BOI proposes new smart visa rules to lure foreign talent, digital nomads

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

I'd recommend applying - who wouldn't want a four year visa without ever going to the IO again. No more 90 day reports or re-entry permits for you!

https://smart-visa.boi.go.th/smart/pages/smart_e.html

If your company is already endorsed by the BoI then it should be much easier to apply. You must work for a tech company.

Don't have a problem as the company lawyer takes care of all things, only need a picture taken and a signature once a year.

[FritsSikkink]

11 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

Which Thai or foreign companies in Thailand are hiring farangs for high management positions (like like self)?
 

Loads, look at jobsdb website

 

[ChouDoufu]

this is ridiculous.  most of these "digital freelancers" will wind up being youtube bloggers that arrange an "employment contract" with some fake company in the business of selling employment contracts, that make a living doing online reviews or social influencing.  no benefit for thailand, other than spending 80 baht/day for street food and renting a 2000 baht/month room.

 

heck, i think i'll just buy me one of those fake contracts and apply for the smart visa as a digital nomad.  sure beats the paperwork and maintaining 800K for a retirement extension!

[2530Ubon]

36 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

this is ridiculous.  most of these "digital freelancers" will wind up being youtube bloggers that arrange an "employment contract" with some fake company in the business of selling employment contracts, that make a living doing online reviews or social influencing.  no benefit for thailand, other than spending 80 baht/day for street food and renting a 2000 baht/month room.

 

heck, i think i'll just buy me one of those fake contracts and apply for the smart visa as a digital nomad.  sure beats the paperwork and maintaining 800K for a retirement extension!

I think you'll find that youtubers may find it difficult to apply - and whilst I also distain youtubers, (adverts as I call them) some of them make a LOT of money. Mymatenate is a classic example of a young youtuber who frequently gets into trouble for his stupidity, but he earns serious money making a few youtube vids... there's a website that tracks estimated earnings and he earns 30k + IN USD most months. Adam Bradshaw (Ajarn Adam as he calls himself) is another famous example of a youtuber turned businessman who made serious cash on youtube. https://gb.youtubers.me/my-mate-nate/youtube-estimated-earnings

YouTubers may struggle because as you have pointed out - youtube won't issue contracts (I assume). It would be very difficult to fake these; how are you going to show evidence of payments unless you are also faking salary receipts and bank transfers? A very sticky situation that could land you in a lot of trouble.

 

True freelancers and remote workers will have no problems getting a contract. I have several contracts with several foreign entities that state I am an independent contractor, and state how much my hourly services are. When I complete an assignment, they send a payment with a receipt stating how many hours I worked and how much they are transfering me. It's important to note that most freelancers do not work for only one entity, they work for many. The financial requirement states 50k per month. This does not have to be from one source.

 

You shouldn't generalise job types. They're offensive and often wrong. I could think of quite a few choice put downs for retired folks, but I won't go there because as I just stated, there are those who have little to no money living on a monthly stipend, and there are those that invested wisely and have serious cash stashed away. We all provide a benefit for Thailand, whether it's a low earner/pensioner providing low income Thai's with rent / food / entertainment, or the high earners/pensioners providing high income Thai's with the same.

 

You'd be amazed at how many claim to stash 800k for three months but actually use the 65,000 Baht monthly income method, or engage the services of a visa agent because they don't have 65k

Edited December 16, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, thhMan said:

How is a freelancer supposed to get employment contract?

Isnt a freelancer someone who works for themselves?

 

Before they make rules, they need to make sure they know <deleted> they are talking about!

Well the unelected "PM" and his generals hardly ever know what they are talking about, they spend their time sitting round tables making and changing rules and laws without having much knowledge of what they are talking about.

They are soldiers, not politicians, with IQs to match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yellowboat]

12 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Loads, look at jobsdb website

 

That means you don't know. 

[Elkski]

how stupid.  must have 6 months contract??  digital nomads dont have contracts and dont always make 50,000 or 100000 on some even salary basis... they are not going to just want to help teach at a uni..  

