Amity Treaty...and Those Sneaky Thai Lawyers....

[Mattchu9999]

Amity treaty

So is this one of those quirky Thai scams or rather this is Thailand and what to expect (which seems strangley like doing business in Mexico which I have experienced the same thing on many occasions)?

What is interesting I am finding is the Thai business service providers and Attourneys have one interesting change in the rules for applying for treaty status under the Amity treaty. They indicate that you MUST set up a Thai company concurrently with your application for Treaty ststus for your American company.

Copied directly from Chaingmailaw :

Application for certification of a Treaty is conducted with or after establishing a Thai company. It normaly takes less than one week for certification and can take 1-3 months to complete. Please always use a Thai lawyer when applying.

Copied directly from Asiatradingonline (This is what they say is required...completley different from one to the next):

Seven individual promoters are required for the registration of the memorandum of the company.

Thai individuals as promoters, shareholders or directors: Signed copy of I.D. card and copy of house registration, age and occupation.

The time frame for setting up a new company privileged under the US - Thai Treaty of Amity is about six (6) weeks after approval of the company name.

The professional fee for the establishment of a company under the Amity Treaty is Baht 50,000 (out-of-pocket expenses included) except government fees.

Now this is directly from the US Commercial services Thailand branch:

Application Process

1. Register your business at the Ministry of Commerce
   
2. Obtain a "Certification document" at the U.S. Commercial Service, Bangkok
   
3. Submit "Certification document" and all required documents to the Ministry of Commerce
   

Required Documents: (I have everything sitting right here in my file cabinet)

5 Weeks and it' done for 22k bht. not 50k bht. as the other providers ask.

In summary, it appears many of the Thai lawyers and service providers of course want you to pay their heavy application fees but also register a Thai corporation with nominess...which I am sure they will help provide . And further their list of required documents is massive.

The only company that has their process laid out with the same requirements as the US and Thai govt. offices is Sunbelt Legal advisors.... anyone hear of their reputability or worked with them in the past??

[lannarebirth]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Amity-Treaty...hl=AMITY+TREATY

[wasabi]

I just sent a PM to Sunbelt regarding this but perhaps someone can answer here as well. See below

I am a US Citizen residing in Bangkok, I am interested in doing IT consulting work over the internet for American clients. At some point I would like to have a Non Immigrant B visa and have a Work Permit.

I have read about US Amity Companies but there seems to be two variations. I am confused about the difference between a limited company and a sole proprietorship. Here is my understanding

Limited Company

No need for 4 Thai employees but must have 2 million Baht registered capital

Question Do I actually have to have 2 million in a Thai Bank account? Can I just sign a document stating I have 2 million in assets but not actually have to show these assets?

Sole Proprietorship

No need for the 2 million registered capital but must have 4 employees.

Question. My business would not require any employee other than myself. However can I meet this requirement by paying social security and tax equivalent to 4 Thai people without ever actually having any employees?

In short I don't want to have any employees and I don't have access to 2 million Baht that I could put in a Thai bank. i would like to know how to navigate these requirements.

[mrt273nva]

Limited Company

No need for 4 Thai employees but must have 2 million Baht registered capital

Question Do I actually have to have 2 million in a Thai Bank account? Can I just sign a document stating I have 2 million in assets but not actually have to show these assets?

In short I don't want to have any employees and I don't have access to 2 million Baht that I could put in a Thai bank. i would like to know how to navigate these requirements.

You don't need to have 2 million. You only need to register 2 million baht. Even if you have no assets you can claim 2 million as your services if anyone asks, which they don't. If you don't want a work permit then you only need to register 1 million baht capital, but in order for you to have a work permit (the first one) you need at least 2 million registered capital, and 1 million extra for each additional work permit.