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think_too_mut

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Posts posted by think_too_mut

  1. Thank you, blackcab.

     

    According to my wife, all we need is to transfer their house papers from Wang Nam Yen to have them listed as the inhabitants of that condo that I bought. And their Thai IDs changed to the new address.

    Just asked her, she might be ill informed, she claims, it can be done on the floor,  the house papers moved, all from Bangkok, but nobody travels now.

    I am not into protecting my property, why would I do that,  my wife and daughter can have it all, that is what I actually want. Not like now, nobody lives in the condo.

  2. Back in 2008. I bought a condo in a complex, Bang Na. All by the book, the developer opened my Thai bank account solely for money transfer. All I have is the contract,  my name in it.

     

    Now, my Thai wife inquired, appears that nobody lives in the condo although we pay all the bills for maintenance, the invoice comes to my email address. There were 3 years we had never went there. Both wife and our daughter (16 years old) are in house papers of my wife's home in Wang Nam Yen, Sa Kaew. They have Thai IDs stating that.

    Could be a question how to legalize my daughter (a Thai national) to be moved from the sticks' house papers and become the owner of the condo. No yellow or blue books, we have nothing. All blank. We live (green card) in Japan. For health reasons, my wife is banned from taking a plane to Thai (or to anywhere).

     

    Would engaging a lawyer in Thai be needed?

  3. Go to those top three schools and tell me how many teachers you find into drugs and womanizing, mostly married couples working in those places. They make a lot of the single staff stay on campus for the first year as well. Most of us teachers in Thailand just work for our families and do a good job but cheers for tarring us all with the same brush. There are a huge amount of teachers there for over five years because they look after their staff. Plenty of teachers there on 120k++

    That couple you referred to sound like a couple of idiots and does Vientiene have a world class international school? I very much doubt it

    You go to post#8 and find that the OP was talking of drugs and alcohol, replying to someone who had asked about it. I just said no trace of that in Japanese international schools.

    That teachers work for their families, that is exactly what I said, even gave their rationale behind moving between countries.

    Teachers on 120K+ - what an achievement! That's what they would be on at home. It's not even what it used to be for Thai nationals, plenty of skilled Thais on that or more in non-teaching jobs, just look the city's skyline, the skyscrapers are stuffed with them..

    "World class internationals school" may be kicking some ass in Thailand. In Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, they are plain rubbish. Locals who waste their formation years in them can score for Uni exam probably 30% of what kids from the free public schools can do.

    Just your post may nudge the readers into thinking that teachers in BKK "world class schools" are not only far from rocket scientists (as they were tried to be peddled as) but on or even below the par of average folks with skills.

  4. "All else aside, however, I think the case can be made that if these personal factors are excluded, the higher quality is there. These schools recruit many of the best teachers worldwide, and that comes with a cost."

    My daughter attends what could be described as a "Tier 1" international school in Japan since 2008. The price is nearly the same as in Thai.

    I have met and spoke to many teachers (none had lasted more than 2 years, except prinicipals). They all said there is a "chain of people" who hop from one country to another, informing each other and even handing over furniture and house stuff to their successors. Nothing like "best teachers worldwide". Just plain folks who are professional educators. What I have gathered, many do that to escape the hell of US public education, bringing their own kids to attend the schools they teach at, at a subsidised price.

    Among them, never noticed anything like "teachers" in Thailand, alcohol, drugs or womanizing.

    One PE teacher i was friendly with (a fellow Australian) when leaving said "I would not really miss the money". I knew she was on 3 million Yen (that time it was 70,000THB a month).

    Those 200K THB salaries are probably more appropriate for the principals and are more like for University lecturers. That calibre of grade 1-12 teachers is neither sought nor available for international schools in Japan, let alone in the 3rd world countries.

    The teachers who revealed or semi-revealed their salaries were all where a public teacher of their rank would have been in the US + discounted school for their kids + 1 yearly ticket home + partial housing cost (like 500$ a month).

    A couple, both professional teachers with 2 kids confided "We do this 6 times in 6 different countries and our kids are safe, clean and Uni-ready after the world tour". None of them had any illusion they were "world class". That particular couple is now in Vientiane, after Doha, Qatar.

    • Like 1
  5. I just don't buy this story.

    For a start, the Consul/Ambassador doesn't issue visas, Immigration does.

    It's a tourist visa application, so the applicant doesn't have to produce pictures

    and chats as evidence. But, if her husband is sponsoring her, of course they will

    need to supply information. So I fail to see how the questions are irrelevant. They

    would be irrelevant is she was applying without a sponsor (doubtful).

    The applicant is the wife. They don't even have to speak with the husband but often

    will as a matter of courtesy.

    Also, unless things have recently changed, visas lodged in Tokyo are processed

    in Seoul. Japan like their visa applications to be sent in the post so they can

    then be forwarded on to Korea. Because of this, waiting times for a visitor visa

    are around a month.

