40,000bht Per Month From Myself?

[beerchang]

Hi all,

I'm from the U.K, lived in Thailand for 5 years, currently in U.K due to bereavement. Happily married to a Thai lady for 5 years. Have had many 3 month visas from Laos. No probs.

However, based on reading thaivisa.com's forum pages about changes in visa applications, I have a question;

What would happen if you kept the equivalent baht to cover 40,000bht per month in your house (480,000bht) for the 1st year and paid 40,000bht per month into your account from that money and at the end of the year, withdraw it all and do the same thing again in the next year?

Anyone know?

(Apologies if this has been asked before, I haven't seen it posted.)

[Maestro]

You would have to find a way to pay it to yourself or to your wife as salary and pay tax on it in Thailand.

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Maestro

[kriswillems]

You said that you had many 3-months "visas" before, so assume you were not staying based on 1 year extentions and also not based on a multiple-entry non-immigrant-O visa. I guess you were staying based on single entry non-immigrant-O visas. You can continue to apply for a new visa every 3 months (this requires you to stay in laos for 1 or more days and go to the Thai embassy over there).

If you were staying based on a multiple entry non-immigrant-O visa and you just did a visa run every 3 months, you could continu to do the same but you've to get a new multiple-entry non-immigrant-O visa every 15 months. You might need to travel to your home country or signapore or KL to apply for a new multiple entry non-immigrant-O visa.

If you want to switch to staying based on a 1-year extention you can follow the advice of Maestro. If you convert your savings to income that will cost you about 30K tax per year. In my opnion any construction only used to convert savings to income is not very "legal", but probably nobody will complain about it, since you'll be paying tax on income tax you don't really have.

Edited February 18, 2007 by kriswillems

[apetley]

You would have to find a way to pay it to yourself or to your wife as salary and pay tax on it in Thailand.

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Maestro

How about if the 40k per month was claimed to be rental income in the UK? My understanding is that the 40k can be earnings from abroad too, ie outside of Thailand and not subject to Thai income tax.

[Khun ?]

why don't you get a 1 year based on marriage. I did not keep up on any changes on this type of visa but believe 400K in the bank gets the visa.

[Krub]

why don't you get a 1 year based on marriage. I did not keep up on any changes on this type of visa but believe 400K in the bank gets the visa.

Not anymore you need 40.000 baht per month income

[Khun ?]

Nice to know just for the sake of it I guess. That puts it up to about $1200 a month now days.

Getting close to cutting off the U.S. social security crowd and insurance crowd.

[bendix]

isnt that the whole idea?

[penkrew]

why don't you get a 1 year based on marriage. I did not keep up on any changes on this type of visa but believe 400K in the bank gets the visa.

Not anymore you need 40.000 baht per month income

If you are on a marriage visa aren't there restrictions on how much work you can do? It's clearly harder to earn 40,000 bt a month if they don't let you work much...

[Mahout Angrit]

If you are on a marriage visa aren't there restrictions on how much work you can do? It's clearly harder to earn 40,000 bt a month if they don't let you work much...

He doesn't have to work, he only needs a joint family income, which can all come from his wife, who doesn't need a permit, or it can come from investments out of the country.

[kriswillems]

The chance that any Thai person finds a job that pays 40K is extremely small. So, only depending on the income of your wife might be hard, unless you make some semi-legal construction to convert savings to income.

If you're married and you want to work you need a work permit to work just as others do. But you don't need to apply for a non-immigrant-B visa. Your non-immigrant-O visa will do.

Getting 40K per month if you live in a "less rich" part of Thailand or you don't have any special talents (to get a work permit) is hard.

So, on one hand Thailand requires that young married people get 40K income but on the other hand they are giving them a hard time obtaining a work permit.

All alternative solutions are also made harder for young married people. For instance: Penang doesn't issue multiple entry non-immigrant-O visas anymore and signapore requires 400K on an account to issue such a visa.

Seems like young married people or young fathers of Thai children are not-wanted anymore in Thailand, unless they bring a considerable amount money into the country (not just savings but real tax money).

My feeling says a family should have the right to live together even if they are not rich, but Thailand seems to see it otherwise.

Edited February 19, 2007 by kriswillems

[penkrew]

The chance that any Thai person finds a job that pays 40K is extremely small. So, only depending on the income of your wife might be hard, unless you make some semi-legal construction to convert savings to income.

