I am considering opening a US Amity company that would be performing IT consulting for American clients. After much research and valuable information obtained from this forum and others I am now researching what is involved in having 4 Thai employees to 1 Farang employee (me) to meet the requirements for a 1 year extension of stay and to possibly get on the road to Permanent residency. It is my understanding if I do have the ability to employee only myself but this requires visa runs and does not count towards PR.

Thus I may pursue a more ambitious business plan. If I have 4 Thai employees contracting under me and assisting with my consulting I would like to know what are the legal requirements to legitimize them as my employees. What are the benefit and salary requirements I need to give them that will allow them to count as my employees. If this requires a lengthy explanation can anyone point me to further reading material online?

Also if I have 4 Thai employees is there a better option than US Amity?

Thank you

Also if the nature of my work allows telecommuting for me and my employees do they need to be on site?

I am considering opening a US Amity company that would be performing IT consulting for American clients. After much research and valuable information obtained from this forum and others I am now researching what is involved in having 4 Thai employees to 1 Farang employee (me) to meet the requirements for a 1 year extension of stay and to possibly get on the road to Permanent residency. It is my understanding if I do have the ability to employee only myself but this requires visa runs and does not count towards PR.

Thus I may pursue a more ambitious business plan. If I have 4 Thai employees contracting under me and assisting with my consulting I would like to know what are the legal requirements to legitimize them as my employees. What are the benefit and salary requirements I need to give them that will allow them to count as my employees. If this requires a lengthy explanation can anyone point me to further reading material online?

Also if I have 4 Thai employees is there a better option than US Amity?

Thank you

Here is a link to Immigration's translation of the regulations for Extension of Permission to Stay. http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/2notice/rtp606EN.pdf

Also check out Sunbelt's translation, there are subtle differences. http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Police_O...er_Oct_2006.pdf

You would apply under section 7.1 for an extension on the grounds of business.

When you read the regulations you will see that it is impossible for a start up company to produce some of the papers; such as year end profit and loss accounts, audited by a certified accountant.

You will need evidence of tax and national insurance returns made by your company on behalf of its Thai employees, naming them. So Thai sub contactors may not be of any help to your case, they must be employees.

In the past a Thai Limited Partnership avoided the need for any Thai employees, other than the Managing Partner, but your local labour dept may well be interpereting things differently now.

There is alot of good basic information on "Amity Companies" and other issues related to your questions if you look at Sunbelt's and Siam Legal's websites. Also, look at the pinned topics at the top of this sectiion and in the business section. Also, if you usee the search function, it can bring up many related topics. Be aware, that there are some changes on the way, and some changes were implemented about October, 2006 that affect requirements for "extension of stay".

I think the main advantage to "Amity Treaty" is you have control of the company.

It is challenging to keep up with all the changes to the visa and business process in Thailand. But I guess if you love living here that's the cost of the ticket.