Treaty of Amity

[bbko]

Here's something I've never heard of or mentioned here on this forum; "Treaty of Amity"

 

The US-Thai Amity Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America was signed on May 29, 1966 to give special rights and benefits to American citizens who wish to establish their businesses in Thailand.

 

I was in a bar the other night and chatting with a Brit and I mentioned I'm from the US and he mentioned the "treaty of amity" program that allows US citizens to own businesses.  Anyone here have insight to this program? Cause if I'm allowed to own/operate a business over 2mil baht in the open fields, just like a Thai,  look out world, here I come.

[Thailand]

https://www.google.com/search?q=treaty+of+amity+thailand&ei=e7YZYsXtD92K4-EPyJeO4Ak&ved=0ahUKEwiFl8nFzZz2AhVdxTgGHciLA5wQ4dUDCA4&oq=treatty+of+amity+thailand&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAxKBAhBGABKBQhAEgExSgQIRhgAUABYAGAAaABwAXgAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEA&sclient=gws-wiz

 

"The US-Thai Amity Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America was ...

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What are the advantages in registering a company under the Treaty of Amity Thailand?

 

Can Amity Treaty companies engage in all the same activities as Thai limited companies?

The Treaty of Amity Thailand specifies that companies with majority US ownership will be able to operate on the same basis as Thai companies. However, there are certain exceptions such as not being allowed to own land or engage in certain enterprises such as domestic trade in agricultural products, land and natural resources exploitation, and the liberal professions. Furthermore, the company under Treaty of Amity Thailand is restricted to engaging in the activities that it has specifically been authorized to engage in by the Ministry of Commerce."

Edited February 26, 2022 by Thailand

[kwonitoy]

Foreigners can apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai of land in specific areas of Thailand after they have invested 40 million baht of funds that have been remitted from outside Thailand. The investment must be an approved investment.

 

After making the investment, the foreigner must receive written permission from the Minister of the Interior granting approval to purchase the land. It is up to the foreigner to obtain this approval; there is no specific form to submit to the Interior Ministry to gain approval. The foreigner has to be able to approach the Minister of the Interior themselves in order to gain permission.

 

Note that ownership is only for the life of the foreigner. After the foreigner dies, the land must be sold to a Thai citizen. It cannot be inherited by non-Thai children of the deceased.

 

It's not really easy to do

[mtls2005]

21 hours ago, bbko said:

Here's something I've never heard of or mentioned here on this forum; "Treaty of Amity"

Plenty of threads

 

treaty of amity site:aseannow.com

 

 

No salt farming though.

 

 

 

[BudRight]

On 2/27/2022 at 7:25 AM, kwonitoy said:

Foreigners can apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai of land in specific areas of Thailand after they have invested 40 million baht of funds that have been remitted from outside Thailand. The investment must be an approved investment.

 

After making the investment, the foreigner must receive written permission from the Minister of the Interior granting approval to purchase the land. It is up to the foreigner to obtain this approval; there is no specific form to submit to the Interior Ministry to gain approval. The foreigner has to be able to approach the Minister of the Interior themselves in order to gain permission.

 

Note that ownership is only for the life of the foreigner. After the foreigner dies, the land must be sold to a Thai citizen. It cannot be inherited by non-Thai children of the deceased.

 

It's not really easy to do

It's a treaty, so presumably Thais got some sort of reciprocal benefit in the United States. Do you know what it is, and is it also basically impossible to use? 

[asiacurious]

On 2/26/2022 at 11:45 AM, bbko said:

Here's something I've never heard of or mentioned here on this forum; "Treaty of Amity"

It has been discussed elsewhere on the forums.  An easy way to find links is to search google adding "site:aseannow.com" at the end of the search, like this:

 

 

         treaty of Amity site:aseannow.com

 

That will limit results to the site you specify.

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by asiacurious

[asiacurious]

On 2/26/2022 at 11:45 AM, bbko said:

Cause if I'm allowed to own/operate a business over 2mil baht in the open fields, just like a Thai,  look out world, here I come.

Some kinds of businesses, but some you definitely can't own.  And owning doesn't mean you can work.  For that you need to get a work permit, which requires having 4 Thai employees and a bunch of other things....

