Misty

Just reading this thread and wondering what Samui residents would advise people considering a vacation there? Postpone or don't go?

The Senator from South Carolina's phone call to Georgia's Secretary of State sounds like it crossed more than state lines: "Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will look into the call Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 10 days after the Nov. 3 election, the Post reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the probe. Graham, a Republican and a close Trump ally, asked Raffensperger whether he had the power to toss out all mail ballots in certain counties, Raffensperger has told the Post." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-georgia-graham-idUSKBN2AD046

Any charges expected for Senator Lindsey Graham?

ITV appears to be just a defunct shell company, and has been for 15+ years. It's not a media company. Its station has been closed since early 2008 and frequency reassigned to Thai PBS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_(Thailand) "ITV was a television station in Thailand that was owned by iTV Public Company Limited, a unit of Shin Corporation. As Thailand's first UHF channel, the station was started in 1995 when the company was granted a 30-year concession by the Office of the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office to operate a free-to-air television station in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum at 510-790 MHz (from Channel 26 to 60). After a lengthy dispute over unpaid concession fees to the Prime Minister's Office, the government's Public Relations Department took over the station in 2007. Its name was changed to Thailand Independent Television (TITV). Following a previously unannounced order of Thailand's Public Relations Department delivered the same day, the station closed on January 15, 2008. In accordance with the Public Broadcasting Service Act B.E.2551(2008), the channel's frequency was assigned to the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS)."

Yes, I have experience in this area. Do you already own a small Thai company? To me, Bt30k for help in applying for a NonB visa/work permit only sounds very reasonable. As BritTim notes if you're setting up a new company, normally this would be part of the overall start-up legal fees. In my case the initial NonB Visa / work permit were handled by the law firm that set up my company. After the initial set-up I hired my book keeping firm to handle the NonB visa and work permit extensions. There's tons of paperwork involved and the requirements change from year to year. Bt30k for handling all of this sounds incredibly reasonable. One year I had to apply for a new NonB e-visa from the Thai consulate in my home country. My work permit had already been extended. I applied myself and it was reasonably straight forward.

It's an interesting question. Not sure if this is an indication of the possible answer, but I dealt with all the paperwork and other LTR visa requirements remotely without being in the country for the initial application. And the LTR visa itself has a 10 year date on it.

Hi Pib, if there's a term work contract, then the work permit is issued for the term of the contract. So it could be for 1 year, 2 years, etc. And the price of the work permit is Bt3,000 per years the work permit is good for. I own the company so have an indefinite time frame. Therefore I received the maximum allowable time period or 5 years. There's no annual report filing specific to the work permit that I'm aware of, other than standard income tax filing.

Do you already have an LTR-O application started for your spouse? If not, this would be your next step. Your spouse needs their own BoI account and login, separate from yours. Unfortunately I don't think anything happens until they make their own, separate account and application. If you've already done this but aren't getting anywhere, yes, definitely contact the BoI. The online application system had many many glitches last year, and maybe some of these have still not been identified. When I was doing applications, part of the separate LTR-O application required entering the main applicant's "DOC number". After doing that, the main applicant received a notification on their BoI account, which required the main applicant to acknowledge/approve the addition of the qualified LTR-O applicant.

From my experience dependents (spouse, kids) are not listed on the endorsement letter for the main applicant. Nor is the main applicant listed on the endorsement letter for dependents. If you haven't already, start a new BOI LTR-O application for any dependents (spouse, kids) that you want covered by the main applicant. As part of that process, there will be a section that asks for information regarding the main applicant. The main applicant will also have to acknowledge the dependents on their own BoI login in.

You could also work on an LTR visa with a digital work permit.

There certainly are areas that Thailand has a competitive advantage in, and could strengthen and make more tourist friendly. Ex: more international standard training courses - ex: motorcycle, muay thai, Thai language, Thai cooking, hospitality, herb and flower farming Reinvest in some of the museums. The Thailand national museum in Bangkok is amazing. Although tours are offered in a few foreign languages they are limited and conducted by volunteers. Expand and promote this type of program, charge ticket prices and pay the volunteers. Offer evening programs and transportation options to avoid taxi scams.

Very true! However, this was stated in March/April 2022, so well before the program was even launched. If you think about it, the LTR program could never have been approved if they said we may only get a small number initially. But the government official speaking at the chamber was well aware of the crying need for better programs than were available at the time. Years of trying to improve on the existing system met in failure. The best way forward seemed to be to do a runner around the existing system. Now that there is the new LTR program under BoI oversight, it can be expanded.

