SAWASDEE 3 (2009 Thai thread restarted)

[scandal 951]

I worked at a Thai university and renewing the 1 year business visa was easy. I'd pile into a minivan with a group of foreign professors to the immigration office once a year. I'd show my face to the officer upstairs, go downstairs and hand them a few thousand Baht for a multi-entry visa and be on my way. I never checked in every 90 days, though I believe folks on business visas are required to as well. A secretary from my university knew the officers well and did all the leg work. Looking back on it, I was spoiled. If anyone cares to work at my former university, I can put you in touch with the chair of the English department.

Yeah it's really easy if you work for someone else's Thai company/university. But if you have to set up your own and deal with all the banking the taxes etc. it's a major pain. I would guess that rsn makes considerably more working for a US company than he would make working at a Thai university. Maybe they pay farangs more, I don't know. I do know that the average salary for a 4 year Thai graduate coming out of university is about 20k baht. Keep that in mind when you consider working for a Thai company

About 10 years ago Reuters decided to choose Bangkok as its chief off-shore development office. They hire primarily native Thais, but there are positions open to foreigners as well, although at Thai payscales, as daboyz says. I know some folks there including the head of development. At one point I considered that as a backup plan if things didn't work out here in the US last year. But I'm rather glad I didn't go that route, I like visiting Thailand but don't really want to live there. I had enough of overseas living with my years in Israel. Anyway, if anyone wants a contact to Reuters in Bangkok, drop me a line.

[daboyz 36]

I would guess that rsn makes considerably more working for a US company than he would make working at a Thai university. I do know that the average salary for a 4 year Thai graduate coming out of university is about 20k baht. Keep that in mind when you consider working for a Thai company

True, and true. My fiancee's cousin told me that his english teacher makes about 30k THB/month, and that's a pretty good chunk of change apparently. He also told me that lots of people are trying to get similar jobs since they pay so "well". For my job (software engineer), I'd be lucky to make 50K or so THB/month. Not bad if you're living in Thailand I guess, but when I think about how I could live in Thailand if I'm making a U.S. salary, wow. Life would be sweet indeed.

That's what I thought, and most people think. I still seemed to be broke alot. I guess I just don't know how to handle my money. My rent was pretty much the same as it is here. My f@&^#&@cking electric bill was like 12k THB a month. I'm still convinced I was charged the 'farang rate' for electricity. My DSL was 2k a month. UBC was about 2k a month. I lived in a couple decent apartments there. The first one was 55k baht a month for 2 bedrooms, the second was 37.5k baht a month 1 bedroom. My landlord at the second apartment was a guy from San Francisco, which was kinda cool. The second one was pretty nice. 4 beer Singhas at the mini mart was 115 baht, which isn't that great of a deal.

So I guess it's not as cheap as you would think, because more than likely you will end up living like a farang there. I did anyway.

[rsn 135]

That's what I thought, and most people think. I still seemed to be broke alot. I guess I just don't know how to handle my money. My rent was pretty much the same as it is here. My f@&^#&@cking electric bill was like 12k THB a month. I'm still convinced I was charged the 'farang rate' for electricity. My DSL was 2k a month. UBC was about 2k a month. I lived in a couple decent apartments there. The first one was 55k baht a month for 2 bedrooms, the second was 37.5k baht a month 1 bedroom. My landlord at the second apartment was a guy from San Francisco, which was kinda cool. The second one was pretty nice. 4 beer Singhas at the mini mart was 115 baht, which isn't that great of a deal.

So I guess it's not as cheap as you would think, because more than likely you will end up living like a farang there. I did anyway.

