Hello from new member! In the UK but moving to Laos next year :)

[supernovadw]

Hello all!

Firstly as you can see this is a rather long post but please take your time to read and reply if you can, thanks!

I guess I have to start out by saying happy Christmas! Anyhow I just joined today so thought as I'm only sat around I'd start a thread off and hopefully get to know a few people?

I'm from the UK and have lived here most of my life (Minus the time I've spent in Asia) I'm 24 years old and currently work for myself buying and selling cars. I am married to a Lao woman, we met three and a half years ago and got married this June in the UK.

My wife has been to the UK three times now and I've spent quite a bit of time in Laos and Thailand, we are however unfortunately not living together at current due to Visa problems! My wife failed her KET Test so is unable to apply for the settlement visa as we planned We just applied for a student visa for her in order for her to be able to come back to the UK for another six months however it just got refused!

So I am currently here in the UK and she is in Laos!

Now the thing is we were intending to live together in the UK however this happening has really made us re-think things and our plans! So what we have decided is to try and give it a go in Laos!

I only have a very small family here in the UK so my mother will be coming too! We shall be selling up in the UK and all making the move to Laos (Vientiane)

I have so many ideas in my head at the moment but nothing is firm....

Of course I'm nowhere near the age where I can or want to just sit around and live off a pension so I will of course need to find some employment or start my own business.

I'm just looking for peoples opinions and advice really....

I imagine that as a foreigner It's not going to be easy to find employment? Especially as I've never been to university etc...

So instead I am thinking to start my own business and start a garage in Vientiane. I have a friend in Thailand who is from the UK and runs a business restoring classic cars to a very high standard! Now of course I am perfectly aware that Laos is a poor country however we all know that there are more and more people with money each and every day so how about the idea of a garage? As far as I am aware there isn't really anywhere which does quality work so I am thinking it to be a real opening in the market....

The idea would be to start smallish (I don't want to invest every single penny I have in to it all at once) but also to be as professional as possible! I.e. a properly equipped enclosed workshop with a couple of ramps a spray booth and even a small accessory shop on the side. I am wandering how easy it would be to find good staff?

Anyhow I shall stop rambling on! Thanks for taking your time to read this! Everyone's advice is greatly appreciated!

[Cujo]

Seriously?
Taking your mother?
Starting a garage?
Do you speak Lao?
Where will you source your parts?

[ShrewedPunter]

Sounds seriously dodgy, only 24? married to a third-world lady, taking your mum?

Jesus Christ.

[nigelandjan]

Welcome mate ,, I read all of it ,, and as you have asked for ideas I'll give you mine for what its worth .

As you say mate you are young so take your time ,, you are talking la la land mate.


I can well understand how you are feeling living apart , believe me Ive been there done it and so have many others on here .

I would say the best investment you could make at the moment is some quality English lessons for your wife to enable her to pass her UK tests.

Get her to the UK mate , yes it will take a bit of time and effort etc , she will no doubt work like a trojan like mine does when she gets here and start coining in some serious money ,, 10 years of that and hard saving you could establish a base here + Laos , bit like swimming with a buoyancy aid instead of jumping in and hoping for the best .

Not meaning to be rude , but if your 24 I'm guessing Mum is 45 -55 ish and for sure you will want to take care of her ,, things could start getting expensive .


Having said all that I wish you all the very best in whatever you decide ,, please keep updates coming , will be interesting

[beerlaodrinker]

^ Yep what he said,
ive been in vientiane nearly 7 years now and can tell you that there is a Canadian mechanic here with a nice workshop, parts etc, i deal with him occasionaly for parts, he seems to have a good rep amongst the farangs, there is also an aussie bloke who has been here 30 odd years and has a similar service, another aussie has recently started a business reconditioning engines. A tough business competing with Lao,s but can be done,I wouldnt advise trying to compete with them with spray painting and panel beating either as they are quite good at that, mostly coz they drive like Kunts and get a lot of practice , Instead of selling up and coming over with mum, why not just come and try to get a bit of work teaching or something, puts a bit of money in your pocket and you get to spend time with your girl while she studys a bit of english, Im sure your mum would be fine here, Lao people are very family orientated and its nice that you think that way to, but im guessing your mum could become a bit bored unless she has hobbies or skills perhaps to also work, I dont want to be to negative and thats about all the advice i can give you, hopefully some other posters can throw a few ideas your way

[nidhogg]

Seriously, you need to step back and take a long hard look at this plan.

Speaking very generally, the people who seem to do the best over here are those that have something that the locals cant do, or dont do, or dont do very well.

Garage skills are more of a "back yard" enterprise in many parts of this region, and my feeling is that if you go that route you are going to go down, and go down hard.

At 24 you are way too young to be selling up everything and taking a one shot gamble, especially as it sounds as though you would be bringing your mother down at the same time. If it does (as many suspect) go tits up, you, your missus and your mum are all going to be royally screwed.

