Work Permit For A Married To Thai

[scn]

Swasdee Krap

I am a foreigner and am married to thai. Been here in LOS for 3 years almost now. 2 years studying here in CU and for the last 3/4 year whiling away, looking for a job, traveling, planning on a business...Registered a company with my wife as a shareholder (1 Mil THB). Started this process back in Oct 2006 and after several other issues like finding office and new home which had to have several considerations like distance to baby school, wife's work place... blah.. blah.... finally I am ready for my work permit.

After almost a year of slow paced work. I am ready to take the plunge. I asked around with a 3 or 4 lawyers about Work permit and none seem to know the procedure for getting the work permit for a foreigner married to a thai national as much as I do!!!! while all seem to know the process for non-B work permit.

Can anyone please help me with the process, is it possible that I do it myself. Are there any issues I should know. Can anyone give me the contact of the lawyer along with how much do they charge fees and other details and If anyone has done this on their own can they share their experience. Any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Swasdee Krap

I am a foreigner and am married to thai. Been here in LOS for 3 years almost now. 2 years studying here in CU and for the last 3/4 year whiling away, looking for a job, traveling, planning on a business...Registered a company with my wife as a shareholder (1 Mil THB). Started this process back in Oct 2006 and after several other issues like finding office and new home which had to have several considerations like distance to baby school, wife's work place... blah.. blah.... finally I am ready for my work permit.

After almost a year of slow paced work. I am ready to take the plunge. I asked around with a 3 or 4 lawyers about Work permit and none seem to know the procedure for getting the work permit for a foreigner married to a thai national as much as I do!!!! while all seem to know the process for non-B work permit.

Can anyone please help me with the process, is it possible that I do it myself. Are there any issues I should know. Can anyone give me the contact of the lawyer along with how much do they charge fees and other details and If anyone has done this on their own can they share their experience. Any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

Our Professional fee is 6,500 Baht for the work permit application. The government fee is 3,100 Baht. We have done easily over 5,000 work permit applications over the years and many were married to a Thai. Not sure why, no one knew the procedure with other firms you spoke with ???

See below the only difference, it's in bold.

Required Documentation from the individual

The following documents must be attached to a Work Permit application:

• For non-permanent residents: A valid passport containing a Non-Immigrant visa.

• CV or Resume showing application’s educational qualifications and describing in detail the applicant’s past position, duties, performance, and place and length of employment.

• A recent medical certificate from a first-class licensed physician in Thailand stating that the applicant is not of unsound mind and not suffering from leprosy, acute tuberculosis, elephantiasis, narcotic addition or habitual alcoholism.

• Three 5x6 cm. full-faced, bareheaded, black and white or color photographs, taken no more than six months prior to the filing of the application.

• If the job applied for is subject to a license under a particular law, in addition to the Alien Occupation Law, a photocopy of such license, (e.g. teacher’s license, physician’s license, press card from the Public Relations Department, certificate of missionary status from the Office of Religious Affairs, etc.) shall be attached.

• If the applicant is married to a Thai national, the original and photocopies of the following must be presented:

Marriage certificate, spouse’s identity card, birth certificates of children( if any), household registration, as well as photocopy of every page of the applicant’s passport.

Documents to be supplied by the employer

(They must bear the seal of the firm and signature of the person authorized to authenticate same.)

• Certificate issued by the Commercial Registration Department showing that the organization for which the applicant is going to work, has been duly registered as a juristic person, giving the name of the managing partner and/or director, and its objectives and capital.

• A Copy of the list of shareholders of the applicant’s prospective company, certified as correct by the Commercial Registration Department.

• If the company maintains a factory, a factory license and/or license to operate a factory, renewed by the Factory Department, Ministry of Industry.

• Copy of VAT Certificate (Phor.Phor.20)/application for VAT registration (Phor.Phor. 01)

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[autonomous_unit]

We didn't talk to any of the forum sponsors but had a similar experience with local lawyers we met via Thai friends and also with one of the big multinational law firms we contacted at one point. Nobody seemed to really grasp the idea that I wanted a work permit but I was not trying to get an extension of stay based on said work permit. I just need a work permit and then can get my extension of stay based on spouse support, given my income and tax payments.