Should be simple enough to get hold of the company's financial statements. Presumably audited financial statements are still filed each year. Does the company have any operational revenue?

In foreign chamber talks by government officials involved in designing and promoting the program, it was mentioned that the high initial target numbers were pretty much aspirational only. High targets were needed in order to get the program off its feet, but it didn't seem like the speakers thought they needed to be achieved for the program to be a success. The LTR visa is a government program intended to provide attractive additional options to the existing system to those who qualify. By that measure, I'd say it's successful already. And so far the program has been expanded once already to widen the number of people who qualify. Perhaps we will see it widen further to include more folks, for example the digital nomads, etc.

This was possible in Bangkok for Non-BOI companies years ago. I don't know the current state of play, however. If the Non O visa holder is offered a position at a company, could they either switch to new Non B, or as I think someone suggested, change the extension type?

Agree. FOX seems like a very poor choice as a "World News" source. FOX settled with Dominion for nearly $800bn over charges that it baselessly accused the company of rigging its voting machines against former President Donald Trump in 2020. And FOX still faces a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, that alleges Fox broadcast lies that “decimated” its business. After getting rid of Tucker, FOX ratings have plummeted. Now it seems to be doubling down in the crazy to try to regain some of its lost audience.

Hi, did you want to know what is legal, or what you may be likely to get away with? The two are not the same. Unfortunately the laws, and the Thai elite visa, don't allow for this plan. To be legal, you need a visa that permits working, and a work permit. It's not really a grey area, it's just a grey area whether anything would happen if you followed your plan. Thus the comments "don't tell anyone." The oft quoted "it's only taxable if you bring the money into Thailand in the year you earn it" only applies to income that is passively generated overseas, such as dividends, interest, etc. It doesn't apply to income you earn while you are working in Thailand. Income earned from working in Thailand, even if paid overseas, is taxable under the tax code whether or not you bring it into Thailand. So yes, the income you've described is taxable. But there isn't really a means to pay tax since you don't have permission to work. If you want to do this legally instead of a Thai elite card suggest an LTR Visa from the Board of Investment. You'll find a number of threads on it in this forum.

I agree with all the LTR visa advantages listed above. And one more advantage - the most important one for me - you can legally work if you have the LTR visa. If you work for a foreign company, there's no need for a digital work permit. If you work for a Thai company, you can get a digital work permit and there's no 4 Thai employees needed. The ability to work legally with no Thai employee requirement is a huge improvement over other Thai visa types. Many people of "retirement" age wish to continue to work, either out of interest or necessity. The Thai NonO for retirement doesn't allow this, nor does an Elite card nor tourist visa.

Various multinationals advising our firm for many years. I'll take their detailed knowledge of the law over happy talk on an internet forum.

Certainly the authorities have made it clear that replying to some work emails while on a defined, specific stay one-time stay such as a two week holiday staying in a hotel in Phuket is not an issue. But if the "holiday" is a habitual stay that involves many trips, many months, renting housing, purchasing living items then you get on dicier grounds.

According to our lawyers if someone is physically present in Thailand doing work, a work permit is needed. It doesn't matter where the employer is located, nor where the salary is paid. Also needed: a visa that permits working, examples: NonB, NonO marriage, LTR, PR. Visas that don't permit working: retirement, tourist, visa exempt, Thai elite. Yes, it's true that people do work without work permits and correct visas. And many do so for long periods without having problems. But that doesn't make it legal. If you do so, you're rolling dice and taking your chances.

Yes, also have to take care not to give hotel seminars ???? https://www.newsweek.com/sex-training-course-coaches-arrested-thailand-lacking-work-permit-821876

He is working or he is not working?

Nepotism? - did the Jack Teixeira get and keep his position and security clearance due to his stepfather. Based on my experience, it's strange that he wasn't sacked and/or clearance removed on the first occasion. "Thomas Dufault, his stepfather, retired as a master sergeant in 2019 from the 102nd Intelligence Wing, the same unit Teixeira was in." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jack-teixeira-who-is-man-arrested-over-leaked-pentagon-documents-2023-04-14/

Hi dfg42 - my company is not a BoI promoted company. Getting a digital work permit under the LTR program is not limited beyond normal restrictions, to the best of my knowledge. I'm not aware if working under the LTR visa could be used to qualify for PR status. For my situation, LTR is actually better than PR so I no longer have interest in PR. I don't separately need a to get a work permit and am not required to have 4 Thai employees. I also like that the LTR application process was clean. It didn't involve the "VIP service fees" and other shenanigans that applying for PR did.