CobyW

Hi all,

My application has been stuck in "consideration by government agencies" for ages and has just switched over to "Final - Reviewing". 

Really keen to understand if this is good progress, bad progress or just a status change that doesn't actually mean anything. Has anyone experienced this status and can provide some insights? I did a word search but didn't have any luck

WFTP related ???? 

From a previous email response from BOI, they said that they don't care where my funds are paid from as long as I have an active contract with the company that meets the USD 150m criteria. 

My Company has advised that they are happy to pay me as a contractor via a business in Thailand which I have confirmed with my tax agent will also work for my goals.

My question to this group is:

"I only want to setup the business in Thailand in order to receive funds that will allow me to get the LTR (WFTP) Visa. When I apply for an LTD company in Thailand, does anyone know if a visa MUST be linked to this application? If so, can an LTR Visa be linked?"

Currently, everything I have seen only talks about the non-immigration visa which is fine as a backup but I would much prefer the LTR for multiple reasons. I assume that it is just because legal companies are not specifically advertising this Visa type yet but hoping someone in this group may have done something similar or converted from a non-immigration business visa to an LTR and can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

I'm intrigued with the "Fast Track Service at International Airports in Thailand" benefit of the LTR. Has anyone come back in via BKK (Bangkok) or HKT (Phuket) airports and tell us about the experience. I'm interested to know what to look for when I arrive once I have my LTR.

On 9/15/2023 at 1:45 PM, Misty said:

Thanks for posting the article.  There's at least one paragraph in it that could be misleading or incorrect:

 

"Moreover, if one is considered a tax resident of Thailand, as a result of being present in the country for a period of 180 days or more in a year, income from an employment abroad that is brought into Thailand within the same tax year would be subject to Thai income tax."

 

How is "employment abroad" being defined?  For example, if the person is earning the income while working in Thailand, it isn't "foreign source income." The income is taxable immediately, whether or not it is paid overseas, or even ever brought into Thailand.

 

Or so says the tax professionals we work with. I'll double check with the tax professionals we work with. It appears at least one of the authors of this article worked there at one time as well, so perhaps they can clear this up.

 

 

 

 

@Misty - I will be based in Phuket and ideally would like to find a trusted tax professional who knows a bit about the LTR visa and how to navigate the taxes, legally of course. Do you know of any that you can refer or are we capturing details in this forum that you know of that might direct me to a good tax agent?

On 9/5/2023 at 3:21 PM, CobyW said:

@aublumberg- yes. This is my fear too. I think you are correct with the reasonings by my current employer and I also understand why they would want to protect themselves in this way. The company I currently work for meets the 150M USD requirement so they themselves are a qualifying company.

 

I have reached out to my local BOI in Australia to see what their official thoughts are too. I'm really trying to do everything by the book and be respectful of the Visa process and in my mind I think that the above should be acceptable but sometimes things don't line up the way we want. I fully intend to pay all of my taxes in Thailand, invest in Thailand and do everything else by the book so I hope they can see this for the genuine application that it is. I know of many people living in Thailand and doing Visa runs or sitting on an Education visa but that isn't for me. 

 

Thank you for adding your comment ????

just wanted to provide an update that I received from the BOI. The question I asked was:

"My company who makes 150m USD wants to pay me via a global HR. If they do this, will I still meet the requirement for the 150M USD?"

The exact response from BOI was:

"The source of the applicant's salary does not affect our evaluation process. Our primary focus is on verifying the company that has a work contract with the applicant."

This is a good outcome in my opinion as it will open up 2 options:

1. My company pays directly through the Global HR where I will be a Full-time employee (preferred)

2. If a global HR solution is not possible, I can open a business in Australia, my company can pay me direct through there under a contract agreement and then I will just have to move money from AU to TH when I need it (still seeking tax advice for specific setup)

Happy to at least have options as this WFTP visa isn't an easy one to meet from what i'm reading. Hoping this information might be able to help others ????

4 hours ago, K2938 said:

Better talk to the LTR people in Bangkok because they are the ones who will approve or not approve your scheme.  And talk to them by email because you want a record of what is said and you want that people carefully consider their answer which will probably not happen in a phone call.

 

P.S.:  I concur with aublumberg that this is very unlikely to work.  But you can of course always try.  Good luck!

@K2938- the phone call was only to find the right people to engage with. The Director of BOI in Sydney will be liaising with the team in Bangkok and I will be getting my response via email as I know these discussions can turn into a bit of 'he said, she said' and evidence is key

16 minutes ago, aublumberg said:

Coby, I don’t think this will work. The fundamental construct for WFTP is that you’re employed by a qualifying company outside of Thailand. Not aware of any EOR setup that will satisfy WFTP, but happy to stand corrected.
 

if you were to get a basic reference letter form your overseas employer then that may satisfy the WFTP visa requirement. Once approved you could then discuss with your employer the logistics to make it work, but it then creates many questions about legality, and the EOR may also need to fulfil certain requirements including a local work permit which conflicts with WFTP, plus potential income tax implications. I assume your employer is concerned about the risk of permanent establishment in a foreign jurisdiction hence their EOR request and then ‘offloading’ the overseas obligations to you and the EOR. Different visa type in my view (local work permit, unlikely LTR unless in a specified target industry).

@aublumberg- yes. This is my fear too. I think you are correct with the reasonings by my current employer and I also understand why they would want to protect themselves in this way. The company I currently work for meets the 150M USD requirement so they themselves are a qualifying company.

