Teleworking From Thailand

[Deksan]

HI I am married to a thai woman, I am european, 28 years old.

I am doing teleworking from europe now, but i d like to move to thailand and

continue teleworking for my current company. Can you tell me what kind of

visa do I need ? It s not really clear for me

Thanks a lot for your help !

[wowpow]

I have read that if you work on a computer in Thailand for a company in another country and you are paid outside Thailand then you are not contrued to be working in Thailand for tax or Visa purposes. A friend is doing this and got the same information from The Thai Embassy in the USA. Better just check with you local Embassy to be sure though as things change.

[bkk_mike]

Check the Thaiimmigration.com web board.

You'll see a thread on "status of working".

That appears to agree. Telecommuting for a company abroad, PAID abroad, and not doing any work locally is fine as far as immigration is concerned on a non-imm O visa. (i.e. a "marriage" visa).

Admittedly immigration doesn't do work permits, but Just looking at the work permit requirements, it's nonsense for a telecommuter as you need to show where you appear in the Thai company's org chart.

You will want to confirm that the country you're being paid in has a double taxation agreement with Thailand. Otherwise you could find yourself paying tax in both countries.

[Deksan]

Thanks a lot for your answers i was scared to ask this kind of things to the thai

consulate in my country. Also where can i check if there is an agreement about

tax ? (I m french).

[dr_Pat_Pong]

France and Thailand do have a double taxation agreement. You can confirm that at the Thai Embassy in Paris, or at the French Finance Ministry.

[bkk_mike]

You can also get the list of countries that Thailand has a double taxation agreement with at the MFA website here.

http://www.mfa.go.th/web/988.php

[lopburi3]

So come with a non immigrant O visa (multi entry if you expect it will take longer than 90 days to set up below account) based on your marriage and when you have 400k in a bank account here that came from outside Thailand apply for an extension of stay. This should be approved if you can show that you are able to bring in the required 35k per month or so of 'savings'. As long as you do not bring in current income (money earned in the current tax year) you should not have a tax problem here under the current rules.

So you should have a bank account in home country with a wire transfer agreement on file so you can transfer here when you need funds.

[Sunny Valentine]

As long as you do not bring in current income (money earned in the current tax year) you should not have a tax problem here under the current rules.

So you should have a bank account in home country with a wire transfer agreement on file so you can transfer here when you need funds.

How could the Thai Revenue ever check wether the Money that comes in is from current Year?

Are you obliged to open each and every account you have? Would an alien Bank proceed to the Thai Revenue's Request to look into your account Details?

I understand that it might not be clever to have your foreign earnings wired directly into your Thai Account, but any intermediary account anywhere else in the world would be sufficient, or am I wrong?

Sunny