CDB

Yes, legally your only option is to set up a company. However, contrary to what the previous posters have mentioned, you may be able to avoid the issues with Thai/Farang ratio and investment capital.

The industry that you are in is one that Thailand actively wishes to develop so there is a good chance you are eligible for Board of Investment privileges which can reduce the total required capital to as little as 1 million baht and the ratio of Thais to foreigners to anything negotiable. The capital brought in can be working capital used to pay wages. You would definitely need to hire some Thais or show some contribution to Thailand.

Your first stop should be talking directly to the people at the BOI. You do NOT need to go through a lawyer.

My quick impression is that if you wanted to do multiple projects in Thailand over a few years and planned on hiring and training some locals, you would get what you need, but for a one-off project it would be much harder. That said, you can "sell" to the BOI on the basis of what you hope/expect to bring to Thailand, rather than what you have a 100% secured.

Don't be dissuaded by the naysayers!

I have the Platinium Amex (Thai Airways version) and the Platunum Citibank (Thai AIrways version). Excellent cards for getting airmiles with Thai AIrways. I get multiple business class trips to Europe just by my spending on these cards. If you are buying business class airmiles or upgrading on long haul, you're getting back 2.5% to 3% of the spending in the value of the airmiles.

The cards also give you access to the airport VIP lounges, travel insurance and a lot more perks. Citibank actually has more deals with discounts and installment payments than most Thai banks. Amex has begun catch up but lags behind and quite a lot of Thai establishments won't take Amex. For Citibank, you can even get 10% discounts from fast food chains like Au Bon Pain, and a suprising amount of restuarants around the city give10, 15, 20% discounts for Citibank. Amex strong points include better promotions on airmiles and extra multipliers for weekend shopping.

I have other cards, but these two are my preferred ones. Note also that international banks like Citibank are likely to give you a higher credit line.

CDB

Hi Hernik,

The first and most important thing you need to do is to get approved for BOI privileges. This can allow you reduced requirements for work permits and starting capital as well as 100% ownership. Or get tax breaks. It's actually easier to secure these for a theoretical future company than for an existing one.

See http://www.boi.go.th/index.php?page=index&language=en and go in to talk with them. You don't need a lawyer or consultant -- you can work directly with them.

CDB

Hi Cabrinha,

Our first three pool games are all at 01:45 AM. That poses a problem for the pubs showing it, because they are supposed to close at 02:00. Some will definitely stay open, perhaps showing them upstairs. In previous World Cups at this time of day, the police were lenient, but no-one really knows for sure what will happen.

Some of the well known Irish pubs are in high profile locations and are less likely to be able to open late.

And despite the sarcastic comments of previous posters, the Irish community here has frequently chosen to watch Rugby/football at a non-Irish pub, managed by an Irishman, rather than Irish pubs owned and managed by non Irish (Mulligans, O'Reillys, Hanrahans).

I'll drop you a private message, when I hear back from some pub owners and the Irish Chamber etc,, where people are planning to watch the games...

CDB

Surely the mother-in-law's salary was 70,000 THB per month not 700,000 THB.

If she lives until 85, that is 3,333 THB per month on average. Presumably she is better off investing it. If she can get a return of 6% per annum (not so easy), then she has 10,000 baht a month, In either case, it seems low compared to a 70,000 THB salary. The real problem is that inflation wil eat into this very quickly.

If she had worked and paid taxes/social security for 15 years, her starting pension would have been 10,500 per month (assuming that she had the same salary for the last five years. I presume monthly pensions have some sort of index linked to it.

In any case, it's clear that unless you have a large and supportive family you will need a private pension to supplement any locally earned pension

Absolutely not true about work permits in 2 weeks. It can be possible, if for example:

* This is a replacement for an existing position, not a new position

* multinational company

* high salary and taxes

* Good immigration connections.

But 2-3 months remains accurate as an average. Things that can cause it to be this long include

* New position, in which case the company has to justify why it can't hire a Thai person

* Immigration require clarification as to the relevancy of the foreigner's qualfications

* Additional documents required from abroad

* Applicants visa is about to expire so he needs to exit and reentry (common if hired locally)

* and many others...