If you're married and you want to work you need a work permit to work just as others do. But you don't need to apply for a non-immigrant-B visa. Your non-immigrant-O visa will do.

So if you are on a non-immigrant O visa, are there any restrictions on how much work you can do?

[kriswillems]

Of course there are restrictions:

You're not allowed to work without work permit.

You can't do a whole list of jobs that are reserved for Thai people (you can't get a work permit for those jobs) and it's quiet hard to be allowed to work (= get a work permit) if you're not some kind of manager, expert or teacher (with a degree).

The fact that you're married doesn't help much.

Edited February 19, 2007 by kriswillems

[Khun ?]

The chance that any Thai person finds a job that pays 40K is extremely small. So, only depending on the income of your wife might be hard, unless you make some semi-legal construction to convert savings to income.

If you're married and you want to work you need a work permit to work just as others do. But you don't need to apply for a non-immigrant-B visa. Your non-immigrant-O visa will do.

Getting 40K per month if you live in a "less rich" part of Thailand or you don't have any special talents (to get a work permit) is hard.

So, on one hand Thailand requires that young married people get 40K income but on the other hand they are giving them a hard time obtaining a work permit.

All alternative solutions are also made harder for young married people. For instance: Penang doesn't issue multiple entry non-immigrant-O visas anymore and signapore requires 400K on an account to issue such a visa.

Seems like young married people or young fathers of Thai children are not-wanted anymore in Thailand, unless they bring a considerable amount money into the country (not just savings but real tax money).

My feeling says a family should have the right to live together even if they are not rich, but Thailand seems to see it otherwise.

I guess they probably thought you were one of the average people in the western world making the average income of around $40K a year. Add in the common retirement and health benefits and would be situated to advance your family past a job paying 30K baht a month with no future or benefits and little for education possibilities.

[importford]

My feeling says a family should have the right to live together even if they are not rich, but Thailand seems to see it otherwise.

Isn't that in the Geneva Convention?? (Human Rights??)

If so the Thai immigration Law is in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Mother, father and child should have the right to live together????

[kriswillems]

I guess they probably thought you were one of the average people in the western world making the average income of around $40K a year. Add in the common retirement and health benefits and would be situated to advance your family past a job paying 30K baht a month with no future or benefits and little for education possibilities.

Retired farangs have not much problem staying in Thailand. They just need to prove they have 800K on their own bank account and they can stay. They don't need to be married to a Thai person.

Young married people might have 2 million on their account, they are not allowed to stay, unless they have 40K/month income, which is hard to get because of the work permit regulations. Seems like constructing a semi-legal company that converts their saving to income is the only solution for them.

Many foreigners married to a Thai are not retired.

[kriswillems]

My feeling says a family should have the right to live together even if they are not rich, but Thailand seems to see it otherwise.

Isn't that in the Geneva Convention?? (Human Rights??)

If so the Thai immigration Law is in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Mother, father and child should have the right to live together????

No, it's not and even if it would be, I don't believe an army controlled government is going introduce any law to protect the human rights of foreigners living in a very patriotic country.

Edited February 19, 2007 by kriswillems

[Maestro]

Isn't that in the Geneva Convention??

The Geneva Convention is about the treatment of prisoners of war.

The United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” says this about the family:

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

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Maestro

[astral]

Isn't that in the Geneva Convention?? (Human Rights??)

If so the Thai immigration Law is in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Mother, father and child should have the right to live together????

You are probably right, but the Thais will tell you to go back to your own country and give there as a family...........

Sad, but it is an option.

[kriswillems]

Isn't that in the Geneva Convention?? (Human Rights??)

If so the Thai immigration Law is in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Mother, father and child should have the right to live together????

You are probably right, but the Thais will tell you to go back to your own country and give there as a family...........

Sad, but it is an option.

It is an option that brings tears to the eyes Thai women that have to leave their aging and suffering parents alone in Thailand (something that not-done in Thai culture), because the husband can't get a visa.

The group of young married people have parents that are still alive. In Thailand children should take care of their parents.

You're right:

Sad, but it's an option.

Edited February 19, 2007 by kriswillems

[Maestro]

How about if the 40k per month was claimed to be rental income in the UK? My understanding is that the 40k can be earnings from abroad too, ie outside of Thailand and not subject to Thai income tax.

That’s perfectly acceptable. In this case, Immigration wants to see a letter from your embassy certifying your income (you declare it to the embassy and they confirm that it is correct), plus sometimes the supporting documents for it.

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Maestro