Thinking about becoming a Thai citizen.

[Jai Dee]

Several troll posts have been removed as they were in violation of our Community Standards.

[GarryP]

1 minute ago, KhaoNiaw said:

 

There are a few members on the forum who've done it and could probably give you some decent advice. No sign of them putting in an appearance yet though. 

I already did comment. 😉

[tomazbodner]

13 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You're right, it happens all the time and it is a piece of cake, just turn up with your new bank passbook, show them lots of money and you'll be out of there in an hour with a Thai ID card.

When applying for PR, a friend suggested that his relative was (I won't post what position as that could lead to defamation charges) anyway, the man shamelessly demanded 10 million baht in cash, or if I didn't pay up, he said I'll never get approved. Well, I didn't pay, used Camerata's guide in this forum and received lots of support from those willing to help, mostly Thais, and received PR when they finally started being issued with Prayuth's government again.

 

I don't know what the running rate would be for citizenship or what happens if people that were paid to were moved. I would guess, you'd be back to square one in that case. When I applied the immigration offered me their own lawyers to "help with process" which I refused much to their dissatisfaction (and lots of threats) but know what... maybe 6-12 months later when I went there to get another 6 months under consideration extension... there were 2 young ladies sitting there. Asked what happened with the other crew - they were sacked for corruption. Ha!

[simon43]

[quote]

...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heinecke

...

[/quote]

 

Are you as rich and as successful as William?  Multimillionaire?  Owner of household name company?

[asean]

Section 113 of the land act... any foreigner using a nominee person or juristic person to acquire Thai land will face a penalty of 20,000 baht or 2 years jail or both.... I have defended and prosecuted many of these cases and it usually ends up with a "large cash settlement".

[PoorSucker]

On 6/3/2024 at 2:29 PM, MalcolmB said:

What law would I be breaking?

You need to have a hotel license if you are renting out short time.

[MalcolmB]

15 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

You need to have a hotel license if you are renting out short time.

By short time do you mean an hour or two?

 

That wouldn't be my plan anyway.

 

minimum 3-4 days I suppose unless they pay a premium

 

[MalcolmB]

49 minutes ago, simon43 said:

[quote]

...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heinecke

...

[/quote]

 

Are you as rich and as successful as William?  Multimillionaire?  Owner of household name company?

Not yet, I am only getting started.

[PoorSucker]

9 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

By short time do you mean an hour or two?

Anything under a month.

[MalcolmB]

5 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

Anything under a month.

Ok, thanks for the tip.

I will make sure I get hotel licenses.

 

 

[NativeBob]

3 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

I will make sure I get hotel licenses.

I saw it a bit different: the hotel (resort, whatever) belongs to some company far away from its location and managed by some other company also registered far away. After few years the "new" management company arrives and the that goes again and again. 

When I worked with travel agencies I noticed this phenomena \

The contract was signed with "don't-know-who", payments were done similar peculiar way.

Kitchen was another company as well. 

 

I only wonder who actually holds "hotel license"???

[MangoKorat]

9 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

That is interesting.

i have met quite a few people over the past two weeks who are doing it, some of who have been doing it for 20+ years without a problem.

An often discussed matter.  Owning property via a properly registered and fully trading Thai company that has a maximum of 49% foreign shareholding (sometimes 39%) can be legal. 

 

A Thai Ltd company that doesn't trade but employs a book keeper to basically falsify accounts and pay a little income tax in order to own land in Thailand is most definitely illegal. The 'book keeper' is often part of a package offered by the lawyers that set the company up. Whilst its true that many do it and they've never had a problem - that's simply because they have not been investigated.  There is no guarantee and more recent news stories seem to indicate that such 'companies' are starting to be investigated.

 

The key is a clause in the Thai land laws that refers to circumvention.  Even a properly registered and trading Thai company can fall foul of that if it can be shown that the company was set up purely or mainly to circumvent the Thai land ownership rules.  I can't see a problem for a company who's stated aims are property developing but you should seek advice on that from a lawyer that is not in the business of setting up Thai companies for foreigners.