There are many reasons why even a well prepared BOI sponsored company can take 2-3 months. After five years, my company has dropped the average turnaround to 6 weeks, but 2 weeks is highly exceptional

As for the minimum taxation amount of 50 K (depending on nationality), this doesn't apply under three scenarios

* You are a teacher

* Your employeer has BOI privileges (quite common)

* You don't work a full tax year in your first year here

I've owned companies which have hired hundreds of foreigners here, so I can verify this,

Regarding starting work without a work permit, I agree with the poster who explained that if your submit the work permit application when the employee starts and your company has a track record of complying with labor law, there wil be no legal hassles and the employee will pay 3% tax. It can take 2-3 months to get process a work permit even when everything is in order. Technically, this may be breaking the law, but BOI/Immigration assure that if you have submitted the application there is not a problem.

Yes the requirement for a pension is 15 years of making your SS and other tax payments. After that, you will be entitled to a pension of 15% of your average salary for the past five years, once you hit 60 years of age.

For working longer than 15 years, it's something like 1% extra for each additional year. Don't hold me to that. There might be a pension cap too. Clearly it is less than in many countries, but still worth having.

If you have worked less than 15 years, you get a lump sum. I recall that is pitifully small compared to the contributions made + compound interest.

And in the first year you are taxed pro rata on your full year Thailand earnings. So you'll actually pay much less tax than mentioned above. However many Thai accountants will deduct tax from your salary as if you started on January 1 -- in which case you can apply directly for a tax refund and the Thai revenue department will cut you a check.

Also, until your work permit is issued you can only be taxed at the withholding tax rate of 3%.

In summary you'll pay much much less tax than in Europe, especially if you don't earn so much. Note that many online tax calculators are out of date, and over-calculate the amount of tax you'll pay -- and they do not take account of you starting in the middle of a year.

The whole Silom area has rather gone downhill compared to other parts of Bangkok.

I recommend Sukhumvit 49/Thonglor/Ekkamai. This is the most happening part of Bangkok with so many international restuarants. It's a mixed community of Japanese, Korean, farang and middle class Thais.

In particular the Racquet Club on Soi 49 (http://www.rqclub.com/) has recently rennovated and apart from the gym, it has 2 swimming pools, tennis, badminton, rock climbing, squash, snooker etc, etc -- all for around 22 K THB per annum.

If you want to be surrounded by other Brits than I guess the British Club is the place to be, but in terms of value and facilties, look at the area from soi 39 to Ekkamai.

Cost of accommodation is quite high here though.....

Now that the Kyat is freely floated, it should be possible to hire freelance people in Myanmar, right? Or am I missing something.

Currently if I need to hire Burmese translators, they are located everywhere but Myanmar. And they charge at a rate equivalent to $150 USD a day. In the past, it didn't make sense to hire people in Burma because if I wired them funds, it would be converted at the official rate. But now, isn't it possible to wire funds directly to people?

Is there some technical/practical obstacle to this?

On the practical side, it seems there are no online job boards or classifieds ads or papers with jobs sections. What's that about? Are foreign entities not allowed to hire Burmese people directly (freelance).

If I was to open a company in Myanmar, how would I go about hiring English speaking staff?

Thanks for any advice, and apologies for my ignorance.

CDB

My Thai doctor flew on THAI return to London on THAI last week. He had previously flown on the upgraded THAI to NY/LA. Says he was shocked that there were no personal TVs inbound or outbound, food was shockingly bad, and the on screen projector was faded/fuzzy and impossible to watch. He'll go EVA next time.

I have over 200 K air miles on THAI, and have no complaints at all about their (now cancelled) direct flights to NY and LA. Using airmiles to upgrade business class was a great experience, using the lounges was good, service was fine and direct flights beat the opposition. Sadly that is becoming the exception not the rule. I've avoided flying THAI to Europe, because it's luck of the draw what you'll get.

