Smart visas: Some high earning foreigners may soon be able to work without a work permit

 

 

The Thai government on Tuesday approved a draft proposal that would allow some high earning foreigners to do additional work in Thailand without a work permit.

 

However, the new rules would only apply to those holding a Smart Visa, requirements for which include employment in one of a number of specialised fields such as robotics, biochemicals, medical and wellness tourism and agriculture and biotech.

 

To be eligible for a Smart Visa, foreigners also need to earn monthly salary of at least 200,000 baht.

 

The new rules would allow those in possession of a Smart Visa to work in Thailand outside of their specialised field without needing a work permit, said Lt. Gen. Werachon Sukondhapatipak, Deputy Government Spokesperson.

 

Children aged over 18 and spouses of Smart Visa holders can also work in Thailand for a period of one year without a work permit.

 

It was also announced that environmental management and renewable energy management, amongst others, will be added to the list of eligible for the Smart Visa.

 

 

The Smart Visa is a 4 year visa aimed at entrepreneurs investing in new businesses, industry experts, highly-skilled professionals, or executives.

 

The Smart Visa was launched in February 2018 under the banner “Taking Thailand to new heights with foreign talents”.

 

“Smart Visa is a new type of visa specially designed to attract highly skilled manpower, investors, executives and startups entrepreneurs wishing to work or invest in the following targeted industries in the Kingdom of Thailand, the BOI says on its website.

 

“Smart Visa holders will be granted maximum 4-year permission to stay, exemption from the work permit requirement and entitled to additional privileges”.

 

Source: https://www.dailynews.co.th/economic/696797

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-03-05

How many smart visas have been issued in the past year since inception.

Its a fail and government was due to abolish this visa. 

 

200,000 baht a month or 6,300 dollars a month....A ok salary for the west....A huge salary for Thailand....

3 minutes ago, Riggpig said:

Its a fail and government was due to abolish this visa. 

 

No way they will get rid of a pet protect/visa like this,even if its only used by a handful of people.... 

19 minutes ago, baansgr said:

How many smart visas have been issued in the past year since inception.

Not many, less than 200 from memory. 

 

9 minutes ago, Riggpig said:

Its a fail and government was due to abolish this visa. 

 

They know they haven’t been as successful as they want it, but they have introduced new target industries and have also relaxed the rules somewhat to allow entrepreneurs to have more time to get their startups happening. 

 

2 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

No way they will get rid of a pet protect/visa like this,even if its only used by a handful of people.... 

Hopefully not. It is a foot in the door for a more enlightened system. You want a system like this to succeed as it helps provide a justification to reform the antiquated work permit system. 

If you're employed on a salary of 200K plus, you're pretty unlikely to have the time to do additional work outside your specialist field.  Does anyone think these ideas through?

16 minutes ago, Greenside said:

If you're employed on a salary of 200K plus, you're pretty unlikely to have the time to do additional work outside your specialist field.  Does anyone think these ideas through?

I think they are assuming high earners are orientated to saving the planet etc so wont require a wp when they go cleaning beaches for free or volunteering to help sick tribe people

36 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

200,000 baht a month or 6,300 dollars a month....A ok salary for the west....A huge salary for Thailand....

 

It actually isn't that much in those fields. Most the foreign IT guys in my husband's office were on around 500,000 a month. These aren't the kind of people that take lower rates because the cost of street food makes up for it. 

 

Now that we have that out of the way let's bring on the rest of the posts from the retired geezers on 40,000 a month pensions saying how they should have some easier visa. 

 

Also plenty of people on these salaries do some freelancing. They tend to be a bit more ambitious. 

 

 

If they want people to get this visa, I suggest they actually answer their phones and emails. I’ve been waiting for a reply for a while now, while meeting all requirements and beyond.


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41 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

200,000 baht a month or 6,300 dollars a month....A ok salary for the west....A huge salary for Thailand....

