Newbie Needs Help On What To Do Visa Wise !

[austriandutch]

Hi there , I am new to the forum and have looked at 100's of posts the last month but somehow I can't find what to do Visa wise.

This is my situation , any help or advise is appreciated:

I am a Dutch (38) national coming to BKK in June with my girlfriend (23, Austrian) and son (1, Austrian/Dutch).

We are currently living in Austria but have been living in Holland and Thailand the past three years.

We are coming back to Thailand permanently but are not sure on what is the best way to enter , so I try to be as precise as possible.

My girlfriend is a designer and has her own company registred in the Netherlands, I have been working freelance in marketing for the past 7 years after selling my company in Holland in 2000. I have funds but they are fixed for the next three years in Holland after that I would have enough money to live on and retire ( 30 Mill Baht +). At the moment I still have to work to live. I have several joboffers in BKK but will need to see what I will take. The income will be 70.000-90.000 Baht base+comm. I have money coming in every month from Austria which will be put in my BKK bankaccount (around 75.000 Baht). So I think I can secure a WP through work , but I don't know how long that will take when I am in BKK.

I allready applied to the consulate in Salzburg and because I want to learn Thai better I am also entering in a Thai learning programm which would secure me and my girlfriend a Visa ED for a year.

Knowing that I will probably secure a job within 1 or 2 months what is the way to go ? Should I come in on the ED Visa or should I go for another one ? I read somewhere that you can't work on the ED Visa, but what if I have secured the WP ? Should I maybe come in on a tourist Visa and secure the job and then go out again ? I know a lot of questions , but since my last time in LOS a lot has changed.

An extra problem is that we also have an online business (currently under the Dutch firm) that we would want to continue in BKK. I want to register a Thai Ltd for that one to be secure an pay taxes on it in Thailand (even if I have a WP for my regular Job I still need a WP to do online work right ? or isn't it that very strict for online work ?) , but at the moment don't have the 2.000.000 Baht available ( in 3 years no problem but not at the moment) . Under the Ltd I could get a WP for myself with Visa. Does this influence the above Visa questions ?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[jstumbo]

You could start out on the Ed visa. When you accept a job, and they apply for the work permit, then you take the receipt and some other information to a consulate in the local area and get a Non-B visa based on employment. It will probably be a 90 day visa. When you get to the last 3 weeks or so of the stay, you should have your work permit by that time. Then you go to immigration and get a 1 year extension of stay based on your employment. Your girlfriend would need a visa and extension of her own, maybe the ED visa.

As for the online businesses and creating a Thai company, it can be difficult for one man shops. Usually you have to employ 4 Thai people in order for you to get a work permit. Most people that are doing things online just do it under the table because the government does not really have a way for people to do that legally.

Edited May 10, 2008 by jstumbo

[austriandutch]

You could start out on the Ed visa. When you accept a job, and they apply for the work permit, then you take the receipt and some other information to a consulate in the local area and get a Non-B visa based on employment. It will probably be a 90 day visa. When you get to the last 3 weeks or so of the stay, you should have your work permit by that time. Then you go to immigration and get a 1 year extension of stay based on your employment. Your girlfriend would need a visa and extension of her own, maybe the ED visa.

As for the online businesses and creating a Thai company, it can be difficult for one man shops. Usually you have to employ 4 Thai people in order for you to get a work permit. Most people that are doing things online just do it under the table because the government does not really have a way for people to do that legally.

Hi there jstumbo thanks for the quick answer...I allready had the idea that doing the 'under the radar' thing is probably the best for the online business. I would do it legal , but I see on the boards that it is a very grey arrea...

For the Visa, what you suggest is probably the way I would go, or there must be members who have other ideas ?