They just want to sell you a "get work permit and annual extension to B visa" package. The problem is, everyone has a common method they have streamlined in their office and they want to apply this to each client to reduce their overheads. A small client doesn't warrant a big effort to learn the unusual corner cases of the laws or to assign more senior staff. (This is all my conjecture after seeing how our interactions went off the rails.)

One thing you might consider is how you plan to run the business after it is started. Will you and your wife handle most legal issues yourself, or will you always outsource this to some service agency? If the former, you might just bite the bullet and do the work permit filing yourself! It really is not rocket science if you have done your own due diligence. We renewed my work permit, moved it (and the company) to another province, etc. ourselves and found the real headaches were not much different than the first filing done with the help of a Thai lawyer. In the end, you still have to visit the work permit office and review documents unless you are the trusting sort who blindly signs whatever a lawyer thrusts in front of you...

[Sunbelt Asia]

We didn't talk to any of the forum sponsors but had a similar experience with local lawyers we met via Thai friends and also with one of the big multinational law firms we contacted at one point. Nobody seemed to really grasp the idea that I wanted a work permit but I was not trying to get an extension of stay based on said work permit. I just need a work permit and then can get my extension of stay based on spouse support, given my income and tax payments.

They just want to sell you a "get work permit and annual extension to B visa" package. The problem is, everyone has a common method they have streamlined in their office and they want to apply this to each client to reduce their overheads. A small client doesn't warrant a big effort to learn the unusual corner cases of the laws or to assign more senior staff. (This is all my conjecture after seeing how our interactions went off the rails.)

One thing you might consider is how you plan to run the business after it is started. Will you and your wife handle most legal issues yourself, or will you always outsource this to some service agency? If the former, you might just bite the bullet and do the work permit filing yourself! It really is not rocket science if you have done your own due diligence. We renewed my work permit, moved it (and the company) to another province, etc. ourselves and found the real headaches were not much different than the first filing done with the help of a Thai lawyer. In the end, you still have to visit the work permit office and review documents unless you are the trusting sort who blindly signs whatever a lawyer thrusts in front of you...

Ironically I would say 85% of the work permit holders we handle, don't have a extension of stay based on business. Most either have a extension of stay based on marriage or a multi entry visa. Around 2% have a extension of stay based on education with a work permit.

I'm sure they must be losing business, if they don't understand not everybody needs or qualifies for a extension of stay based on business.

What a lawyer does is saves the client time and to get their job title and the job description approved.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[scn]

Thanks to Sunbelt and autonomous_unit we approached the Labor Department and the first lady at the information desk that we met scared us away with all the requirements. Then we spoke to the person who accepts the work permit application and she was extremely nice and explained us all the details even about how to fill the forms.

Again thanks for the replies Sunbelt and autonomous_unit for sharing their knowledge and experiences.

SCN

[ahddub]

I have a Work Permit, working as a teacher for a government secondary school (3 years now). I'm also married, with children, to a Thai national. All documents, credentials valid and verified.

I'd like to know how (documents, procedures) to apply to have my Work Permit modified to legally allow myself to provide tutoring, self-employed, as a native-English speaker.

[Sunbelt Asia]

I have a Work Permit, working as a teacher for a government secondary school (3 years now). I'm also married, with children, to a Thai national. All documents, credentials valid and verified.

I'd like to know how (documents, procedures) to apply to have my Work Permit modified to legally allow myself to provide tutoring, self-employed, as a native-English speaker.

Need to ask some questions to give you the best answer...

What nationality are you? Are you married to a Thai? Did you pay 25K in taxes last year? How bout 50K in taxes?

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[ahddub]

I have a Work Permit, working as a teacher for a government secondary school (3 years now). I'm also married, with children, to a Thai national. All documents, credentials valid and verified.

I'd like to know how (documents, procedures) to apply to have my Work Permit modified to legally allow myself to provide tutoring, self-employed, as a native-English speaker.

Need to ask some questions to give you the best answer...

What nationality are you? Are you married to a Thai? Did you pay 25K in taxes last year? How bout 50K in taxes?

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

I'm an American. My wife is Thai. My taxes paid were based upon my monthly teacher's salary of 30,000 baht per month - quite a bit less than 25K in taxes, I think.

Why does this matter?