$75,000 a year is rather low for an expat salary.  Especially when housing, car, goods and services, and other allowances are added to it, plus annual bonuses.

12 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

$75,000 a year is rather low for an expat salary.  Especially when housing, car, goods and services, and other allowances are added to it, plus annual bonuses.

 

Exactly and many companies would also give extra to entice highly paid professionals into an obscure hardship post. 

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

200,000 baht a month or 6,300 dollars a month....A ok salary for the west....A huge salary for Thailand....

i think you're looking at it in the wrong way. 200k for an expat with the kind of skills they are aiming for is low.

they need to attract talent and it may come as a surprise to many on this forum but a lot of people would really rather live somewhere other than here so to get them here you need to make it worthwhile for them.

yes, they will want incentives for having to live in a large, hot heavily polluted city in asia ie, a condo or house with monthly rents over the 100k mark, the best health insurance available, kids fees for international school paid, annuall flights home etc.

these guys will normally be working for large international companies so what is normal locally is pretty irrelevant

Without work permit, but does that mean without a Thai company.

 

EDIT: No, it's a dud, need to be employed by a Thai company to get the smart visa first and then you can moonlight. Useless.

Edited March 5, 20197 yr by DrTuner

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

It actually isn't that much in those fields. Most the foreign IT guys in my husband's office were on around 500,000 a month. These aren't the kind of people that take lower rates because the cost of street food makes up for it. 

 

Now that we have that out of the way let's bring on the rest of the posts from the retired geezers on 40,000 a month pensions saying how they should have some easier visa. 

 

Also plenty of people on these salaries do some freelancing. They tend to be a bit more ambitious. 

 

 

For 500,000 a month I would consider moving to Thailand for a while. Any job opening for an IBM and RedHat middleware specialist?

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Smart Visa is a new type of visa specially designed to attract highly skilled manpower, investors, executives and startups entrepreneurs wishing to work or invest in the following targeted industries in the Kingdom of Thailand, the BOI says on its website.

Thanks for the offer but I'll pass if you don't mind .. 

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

It actually isn't that much in those fields. Most the foreign IT guys in my husband's office were on around 500,000 a month. These aren't the kind of people that take lower rates because the cost of street food makes up for it. 

 

Now that we have that out of the way let's bring on the rest of the posts from the retired geezers on 40,000 a month pensions saying how they should have some easier visa. 

 

Also plenty of people on these salaries do some freelancing. They tend to be a bit more ambitious. 

 

 

i get paid 1200 Euro a day and yes i Freelance and not from the west.

Edited March 5, 20197 yr by Dizer

8 hours ago, Paul944 said:

For 500,000 a month I would consider moving to Thailand for a while. Any job opening for an IBM and RedHat middleware specialist?

Generally its easier to land a position like that by getting hired by a multinational company in the West and persuading them to transfer you over here.  Then you can expect to get your US salary plus living expenses, and sometimes additional perks like annual flights back to your home country and extra vacation time. When I was working as an expat the perks effectively doubled your salary if you counted the cash value of the condo, car, etc.  However in such cases getting a visa was seldom an issue so this new Smart visa wouldn't mean much.   MNCs have always been able to work the visa approval system well enough to be able to get visas an WPs for skilled expat employees.

Edited March 6, 20197 yr by suzannegoh

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Taking Thailand to new heights with foreign talents”.

Except in Education. and Flood control.  Oh and Road Safety.  I forgot Policing.  Littering.  Smoke Pollution.