On shorter haul flights around Asia, you get better service and prices on Cathay, Singapore Airlines and Korean Air. THAI is worth using if you got the airmiles (and they do great promotions with AMEX and Citibank credit cards), but unless you feel patriotic or have air miles, THAI is not first choice.

As others have mentioned, that fact that every THAI board member gets free flights for himself and his family for LIFE, is the number one of many corruption/poor business practices that affects their ability to make a profit and to charge reasonable prices.

I did once also bid for services for THAI and was shocked at the blatancy of the corruption involved and sheer wastefulness of what they spent -- which never related to value but merely divvying up the budget....

There are not a lot of options for Irish Music in Bangkok these days.

Celtic Colors are a long-standing band here that play some Irish numbers and trad. However they recently lost their star fiddle player, Tets, a classically trained Japanese violinist who could play gigs and reels and plenty of trad stuff. At this point they have no Irish members and I'm not sure of their current line-up.

Error 99 are an all Thai band that play a wide range of tradtional music and popular Irish numbers. Their lead singer does good Pogues covers and the band all play their instruments well, but when it's other than Pogues, the lyrics are rather mangled by a strong Thai accent -- so this might not suit your needs.

Other Irish bands pass through from time to time.

If you are really set on getting Irish music, you should either import it or get one of the above bands. However things change quickly, so you never know when someone might arrive.

I'm also from Dublin and resident here for 20 years.

I suggest you join the Irish Thai Chamber of Commerce (www.irishthaicc.com) and chances are we can hold an event at your place which will more than cover the cost of joining (not expensive at all). There are some other members on the board who know more about the music scene,

PM me if you need more info...

Best Regards,

CDB

Based on my experience of buying multiple properties here and getting loans from BangkokBank, Standard Chartered bank and many others, I can note as follows:

• I have never seen a contract where your 15-20% deposit is simply forfeit. Instead they usually gave some time to complete transactions followed by penalty interest on the overdue amount (typically 10%). Check your contract, but it is unusal that there is any instant forfeiture.
  
• In the worst case you can simply sell the house at the cost price and get your money back. Usually your property will increase in value while it is being built, and was probably discounted because you bought off plan rather than on completion. As such, if you offer to onsell your right to buy at lower than what the selling price would be close to completion date, you'll get your money back.
  
• Continuing the above, it's common for Thais to buy before securing finance and often they buy with no hope of getting finance -- purely to flip
  
• Despite having a perfect history with Bangkok Bank for 10 years, when I bought a second condo they declined my loan. Reason.. because I often did not answer my phone when they called me to notify that I had overdrawn my account, My explanation of being out of the country in a different time zone was not accepted. My reminder that I told them to use email was not accepted. Standard Chartered and other banks just laughed and gave me the load right away. It's well known that BangkokBank is much stricter than other banks, They decline more loan applications than other banks. Just try another bank and you should be fine.
  
• Or ask the Bangkok Bank guys on TV here
  

1) Oh really? Can you own more than 49% of a business too?

Yes.

If you are American you can own a business 100% under the Amity Treaty.

Any nationality of person can hold 100% of a Thai company without the need to to have 2 million baht for each foreigner with a work permit and without the need for 4 Thais to one foreigner.

The BOI has nine categories of business that can get these and other benefits. I have done this under 3 categories.

Many, many kinds of companies qualify, and it has gotten easier and cheaper over the years. The BOI are helpful in trying to get you privileges and offer advice on which category to apply and how to present your application.

This does not apply to opening bars or doing very simple businesses that would compete with Thais.

But neither is it as hard as many naysayers believe....

I have to respectfully disagree with some of the items on your list. For example,

1. With a valid work permit you can own anything under your name with exception of land. I have never had problems buying a car or having it under my name.

No need for a work permit, you can buy anything you want without one (except land).

I think the difference here is cash versus finance..

With a residence permit you can get finance under the same terms as a Thai. Granted, it would ne nice if Thailand made it easier to get PR, but I got it easily enough without using a lawyer.

Oh and the BTS can continue to run even with 1.5 meters of water below it. Most of the Central Business District is expected to remain dry, so you can expect the BTS to keep running.