I guess it also depends on where you live. I would assume Bangkok is the most expensive, with Pattaya and or Phuket in 2nd. I would probably only live there with my now-fiancee, which means I would probably live like less of a farang then if I lived as a bachelor. Also, my fiancee tells me that renting houses is the way to go, as opposed to apartments. I don't think she would let me spend more than 20K/month on rent, and I saw some decent houses for rent in Udon for about that price. I could get by living in Udon proper, or maybe even someplace in the Udon province with the right accomodations. Apparently one of my fiancee's relatives is renting out a house for 800 baht/month. I saw it and it looked ok, certainly not a bad deal for 800 baht/month. Also, it's 500 THB for reasonably fast DSL in Udon right now. Can't remember what the speed is exactly, but it appears to be plenty fast, even if working via VPN to the U.S. I put together a budget based on the best information I had at the time regarding prices, and decided that I could get by ok in Udon proper. I'm not thrilled about living in a big city like Bangkok, and I spent a couple months in Pattaya before. Pattaya is fun, but it's a little too crazy for me. It's fun for a little while, but after a couple weeks I want to get the hell out of there. It feels like living in the center of the Vegas strip 24-hours a day. Too much excitement for me.

Edited May 28, 2009 by rsn

[daboyz 36]

That's what I thought, and most people think. I still seemed to be broke alot. I guess I just don't know how to handle my money. My rent was pretty much the same as it is here. My f@&^#&@cking electric bill was like 12k THB a month. I'm still convinced I was charged the 'farang rate' for electricity. My DSL was 2k a month. UBC was about 2k a month. I lived in a couple decent apartments there. The first one was 55k baht a month for 2 bedrooms, the second was 37.5k baht a month 1 bedroom. My landlord at the second apartment was a guy from San Francisco, which was kinda cool. The second one was pretty nice. 4 beer Singhas at the mini mart was 115 baht, which isn't that great of a deal.

So I guess it's not as cheap as you would think, because more than likely you will end up living like a farang there. I did anyway.

I guess it also depends on where you live. I would assume Bangkok is the most expensive, with Pattaya and or Phuket in 2nd. I would probably only live there with my now-fiancee, which means I would probably live like less of a farang then if I lived as a bachelor. Also, my fiancee tells me that renting houses is the way to go, as opposed to apartments. I don't think she would let me spend more than 20K/month on rent, and I saw some decent houses for rent in Udon for about that price. I could get by living in Udon proper, or maybe even someplace in the Udon province with the right accomodations. Apparently one of my fiancee's relatives is renting out a house for 800 baht/month. I saw it and it looked ok, certainly not a bad deal for 800 baht/month. Also, it's 500 THB for reasonably fast DSL in Udon right now. Can't remember what the speed is exactly, but it appears to be plenty fast, even if working via VPN to the U.S. I put together a budget based on the best information I had at the time regarding prices, and decided that I could get by ok in Udon proper. I'm not thrilled about living in a big city like Bangkok, and I spent a couple months in Pattaya before. Pattaya is fun, but it's a little too crazy for me. It's fun for a little while, but after a couple weeks I want to get the hell out of there. It feels like living in the center of the Vegas strip 24-hours a day. Too much excitement for me.

I personally couldn't stand Pattaya. The Hard Rock hotel was cool. Walking down the beach at night it looked like the last stop off on the way to hell. Udon Thani will be really cheap. I lived in Bangkok on Sukhumvit soi 16 the first time, and soi 33 the second time. That probably had alot to do with my cost of living being so high. Also, there is definitely a Thai price for things, and a farang price. I'm sure you can figure out which one is more expensive.

[Danno2 0]

Chada got a reply from the embassy today that they had received our Packet 3 on May 12th. They indicated documents were missing and they would send a list to her in the "near future".

So much for all the hard work on the checklist I built and busting my @ss around Bangkok on the last trip to get everything right the first time. I will be disappointed if a mistake was made on our part but I'll be livid if they want additional documents not listed on their own checklist. Besides me being previously married 16 years ago you could not have a more simple vanilla case other than ours. LOL, I thought we were going to be different....... Turns out I was hammered just like a LB.

Daboys its 10:15 and I need some Vodka...

