Being a digital nomad / working online is legal in Thailand

[TonyClifton]

There are plenty of people blogging, making YouTube videos and they are doing it for the money.  It would not be difficult to track them all down and eject them from the country.  Whether legal or not, it is surely not a priority.  

 

Coming here from another country unless you are purely retired does not entail cutting ties to your foreign clients.  Digital nomad work isn't performed here.  It isn't sold here either.  No digital nomad could make enough money providing the same services from back home to Thais here.  Why would they want to?  

[AGareth2]

43 minutes ago, TonyClifton said:

Digital nomad work isn't performed here. 

really

where is the computer?

where is the person?

[TonyClifton]

50 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

really

where is the computer?

where is the person?

Really.  Where is the work performed? On a computer here, or another country?  Where is the bill paid? Here, or another country?   

[balo]

18 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

where is the computer?

where is the person?

The computer is in Thailand , the business and money is not.  

 

 

[james1995]

My "work" consists of logging into accounts and being paid money daily. I got 150k baht monthly coming in from my little gig. Litterally only takes an hour a day of logging into a few accounts with a self coded script.  The lifestyle it provides is surreal.  Since, I'm not working I don't need a work permit.  The script does the work for me.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

It is not illegal or illegal. An alien either has a valid visa or extension or they are on overstay.

What an alien does on their laptop all day in a Cafe or hotel room is of no relevance as long as they are not working for a Thai company unless they have a valid Work permit and relevant visa.

[watcharacters]

On 5/13/2018 at 7:36 AM, blackcab said:

To be fair, the Ministry of Labour and the police were both present.

 

 

It'd seem to me to argue  differently in light of your post is just silly.

 

But then again in Thailand things are extremely  fluid.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by watcharacters

[IlyaATL]

I just stumbled upon this topic, and would like to put in my 2 satangs along with some hypothetical's.

 

First and foremost, we need to define what actually constitutes "work".

 

While some cases of "work" are cut and dry, others are not.

 

Example 1: You pick up a friend from the airport, and he chips in for the gas.

 

Example 2: You own multiple condo's and rent them out. sometimes, you do maintenance work on YOUR OWN condo's.

 

Example 3: You are working online for a company outside of Thailand, or you freelance for clients outside of Thailand. You get paid in the currency of said country, which is deposited into a bank account located in your home country.

 

in all cases, you are doing something that could be classified as work, and are receiving monetary compensation in one form or another. When it comes to the fist example, you are driving to the airport, and receiving some money from it. One could argue that you are doing something that a Thai taxi driver could otherwise do.

 

When it comes to the second example, You are receiving monetary compensation in the form of rent, and are saving money (therefore increasing your net profit) by refusing to hire a Thai National, and instead, doing the maintenance work yourself.

 

Concerning the third example, if they would make such actions illegal, it wouldn't stop at digital nomads. The law would also apply to those who own businesses in their home country. For example, you own a factory in Michigan, and are currently staying in Thailand on a Tourist/Student/Retirement visa. The minute you call the factory manager, and ask him to email you a report (or something like that), you would be in violation of Thai Law. But it wouldn't stop there: if you were to own a few investment properties in your home country, and hire a management company to take care of them. When they send you a monthly report email, you would be in violation of Thai law the second you opened it. Whether or not they would enforce this is a whole another topic.

 

I am not claiming to be an expert in Thai Law, but I doubt that the third category would have much to worry about, even if they explicitly made such acts illegal.

 

When it comes to Farangs working illegally, there is an endless supply of those who live in Thailand on non-work visas, and actually work here. (vendors, tour guides, barbers, tattoo artists, actors, tutors, I'm sure you can add to this list). Along with an even more endless supply of informants (both Thai and Farang) who will be happy to receive a reward for reporting a foreigner working illegally. All immigration has to do is sit there and wait for them to come. On the other hand: in order to bust people for working online, ect., they would actually have to hustle. Basically not worth their time.

 

Finally, the whole concept of remote work is relatively new, and legislation has yet to catch up to it. The internet has been around since the early nineties. Only relatively recently has legislation caught up to it.

