Should I Get A Work Permit ?

[Always18]

Hi all - and the usual apologies if this topic has been covered already, although I have searched all the relevant postings so far without success!

My situation is that my Thai wife and I will shortly (about Oct/Nov 2009) be re-locating to Sisaket (from the UK) where we have bought a plot of land and plan to build a small house.

We had hoped to ship part of our UK household personal belongings to Sisaket and initially I did not intend to continue working but I am re-thinking my position in view of the prohibitive import duties placed upon household possessions when shipped into Thailand.

There appear to be very few scenarios where such imports are allowed to be "duty free" - either the "returning Thai national" who has lived abroad for 12mths or the "foreigner" who has a work permit (or residency).

I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone about how the "12 mths" is calculated so that is my first question dear readers! - is it a 12mth unbroken, continuous period? - is it a cumulative total of 12mths? - is it a 12mth period but during which there was a 2mth return trip to Thailand from the UK?

Assuming my wife does not qualify for that exemption, my next question is how do I obtain a work permit? - what documents are required? - can I get one whilst I am still within the UK?

My work (if I choose to continue with it) is carried out entirely over the internet or telephone and does not appear to fall within any of the prohibited categories - I currently have a non "O" multi visa which expires in Dec 2009 and I intend to extend my permission to stay in Thailand based upon my marriage.

Are there any on-going tax implications (within Thailand) of obtaining a work permit? - the whole purpose of obtaining such a permit would be to avail ourselves of the duty-free household goods importation so any extra serious hassle caused by the work permit would not make this viable!

My thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

[lopburi3]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

[thaicbr]

1st question. what are you going to bring in to Thailand. Many things are reasonable price here in Thailand as you know. can you not buy it here. maybe MUCH cheaper. My friend imported loads of stuff last year. i will ask him about it. i vaguely remember that he did get stung a bit on the duties but the agent got them reduced. Allan

[getgoin]

Get an agent in BKK to clear customs for you. A little grease and the wheels turn smoother. Put the stuff in your wife's name.

[stbkk]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

When I got a container with my furniture and personal effects shipped here from the UK, the local handling agent telephoned me and invited me to pay a cash amount 'for which there would be no receipt' instead of the duty. I cannot remember exactly how much unfortunately (getting old), but that itself implies it was not prohibitive! A friend of mine did exactly the same, and it seems to be standard practice.

[Always18]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

Many thanks for the swift reply lopburi3 - and the clarification about work permit requirements.

The levels of duty which I have been advised would likely be payable on personal household goods imports seem to vary up to about 50% of "CIF" value (for a bicycle) - which I'm told means the product of the cost of the item X the insurance value X the cost of freighting the goods. If this is the case it would certainly mean a prohibitive duty.

I accept your point about whether our household goods would be either appropriate or relevant in Thailand - we are both committed to sourcing our needs within Thailand if at all possible - and have narrowed our list considerably but there remains that "hard core" of possessions (cookware, crockery, cutlery, kitchen equipt, DIY tools, furniture, books, computer equipt., CD's etc etc!) which we would both rather not have to start replacing unless there was no other option!

I'd certainly be grateful if any other contributors can clarify this "12mth living abroad" criterion?

[Always18]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

When I got a container with my furniture and personal effects shipped here from the UK, the local handling agent telephoned me and invited me to pay a cash amount 'for which there would be no receipt' instead of the duty. I cannot remember exactly how much unfortunately (getting old), but that itself implies it was not prohibitive! A friend of mine did exactly the same, and it seems to be standard practice.

Thanks for the pointer stbkk - was this a local agent acting on behalf of a UK freighting company?

I'd appreciate it if you could post details of the companies you or your friend employed (if you still have them) as I've not been impressed with the so-called "inclusive service" offered by many of the big UK international movers - they all seem to expect me to ferret out the import duty details myself.

Any other tips would be equally gratefully received!

[ubonjoe]

Ship everything in your wifes name. As a returning Thai national most everything will be exempt from duties.

[katabeachbum]

Hi all - and the usual apologies if this topic has been covered already, although I have searched all the relevant postings so far without success!

My situation is that my Thai wife and I will shortly (about Oct/Nov 2009) be re-locating to Sisaket (from the UK) where we have bought a plot of land and plan to build a small house.

We had hoped to ship part of our UK household personal belongings to Sisaket and initially I did not intend to continue working but I am re-thinking my position in view of the prohibitive import duties placed upon household possessions when shipped into Thailand.

There appear to be very few scenarios where such imports are allowed to be "duty free" - either the "returning Thai national" who has lived abroad for 12mths or the "foreigner" who has a work permit (or residency).

I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone about how the "12 mths" is calculated so that is my first question dear readers! - is it a 12mth unbroken, continuous period? - is it a cumulative total of 12mths? - is it a 12mth period but during which there was a 2mth return trip to Thailand from the UK?

Assuming my wife does not qualify for that exemption, my next question is how do I obtain a work permit? - what documents are required? - can I get one whilst I am still within the UK?