[gearbox]

3 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Exactly.. They still dont seem to get the concept of what a 'free'lancer is.. It isnt someone with an employment contract !! 

They just cant get past the control aspects, there has to be a top down employment relationship etc.. Free market competition isnt what they appear comfortable with. 
 

 

I think probably the wording is wrong,  they probably mean just "contract",  not "employment contract". A lot of the nomads are incorporated in some way in various jurisdictions. If you do $10 work for Tom from Nakhon Nowhere you may not need business entity, but many of the big customers like banks, airlines etc would not pay with Paypal to Joe Bloggs in Chiang Mai. They need a contract with preferably local business entity.

If you start disclosing to the Thais how much are worth your contracts here and there,  the next would be them to try to grab a chunk of the money....passed.

 

[StefanBBK]

5 hours ago, thhMan said:

How is a freelancer supposed to get employment contract?

Isnt a freelancer someone who works for themselves?

 

Before they make rules, they need to make sure they know <deleted> they are talking about!

Ditto, you hit the nail on the head. I can imagine that many digital nomads are self-employed, and just sell their work without being contract-bound. 

[Somtamnication]

A digital nomad is not someone who works locally, but has clients overseas. Why would they need a work contract for within Thailand? I know, splitting hairs.

[bullseye66]

If you want to make it easy for business folk and tourists to enter your country then make it easy. It really is that simple.

[GrandPapillon]

digital nomads, it's the new word for unemployed 30 something looking for a chance to get a real job ????

[GrandPapillon]

1 hour ago, bullseye66 said:

If you want to make it easy for business folk and tourists to enter your country then make it easy. It really is that simple.

yeah, Thai logic is never simple ????

 

complex logic and making everything complicated is the trademark of mediocrity and stupidity ????

[khunPer]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

To be eligible, applicants must have an employment contract with a foreign firm lasting at least six months and proof of qualifications and professional experience. BOI partners will help in screening their professional backgrounds.

To my knowledge, most digital nomads are working freelance and are often self taught geeks in various fields where remote work is possible. There might however be some with high education and in fixed employment in larger companies "working from home", but all those I know of in that kind of positions, they also need to be partly physically available in the companies, and for meetings; the latter might however begin to change after the Covid with experience from virtual meetings.

[GrandPapillon]

13 minutes ago, khunPer said:

To my knowledge, most digital nomads are working freelance and are often self taught geeks in various fields where remote work is possible. There might however be some with high education and in fixed employment in larger companies "working from home", but all those I know of in that kind of positions, they also need to be partly physically available in the companies, and for meetings; the latter might however begin to change after the Covid with experience from virtual meetings.

it's possible that the Thai government is confusing "Remote Work" with "Freelancers", even though we could argue the only way to do "Remote Work" is being a freelancer, at least for a farang

 

a lot of young Thais work that way actually, have a work contract in a Thai company as an employee, but they will work away from the office, typically in Starbucks. It's mostly "marketing" jobs or "Creative" jobs like webdesigner etc...

Edited December 16, 2020 by GrandPapillon

[SymS]

3 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Actually the smart visa scheme is 100K (Baht) for the 'S' tpe visa - reduced to 50k for retired experts and 50k for freelancers.

 

200K salary is for the 'E' type visa- executives

Interesting. Now I pay 16,000 Baht a month to get the right to work in Thailand as a freelancer... I had no idea the smart visa scheme allowed this.

 

[SupermarineS6B]

Let me just get this right...... You want me to surrender myself and my skill and experience and you're gonna allow companies to pay me 50,000 bht  for skills that you don't have in Thailand......  Er, no..... for one i make 50,000 bht in two days at the moment selling my years of experience and qualification to a large oil company next door to Thailand that lets me in for free for three months.....   Cheeky barstuards now want us to surrender ourselves for basically free and get our knowledge and experience dangling a visa carrott, well you know where you can stick yer carrott !.......  50,000bht a month !  I wouldn't get out of bed for it..... 