 

Again, I am not a Thai attorney, nor a Thai immigration officer for that matter, so this is just my 2 satangs.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, IlyaATL said:

I just stumbled upon this topic, and would like to put in my 2 satangs along with some hypothetical's.

 

First and foremost, we need to define what actually constitutes "work".

 

While some cases of "work" are cut and dry, others are not.

 

Example 1: You pick up a friend from the airport, and he chips in for the gas.

 

Example 2: You own multiple condo's and rent them out. sometimes, you do maintenance work on YOUR OWN condo's.

 

Example 3: You are working online for a company outside of Thailand, or you freelance for clients outside of Thailand. You get paid in the currency of said country, which is deposited into a bank account located in your home country.

 

in all cases, you are doing something that could be classified as work, and are receiving monetary compensation in one form or another. When it comes to the fist example, you are driving to the airport, and receiving some money from it. One could argue that you are doing something that a Thai taxi driver could otherwise do.

 

When it comes to the second example, You are receiving monetary compensation in the form of rent, and are saving money (therefore increasing your net profit) by refusing to hire a Thai National, and instead, doing the maintenance work yourself.

 

Concerning the third example, if they would make such actions illegal, it wouldn't stop at digital nomads. The law would also apply to those who own businesses in their home country. For example, you own a factory in Michigan, and are currently staying in Thailand on a Tourist/Student/Retirement visa. The minute you call the factory manager, and ask him to email you a report (or something like that), you would be in violation of Thai Law. But it wouldn't stop there: if you were to own a few investment properties in your home country, and hire a management company to take care of them. When they send you a monthly report email, you would be in violation of Thai law the second you opened it. Whether or not they would enforce this is a whole another topic.

 

I am not claiming to be an expert in Thai Law, but I doubt that the third category would have much to worry about, even if they explicitly made such acts illegal.

 

When it comes to Farangs working illegally, there is an endless supply of those who live in Thailand on non-work visas, and actually work here. (vendors, tour guides, barbers, tattoo artists, actors, tutors, I'm sure you can add to this list). Along with an even more endless supply of informants (both Thai and Farang) who will be happy to receive a reward for reporting a foreigner working illegally. All immigration has to do is sit there and wait for them to come. On the other hand: in order to bust people for working online, ect., they would actually have to hustle. Basically not worth their time.

 

Finally, the whole concept of remote work is relatively new, and legislation has yet to catch up to it. The internet has been around since the early nineties. Only relatively recently has legislation caught up to it.

 

Again, I am not a Thai attorney, nor a Thai immigration officer for that matter, so this is just my 2 satangs.

Well labour matters are primarily handled by the Thai Labour Ministry, but then the Immigration authorities do often get quickly involved.

 

The Thai labour laws define work very clearly and there's no need for hypotheticals. 

[gk10002000]

2 hours ago, IlyaATL said:

Example 2: You own multiple condo's and rent them out. sometimes, you do maintenance work on YOUR OWN condo's.

I point to the case a few years ago where a foreigner built or refurbished a sail boat and then sold it and he was charged with working in Thailand.  This was the only boat he apparently ever had and did it as a hobby.  Working on a condo that you own and live in might be OK, but if you ever sell it in the future, you might be subject to some scrutiny. 

[Metapod]

On 7/11/2018 at 8:12 AM, AGareth2 said:

really

where is the computer?

where is the person?

I remotely access a computer that is physically located in the US.

[scorecard]

7 minutes ago, Metapod said:

I remotely access a computer that is physically located in the US.

But you are sitting in Thailand when you do that.

[Delight]

 I have a friend who is a currency trader.

He has been advised that providing he is trading with his own money -then ok

However if he were employed -any where on the planet  it seems-then that would be illegal

 

[scorecard]

46 minutes ago, Delight said:

 I have a friend who is a currency trader.

He has been advised that providing he is trading with his own money -then ok

However if he were employed -any where on the planet  it seems-then that would be illegal

 

A friend of a friend and instructions written on the back of the swinging door.

[balo]

But you are sitting in Thailand when you do that.

So what ? You write an e-mail to a business associate in Europe, you talk to him on Skype about business. You can't prevent that from happening thanks to our digital age.
Call it work inside Thailand all you want but its not something immigration cares about.