    In your scenario, Aussie Joe walks into the Embassy with his Thai wife and hands

    over a tourist visa application. The officer then asks for some extra information.

    The husband doesn't agree so asks to see the Ambassador who then drops everything,

    comes in, has a chat and then rubber stamps it and it's processed in a day.

    I wouldn't have thought so.

    The reason I posted what I did was the opening post of this tread. 20 lines of what is needed for success.

    Wanted to tell it is over the top and not needed everywehere for the same thing - Australian Tourist Visa for one's wife.

    The post I am quoting is quite reasonable. The friend who got that visa "in 1 day" did ask the clerk to get someone above and said the questions were irrelevant. That person said that 4 documents (marriage certificate, house papers from Japan, his and hers passport copies) were enough.

    That was "in 1 day". The actual visa stamp came later but no more talk or more requirements. They applied in May, left for Oz July 1.

    Those who said I am telling experiences from Japan, my buddies told me, forget one thing: I don't know any of you and your situations but I know him and what he did. He had the same starting point, same goal, but worked different in another country.

    Why is it not 1 month for everywhere?

    N.B: the guy (my friend) is a member of this Forum, he had read all what was said here and just shrugged it off.

  6. Gentlemen, I have been holding this for days.

    Another colleague, an Aussie, has his Thai wife in Japan for 5 years. Applied for her tourist visa for Oz in Tokyo Oz Embassy.

    They (staff) tried the script what is needed on him, he asked for the Consul and said the questions are irrelevant ("How would you feel if someone asked you to produce pictiures and chats with your spouse of 5 years?). Here is , he said, the proof we live together (Japanese version of tabien ban), marriage ceritificate and please stamp the visa into her passport.

    Done, the same day. It was a 3 months visa, they are still at Manly Beach in Sydney.

    The difference is - in Japan visa procedures have not been outsourced to India, to "VFS", Visa Facilitating Service. Real Oz staff on hand.

    Good for them.

    Pointless for the rest here mate.

    Vfs in Bkk I have never once seen any Indians working there, in fact only Thais, and each and everyone working there was nothing but lovely.

    Maybe you know something I don't when it comes to outsourced Indians, and their lack of skills?

    It is not hard to know. You know it and many others, something has changed.

    In May 2008 (my last interraction with Oz Embassy in BKK) I saw the visa waiting room capable to accommodate 100s of people - closed. The chairs were upturned.

    What's happened? The clark said - the new goverment (Kevin Rudd, my observation) has cut the cost and found some other ways to service Australians in Thai.

    That same day, I spoke to a acquaintee who was at the same building with me, he said he was, Oz security service, then being dispatched to Fiji, with his Thai wife and baby.

    The smell was - if enough of Ozzies had complained about deterioration of Oz services, they would be happy.

  7. Gentlemen, I have been holding this for days.

    Another colleague, an Aussie, has his Thai wife in Japan for 5 years. Applied for her tourist visa for Oz in Tokyo Oz Embassy.

    They (staff) tried the script what is needed on him, he asked for the Consul and said the questions are irrelevant ("How would you feel if someone asked you to produce pictiures and chats with your spouse of 5 years?). Here is , he said, the proof we live together (Japanese version of tabien ban), marriage ceritificate and please stamp the visa into her passport.

    Done, the same day. It was a 3 months visa, they are still at Manly Beach in Sydney.

    The difference is - in Japan visa procedures have not been outsourced to India, to "VFS", Visa Facilitating Service. Real Oz staff on hand.

    • Like 1
  8. Bangkok Pattaya Hospital used to offer a package similar in price and value as Bumrungrad Hospital. 12,500THB for the same number and kinds of tests.

    I did the checkup there once and it felt just like "me too", to keep some customers from going to Bumrungrad.

    While at Bumrungrad it all takes 2 hours (a hostess takes you from test to test, from door to door, no waiting), at BHP there were 2-3 hours that nobody was registering I existed. Took most of that day.

    The price of 45,000THB was for the show, both Bumrungrad and BHP had that same product "on special" for 12,500THB or so. Just come to the counter.

    There is no reason, the 12,500THB check would cover nothing more or less than the 45,000THB.

    I guess, the 45,000THB price tag is when Insurance companies are paying, that is still less what the cost in the US would be for the same thing.

  9. All those 12,000THB comprehensive medical checkups at Bumrungrad have this step, takes 10-15 mins.

    Whoever did not know what the picture shows, better do their own checkup, could be first time in their lives.

    Some do that every 12 months, somewhere it is mandatory (in Denmark, if you don't do it every year, you lose national health insurance coverage as who knows what might be happening and developing within your body without checkups).

  10. If it is true, I still beleive it is "background check", authorizing them to sift through the net and use if they think they have found domething suspicious to call the person to explain. Not going through requests to foreign government bodies to supply any information on that person, unless on the Interpol list for arrest. Not many like that anyway.

    I would love to see how they go about checks on Ruskies mafia and scammers.