Edited May 28, 2009 by Danny and Chada

[afisher 0]

I lived there for a couple years on 30 day tourist visas. The army took over and said no more of that. 90 days consecutive on a tourist visa, and you're out. Once I got married I was issued a non-immigrant O, and was allowed to stay another year. They constantly change the bank/income requirements for marriage visas. Also some Thai consulates ask for the bank/income requirements, some do not. That changes on a regular basis. So there's really no reason to believe whether the above new land requirements will be enforced or not. Not a real good way to live your life not knowing if your land might be yanked in the future at the whim of some bureaucrat. I agree probably never gonna happen, but who wants to live with that possibility in the future.

I did the 30 day tourist visa thing for about 2 years, with the occasional 60 day tourist visa from Singapore thrown in. The best thing about that was when I would come back to Thailand the immigration officer would always ask me "how long you stay this time?" and I would always say "30 days" then they would usually smile then ask "you can speak Thai?" After about 2 years of that I got denied a tourist visa at the embassy in Singapore, they told me they no longer considered me a tourist. I asked why and they said that tourist leave Thailand, I only left to get a new visa. After that I had to get a type "O" non Imm. visa.

Chada got a reply from the embassy today that they had received our Packet 3 on May 12th. They indicated documents were missing and they would send a list to her in the "near future".

So much for all the hard work on the checklist I built and busting my @ss around Bangkok on the last trip to get everything right the first time. I will be disappointed if a mistake was made on our part but I'll be livid if they want additional documents not listed on their own checklist. Besides me being previously married 16 years ago you could not have a more simple vanilla case other than ours. LOL, I thought we were going to be different....... Turns out I was hammered just like a LB.

Daboys its 10:15 and I need some Vodka...

I got the exact same reply, May 12th and everything. Still waiting on these "missing documents" Total BS if you ask me

[scandal 951]

Chada got a reply from the embassy today that they had received our Packet 3 on May 12th. They indicated documents were missing and they would send a list to her in the "near future".

So much for all the hard work on the checklist I built and busting my @ss around Bangkok on the last trip to get everything right the first time. I will be disappointed if a mistake was made on our part but I'll be livid if they want additional documents not listed on their own checklist. Besides me being previously married 16 years ago you could not have a more simple vanilla case other than ours. LOL, I thought we were going to be different....... Turns out I was hammered just like a LB.

Daboys its 10:15 and I need some Vodka...

I got the exact same reply, May 12th and everything. Still waiting on these "missing documents" Total BS if you ask me

Wow. Double wow.

They are seriously messing with all of us.

There's just no way this is legit, everybody being told they are missing documents.

Brother Robert graciously suggests they are internally restaffing to better serve the public in the future.

I say screw that. We're the public of the PRESENT. What about our service needs???

This is absurd.

I'm starting to think cover up. There is some internal foul up going on within the IV Unit. To cover, they've delayed processing files as long as they could. And now that they've started processing files, they're concocting "missing documents" for all of us to push the clock out further.

Time for someone to tell them it's 2 minute warning in the 4th quarter and they've used up all their timeouts.

LET'S GO, BKK!!!! WE WANT OUR VISAS NOW!!

[Danno2 0]

Chada said there is chatter on the Thai site that they are asking for photo ID's and House registration cards (I THINK) I really could not understand what documents she was describing.

Dude there is all sorts of cussing going on in my head at the moment.

[daboyz 36]

I lived there for a couple years on 30 day tourist visas. The army took over and said no more of that. 90 days consecutive on a tourist visa, and you're out. Once I got married I was issued a non-immigrant O, and was allowed to stay another year. They constantly change the bank/income requirements for marriage visas. Also some Thai consulates ask for the bank/income requirements, some do not. That changes on a regular basis. So there's really no reason to believe whether the above new land requirements will be enforced or not. Not a real good way to live your life not knowing if your land might be yanked in the future at the whim of some bureaucrat. I agree probably never gonna happen, but who wants to live with that possibility in the future.

I did the 30 day tourist visa thing for about 2 years, with the occasional 60 day tourist visa from Singapore thrown in. The best thing about that was when I would come back to Thailand the immigration officer would always ask me "how long you stay this time?" and I would always say "30 days" then they would usually smile then ask "you can speak Thai?" After about 2 years of that I got denied a tourist visa at the embassy in Singapore, they told me they no longer considered me a tourist. I asked why and they said that tourist leave Thailand, I only left to get a new visa. After that I had to get a type "O" non Imm. visa.

