Working in Thailand for a foreign company - allowed ?

[Tuvoc]

I know working in Thailand is heavily restricted to certain types of work, to protect Thai jobs. Very understandable.  What I'm not clear on is this:  If you're in Thailand on marriage extensions, employed by a foreign company, connecting to their servers and doing remote working (Finance related), is this legal ? Is a work permit needed ? It certainly isn't taking jobs from Thai people so there seems to be no harm. If you were on a Thai Elite visa would that make any difference ? The argument would be that you are conducting business in Thailand, which is one of the target audiences for that particular Visa.

[andux]

In theory, it's not legal.

 

In practice, that's a different story. It's not actively prosecuted at the moment.

 

The Thai Elite visa is not for conducting business by the way, it's just a glorified tourist visa.

Edited July 16, 2020 by andux

[AlexRich]

If you don’t tell anyone then no issue exists.

[richard_smith237]

If you are working from home, who’s going to know?

 

The same guys who tell you that you should be doing this are the same guys who tell you that you’ll get arrested for painting your own house. 

 

 

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

If you are working from home, who’s going to know?

 

The same guys who tell you that you should be doing this are the same guys who tell you that you’ll get arrested for painting your own house.

Painting the outside of your own house is much more "dangerous" in a "working w/o a work-permit" context.  A neighbor with a bone to pick could call that in, and at least stir up trouble. 

 

But you sitting in your home typing on a keyboard - working on a system thousands of miles away via a secure data-connection, with your income being paid into an overseas bank-account?  Not a problem. 

 

If you had to leave Thailand (for Cambodia, Vietnam, etc), you'd still have the job - not a Thai - so no Thai-Job is affected.  The job has literally nothing to do with Thailand, any Thai person, or your presence in it.

 

OTOH, you spending your income from that job here does benefit Thais and Thailand.

Edited July 17, 2020 by JackThompson

[Tuvoc]

8 hours ago, andux said:

In theory, it's not legal.

 

In practice, that's a different story. It's not actively prosecuted at the moment.

 

The Thai Elite visa is not for conducting business by the way, it's just a glorified tourist visa.

 

OK, so not legal but not enforced either, so you simply keep it totally quiet and tell no-one, if you are comfortable with that. They would not have any way of knowing about income paid into overseas bank accounts either as was pointed out.

 

Yes the Thai Elite Visa comes under the tourist visa class, but it is certainly promoted as a good option for people who frequently travel to Thailand on business. However "business" in that context means doing business with Thai companies so I think any argument that remote working constitutes "business" is likely to fail.

 

So actually this situation is little different from the "digital nomad" web developers etc scenario so often discussed so apologies if I've gone over old ground. The scenario I raised - being a salaried employee or consultant of a single overseas company vs just freelance for several overseas clients - is probably just viewed the same.

 

[Satcommlee]

Technically you need a work permit but in reality working from home is safe, but I would be worrying about the TAX man more than the Labour department..

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Satcommlee
grammar of a 4 year old

[Tuvoc]

Well the tax man probably won't know either. Any money brought into the country could be shown to be capital and not taxed in Thailand. UK tax would certainly be payable as normal though. Yeah maybe just total retirement is simply easier! 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Tuvoc

[andux]

There's no tax on foreign income in Thailand. 

 

If you bring money into Thailand the same year you earn it, you have to declare it. If it's money earned in previous years, it's not taxable, so you can be fully compliant with the tax department by just bringing in money from a savings accounts and not your salary. It's not that hard considering the low cost of living in Thailand.

 

[Max69xl]

14 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

If you are working from home, who’s going to know?

 

The same guys who tell you that you should be doing this are the same guys who tell you that you’ll get arrested for painting your own house. 

 

 

OP is talking about a real work for a company. And you can paint your own house. You're not supposed to paint other peoples houses, though. 

[Irishrogue]

12 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Painting the outside of your own house is much more "dangerous" in a "working w/o a work-permit" context.  A neighbor with a bone to pick could call that in, and at least stir up trouble. 

 

But you sitting in your home typing on a keyboard - working on a system thousands of miles away via a secure data-connection, with your income being paid into an overseas bank-account?  Not a problem. 