I have reached out to my local BOI in Australia to see what their official thoughts are too. I'm really trying to do everything by the book and be respectful of the Visa process and in my mind I think that the above should be acceptable but sometimes things don't line up the way we want. I fully intend to pay all of my taxes in Thailand, invest in Thailand and do everything else by the book so I hope they can see this for the genuine application that it is. I know of many people living in Thailand and doing Visa runs or sitting on an Education visa but that isn't for me. 

Thank you for adding your comment ????

Topic: Work from Thailand Professional - Employer of Record question

Hi all

I work for a company in Australia who has recently met the requirement for USD 150m revenue in 3 years. They have also confirmed that they are happy for me to keep working for them while living in Thailand. They have advised that they will need to pay me via an Employer of Record (EOR) in Thailand to make everything work which i'm fine with.

I have a few questions relating to this:

1. Does anyone know an EOR that has been successfully used for the LTR (WFTP) visa?

2. Even though I will still be working for my current company, I won't officially be employed by them even though they are paying all the bills. Will this make me ineligible for the $150m requirement and therefore I can't get the LTR (WFTP) visa?

I'm really trying to do everything by the book and legally but as you all know, there are some complexities with the specifics of the requirements. 

Thanks in advance

Coby

Does anyone know when the respective agencies meet to review/change the LTR requirements? I have applied for the WFTP LTR visa but the only requirement i dont meet is the 150M company revenue. My company only meets 110M but has also received significant capital investments which i have explained but doesnt appear is acceptable.

Struggling to find another way around it considering they don't appear flexible on this so thinking im going to just have to wait it out ????

On 2/5/2023 at 7:47 PM, digitalnotmad said:

 

Hi all,

 

I got the LTR - Work From Thailand Professional category very recently. This thread helped me in many ways to get an idea about LTR visa and background process. I'd like to show my gratitude by registering as a new member and provide any support for fellow expats aka Farangs.

I'm working for a publicly listed company in US so I only had to get employment verification letter from employer and letter was not addressed to LTR unit or any other gov org in Thailand. It was just a general letter.

 

Let me summarize my experience which might help future applicants.

 

Processing time : 1 month - due to year end holidays, Police report and Insurance waiting time, etc

Applied : Mid Dec 2022

Received BOI approval : Mid Jan 2023

Application summary : * Writing steps taken from the timeline poster attached to this post which is also displayed in https;!! ltr,boi,go,th below the Qualification endorsement section.

 

Step 1 : Fill in the form and submitted online with all scanned documents via portal (visa,boi,go,th replace comma with dot ????  )

Step 4 : Requested police report and insurance which was notified via email + notification bell on the portal page if you login to portal (top left)

Step 5 : Qualifications approved, which was notified via email + notification bell, Requesting to make an appointment (choose from drop down list of )Thai embassy/country or OSS @Bangkok. Chosen Thai embassy of a neighbour country where I was holidaying. You can choose e-visa option if your passport is allowed to apply online (www,thaievisa,go,th)

Step 6 : BOI approval letter which is addressed to the above Thai embassy to issue the LTR visa, Status in the portal changed to 'Complete' and the approval letter can be viewed by pressing 'view' button.

No Steps 7,8,9 as Visa will be issued outside Thailand.

Next : Make an appointment to the Thai embassy asap to apply visa (to secure the earliest date)

Print BOI approval letter

Next : Go to Thai embassy on Appointment date/time with passport + printed BOI approval letter. Take a Visa application form and fill it in, paste passport sized photo on application and hand over to Embassy counter with visa fee in cash (50k Baht or equivalent). Get the visa collection paper which has a collection date is printed.

Next : Visit embassy and collect passport, Check Visa sticker and make sure Visa is LTR Type T with 10yrs later ending date.

Next : Reached immigraiton at land crossing border checkpoint, Filled the arrival card (filled the departure section slip (T.M.6)as well in capital letters), None of the officers knew how to process, escorted to the Supervisor inside a room and he called someone internal and was given some instructions. Officer stamped passport page opposite to Visa sticker with permission to stay with a date of 5years. Asked me to keep departure card (T.M.6) has to keep securely and escorted me out of the immigration gate.

Next : Take bus to hotel and start work from Thailand.

 

https;!! ltr,boi,go,th home page shows as 'Tax exemption for overseas income' for WFT Professional.

I'm still searching about paying tax and Permanent Establishment confirmation. I hope I don't need to pay inome tax in Thailand or double tax, because there is a DTA already in place with my country. I have to stay more than 183 days in Thailand and see what will happen.

 

If you have questions pls and happy to answer them whenever I can. Let's help each other Farangs.  Cheers and good luck for your application!

Firstly, congratulations DigitalNotMad with getting the approval. I would love your thoughts (or anyone else) with a couple of parts of the application process that i'm not super clear on.

A couple of pieces of info to set the scene. I'm from Australia and planning to move to Thailand in October 2023. I want to submit my application in March 2023 so I can get the approval sorted and start packing up my life but given the long lead time, I have the following questions:

1: The Health insurance requirement states that you need to have a minimum of 10 months remaining on the policy for it to be valid. Did you future date the policy to a date closer to when you were planning to move there OR is there another way where I can avoid paying 6 months of insurance when I will still be in Aus.

2: I work for a Private company in Australia and will continue to do so when I move to Thailand. The company I work for unfortunately does not meet the USD50M/year for 3 year revenue requirement but we have received substantial investments that are greater than that so i'm hoping that is sufficient ???? Can you tell me about your letter, what was declared (generally, don't need actuals) and did you have any back/forth with BOI about this letter?

Thanks in Advance