trevorg

Thank you for you help in advance!

Whilst I'll be sad to leave Thailand, my current opportunity in Australia is better. I've carried out all the research and therefore my questions are quite specific! I will be appointed a migration/ relocation consultant to assist me, but I would like to know the cost of certain things/ the correct paperwork before I engage with them.

I will be relocating with my Thai wife, however our 12 yo daughter (my step-daughter) will remain in Thailand as she wants, and has been accepted into a Performing Arts Boarding School. I have been recommended by my employers to include her as a dependant on the 457 visa in order that she can travel freely to Australia and move with us in the future.

Specific questions:

1) My step-daughter doesn't have an ID card or a passport, my wife is divorced from the father and we are married, my wife has a copy of the birth certificate, Tabien Bahn and her divorce paper and believes that there is an original certificate, either in the local (Ta Phraya) or less local (Aranya Phratet - 50km) (but not provincial - 100km) office of a Divorce's Memorandum certifying sole custody from the Thai Consul website). Is anyone aware of this document/ what does it look like/ where is it held etc?
2) If this doesn't exist already, my wife and I don't believe that there will be any issue with my step-daughters father signing a sole custody form, is there a template and where do we get it notarised?
3) I understand that passports may be applied for and collected from Chaeng Wattana, but my wife renewed hers in 2010 somewhere else (nr Bang Na) is that the place to go for a new passport for my step-daughter?
4) I've found the hospitals, from the 'pinned' threads above, can anybody give me a recent price for the medical and chest X-ray at the Bangkok and BNH, the sponsors are paying, but I'd like to have an idea of what this is costing them (as I will probably need to show it in my FBT's in my next Oz tax return)?

That's it for now, I look forward to your responses. Especially the knowledgeable ones!

Trevor

I think this may affect (or has affected) many of us, but I am being reminded again and would appreciate your knowledge/ experience.

Originally, I thought that, either my wife was being lied to, by her brother/ son/ daughter in law, or that she was 'protecting' them and fibbing to me! Maybe it's all the truth! We're not talking huge sums of money in 'western' terms, 5,000THB here and 10,000THB there, but we are talking a month to 6 weeks wages in 'average' Thai terms.

I've 'subbed' my wives family members to go and work in Laem Chabang, Chonburi etc in factories several times in the last few years (they are usually going to meet a 'not so distant relative' who is already working in the area), they arrive, and find a job within a couple of days, my 'sub' has allowed them to pay a small deposit on a room and a months rent (maybe 2000THB) and to pay for their transport to work and food until they get paid (assume 1 month).

They are taken on initially on a 'day rate', understandable, (my latest experience with my stepson & daughter-in-law - 21/02/12) is 200THB per day (not sure if this meets the minimum wage - but that's by the by)!

So, they started work on 21st February and have worked every day, according to the company (as I've been told), because they have not worked 10 days in February, they will not be paid until 29th March (29th is pay-day). So they can work 6 weeks without seeing a Baht?

They (me) has also been scammed for having to pay for medicals and buying uniforms before starting a job and then been 'let go' a couple of weeks later.

These jobs have been in factories for world producers, such as Mitsubishi and Sony.

I am trying to get to the bottom of whether they are working for a 'labour agency' who are scamming them and skimming their wages etc or if this is normal practice by global producers.

To be fair to the my brother-in-law and stepson and step daughter in law they have paid me back, very slowly when it's rice harvest time. But I am then supporting them here in the village until they decide they want to borrow another few grandTHB to go and make money in the factories again!

Your thoughts much appreciated, and can we please not make this a Thai bashing thread, why are you supporting your Thai wives family  or a weekly, fortnightly, monthly sarcastic answer! Please answer the thread title, my words are just to explain why I asked it!

I look forward to your advice!

P.S. I may even be less the wiser, than I am now, by the end!

I'm not local, (but am in Pattaya for a few days so anyone got any better ideas?) I was thinking midday to 1am kick off today!

NO fighting this is 2012!

Trev

I love football, I can't play it, I can't predict it, and I certainly can't support it! Though I do manage to watch loads of games!

Gents - I would appreciate any help or suggestions - Ive spent all day (since 5am) tried and adjusted many things and asking here as a last resort

I have the following set-up that is working:
TOT supplied Thomson ST536 SpeedTouch connected to my phone line
That is connected to a 4 port hub
I have my laptop (running Vista) connected to the hub
I have the family computer (running Ubuntu) connected to the hub

All works fine for internet connectivity from both computers at the same time.

I have a new (old work) laptop (running XP SP3) which I'm attempting to connect. Originally it was part of a work domain - so I've changed that just to connect to the home LAN - and could see the hub and can see the ADSL and can connect to the router. It allows me to run the Check Connectivity on the router. I get positive results for DSL, ATM, Ethernet, PPP, IP and it gives me the IP addresses for the Gateway & DNS Server 1 and 2. I can also see the new laptop from my existing laptop in the Network Map and have copied some files.

When I attempt to connect to any website I get the IE cannot display this page (I've ran Diagnose Connection Problems and it just suggests consulting manufacturers trouble shooting).

During and after all my 'fiddling', both the other computers have continued to be connected to the internet - whilst I searched for answers!

I thank you in advance for any assistance in the 'final' (hopefully) hurdle!

Trevor