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

[Andycoops]

10 hours ago, jackdd said:

Somebody should explain to the BOI what a freelancer is.

They could find out that at the Coconut bar!

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

6 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Direct investment in a start up - more than 5 million (must be in a targeted industry)

 

Direct investment OR venture capital - more than 20 milion (must be in a targeted industry)

 

 

that is a lot of money, compare to the amounts required to start your own company, with

work permit (around one-two million baht ).

why would someone go for this smart investor visa, when he can get allmost the same

with the dumb investor visa, with much less money?

[2530Ubon]

33 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

that is a lot of money, compare to the amounts required to start your own company, with

work permit (around one-two million baht ).

why would someone go for this smart investor visa, when he can get allmost the same

with the dumb investor visa, with much less money?

Yes, it is a lot. I'm not advocating it, although if you have family that you want to bring to Thailand with you effortlessly, then I'd recommend this one! The listed benefits are:

1) You get a 4 year visa in one go. No yearly renewals or dealing with immigration.

2)The paper work is considerably less

3) No work permit required

4) Spouse and children granted permission to stay in Thailand. The spouse granted permission to work with no work permit required for the same duration as the Smart visa holder.

5) No re-entry permit required - come and go as you please

6) No 90 day reports

7) The visa is renewable - 4 years awarded again

8} If you wish to apply for permanent residency, you already have a continuous visa for the required length of time (3 years).

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[DLock]

11 hours ago, vandeventer said:

It wouldn't be hard to fine the real smart ones as the real dumb ones are already here.

 

Damn, I love irony...

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

1 hour ago, 2530Ubon said:

Yes, it is a lot. I'm not advocating it, although if you have family that you want to bring to Thailand with you effortlessly, then I'd recommend this one! The listed benefits are:

1) You get a 4 year visa in one go. No yearly renewals or dealing with immigration.

2)The paper work is considerably less

3) No work permit required

4) Spouse and children granted permission to stay in Thailand. The spouse granted permission to work with no work permit required for the same duration as the Smart visa holder.

5) No re-entry permit required - come and go as you please

6) No 90 day reports

7) The visa is renewable - 4 years awarded again

8} If you wish to apply for permanent residency, you already have a continuous visa for the required length of time (3 years).

 

 once upon a time i passed thai immigration, got the immigration form (now cancelled) in one hand and the passport in the other hand, and proceeded to the boarding gate.

since i passed the immigration, i thought it will be ok to throw away the form.

but in the boarding gate they stopped me and said i could not board the flight without this form.

i argued, than one tough thai guy approached me and just said SHUT UP !

they took me to an immigration interrogation room and one tough lady said;

WHICH FLIGHT YOU CAME TO THAILAND?

i told her i cannot remember, and she said:

IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER I WILL ARREST YOU.

than i remembered, she came back with a paper and threw it in front of me.

it was the list of passengers from that flight.

my name was on it.

that was the day i understood how dangerous it is to invest in thailand.

they simply can slap you on the face, tell you to shut up and deport you for no reason at all !!

[Guderian]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

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

 

He forgot the SmartA visa, specifically  for all the smart <deleted> who still claim that Covid is a government conspiracy, lol! 

[Marco100]

13 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. 
 

Freelancer's can have multiple contacts with multiple clients as well as none if they do day trading or whatever. 

Maybe is the concept Nomads wich seems not to be clear ...

They can move from one day to the other to any suitable country and be in business so they do not need Special Smart Visas as they can be in Vietnam tomorrow and still operate. 

Ciao Beĺli .

[mbenson]

16 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

What a load of nonsense, there are loads of foreign people earning very good money and having a great life over here for a very long time already. You are the not so smart one as you haven't got a clue about business life here.

I couldn't imagine much better than to be young, living in Thailand, and making a software engineer's salary in dollars or Euros. Sweet life.

[mbenson]

11 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

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.

Not really splitting hairs. This is what I thought they were talking about. 

[mbenson]

9 hours ago, SupermarineS6B said:

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 ) 

Back in the 80's, if I recall correctly, they assumed that anybody who lived in Thailand for longer than a typical vacation duration must be working. In order to do a visa run you had to go immigration to get a receipt that said you paid your taxes. They would just come up with an arbitrary number and you paid it and you could go off.

Am I remembering this wrong? I haven't seen anybody write about it here, so I am thinking my memories have become warped.

[ChomDo]

This should have happened years ago. Allowing qualified digital nomads a proper visa instead of making them have to fool around benefits everyone. All the important details are just missing still. Sounds great but what's the cost and are all industries related to digital work covered as long as you have the experience and proof to show for it? Hope they don't make it too messy and impossible for talented digital nomads – just keep it simple! 

Edited December 17, 2020 by ChomDo

[Mike k]

21 hours ago, possum1931 said:

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some politicians don't have a clue 

[Rimmer]

A couple of troll posts and a flame have been removed

[GrandPapillon]

23 hours ago, Timwin said:

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. 

yes they are confusing "short term" employment contract with "freelancing"

[poskat]

I know a guy who got a smart visa rather than a marriage visa, which was too much trouble....