 

If you had to leave Thailand (for Cambodia, Vietnam, etc), you'd still have the job - not a Thai - so no Thai-Job is affected.  The job has literally nothing to do with Thailand, any Thai person, or your presence in it.

 

OTOH, you spending your income from that job here does benefit Thais and Thailand.

I live in a village with many senior Government officials including Police, Army, Air Force and paint my home many times and do lots of work and no one has ever said anything other than comment about me doing it in the heat. 

[freesudani]

12 hours ago, JackThompson said:

But you sitting in your home typing on a keyboard - working on a system thousands of miles away via a secure data-connection, with your income being paid into an overseas bank-account?

will it be a problem if the income paid into a thai bank account?

[khunPer]

On 7/16/2020 at 10:36 PM, Tuvoc said:

What I'm not clear on is this:  If you're in Thailand on marriage extensions, employed by a foreign company, connecting to their servers and doing remote working (Finance related), is this legal ? Is a work permit needed ? It certainly isn't taking jobs from Thai people so there seems to be no harm. If you were on a Thai Elite visa would that make any difference ?

In principle it is illegal, but a number seem to do it "under the radar", often called "digital nomads"; however most important, they don't talk about it.

Work permit is for employment in a Thai company.

Probably some use an Elite Card for being digital nomads, but they don't speak about it, officially they are living from their savings...????

[khunPer]

20 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Painting the outside of your own house is much more "dangerous" in a "working w/o a work-permit" context.  A neighbor with a bone to pick could call that in, and at least stir up trouble.

No, you can do whatever you wish privately, including not only painting your house, but even building your house; or restoring an old bike, or car, or boat. But you cannot sell it, because then it's business and illegal; i.e. restore a bike or boat, sell it, and then restore another. Some years ago there was an excellent article where the chief of Phuket immigration explained it.

[Tuvoc]

9 hours ago, khunPer said:

In principle it is illegal, but a number seem to do it "under the radar", often called "digital nomads"; however most important, they don't talk about it.

Work permit is for employment in a Thai company.

Probably some use an Elite Card for being digital nomads, but they don't speak about it, officially they are living from their savings...????

 

Thanks. Yes so you keep it very quiet. Don't mention it beyond immediate family. I may not end up doing this, but wanted to find out a bit more. Of course the last thing you want is to be caught, deported, and unable to live with your Thai wife.

 

I would in fact be living from savings (capital), those earnings wouldn't come into Thailand for several years and could go into a separate bank and not touched to demonstrate that. However if you ever get to the point of having to prove that, you've been busted and are probably screwed anyway.

[anon7854]

18 hours ago, freesudani said:

will it be a problem if the income paid into a thai bank account?

That would probably be dumb if you don't have a work visa.

[khunPer]

19 hours ago, freesudani said:

will it be a problem if the income paid into a thai bank account?

Indeed it will, what will you state as source, and how will you deal with income tax of foreign earnings?

[JackThompson]

On 7/18/2020 at 4:05 AM, khunPer said:

In principle it is illegal, but a number seem to do it "under the radar", often called "digital nomads"; however most important, they don't talk about it.

Many do it openly in shared-workspaces, talk about it online (using their real names), etc.  I don't advise this, but they aren't getting busted, currently.

 

On 7/18/2020 at 4:12 AM, khunPer said:

No, you can do whatever you wish privately, including not only painting your house, but even building your house; or restoring an old bike, or car, or boat. But you cannot sell it, because then it's business and illegal; i.e. restore a bike or boat, sell it, and then restore another. Some years ago there was an excellent article where the chief of Phuket immigration explained it.

  It's not his call to make, though - is up to the Labor dept.  If DOL busted you for violating the work-rules, then immigration might also invalidate your visa, though.

 

On 7/17/2020 at 7:38 PM, Irishrogue said:

I live in a village with many senior Government officials including Police, Army, Air Force and paint my home many times and do lots of work and no one has ever said anything other than comment about me doing it in the heat. 

I am not saying you will get in trouble doing that.  My point is, working indoors on your computer for a foreign company with no Thai connections is Even Safer than that.