 

A company that has no reason to own land may also fall foul of the law - for example, you may have a fully fuctioning Thai company making tables and chairs.  That does not entitle the company to purchase land and build a house for the foreign shareholder to live in. Owning the land on which the factory sits though, would be legal.  If there is clear circumvention, you are at risk and what is clear will be up to the Thai court to decide.

 

If a company is investigated, the Thai shareholders will almost certainly have to prove that the money used to purchase their shares was their own. You would also need to show that the company actually employs Thai staff and pays them a salary - not just pays their social security as some 'lawyers' will tell you.

[MalcolmB]

2 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

An often discussed matter.  Owning property via a properly registered and fully trading Thai company that has a maximum of 49% foreign shareholding (sometimes 39%) can be legal. 

 

A Thai Ltd company that doesn't trade but employs a book keeper to basically falsify accounts and pay a little income tax in order to own land in Thailand is most definitely illegal. The 'book keeper' is often part of a package offered by the lawyers that set the company up. Whilst its true that many do it and they've never had a problem - that's simply because they have not been investigated.  There is no guarantee and more recent news storied seem to indicate that such 'companies' are starting to be investigated.

 

The key is a clause in the Thai land laws that refers to circumvention.  Even a properly registered and trading Thai company can fall foul of that if it can be shown that the company was set up purely or mainly to circumvent the Thai land ownership rules.  I can't see a problem for a company who's stated aims are property developing but you should seek advice on that from a lawyer that is not in the business of setting up Thai companies for foreigners.

 

A company that has no reason to own land may also fall foul of the law - for example, you may have a fully fuctioning Thai company making tables and chairs.  That does not entitle the company to puchase land and build a house for the foreign shareholder to live in. Owning the land on which the factory sits though, would be legal.  If there is clear circumvention, you are at risk and what is clear will be up to the Thai court to decide.

 

If a company is investigated, the Thai shareholders will almost certainly have to prove that the money used to purchase their shares was their own. You would also need to show that the company actually employs Thai staff and pays them a salary - not just pays their social security as some 'lawyers' will tell you.

Ok, so I will be buying them to rent out to tourists, will be earning legitimate income and employing staff to clean. 
The house I will living in will be in my girlfriend’s name and won’t be conducting any business. 

[MangoKorat]

2 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Ok, so I will be buying them to rent out to tourists, will be earning legitimate income and employing staff to clean. 
The house I will living in will be in my girlfriend’s name and won’t be conducting any business. 

What is your shareholding?

[MangoKorat]

11 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Ok, so I will be buying them to rent out to tourists

I have no wish to sound negative but are you saying that you intend buying residential units and renting them out to tourists?  If so, you might have a problem there.

 

I haven't kept up with this but there was some problems with AirbnB lettings for example.  I believe a law has been introduced stating that rentals must be for a minimum of 1 month but others can maybe advise you better on that.

[MalcolmB]

3 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

I have no wish to sound negative but are you saying that you intend buying residential units and renting them out to tourists?  If so, you might have a problem there.

 

I haven't kept up with this but there was some problems with AirbnB lettings for example.  I believe a law has been introduced stating that rentals must be for a minimum of 1 month but others can maybe advise you better on that.

I think you are correct.

You need to get a hotel license if letting for less than one month.

 

Do worry about negative, all feedback welcome, I am new here but learning lots everyday, mainly thanks to this forum actually.

Its a goldmine for someone like me.

[MangoKorat]

2 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

I think you are correct.

You need to get a hotel license if letting for less than one month.

 

Do worry about negative, all feedback welcome, I am new here but learning lots everyday, mainly thanks to this forum actually.

Its a goldmine for someone like me.

You didn't reply to my question on the amount of your shareholding. I ask because you need to check how much foreign shareholding the Land Office where you intend buying properties will allow.  I've been told that some will only allow 39%.

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Really?  That'll be useful. I'll have to speak to my local Immigration office about that, they issue Certificates of Residency for B200, that'll save a lot of hassle!

 

Give it a try, no, demand PR be issued to you on the spot, for lifetime.

 

Don't forget to share the result.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 minutes ago, scorecard said:

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Really?  That'll be useful. I'll have to speak to my local Immigration office about that, they issue Certificates of Residency for B200, that'll save a lot of hassle!