    • Like 1
  11. Check your blood first to rule out (hopefully not confirm) some deeper cause, like annemia. White Blood Cells Count should be between 4 and 9 million. If less, that could be it. Even a 500m walk could bring a splitting headache.

    If you have recent results (say, last 2 months), read there first.

    That's red blood cells, not white.

    But anemia is pretty uncommon in adult men unless there is some underlying chronic disease.

    No, it as white as snow.

    See this blood test result from a Japanese hospital (Toyota Kosei)? Parameter 23, kanji is for white blood cells, this patient had 2.9 mil /L while (to the right) it says that normal is 4 - 9 mil per L.

    Edit: In the picture, hemoglobin is parameter 25, it is also low: 7.6 while normal is 11.5 to 15.5.

    post-7277-0-10010000-1410446402_thumb.jp

  12. "She did a good clean up (900baht) while I asked for x-rays to be taken, she said; no need sirrrr because I see that you need to fill three teeth again because on 2 you lost you old fillings and one has cavities. In the end she studied for it (I hope)so I agreed to come back 2 days later. Yesterday I came back and got a new dentist, first thing she asks. What do we go to do today sirrrr? I said, I hope you know because its your job to talk with your colleague."

    I wonder why did not they take the X-ray first? Without it they can hardly tell if there is an infection around some tooth root in the mouth. Could even be multiple infections. Also, without it they can't tell if some tooth is dead (Root canal therapy would not need anaesthesia, no pain, like clipping nails).

    At that, X-ray would cost far less money than 900THB cleaning.

    As per the first post, the staff do not radiate that air of competency at all.

    • Like 1
  13. I am talking about HR of companies (like IBM, Oracle, HP,...) telling in job ads they will do background checking on candidates.

    Then google someone out being a participant in some sex tour in Cambodia and he is done with that job.

    And I'm talking about proper criminal record checks rather than doing a bit of fishing on Facebook.

    What I am saying is actually even bigger problem: someone may google out something and that may cost you visa extension as it did cost some people in the West their jobs when someone of coworkers ran their name through searches.

    Remember that guy 5-6 months ago who took Google to Court to remove his name from search results with some 15 years old case where he got into trouble with IRS about tax on some sold property? He was popping up in every search and could not conduct normal life, everybody knew he had problems with law.

    If found out by mickey-mouse methods, one may try argue with Thai Immigration officer that a young girl in the picture he had found on the net was actually daughter of another guy in the photo, nothing to do with him. You get the drift?

  14. There should be a clarification: "criminal background" or "background" check.

    From OP I did not understand that clearly, even OP said it was all in Thai script.

    "Background check" would be akin of googling one's name and combing through wherever there is a match. Or using picture taken at the airport and face recognition software over whatever is available for matching.

  15. In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

    Peanuts. HR of many companies do just that day and night. Checking candidate's name against dabases of pedofiles (which are public), whatever else there is available to check, trawl social media. When applying for a job you give them your acknowledgement.

    What could be new in Thai now is just that tell you they are (or may be) doing that and you are aware. Everyone has been photographed at border crossing. Face recogition software these days can dig you out from whatever anonymous (as this one) Forum they want.

    Of course, sporting a new tatoo or being a breeder of pitbulls won't stop visa extension but something else might.

  16. If you want a totally sugar-free drink, this won't pass the test, but it's nothing as bad as most bottled drinks sold in Thailand or elsewhere for that matter. I think it was first aimed at the Japanese market.

    It was for any market other than Japanese, no sweetened green or oolong tea here. OTTP did appear in Japan first but never sweetened.

    OTPP (Oolong Tea Polymerized Polyphenols) is 4 times more expensive (50THB for 300cc) than the regular oolong tea in Japanese supermarkets. It helps body release fat without absorbing it.

    Copying that, Pepsi has their Pepsi 0 with PP. Other manufacturers (of green tea too) have their products with PP.

    "Ohisi" green tea is for Thai market. The word in Japanese means "tasty, delicious", hardly a brand.

  17. Unless they have "rationalized" it to the bone, the turn around time with PR for skilled migrants into Australia was:

    Applications logged in

    Turkey: 3 years (~100,000 applicants a year)

    Croatia: 6 months (~3,000 applicants a year)

    Denmark: 10 business days (5 - 10 applicants a year)

    The papers sit in different queues, diffrent placess, different staff workload (albeit staff number are more proportional).

    At each location, there is no queue jumping, regardless how simple or complex the applications are.

    Up to that point your statement is valid.

    My point comes after that: naturally there will be far more applications in the BKK -> Oz queue than in the Tokyo -> Oz queue. Even if all submissions go for manual or whatever pre-processing into one place, they would be returned to a local Case Officer, in mu case, in Tokyo or Osaka, wherever more convenient (Osaka is) or where they recommend.

    That is why I beleive that simple, straightforward case and lower workload at my particular location should both lead to the shorter turn around time.

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