[SupermarineS6B]

5 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Exactly.. They still dont seem to get the concept of what a 'free'lancer is.. It isnt someone with an employment contract !! 

They just cant get past the control aspects, there has to be a top down employment relationship etc.. Free market competition isnt what they appear comfortable with. 
 

If you don't control it then you can't tax it........ 

[GrandPapillon]

10 minutes ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Let me just get this right...... You want me to surrender myself and my skill and experience and you're gonna allow companies to pay me 50,000 bht  for skills that you don't have in Thailand......  Er, no..... for one i make 50,000 bht in two days at the moment selling my years of experience and qualification to a large oil company next door to Thailand that lets me in for free for three months.....   Cheeky barstuards now want us to surrender ourselves for basically free and get our knowledge and experience dangling a visa carrott, well you know where you can stick yer carrott !.......  50,000bht a month !  I wouldn't get out of bed for it..... 

and that's the thing, with that visa deal, they can only attract the untalented pool

 

their deal is simply not competitive, yet still could be successful, no shortage of untalented freelancers in this world ????

Edited December 16, 2020 by GrandPapillon

[SupermarineS6B]

4 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

and that's the thing, with that visa deal, they can only attract the untalented pool

 

their deal is simply not competitive, yet still could be successful, no shortage of untalented freelancers in this world ????

Otherwise known as chancers........    I can't believe what these loons are coming out with...... I once worked for PTT,  they had a "No Farang" policy because Thais were so clever...... Strangely there was loads of us in a hotel in Bkk paid from a certain country abroad into a bank account in Singapore, never touched Thailand hence no paper trail and no tax......... and more importantly no loss of face having to employ Farangs to pull them out of the sticky stuff......... Then they set fire to a driller off Australia...... Class !     

[jackdd]

12 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

and that's the thing, with that visa deal, they can only attract the untalented pool

 

their deal is simply not competitive, yet still could be successful, no shortage of untalented freelancers in this world ????

Which visa do the talented people use to stay in Thailand working online?

The alternatives are paying 200k per year to a company like Iglu, or buying the Elite visa, not really a competition to such a "freelance" visa which would cost just a few thousand, is it?

Edited December 16, 2020 by jackdd

[natway09]

Be careful before giving them any more info than you have to

And yes I have worked & paid taxes here for 31 years

[SupermarineS6B]

3 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Be careful before giving them any more info than you have to

And yes I have worked & paid taxes here for 31 years

33 years and i've never paid tax in Thailand.......  Just depends on who you work for and what's written in the contract.......   Seriously if Thailand wanted to levy tax on the greedy scale that they would like to, then the best tack would be to control Beer and birds...... Let's face it, like many others, i never came to Thailand for the temple tours.....   Cheap beer and a self replenishing stock of hotties........ All taxable.....   ( But as you say, don't give em ideas ) 

[Timwin]

If a freelancer gets a job from one of those remote freelancer sites, he does not even get a paper contract, just few clicks and either a fixed sum or hourly rate set. Most projects only last few weeks, some even just few days. Some have tens of clients per year, some have only one but most do not have one client project lasting six months on average. 

[ExpatOne]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

BOI proposes new smart visa rules to lure foreign talent, digital nomads

By The Nation

 

 

The Board of Investment (BOI) will ask the Cabinet to approve new smart visa rules designed to attract more overseas talent to work in Thailand.

 

The new rules have already been given the green light by the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

 

Among the move’s aims is to allow digital freelancers currently working in Thailand to exchange their tourist visas for smart visas. To be eligible, applicants must have an employment contract with a foreign firm lasting at least six months and proof of qualifications and professional experience. BOI partners will help in screening their professional backgrounds.

 

After receiving the smart visa, their expertise could be tapped by universities, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency, National Innovation Agency, National Science and Technology Development Agency, and others, said BOI deputy secretary general Narit Therdsteerasukdi.