 

he suggested I get the 3 year one just like he did... then he mentioned the 10,000 baht per year fee.... I passed, 1900 baht and a wait at CW is fine for me

[thanaka]

18 hours ago, Marco100 said:

Freelancer's can have multiple contacts with multiple clients as well as none if they do day trading or whatever. 

Even for contractors it's not unusual to not have a long term contract with customers.

 

I used to have long term contracts with customers, which gave me security for reliable payment. I took the risk and gave the contracts up in order to manage my time myself and work with new customers. Turned out demand was still there. So now they pay me double for the same. Since then I only write offers and invoices, nothing else. Everything is project-related and usually doesn't last more than a few weeks.

 

Really hope that 'must have a contract with a company' will be replaced with income that has been earned during the last 6 months or so to ensure reliable financial income, as well as some proof of savings - that would be reasonable in my opinion. Same topic got discussed in the visa section around a week ago and the concept I've seen there had that 6 months proof of reliable income as alternative actually in there.

Edited December 17, 2020 by thanaka

[sambum]

On 12/16/2020 at 5:28 AM, misterjames said:

Same old same old. Lure them in when the economy is down, then make life difficult for them when the economy improves.

 

Do they think that "smart" people are stupid? Nobody want's to build a life at the whim of people that change the rules every 5 minutes, the rules change like the wind no "smart" people want to build a life on such rocky foundations.

 

Maybe some young guys do? before they wise up,  the "smart" ones realise the attitude towards foreigners changes pretty fast depending on how much they need our money/ skills at any given time, there is no use in investing time, effort and expertise in a country with zero long term stability or rights, that is a fools game!

 

 

"Lure them in when the economy is down, then make life difficult for them when the economy improves"

 

Yes, the recent post about ex pats "saving the day" is in stark contrast to the posts pre Covid when the Govt/Immigration seemed hell bent on getting rid of them with their new rules regarding financial requirements.

Edited December 17, 2020 by sambum

[jacob29]

On 12/16/2020 at 8:32 AM, sungod said:

Seems they are trying to find a way to get 'digital nomads' working from Thailand to pay tax.

As they should be. Before someone chimes in saying why would anyone volunteer to pay tax - many nomads pay tax due to the vagueness of tax laws in their home country. Just easier to pay tax somewhere than leave yourself open to potential issues in future. So if it's being paid already, it doesn't matter to them whether it's Thailand collecting it, or some other country.

[mac1970]

Hub of Smart, Smart Hub, Hub for Smart... 

[bodga]

On 12/16/2020 at 8:16 AM, Watch Dog said:

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.

 

Four Types of smart Visas.?.I count Five. So how smart is the BOI

So to sum  up SMART IES mmm yummy

[ChomDo]

18 hours ago, poskat said:

I know a guy who got a smart visa rather than a marriage visa, which was too much trouble....

 

he suggested I get the 3 year one just like he did... then he mentioned the 10,000 baht per year fee.... I passed, 1900 baht and a wait at CW is fine for me

How did he get a smart visa in the first place and how would you have got one. I mean hasn't it been close to impossible until this new idea came up? Are you saying 10,000 baht per year is a lot for a proper visa or? 

[ChomDo]

What seems very funny about this idea is that people that are currently in Thailand on TR visas can apply to change to this new Smart Visa for digital nomads if they pass the requirements. So one requirement is proof that you've been working for a company/client for the past 6 months. And then what, because you're not supposed to have been working at all for the past 6 months if you've been in the country as a tourist ????? How's this going to work or they'll just overlook it?? 

 

It's definitely true what people say here that digital nomads don't necessarily have the same clients for 6 months. Some might have for years but in many industries projects are short. So I think the only smart way would be to asks for proof of income instead of paperwork from an employer. That's the whole point for many digital nomads that there is no actual employer.  

[poskat]

9 hours ago, ChomDo said:

How did he get a smart visa in the first place and how would you have got one. I mean hasn't it been close to impossible until this new idea came up? Are you saying 10,000 baht per year is a lot for a proper visa or? 

we are both research dentists (DDS/PhD) at chula, so it was SmartT visa. He was on a marriage visa, so it was a lot less paperwork/hassle for him.  I heard about it from HR a few years ago. But I just need a letter from CU, copy of my contract, tax certif,  and 1900B each year. So it isnt worth the price to me.

[ChomDo]

13 hours ago, poskat said:

we are both research dentists (DDS/PhD) at chula, so it was SmartT visa. He was on a marriage visa, so it was a lot less paperwork/hassle for him.  I heard about it from HR a few years ago. But I just need a letter from CU, copy of my contract, tax certif,  and 1900B each year. So it isnt worth the price to me.

Oh ok then it makes sense of course. Since the topic was about digital nomads I kind of connected it to other type of work. I remember that the smart visa had quite specific tough requirements before, but hopefully they will get it done now as the BOI is proposing. I really think this would benefit Thailand by attracting talent and well paid online workers to settle here and get a proper visa.