steady

Many thanks for the very full and informative post. I feel that I can meet the de facto adoption requirements because we have proof of us all living as a family in the form of school fees, 2 previous visas, medical insurance and photos, so you have given me a bit of confidence. Thanks for that.

Mario2008, on 2012-01-16 17:33:49, said:

That's actually my situation. We have our neice living with us for about 2 years and she has been given 2 visitor's visas in the last 2 years to visit the UK. Our children have UK passports but now we are looking into returning to live in the UK. Wife should have no problem with settlement visa but people at VFS mentioned to the wife that we could not get a settlement visa for our niece, even though we have paperwork from her mother from the local amphur office giving us all custodial rights. Lady at VFS, the UK goverment's agents, also thought that we would have no problem getting the neice a student's visa but I thought that with that visa we would have to pay for her education and medical costs if anything happens in the UK. And more importantly it has to be renewed every so often, leaving us open to the whims of buraucracy!

Looking at the link provided by GregB the DSDW splits between what it calls local adoptions, where the adoptive parents (and one assumes at least one foreigner) is living in Thailand and Intercountry adoptions, where the adoptive parents are elsewhere. Does the local adoption have as many hoops to jump through as the intercountry, when a foreigner is involved? The website is a very good first point of contact and then sort of dries up when a little more information is required.

I have just helped a friend to send his money from the sale of his house out of the country ( 2 weeks ago). As earlier posters have said it's all about the land office tax receipt - you do need that, and if the house was bought in a company name you need a paper trail to prove that you and the company are one and the same. My friend took all of this to the local branch of his bank who really did not understand what he wanted - and told him why it wasn't possible!!!

The next day we went to the main branch of his bank, Kasikorn in Pattaya and asked for "International Transfers" we got sent upstairs and got a young man who not only spoke fluent Engish he actually knew all the rules. The money was in my friend's UK account within 3 hours. No problem, no hassle, no "front desk" misinformation - dead easy. And from reading the first posting, exactly the same circumstances.

My friend had even mislaid his original tortor3, money transfer certificate but because that was eleven years earlier when he bough his house, even that wasn't a problem.

So don't worry about the gloom and doom merchants, but do be aware that in Thailand if people do not know what to say they will say that you cannot do it. Get your Thai wife to find the international exchange section's number and give them a call, especially if the local branch appears to be putting the block on things.

Many thanks to all who had suggestions about the way forward. We have now successfully completed the process (legally) of transferring the money overseas.

Being in Thailand as the more observant and seasoned veterans will notice, this does not mean it will happen every time but here is what we needed.

The papers relating to the house sale, including tax related items and company papers asssociating the house selling company to the individual were all that was required, apart from the obvious copies of passport and bank account details....and the rest was easy. It actually was easy!

However we did find, after going in to a few banks, that talking to the 'front desk' for information is not a positive option. Go in and ask for 'International transfers' and then you get to talk to someone who really does know what they are talking about. The rest is simple.

So to all who contributed, thank you very much and I hope that this thread helps someone else in the future.