 

Give it a try, no, demand PR be issued to you on the spot, for lifetime.

 

Don't forget to share the result.

I didn't say that I'd be demanding PR, I referred to the IB issuing certificates of residency.  No need to post the result, everyone knows that it will be successful because that's one of the things they do.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

By short time do you mean an hour or two?

 

That wouldn't be my plan anyway.

 

minimum 3-4 days I suppose unless they pay a premium

 

As I mentioned before to you, everything under one month is "short time" when it comes to Airbnb; it's different compared to what the girls that you find in bars and other exciting nightlife events means, when they talks about "short time"...

[it is what it is]

 

i would buy pool villas to rent to tourists Airbnb

 

you need to do a little more research, if all you want to do is break the law here why bother with citizenship?

[Bangel72]

19 hours ago, GarryP said:

If applying for citizenship based on marriage to a Thai, you need to have been married for three years, and have a valid work permit and paid tax for the at least three years before submitting your application. You also need to remain in employment throughout the application process.  I know someone whose application took 3 years, 8 months and 25 days, from the initial application to receipt of a Thai ID card, which then was considered quite quick (they applied in 2012). The process speeded up under the Prayuth administration, but now has stalled again under Pheu Thai. It is unclear how long applications will take now as interviews are currently on hold, the backlog is increasing and the Minister of the Interior is a xenophobic xxxx.     

It's interesting that you need to remain in employment throughout the process, I ran into almost the same with my PR application.

 

I was in the years where they did not give out the PR for about 5 years after application.

 

Got the invite to go pick it up and happened to be between jobs at the time. I argued that it was based on 3 years tax when I applied and not when received to no avail, was given option pay 20k to sort it out and fastrack pickup to an hour rather than next day or they would have cancelled the visa associated with PR application and I would need to leave country same day.

 

One to watch out for. 

 

[Jimjim1]

On 6/4/2024 at 1:52 AM, scorecard said:

Bottom line - this thread is fake, a wind up, a joke, ignore it. 

I tend to agree with you because how can anyone be that ignorant of Thai ways and so naive despite him being warned off by a lot of expats with considerably more experience than me.

However I think I will take your advice and ignore him

[MalcolmB]

54 minutes ago, Jimjim1 said:

I tend to agree with you because how can anyone be that ignorant of Thai ways and so naive despite him being warned off by a lot of expats with considerably more experience than me.

However I think I will take your advice and ignore him

I guess you never qualified for a citizenship?

Plenty have and if you read the comments here you will see it is very doable.

just takes a bit of time, which I have.

[Jimjim1]

32 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

guess you never qualified for a citizenship?

Plenty have and if you read the comments here you will see it is very doable.

just takes a bit of time, which I have.

Quite happy with the citizenship I have thanks, and good luck to you, you obviously know far more than your peers and have guaranteed longevity also WOW.

[Chris Daley]

Enjoy your unclean drinking water.

[scorecard]

On 6/4/2024 at 5:08 PM, khunPer said:

Many thanks for your detailed reply; I however didn't say "permanent residency", just residency (registered address).

My error, apologies.

[khunPer]

17 minutes ago, scorecard said:

My error, apologies.

No apologies needed, you answer gave a lot of useful information...

[scorecard]

On 6/4/2024 at 6:48 PM, MalcolmB said:

Not yet, I am only getting started.

 

William Heinicke is a stand alone case, he's provided work for hundreds of Thais and created supply chains providing business opportunities for thousands of Thais. He knows how to very successfully crate vertical integration of business (instead of buying  cheese monthly from a cheese maker, buy the cheese making company and decrease your operating costs and increase your own revenues and margins ).

 

And I'm aware that he's financially supported many of his star employees through masters programs etc.

 

Plus I've always wondered if he's got very helpful friends in very high places who can easily pull very valuable strings.

 

 

[treetops]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:48 PM, MalcolmB said:

Not yet, I am only getting started.

 

It took Heinecke 28 years from moving here and about 24 of these in business before he got his.  If you're 53 as mentioned you may not have that time available.