The subway is still running to all stations but some may stations in affected areas may be closed in coming days

Yes it's 10 minute walk from BTS Ploenchit

Go to either hostelbookers.com or hostelworld.com and you'll be able to find a private room that is close to a BTS stop for under 500 THB. There are of course other unlisted rooms (e.g. on soi 4) but by booking through these sites you can read reviews, see pictures and check availablity.

A lot of cheap places are filling up due to people escaping the floods.

If your primary objective is to save money this is much the best bet and the trip to the Embassy should take less than 30 minutes.

I don't have personal experience of renting in this area (I did rent another unit near Sathorn to a Japanese).

Is Sansiri 39 really even completed yet? If not, that would explain low occupancy! And Sansiri is really looking for premium selling rates, so I am not sure how many units have been sold at this point.

I am on 49 close to Thonglor, and I do know that most condominium units around here are close to full occupancy.

CDB

There are a few advantages in buying luxury investment condos in mid-sukhumvit/thonglor

* These areas are in high demand, and BTS extensions will not reduce this, because of the lifestyle and amenities

* Luxury condos in this area are sought for rental by Japanese and farang, and often by well off Thais for living in > high occupancy

* Although they have high common fees, they are more likely to stay in very good condition. The problem with cheaper, grade B/C units, is that you might get higher yields in the first years, but they often degrade more quickly over time.

* I agree that Japanese are the best tenants, but the difference is more in education/income level than in nationality/race. Regardless of nationality, people renting out a 50 K per month unit are much less likely to trash it, than a 5 K a month unit.

* Building management in a high end unit, will not allow pets, overcrowding etc., and the high end security means that people won't be stealing stuff from it

* Right now, you can generally expect 6-7% yields on luxury condos (less common fees) plus capital appreciation.

I've just purchased an 11 million baht unit in Thonglor which I will probably live in, but also will consider renting. I don't think the Thai baht will weaken against major currencies, Thonglor will stay in high demand, and increases in minimum wages, land prices and commodities are likely to keep prices rising for a few years.

Even if there is a price peak and a property bubble, when re-sale values come down, the rental rates don't usually drop quickly.

Posts on buying property in Thailand tend to attract a lot of naysayers, but after nearly 20 years here and owning three condos, if I compare with what would have happened if I bought in Europe or America over a 10 year period, Thailand has been a good investment.Of course past performance does not guarantee future performance, but there are no signs yet that the market is overheating

CDB

A lot of unwarranted negativity as usual here...

Aircon taxi service in Bangkok is one of the best in world. Very cheap, reasonably priced and there's a far worse taxi drivers in other countries. If you speak Thai then they rarely ever try to overcharge or annoy you.

Regarding tuk-tuks, they could be a much better vehicle and an interesting one for this climate. I have a 3-row tuk-tuk, which is LPG powered, with fans inside and automatic gears as well as rain curtains. It's not noisy or dirty and you don't get wet in heavy rains. Great for bringing staff and contractors around Thonglor. We can fit 8 farangs or 16 Thais in it. The LPG conversion costs less than 20 K THB and the fans cost only a few k to install.

It's cheap to run, cheap to buy and can transport more people than an SUV. As a short distance people-mover it is hard to beat. I would much rather have an electric engine but the import taxes make it unfeasible. The problems with the tuk tuks are in the fact that most have not been well maintained and they have not developed much in thirty years....

Ramkhamhaeng is miles away from the red zone, so, as things stand right now, you will be fine.

Normal common sense applies - avoid the city centre, don't wear certain colours (red, yellow) and refrain from expressing political opinions in public places.

As the previous poster mentions, it's too far from the red zone for any violence to spill over. On top of that it is not home to any possible targets of commercial or political value, so it is hard to conceive of any reason for violence or clashes to break out there. And the journey from the airport does not pass through any troubled areas.

The turn of events leading to the street fighting has been hard to predict, but civilians have not been fighting each other. There should not be any danger in staying around this area, even if the situation deteriorates further.

D'oh,

She said he was a กระรอก "gra-rawk"

Squirrel.

I sent you a private message