[asiacurious]

On 2/27/2022 at 7:25 AM, kwonitoy said:

Foreigners can apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai of land in specific areas of Thailand after they have invested 40 million baht of funds that have been remitted from outside Thailand. The investment must be an approved investment.

This has nothing to do with the US-Thai Treaty of Amity.

[asiacurious]

56 minutes ago, BudRight said:

It's a treaty, so presumably Thais got some sort of reciprocal benefit in the United States. Do you know what it is, and is it also basically impossible to use? 

Not really.  The US allows pretty much anyone from anywhere in the world to set up any kind of (legal) business in the US.  Of course, they'll need to obtain the proper kind of visa to actually work while physically present in the US, but they're free to set something up in the US and can of course work on the business from abroad.

 

Also, no restrictions on land ownership.

[TravelerEastWest]

We should have Thais follow the same land rules etc. to be fair...

[asiacurious]

8 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

We should have Thais follow the same land rules etc. to be fair...

Yeah, I've thought about that a lot in the past.  On the one hand I agree.  Fair's fair.

 

On the other hand, if Thailand opened up large land purchases to foreigners, the rush to buy that would ensue would result in a huge price increase and essentially make land too expensive for all but the wealthiest Thais.

 

Perhaps a better solution is for the US to have the same land rules as Thailand.  Anyone can buy up to 1 rai (or let's be generous and say 1/2 acre) of land in the US.  But only US Citizens/Permanent Residents can buy more.  Of course, since corporations are "people" in America, there would be a great big loophole to that idea. 

[BudRight]

19 hours ago, asiacurious said:

Not really.  The US allows pretty much anyone from anywhere in the world to set up any kind of (legal) business in the US.  Of course, they'll need to obtain the proper kind of visa to actually work while physically present in the US, but they're free to set something up in the US and can of course work on the business from abroad.

 

Also, no restrictions on land ownership.

It's a strange treaty then, because normally, treaty countries have a treaty to arrange for some mutual benefit. But I suppose if the treaty is almost impossible to use in Thailand and in return, nothing was offered to Thailand then it would be a fair trade.

 

Regarding foreign land ownership in the United States, Americans don't seem to realize that their system is very unusual among countries or that it could be a potential cause of soaring land prices. It has simply never entered in the conversation. 

[asiacurious]

21 hours ago, BudRight said:

It's a strange treaty then, because normally, treaty countries have a treaty to arrange for some mutual benefit. But I suppose if the treaty is almost impossible to use in Thailand and in return, nothing was offered to Thailand then it would be a fair trade.

 

Regarding foreign land ownership in the United States, Americans don't seem to realize that their system is very unusual among countries or that it could be a potential cause of soaring land prices. It has simply never entered in the conversation. 

There is mutual benefit.  It gives US citizens (and US corporations) the right to wholly own companies here (in many sectors, but not all).  On the flipside, it gives Thailand the benefit of having more investment from US citizens/companies while being able to protect certain sectors from competition.

 

Yeah, most American's don't get the foreign land ownership thing.  Most real estate agents get it, but the average person on the street doesn't.  That said, I recall that back in the late 1980's there was a mad frenzy of xenophobia about foreigners/foreign companies (especially from Japan) were buying up all the best property.

[impulse]

22 hours ago, BudRight said:

It's a strange treaty then, because normally, treaty countries have a treaty to arrange for some mutual benefit. But I suppose if the treaty is almost impossible to use in Thailand and in return, nothing was offered to Thailand then it would be a fair trade.

 

Regarding foreign land ownership in the United States, Americans don't seem to realize that their system is very unusual among countries or that it could be a potential cause of soaring land prices. It has simply never entered in the conversation. 

The Treaty of Amity came about in 1966, when the USA had tens of thousands of horny servicemen with tons of Uncle Sam's money that had to go somewhere on R&R.  I'll let you ponder the appeal of having them spend all that pent up money in Thailand.  It would have been just as easy to send them somewhere else on Uncle Sam's dime.

 

Foreign ownership of land in the USA is very well known, and often discussed ad nauseum.

[KhunLA]

On 3/13/2022 at 3:01 AM, BudRight said:

It's a treaty, so presumably Thais got some sort of reciprocal benefit in the United States. Do you know what it is, and is it also basically impossible to use? 

Yes ...  I wouldn't bother, don't waste your time.

 

And anyone can buy anything in the USA