My work (if I choose to continue with it) is carried out entirely over the internet or telephone and does not appear to fall within any of the prohibited categories - I currently have a non "O" multi visa which expires in Dec 2009 and I intend to extend my permission to stay in Thailand based upon my marriage.

Are there any on-going tax implications (within Thailand) of obtaining a work permit? - the whole purpose of obtaining such a permit would be to avail ourselves of the duty-free household goods importation so any extra serious hassle caused by the work permit would not make this viable!

My thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

If you ship it in a container with your own lock, the container arrives at your location in Thailand with the lock untouched and all customs-cleared for approx 20.000 baht extra cash to shipping agent, Standard procedure.

[stbkk]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

When I got a container with my furniture and personal effects shipped here from the UK, the local handling agent telephoned me and invited me to pay a cash amount 'for which there would be no receipt' instead of the duty. I cannot remember exactly how much unfortunately (getting old), but that itself implies it was not prohibitive! A friend of mine did exactly the same, and it seems to be standard practice.

Thanks for the pointer stbkk - was this a local agent acting on behalf of a UK freighting company?

I'd appreciate it if you could post details of the companies you or your friend employed (if you still have them) as I've not been impressed with the so-called "inclusive service" offered by many of the big UK international movers - they all seem to expect me to ferret out the import duty details myself.

Any other tips would be equally gratefully received!

They were, but I don't have the details at the office. I'll post them when I get home tonight. I was impressed with the service overall. I had all of my household contents in store in the UK, and the UK shipper 'export packed' it all and shipped it here. The local agent then delivered directly to our house here, putting the furniture in the rooms we designated. I did not do any investigation about the duty, because my friend had done it just previously, and told me about the 'brown envelope' all inclusive service! From what I've heard from others the 'official' way is all very hit and miss, up to individual interpretation by the customs official.

I'd agree with what the others here have said, send it all in the wifes name (to maybe reduce their expectations), and just haggle with the agent about the amount of 'duty' you pay them.

[samran]

we used excess removals (their name from memory) when moving from London,, and were serviced by Transpro/Asian tigers when arrived in Thailand.

Did it under the Thai national exemption (ie me) and we indeed given tax free exemption. Highly recommend transpro (maybe ring them and ask who they work with in your part of the UK). But I was out of the country of a clean 12 months, so no debate there.

Key to doing it cheaply and hassel free, as others have said, is to have door to door delivery. An established agent already has deals going with the theives, sorry, customs agents down at the port authority, so they are already paying for things to get through with a minimum of fuss.

The last thing you wat to be doing is heading down to the port yourself. It will just cost you more.

[stbkk]

You can not obtain a work permit without a job that supports such a work permit. Using the internet is not going to work. You would have to set up a company here and hire yourself. It does not make sense for saving money on customs.

The duty is not prohibitive, unless you are talking autos. Most large companies can arrange a fixed amount for door to door service including customs from my reading.

I can not answer the 12 month question but it sounds as if she was living overseas if the two months are anywhere near the middle of the 12 month period.

Do you really want all the stuff you have now? Or would buying local make sense? The climate is a lot different and what may be fashionable there may be odd here.

When I got a container with my furniture and personal effects shipped here from the UK, the local handling agent telephoned me and invited me to pay a cash amount 'for which there would be no receipt' instead of the duty. I cannot remember exactly how much unfortunately (getting old), but that itself implies it was not prohibitive! A friend of mine did exactly the same, and it seems to be standard practice.

Thanks for the pointer stbkk - was this a local agent acting on behalf of a UK freighting company?

I'd appreciate it if you could post details of the companies you or your friend employed (if you still have them) as I've not been impressed with the so-called "inclusive service" offered by many of the big UK international movers - they all seem to expect me to ferret out the import duty details myself.

Any other tips would be equally gratefully received!

They were, but I don't have the details at the office. I'll post them when I get home tonight. I was impressed with the service overall. I had all of my household contents in store in the UK, and the UK shipper 'export packed' it all and shipped it here. The local agent then delivered directly to our house here, putting the furniture in the rooms we designated. I did not do any investigation about the duty, because my friend had done it just previously, and told me about the 'brown envelope' all inclusive service! From what I've heard from others the 'official' way is all very hit and miss, up to individual interpretation by the customs official.

I'd agree with what the others here have said, send it all in the wifes name (to maybe reduce their expectations), and just haggle with the agent about the amount of 'duty' you pay them.

The UK shipper I used was 'White and Company', who I had absolutely no problem with. The local agent was also Transpo (see next post), again no problems at all with them.

[Always18]

we used excess removals (their name from memory) when moving from London,, and were serviced by Transpro/Asian tigers when arrived in Thailand.

Did it under the Thai national exemption (ie me) and we indeed given tax free exemption. Highly recommend transpro (maybe ring them and ask who they work with in your part of the UK). But I was out of the country of a clean 12 months, so no debate there.

Key to doing it cheaply and hassel free, as others have said, is to have door to door delivery. An established agent already has deals going with the theives, sorry, customs agents down at the port authority, so they are already paying for things to get through with a minimum of fuss.

The last thing you wat to be doing is heading down to the port yourself. It will just cost you more.

Many thanks guys for all your helpful tips.