My advice (for what its worth) would be to bang on at the immigration route for a while longer - whether that is on your own, or using the help of a lawyer.

If you really want to try it over here - (and I HATE to give this advice!), look for a language school where you can go "teach" English for a while - leaving your assets in UK as untouched as possible.

Even better - do a teachers course of some ilk, then come over for a while to test the waters.

The minute you sell up and step on the plane, you are taking a huge, huge gamble that does not pay off for many, many people.

[Jesus Jones]

You say selling up. I assume you own your own property so could you not rent out in the meantime to provide a little income. Go to Laos, do you research realistically and discover the pros and cons.

My mate, 24 at the time came to Thailand with a business Idea after selling up. He brought his father. They are both TEFL teachers now. Not what they had in mind but both are happy for the time being. But their expectations were very quickly demolished along with much of their finances. I certainly wouldn't sell up immediately!

[kingwilly]

What the others have said.

Running a business in Asia is not like running one in the UK, what experience do you have in running a garage? I don't mean to be rude, but it cannot be much.

[bushwacker]

I think the advice that has been given so far, sounds very solid to me.

I would suggest that you need to rethink the plan and put a bit of effort into the implementation. For example, you speak English and have spent considerable time with the wife ... so why is she not able to speak English with I assume your hard efforts to teach. Furthermore, if you cannot teach your wife English then how is it you would be able to teach others English and get paid for it.

If you are serious about getting advice and developing a workable/reasonable plan about moving and living in Laos then why are you asking for advice on a Thai Forum. Hmmmm ... That's like wanting to eat rice and going to a noodle shop.

Good luck

[BaitongBoy]

Anyway, Welcome to the Buffalo Board...

[Davis Knowlton]

Even though I imagine this is another wind-up, and we will never see a second post from the OP, let's sum up.

You're 24, with little work experience, no real job, have no education past Hs, and presumably little money in the bank other than what you'll get selling Mom's house. Neither you or Mom speak Lao, Mom has never even been there, and the wife speaks little English.

So, you're going to sell all of your, and Mom's, stuff and go to Laos to open a business with no business plan.

Good luck. Save enough so at least Mom can get back to the land of benefits.

[beerlaodrinker]

Even though I imagine this is another wind-up, and we will never see a second post from the OP

I suspect your correct davis, Still, it must be tough being in blighty on xmas pining for your wife and desperate for a shag, Possibly had a few ales and discovered TD while forlornly surfing the net which got his mind full of all sorts of ideas to get the fok out , i well remember what i was like at his age , which is exactly double his age

[Davis Knowlton]

Even though I imagine this is another wind-up, and we will never see a second post from the OP

I suspect your correct davis, Still, it must be tough being in blighty on xmas pining for your wife and desperate for a shag, Possibly had a few ales and discovered TD while forlornly surfing the net which got his mind full of all sorts of ideas to get the fok out , i well remember what i was like at his age , which is exactly double his age

I hear ya. But, if his wife has been in the UK three times, why didn't she just stay? Good luck to him, in the remote possibility that this is real, however his game plan is a recipe for disaster.....

[astasinim]

Just book on another exam would be my advice. They're only about a week long I believe, and really not that difficult.

Something smells to me, as almost everyone passes that exam, or so im led to believe. The only ones who fail are the ones who want to, or dont turn up.

[nigelandjan]

I hear ya. But, if his wife has been in the UK three times, why didn't she just stay?

Because she didn't have leave to remain mate ,, ( thats if she exists )

[nigelandjan]

Dunno about easy Asta ,,, theres a hell of a lot of palava and bloody non sensical paperwork to dig out ,, of course this is all part of the design to make people give in , which some indeed do and fall by the wayside

[astasinim]

Im wondering if ive got my wires crossed here Nige.

The way I read the op, the lady in question failed her exam she has to take before you can apply for a FLR visa. I know a lady who passed back in Oct and she certainly isnt the brightest button in the box, but she was serious about passing and got stuck in. There was some who didnt want to pass and were only there to appease their sponsors, so failed as a result.

[Necron99]

Even though I imagine this is another wind-up, and we will never see a second post from the OP

I suspect your correct davis, Still, it must be tough being in blighty on xmas pining for your wife and desperate for a shag, Possibly had a few ales and discovered TD while forlornly surfing the net which got his mind full of all sorts of ideas to get the fok out , i well remember what i was like at his age , which is exactly double his age

I hear ya. But, if his wife has been in the UK three times, why didn't she just stay? Good luck to him, in the remote possibility that this is real, however his game plan is a recipe for disaster.....

It likely is, but, he is young enough to recover, and his mom is old enough to know better, so cest la vi.

[Loy Toy]

I'm 24 years old and currently work for myself buying and selling cars.

As you are still very young I would think more about my own long term future and do a proper course at a technical college.

When you have a stable career then you are in a better position to make a proper decision about your marital future.

No doubt you love and care about your wife but you did meet her when you were only 19 and the best thing to do for her is get yourself sorted with a proper job.

