More than once I've seen people post on TV about a Thai Family Ltd Company. A friend has also said that his lawyers discussed this with him. Apparently you have to be married to a Thai national and your spouse has to be involved - the benefit being that to qualify for a work permit you only need to employ 2 Thai staff instead of the usual 4 per foreign work permit.

 

I cannot find any mention of this type of company anywhere, nor can I find the TV posts refering to it. My lawyer says such a company does not exist. I seem to remember that one person who posted on TV saying he had formed this type of company had a lot of people disbelieving him.  Does anyone have any factual information on this or is it just a myth?

Your lawyer is correct. There is no special company. You set up a normal company and some Labour offices might issue you a work permit with just two Thai employees instead of the usual four.

I read a lot before I signed up too

 

I read something along lines of a company operated by husband and wife that did not require employees beyond the husband and wife.

Thanks for the replies gents - I haven't managed to unearth the mysterious 'Thai Family Company' but I have received information about a 'sole proprietor' provided you are married to a Thai and a 'partnership' with your Thai wife. Both allow a work permit provided least 2 Thai staff are employed but offer no protection from creditors and as they do not achieve the position of 'juristic person' they cannot own land. I had always thought only a Limited Company could provide a work permit. Perhaps it was a set up like this that has been wrongly referred to as a 'Family Company'?

 

I'm no so sure I want a Limited Company to own my house - it will be a genuine company and as such subject to the same risks as any trading company is. I wouldn't want to lose my house if the business went South. I do however, want the protection from liability that is offered by a Limited Company so the alternatives are not really interesting to me - although apparently, they are much cheaper to set up and run than a Limited Company.

If wanting to buy land and build a house on it your wife can buy the land and do to a Usufruct so you can own the house you build on it.

Info here: http://www.thailawonline.com/en/property/usufruct-contract/thai-usufruct-agreements.html