 

“The [resulting] influx of talent will create a talent pool in the country,” he assured.

 

Known as digital nomads, the foreign freelancers currently work in Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and even on Ko Pha-ngan in Surat Thani province, where they have set up a co-working space. 

 

The new visa rules will also cover experienced foreign executives in several businesses – helping to boost development of an investment ecosystem, especially for start-ups. Their expertise could be applied to innovation camps, co-working spaces, advanced materials and packaging, and 3D printing.

 

The BOI also aims to lure academics to government universities to teach subjects beyond science and technology. These would include innovation, technology management and entrepreneurship.

 

The new visa rules would allow small businesses to tap foreign talent by reducing the minimum salary they can offer foreigners from Bt100,000 to Bt50,000. 

 

The new rules also relax requirements for executives, reducing the 10 years’ experience and education level (bachelor’s degree) currently required.

 

So far, 514 foreigners have been granted smart visas since they were adopted in 2018. About half work in digital businesses, followed by automation and robotics. About 47 per cent of them work in start-ups.

 

Currently, Thailand offers four types of smart visa – the SmartT for talent, Smart E for executives, Smart I for investors, SmartS for start-ups and SmartO for family members.

 

Holders are permitted to stay up to four years in Thailand without a work permit. The visas also allow travel in and out of the country, as well as fast-track privileges at airports.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30399645

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-16

 

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They clearly don’t understand what a freelancer is. 

[2530Ubon]

56 minutes ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Let me just get this right...... You want me to surrender myself and my skill and experience and you're gonna allow companies to pay me 50,000 bht  for skills that you don't have in Thailand......  Er, no..... for one i make 50,000 bht in two days at the moment selling my years of experience and qualification to a large oil company next door to Thailand that lets me in for free for three months.....   Cheeky barstuards now want us to surrender ourselves for basically free and get our knowledge and experience dangling a visa carrott, well you know where you can stick yer carrott !.......  50,000bht a month !  I wouldn't get out of bed for it..... 

 

1 hour ago, SymS said:

Interesting. Now I pay 16,000 Baht a month to get the right to work in Thailand as a freelancer... I had no idea the smart visa scheme allowed this.

 

No, the minimum monthly salary requirement is 50,000. You can't apply unless you make at least 50k a month.

 

You only pay 10,000 baht for each year of the visa. So if you want a four year visa, it'll cost you 40k.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

9 hours ago, rkidlad said:

All these committees and meetings to work out how to make it appear

...that the students are learning something. Welcome to Thai education.

 

Then it’s up to me to spend my afternoons yelling at them, trying to force something in, so I can give them a score. Then we wonder how as adults, they come up with these ideas.

[EricTh]

There are already a lot of 'digital nomads' living in Chiang Mai doing Youtube videos or teaching online illegally.

 

However, they are on tourist visa or retirement visa and not smart visa.

Edited December 16, 2020 by EricTh

[kiwikeith]

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

I mentioned some time ago, perhaps 6 months back that the only way out of this going forward will be for Thailand to change every one of their antiquated foreign travel encouraging (visa runs for limited stay visas) immigration regulations.

 

That day draws closer and mark my words, it will happen.

Does this mean more paedophile teacher's will come to Thailand. 

It is absurd that Thailand has been a receptacle for perverts, sorry to say this but all you have had is mafia from Russia and China, porn makers, ATM scammers and <deleted> people ruining genuine expats and making them look like filthy falungs 

[Bradmeister]

Agreed with my fellow posters...

 

Simplify, Clarify, be transparent!

 

4 types:     1. Business/Invest/Work

                   2. Education/Religion/Non Profit

                   3. RETIRED/Residence/Marriage

                   4. Tourist

 

A,B,C and D.     Done. Just like on our scholastic exams. .  keep it simple. 

 

Stop the Scams, stop the Schemes.

Start E-Immigration and let's let the rest of the world in already. Young minds, fresh ideas.