Chada got a reply from the embassy today that they had received our Packet 3 on May 12th. They indicated documents were missing and they would send a list to her in the "near future".

So much for all the hard work on the checklist I built and busting my @ss around Bangkok on the last trip to get everything right the first time. I will be disappointed if a mistake was made on our part but I'll be livid if they want additional documents not listed on their own checklist. Besides me being previously married 16 years ago you could not have a more simple vanilla case other than ours. LOL, I thought we were going to be different....... Turns out I was hammered just like a LB.

Daboys its 10:15 and I need some Vodka...

I got the exact same reply, May 12th and everything. Still waiting on these "missing documents" Total BS if you ask me

See bold. Was this after Sept. 2006?

[afisher 0]

yeah, sometime in 2007

[daboyz 36]

yeah, sometime in 2007

Sounds about right. After the coup, they started being hard a$$es.

[daboyz 36]

Chada got a reply from the embassy today that they had received our Packet 3 on May 12th. They indicated documents were missing and they would send a list to her in the "near future".

So much for all the hard work on the checklist I built and busting my @ss around Bangkok on the last trip to get everything right the first time. I will be disappointed if a mistake was made on our part but I'll be livid if they want additional documents not listed on their own checklist. Besides me being previously married 16 years ago you could not have a more simple vanilla case other than ours. LOL, I thought we were going to be different....... Turns out I was hammered just like a LB.

Daboys its 10:15 and I need some Vodka...

I got the exact same reply, May 12th and everything. Still waiting on these "missing documents" Total BS if you ask me

Wow. Double wow.

They are seriously messing with all of us.

There's just no way this is legit, everybody being told they are missing documents.

Brother Robert graciously suggests they are internally restaffing to better serve the public in the future.

I say screw that. We're the public of the PRESENT. What about our service needs???

This is absurd.

I'm starting to think cover up. There is some internal foul up going on within the IV Unit. To cover, they've delayed processing files as long as they could. And now that they've started processing files, they're concocting "missing documents" for all of us to push the clock out further.

Time for someone to tell them it's 2 minute warning in the 4th quarter and they've used up all their timeouts.

LET'S GO, BKK!!!! WE WANT OUR VISAS NOW!!

Something happened around the first of the year. All this craziness started around then. Maybe someone got a visa and came over here and screwed up, or someone came over here and the USC did something bad to the Thai. So someone in the BKK embassy either got an a$$-chewing from Washington, or got canned. I don't see anything like this going on, on VJ at other U.S. consulates. Just a guess on my part, but it all seems strange that every thing was all rosy before Jan. 1.

I think everyone will get their visas, but they are gonna make you jump through hoops to get them.

[girarm 0]

Oh $h!t, I am going to go throw up again... Last time I was only kidding but this is going to be a real mess. I promise

[AaronLV 12]

2.) The whole tourist visa dealie. Now it's only a 15 day extension for visa runs. Don't they want foreigners to stay in Thailand and spend their money?

This is only for crossing at a land border if you came in on the 30 Day Visa. If you are on a 60 Day Tourist Visa or if you arrive via Airport you get the 30 Day extension.

3.) All of the b.s. surrounding the laws that make it almost impossible/feasible for a foreigner to live in Thailand and work a job remotely overseas. Again, doesn't it benefit Thailand if I'm pulling in a foreign salary and spending it all in Thailand?

It benefit the economy, but does not benefit the tax man. The same is true in the US if you are caught working without work authorization you are in big trouble, even if it is remotely. Just keep a low profile, don't tell anyone you are doing any kind of work and you will be fine.

[Danno2 0]

I guess it was a bad week to stop the IV drugs...

On a serious note I wish they would amend the packet 3 instructions / petitioner section... Keep original 1 jar of lube for paket 4 and interview.

Edited May 28, 2009 by Danny and Chada