Spreaders of Conspiracy Theories: Unmasking the Motivations Behind the Lies

[steelepulse]

>>Doh..! I was going to purchase the Elite card

I'm sure they'll still sell you one.

Back to the OP, there's a running joke about doing business in Thailand:

Q: How do I make a small fortune in Thailand?

A: Start with a large fortune.

Heed everyone's advice and chill for a while and don't go on big spending sprees at bars etc. or the next thing you'll know, you'll have a nice tirak ready to have you invest in a lot of great investments

[Yoyo777]

hi Warren,

my husband and I also just set up companies here in Thailand. we were greatly helped by the Chamber of Commerce, who give free advice as long as there is no cost incurred. but it would help you a lot if you know someone who can speak Thai to help you gather information...

1. rather than rushing yourself to buy yourself in, why not just go through the normal process of coming here & starting working like everyone else? Get used to the culture, gather some information locally, before committing yourself... trying to find an easy way often get you screwed!

2. in any case you will need a work permit and must comply with various conditions. As far as owning a company, you can establish a holding company with a Thai person (he signs a contract that he waives all his rights to the company so the company is really yours), who literally owns part of the other limited company, where you own the rest. This is what we were advised to do.

3. you as a person will not be able to buy the lang but your company can!

one thing I must mention: don't trust anyone, especially your lawyer or accountant!!! The Chamber of Commerce refered us a German lawyer here, who has done a great service, but the bill was also huge, too. They will try to squeeze as much money as possible if you allow them to do everything for you. you don't realise because compared to what you would have paid in your home country, everything sounds cheaper... DON'T ever allow them to "take care of things", ask how much everything will cost you before giving them a go. Once they sent us an assistant, who just watched over us opening a bank account. And? We get a bill for that! We didn't ask for it - and with travelling expenses, too! There are many lawyers here so do talk to several to gather some information. We have gone from the expensive German lawyer to an incompetent Thai lawyer (he was really bad and did not bring us any results!), then through a friend, we got in touch with an excellent Thai lawyer who works for a major corporation. Speaks excellent English and German, reasonable rate, we are very happy with him so far!

The first lawyer also referred us to an accountant, she was good - but really expensive, and stupidly my partner has signed a retainer contract so that we still have to pay her 50k Baht to do some annual balance sheet... but now we found another accountant who does our bookkeeping at almost half of her cost!

We already learnt a lot from our mistakes.... Good luck and hope you will find your way to come here!

[RAZZELL]

Stay for a year and learn the language.

Meet some "normal" people, not the lovelies who work in the bars

Travel around. Patong is not Thailand.

Good luck and don't spend it all

RAZZ