male child is of age to be conscripted into the army. As for the person who wonders about putting the house in a child's name, you should contact a law office such as Sunbelt Asia. This is not a plug for them, but they may be able to point you in the right direction. You can(100%) put the building(house) in your name because this is what I have done with my place in Krung Thep. The document you need is an ufrustuct(horrible spelling) from the Khet or Amphur office BEFORE the land title is transferred! This gives you right of abode until you die. The land/house cannot be sold without your permission. I own my house and my wife owns the land. Since we have 4 children, I have no worries after I am dead.

[osiboy]

Why all the negative responses? We have opted to be in LOS, so let us see what is being said with an open, and (maybe) positive mindset!

Cos life is about experience john,..and having had a few disputes with thai '' tough guys '' , business partners and x GF's ,etc etc,.. i know that being a farang is apparently "wrong"and has cost me a few bob , being thai gives you home advantage ,.............away goals don't count as double !!...........

if it all happened in the UK of course , i would also have lost cos i would have been a racist of course, goes without saying, right !!

[Tropicalevo]

OK this is a great opportunity for you all.

This is NOT the first time that something like this has happened. But it is the first time that it is free.

Back in 2005 I attended a "Legal Guidance for Foreigners" seminar in Bangkok.

It was excellant, and a big thank you to the faculty of law at the Dhurakij Pundit University for holding it. It taught me a lot.

We foreigners DO have rights. And it works.

Those cynics amongst you can poo poo this idea, and that is why you are always going to lose.

If this free seminar is half as good as the one that I attended - get your butts down there.

[englishinsiam]

Thai law does not recognize dual citizenship, but in usual applications, it does not seem to be a problem ie. always enter and leave Thai territory under the same passport. Please be careful if your male child is of age to be conscripted into the army. As for the person who wonders about putting the house in a child's name, you should contact a law office such as Sunbelt Asia. This is not a plug for them, but they may be able to point you in the right direction. You can(100%) put the building(house) in your name because this is what I have done with my place in Krung Thep. The document you need is an ufrustuct(horrible spelling) from the Khet or Amphur office BEFORE the land title is transferred! This gives you right of abode until you die. The land/house cannot be sold without your permission. I own my house and my wife owns the land. Since we have 4 children, I have no worries after I am dead.

Thanks for that I'm not worried about my wife robbing me just thought it would save problems in the future and as I can't legally own land this would be something for the future for him.

As i have always said I would never buy anything in Thailand I'm not prepared to walk away from :-)

[osiboy]

Thai law does not recognize dual citizenship, but in usual applications, it does not seem to be a problem ie. always enter and leave Thai territory under the same passport. Please be careful if your male child is of age to be conscripted into the army. As for the person who wonders about putting the house in a child's name, you should contact a law office such as Sunbelt Asia. This is not a plug for them, but they may be able to point you in the right direction. You can(100%) put the building(house) in your name because this is what I have done with my place in Krung Thep. The document you need is an ufrustuct(horrible spelling) from the Khet or Amphur office BEFORE the land title is transferred! This gives you right of abode until you die. The land/house cannot be sold without your permission. I own my house and my wife owns the land. Since we have 4 children, I have no worries after I am dead.

Thanks for that I'm not worried about my wife robbing me just thought it would save problems in the future and as I can't legally own land this would be something for the future for him.

As i have always said I would never buy anything in Thailand I'm not prepared to walk away from :-)

hi englishsiam; just want to add this one to consider ; i know an english guy in pattaya who has an 18m old daughter , he has put 39% of the property in her name as born in thailand, and i think 30% for him and 29% for his wife , convinced me it was a good way to go about it anyway , i like yourself have no worries about being "tucked up" , but better safe than sorry eh ?............chok dee

[letitbe]

For those of you who think we have no rights this is your chance to air those thoughts with constructive questions.

Post them here and I'm sure the non offensive/racist ones will be put forward.

I have one question -

My wife is about to give birth to our first child. We are hoping to buy a house soon can we put the house in his name now? Or do we have to wait until he is older?

thailand

yes our 2 children have owned property since they were a few years old But it cant be sold without a court order until they are 20. Minors can own property here and their is no trust law in

[hellodolly]

I honestly applaud the effort as foreigners do have rights - But whilst this may be sound in theory. In practice it fails as most Thais believe that Foreigners have no rights under the law and until the Thai population at large is (re) educated to understand that , shock, horror, we have rights too, nothing in practice will change.

That is a two way street. If you will read the posts so far you will notice that what you say the Thais believe is also what the majority of the posters so far believe.

It would be interesting to here some honest opinions on the subject. I have a skeptical outlook on the opinion of people who constantly belittle Thai's. I find it easy to not do that by realizing I am in another country by choice.

Part of the reason I chose to live here is because they are different here. If I tried to judge them on them not being like back where I came from I would be with the Thai basher's in a heartbeat. And shortly after that on my way back to where I came from.

[letitbe]

Thai law does not recognize dual citizenship, but in usual applications, it does not seem to be a problem ie. always enter and leave Thai territory under the same passport. Please be careful if your male child is of age to be conscripted into the army. As for the person who wonders about putting the house in a child's name, you should contact a law office such as Sunbelt Asia. This is not a plug for them, but they may be able to point you in the right direction. You can(100%) put the building(house) in your name because this is what I have done with my place in Krung Thep. The document you need is an ufrustuct(horrible spelling) from the Khet or Amphur office BEFORE the land title is transferred! This gives you right of abode until you die. The land/house cannot be sold without your permission. I own my house and my wife owns the land. Since we have 4 children, I have no worries after I am dead.

nonsense you dont need expensive sunbelt just do paperwork at land office as we did years ago but if i remember both parents had to sign several forms It is really easy. The point about a male is very valid if a male does not do his national service and hes meant to then he cant get a Thai passport.