27 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

Generally its easier to land a position like that by getting hired by a multinational company in the West and persuading them to transfer you over here.  Then you can expect to get your US salary plus living expenses, and sometimes additional perks like annual flights back to your home country and extra vacation time. When I was working as an expat the perks effectively doubled your salary if you counted the cash value of the condo, car, etc.  However in such cases getting a visa was seldom an issue so this new Smart visa wouldn't mean much.   MNCs have always been able to work the visa approval system well enough to be able to get visas an WPs for skilled expat employees.

in order to get the additional expat benefits the person would have to be needed here and therefore they would either be requested to go by their company or they would have been approached to go to another company.

very few companies will pay for additional costs because the person persuades them to send them to asia, they will however pay if they are needed here. 

a standard expat package should always include annual flights home for the immediate family (if they had one), private school fees (usually up to 2 kids) etc etc. a lot more than it would cost to have them in the west.

yes, easy for mnc's to get work permits but the smart visa has additional benefits and is also targeting small businesses, start ups and individuals 

Edited March 6, 20197 yr by MARK74

11 hours ago, fforest1 said:

200,000 baht a month or 6,300 dollars a month....A ok salary for the west....A huge salary for Thailand....

That's less than my (modest) UN pension, so can I get a "Samrt Visa"?

No members from TVF will ever qualify for the smart visa so does that leave us with the dumb visa?

I still do not understand while those with permanent residence still have to get an annual work visa.

11 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

It actually isn't that much in those fields. Most the foreign IT guys in my husband's office were on around 500,000 a month. These aren't the kind of people that take lower rates because the cost of street food makes up for it. 

 

Now that we have that out of the way let's bring on the rest of the posts from the retired geezers on 40,000 a month pensions saying how they should have some easier visa. 

 

Also plenty of people on these salaries do some freelancing. They tend to be a bit more ambitious. 

 

 

In other words more money equates to a better kind of person. Its all about money right? Got it. Your husband must be a happy guy. You married into money then?

31 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

No members from TVF will ever qualify for the smart visa so does that leave us with the dumb visa?

i know one member on here personally, he doesn't post much and i obviously won't mention his name but you'd be surprised

11 hours ago, Greenside said:

If you're employed on a salary of 200K plus, you're pretty unlikely to have the time to do additional work outside your specialist field.  Does anyone think these ideas through?

No

11 hours ago, FarangDoingHisThing69 said:

If they want people to get this visa, I suggest they actually answer their phones and emails. I’ve been waiting for a reply for a while now, while meeting all requirements and beyond.


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And perhaps they answer the emails for those who live and work in neighbouring countries and who need to travel to Thailand over a land border and face problems with no slots available for at least a month on the new "automated" system to apply for multiple entry visas.

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

To be eligible for a Smart Visa, foreigners also need to earn monthly salary of at least 200,000 baht.

 

Most, if not all the people who earn that type of income I have met in the USA and other countries would not entertain the thought of becoming an expat in Thailand. They would head directly to somewhere like Hong Kong or Singapore first, then buy a second property in Vietnam as an investment then visit Thailand 'once in a while'. Somehow the people who make these decisions forget that people remember the dirty laundry the decision makers hope people forget.

If the person is really talented why they want to work for 200k in Thailand. They can get much higher pay in many other countries with the awesome international package. This was another trick stealing the foreigner ideas and later say we done with you here bye bye. Also later someone will miss using this smart visa and again they will change the policy.

Dang, and I was hoping to steal a Thai job in the rice field, basket weaving or be a migrant construction employee.

 

But seriously, for many the money is not the issue, but the field in which they earn it.  It's a rather limited list.  Better to say what they're not allowed to do (nothing that threatens natively born peoples well being).

I for one don't really work anymore (and not in this country anyhow), but I would like to be allowed to help my S/O in her restaurant sometimes, maybe just changing a draught keg, cleaning the lines or fixing the POS system etc.

[EDIT] I just had a look at investment visa, wondering if that might be a way if you brought a significant chunk of cash into the nation, but again it assumes you're working for a company.  I'd just like peace of mind that I could help out a little here or there (not necessarily in a paid capacity), but on first glance even that only seems to only be 3 months.

Guess I'll just have to stick with the 5 year pay for nothing in particular visa and sit on my ass not vaping.

Edited March 6, 20197 yr by Shiver
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