Effective 21 December 2009, the application fee for a work-permit in Thailand rose by 600%.
There are two fees to be paid for a work-permit in Thailand, an application fee, and a successor issuance fee.  The former is controlled and set by the Work Permit Section of the Employment Division of the Ministry of Labour.  The [...]

Sometimes I amaze even myself. OK, I know that’s a very ego-centric statement, but once I explain more I think you’ll understand I’m actually being self-derogatory as well as a little smug.

First I need to give you the background …

I’m a magpie, not just because I support Newcastle United FC, but because I collect, hoard, store, refuse to seperate from, items and information I collect. Just ask my Mum – she’s desperate for me to ship my library of books from her garage to here in Thailand. It literally fills half of her garage and is becoming the bane of her life. I’m no different when it comes to digital data.

This morning, rummaging around in my hard drive array for something, I gave up “browsing” for it as I’d completely forgotten where I’d put it, and did a “search” instead. Amongst the literary archaeological treasures it unearthed was a folder full of the “lost wisdom of the ages” a.k.a. articles I’d written (almost a decade ago) about Thailand during my first months here …

After trying for a quiet February, and failing, the hope of a short break in March was high on the agenda. Seems eBay anticipated that too, because what they’ve thrown at us this month has certainly made that dream fade away into nothingness … in the nicest possible way.
First the UK threw a Free [...]

Having got the Christmas & January Sales silly seasons out of the way, I was looking forward to a nice quiet February where I could dedicate some serious development time to my existing ecommerce website, plus start the build on the new site for the wargames models business, them WHAM! eBay turned the world [...]

We were rummaging in one of our favourite “pikey” type craft shops this week, and at the same time the staff were clearing our a storeroom off the main sales floor……
Lo, and behold, they shoved a big box of Christmas decorations out of the way and onto the sales floor, still marked up with the [...]

Thailand’s Authorities threaten tsunami aid workers with 3 years jail.
Foreigners told to get work permits or face prison.
By Garry Harbottle-Johnson

THAILAND: 8 Feb 2005 – Just two days after Thai Rak Thai was returned to power in the general election, Sayan Chuaiyjan, Head of Phuket Provincial Employment Service has announced that foreign tsunami-aid workers must obtain Thai Work Permits, or face a maximum penalty of three years in jail, a 30,000 Baht fine, or both.

Enforcement will begin in March with no exceptions.

Admitting authorities didn’t enforce the law rigidly immediately after the tsunami, “because everyone wanted to help”, he added, “But now that the situation is returning to normal, we will have to start taking it more seriously.”

This announcement, coming immediately after the general election, has been criticised as timed to avoid losing votes for Thai Rak Thai in the tsunami affected southern provinces.