Shaping a future for my family

[cruzy]

Hello everyone.
I am a father of three (8mnths, 6,7) from Australia. After several trips to Bali over the years, and much dreaming we've decided to focus all our energies in to relocating to Bali full time. My wife's father imports furniture and goods from Bali and she will run the Bali side of the business.
I hand shape surfboards for a living and would like to be able to do this in Bali. It would be a pleasure to teach Balinese what I know as i look forward to employing a couple of locals. Please, can anyone give me some information on how I go about being able to shape boards in Bali and what kind of visa's myself and my family would need. Any advise would be welcome. :)

[chintia]

hi Cruzy welcome i am new as well so many thing to do yup in real life and in here as well . oh well time will tell peace man and welcome :)

[FreoGirl]

Hi Cruzy
Welcome to the forum. Your question is pretty huge, and I'm not really qualified to answer it.
I think your wife would operate under a business visa, but you may need a working visa and probably would have to set up a company. Your kids would need Kitas visas.

My suggestion is you think about who you are going to sell the boards to? sell in Bali, or are you going to export them somewhere? Go to Bali, on a social/non-working visa for a few months and do plenty of research.
Or move over and start doing the furniture export, and while that is going on you can research the surfboard stuff.
I'd be getting in touch with the owners of some of the larger surf outlets in Bali, and the expat surfers there and get some contacts going. They will no doubt lead you to finding out what you need to do.

Great move anyway..

Freo

[Jimbo]

Cruzy

Can I suggest you have a look through the forums here and do lots of searches in them. A lot of your questions on Visa's, setting up a business, schooling, housing and the like will already have some answers but the proof of the pudding will be to get professional advise after that.

As for surf boards and the making, shaping of, I am not sure if such a select specialist piece of information will be found on a board like this but who knows.

[Pa_Yan]

Hello Cruzy,

I know there's another surfboard manufacturer, his name is Palu Waskiw. I don’t know if he wants to share information with a colleague / competitor , but you could try to contact him. Here’s some info about him http://www.baliblog.com/travel-tips/new ... -bali.html

Good luck with it.

[Roy]

Welcome to the forum Cruzy. Also as a father of three, and ten years of living on Bali, let me give you the bad news first. It isn’t cheap to educate your kids here. In fact, education, and the ancillary expenses that are associated with education...events, after school, occasional tutors, etc. are more than double all of our other monthly expenses...food included. As a family of five, (presumably all foreigners) you’ll soon be faced with five kitas visas...and that annual expense alone will be more than half of what it will cost to feed your family here assuming $5 a day per person...which is large.

Now, the good news. In my mind, and having been around this planet quite a bit, I can’t imagine a better place on earth to raise kids than right here in Bali.

It’s not my business to lecture other parents, but any parent thinking about moving to Bali should be asking themselves if their dreams are realistic for what they want for their children, as well as for themselves.

Bali is as intoxicating as any drug or drink...no doubt about it. But the real truth is this...expats ebb and flow here like the tide. I’m not out to burst you balloons, but minute by minute reality checks are vital. Cheers, and good luck with whatever you decide.