guest879

get an agent to sort it out. if you are in pattaya I can recommend a great girl who ran everything for me for 8 years. best to get it sorted. I had the wrong address in my work permit and it cost me 80k in 'fees' I even went through the courts and paid the official 8500thb official fine. I gave up doing it myself after that.

forget work permits. I had one for 9 years and they are expensive and difficult. multi entry tourist visa is a good start. after that an education visa is probably best and it is helpful to learn thai anyway. you will need a good agent to keep it going. PLAN B is the company I used in Pattayay and they were fantastic.

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Where on earth did you get that idea?  That is totally untrue.

think he means you have to pay tax on a minimum 50 000thb income.

21 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

You would need to setup a Thai Company, 2 million baht capitol, 4 Thai employees (pay tax and social security) etc. That company would employ you and get you a work permit.

Married visa allows you to work with a WP

yes good advice but you need to be sure you can work in your given field. may professions are protected. make sure you have a good accountant and a good lawyer on call. I had a company and work permit for 9 years and am convinced the only reason they allow us to own companies and have work permits is to extort cash out of us. the cops work as a private security force and you can pay them around 2000thb per month to look after your commercial property. I did this and it was money well spent. I can recommend  a fantastic accountant well connected with immigration if you are in pattaya.

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Never give any woman you're banging access to your family or friends.

It's not her business, she doesn't need to know.

excellent advice that men just seem to ignore under the guise of no this is a genuine girlfriend.  I just hope the OP cuts her free. I have seen guys completely screwed over by their thai girls still feeling responsible for their exes or their kids and families. 

17 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

There is no minimum salary to apply for a work permit.

To apply for an extension of stay based upon working at immigration there is a minimum salary from 25k baht to 50k baht dependent upon nationality.

there is no minimum salary, but you have to pay tax on a minimum salary regardless of actual income. I doubt any thai company would want to sponsor a foreign work permit for all the heat it brings. for the 8 years I kept my work permit going it became ridiculous what was involved. glad I am out of that BS now. To work my thai girl just ticked a box on her visa application here in New Zealand. she can work anywhere in the country for anyone. The irony is she is full time with our kids and does not need to work. Trying to get a work permit to have a visa to stay in Thailand is not a viable option and would work out to cost about the same as the thai elite visa. if not more.

I had a business in Thailand for 9 years. it is extremely difficult and got harder by the year. the company and work permit system seems to be set up to make life difficult (and of course cost money) the best advice I could probably give to you (other than don't do it) is to get a very good lawyer and a very good accountant. I can recommend you some if you are in Pattaya.

get a good accountant/lawyer. preferably one connected with immigration. I used a company called Plan B in pattay and they were excellent. having a company and work permit is a mine field and for most people it is simply not worth the money and headache.  expect to have visits for tea money and be prepared for ongoing problems if you have thai competition. my first piece of advice is to start a clean work permit with the correct details in it. I wish that is what I did when I moved from one company in samui to another company I started in pattaya. good luck.

1 hour ago, certacito said:

 

60% is allocated as prize money.

interesting thanks. pretty low % but then I am not that surprised.

in western countries by law a large proportion of the ticket money has to be paid back out. I just wonder what proportion it is in Thailand. also I heard in Thailand jackpots are not rolled over to the next month if they are not won. wonder if that is true.

I got done with the wrong address in my work permit. it was 2 years of hell and quite a bit of money to sort out. in hind sight I should have cancelled my work permit and started a new one in pattaya when I moved from samui.  I have a mate with a work permit that has 'consultant' in it and he says he can work in multiple locations. not sure how well it would hold up really. the system is really just set up to extort money from foreigners trying to do things the right way. everyone I know who had a work permit still gets busted for something or another.

15 hours ago, TerryLH said:

Unless using an agent, is 'many thousands of THB' even possible?

to have a company, pay income tax, employee tax, accounting fees, visa fees, work permit fees, etc it is easily 100 000thb per year.

12 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

Application fee is 7000 baht. You don't need to pay any more if you don't get it approved in the end and accept it. (OK OK, so there is document translation, certifying true copies etc. that are extra costs. But official fee is 7k to apply and 93k (married to Thai) or 193k (unmarried to Thai) on approval. So 100 or 200k in total but only if approved.

they are the official fees but I doubt it can be done without paying considerably more. my work permit and visa was running me around 100k per year. when I left Thailand they were not even bothering to process any PR applications. they were just collecting the applications and fees.

retirement visa is so easy and cheap. I cant see the point in risking a wad of cash to try for PR. I just got my thai girl NZ residency. Was about 70  000THB,  fairly straight forward and she can work here if she wants. If it was the same for me in Thailand I would have done it as I spent many hundreds of thousands of THB on visas and work permits over the 10 years I was there.

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 3:13 PM, Peterw42 said:

To be legal. That would involve setting up a company etc, capital, 3 Thai employees etc, then the company employs you. Someone has to employ you, either your own company or another.

 

I gave up my work permit a few years back. at that time I had to have 4 thai employees (pay their taxes and social security) if I married my girl I was told I would only need 2 thai employees. was a lot of work to set up so I did not bother and just carried on paying the taxes for 4 staff. now back in New Zealand my girl automatically gets the right to work here no questions asked.

I just got a police clearance from Thailand to get my girl NZ residence. I had to get it as I lived in Thailand for 10 years before moving back. You can send your documents off to the place in Bangkok but it is unlikely you will get anything back. you need finger prints and a certified copy of your passport. I have a good lawyer in pattaya who got it for me. she wanted 5000thb so I sent her 6000thb to cover that and any extra expenses. she lodged it and the cops wanted a 4000thb fee so I sent that over via western union. even at 10 000thb it was still far cheaper than flying back to get it. if you want any more information you can PM me.