Yes, absence does make the heart grow fonder but don't push your mum to uproot her life as the risk she could lose everything is very real.

[supernovadw]

Wow alot of responses!

Thank you for all the advice!

OK let me start by saying this 100% this is not a wind up and I do exist! I'll even post a few pics up once my post count is up.

Right OK then well where do I start....

As I said I met my wife in July 2009 and we got married in June this year. Her English still isn't great no however it is 100X Better than when I met her!

I can speak Lao, not fluently but quite well however I cannot read or write Lao yet. Part of the reason why her English hasn't come on quite as well as it has it I'm sure down to this and I put my hands up and admit that this is really my fault because I just got carried away with putting my effort in to learning her language and speaking to her in Lao that she hasn't had the same opportunity to learn English. Looking back yes I wish we had done things differently but hey you know all in hindsight I guess...

Right OK regarding our plan.... The original intention was to live in the UK together and if her English was better I'm sure that's what we would already be doing. She took her KET test in October this year in the UK but as I say unfortunately she did not pass She has been to the UK three times but as a visitor on a six month visa so of course there was not the option of just staying here legally.

As soon as we became aware that she failed the test I tried to book her in for another test, there is no centre in Laos at all so Bangkok it was however rather amazingly the next available test is 23rd March 2013!!! Plus another month to wait for the results so of course that really wasn't an option so we decided to apply for a student visa for her to come back to the UK and study, I got her enrolled on a course and have paid a 15% Deposit so we applied for the student visa which has unfortunately been rejected! As I'm sure everyone will agree this was really really disheartening! We didn't expect to be together for Christmas but both of us had it in our mind that there would be no problem with the visa and we would be back together in mid January time however now this is of course not the case

I had thought before about living in Laos but that was it, just a thought. Now I am really 110% serious about making a move. I know I am only young and I really have to be careful about what I do.

My Mother has been to Laos before when we got engaged in November 2011, it was a bit of a shock for her at first (First trip to Asia) However once she got a little more settled she did enjoy it! To answer the question my Mother is 60 so of course not young!

I just think that we could potentially have a much happier life in Laos, I have very little family in the UK whereas my wife has a very big family in Laos. My mother is coming to the age where retirement is going to be on the cards and I think that she could have a happier retirement in Laos then here in the UK! She will shortly start to get a pension which in the UK would get you by however of course in Laos it would go alot further! Regarding what she would do there well for a start me and my wife having a child is something we are hoping to do in the near future so I'm sure that would also help to keep my mother occupied, other things she could perhaps do is some volunteer work?

Business/work plan...I certainly am not just going to jump in deep and start something off without doing any research! I wasn't aware of any foreign mechanics around but of course now know differently, you wouldn't happen to have any details about them would you? I.e. where they work from etc...

I am of course only 24 so don't have decades of experience however I have been in the auto trade since 17 so it's not something that I have only been doing for 5 minutes, I do have some experience to back it up.

I know there's lots of competition there and like you say the panel beating is something they are good at already however I'm sure it's much like Thailand, I.e. open workshop repairs on the whole, I'm thinking to offer a service doing top quality jobs! I have a friend who works for RMA Group in Laos (He is Lao/American) And I have spoken to him about it all, he says that he genuinely believes that there is a market for it! He said that there is plenty of places doing cheap work but nothing of great quality or durability.

However as I said I am not going to jump straight in! I certainly shall not be selling everything in the UK and blowing all the money at once! It would of course be a massive gamble and very foolish as like people have said we could soon see ourselves with nothing very fast!

I am not just closing my mind to the idea of this though! I am very open to ideas and suggestions....It would of course be nice to find a decent job but like I said I cannot imagine that it would be easy for me.

Teaching is of course a very popular option for many people! I'd imagine that this is the easiest way of finding employment for the average foreigner however I really don't think that I could do it in all honesty, I wouldn't make a great teacher and don't want to do something that I hate and have no interest in! I must admit that I don't really like the idea of it at all!

The thing is that what ever I do even if I'm not making a great deal it would of course go alot further in Laos than the UK! Just for example (Please don't shoot me down) I made £1000 in a month, that would I believe be enough to have a pretty decent life!

Anyhow thanks for all the advice so far! And to the guy saying why am I posting questions in a Thai forum I thought that this being the section for Lao it was appropriate?

Thanks again all and please keep the advice coming whether it be positive or critical it all helps, I'm certainly not on here to expect everyone to say "Great idea" Etc and neither do I want that.

Cheers

[Loy Toy]

How old is your wife mate?

[supernovadw]

My wife is 30.

I've done the opposite to most people lol.

[astasinim]

Willy is showing a lot interest, but not posting.

[supernovadw]

Please post away guys!

As I said I really honestly do appreciate any advice / suggestions / criticism.

[supernovadw]

And there you go, here's a couple of pics to prove that we do exist and I'm not a sole keyboard warrior making up rubbish.