Minumum work hours for work permit

[DannersUK]

I was wondering if there was some kind of loophole for getting a work permit and non-immigrant visa for Thailand.

For example if you were employed by a hostel but only worked 1 day a week for 2 hours, would this suffice for the Visa and work permit?

Or is there a set minimum hours/length of contract?

All the information online is rather contradicting and misleading.

Thanks, Danners

[allane]

Not a definitive answer to your question, but I once had a three day per week job. My contract was written as though it was a full-time job, because my supervisor feared it would not be approved for a Work Permit for part-time. Immigration may do surprise inspections to check for illegals, but I have never heard of anyone sitting there for a week to verify actual hours worked,

[OneMoreFarang]

As far as I know you have to have a salary of at least 55k per month. I guess you won't get that salary for 10 hours work.

 

And another "problem" is that companies must have a motivation to hire you. Some time ago I had no work permit and I spoke with the friendly boss of a Thai company if they can hire me (more or less on paper only). They had enough Thai employees and enough registered capital. The boss was in principle willing to do that until he spoke with his accounting (or auditor, I forgot). Basically what he learned is that if the company employs one or more foreigners the tax department will much more likely look as all the details which maybe they would ignore for a Thai only company. He told me: sorry, but it's not worth that hassle.

[ubonjoe]

58 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

As far as I know you have to have a salary of at least 55k per month.

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.

[Loaded]

The local labor office decides at their own discretion whether the teacher is working sufficient hours to justify a work permit. Our experience is that 16/week convinces them.

[Loaded]

59 minutes 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.

unless you are a teacher

[guest879]

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.

Edited November 7, 2018 by guest879

[robsamui]

The cost of doing what you suggest makes it a non-starter. Minimum earnings for a  farang are deemed to be 50,000 per month, no matter what they are being paid, and tax is paid on this, together with employer and employee national insurance contributions. (No matter what you earn you'll be paying around 4,000B every month in tax and contributions.)

 

Why do you want a work permit? I rather suspect you have some kind of idea about wanting to work (at various things)  legitimately - but I also suspect you don't understand how Thai WPs function.

 

A WP doesn't entitle you to be able to work freely in Thailand - it enables you to work for only one named employer doing one specific job. The permit itself is costly and  takes a ton of paperwork to obtain - including going abroad to first get a 3-month visa so you can get the WP, then going abroad again 3 months later to get a full 12-month visa - and employers will rightly expect some return on their investment.

 

And, as I said, if you then change jobs, the work permit is specific to that job and employer (plus you have to pay 2,000 to cancel the WP) and that then immediately also negates your Non-Im-B Visa, meaning you have to get different visa (even a 30-day transit stamp) before you start the long process all over again of getting a new WP for a different employer.

 

This whole bureaucracy-heavy process is why Mr Big Joke is having such fun at the moment - it's just such a hassle (and so costly) and so time-consuming to do it all legally. And that means a great many people get here and then just don't bother following it all through.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by robsamui