Bringing A Thai To Work For You In The Uk

[Mercury]

I might want to employ a Thai female in the UK as a maid come housekeeper come cook etc. I don't think I will be able to find the right person in the UK so I am considering bringing someone from Thailand. I need the linguistic skills as well.

What I want to get my head around it not only the process and costs (all information gratefully received) but also the practicalities of doing so. What comes to mind is the whole package cost as I do not expect the selected Thai national to have the funds to travel, etc. I will expect the employee to live in.

Within legal guidelines, I would expect the Thai person to look upon the opportunity as a chance to work abroad, learn or improve their English and to earn a wage far in excess of that they would get in Thailand but perhaps not what they could get in the UK if they were already there and had all the paperwork etc. What I don't want is to have a load of up front costs and then have the employee jump ship either for a legitimate job with someone else or for a position as an illegal employee for some other employer.

I don't know the match but let's use some easy numbers which highlight the issue.

Say it costs £3000 up front and then another £2000 as soon as they come to the UK. Now on day one, you are out of pocket to the tune of £5000. I don't know whether any of these up front costs can be offset against salary but even if they can, you don't want to claw it straight back as they'll resent you for it. However, reclaiming it over a long time is impractical either. Anyone know how the minimum wage comes into this ? Also, how do you deal with the provision of accommodation and meals ?

I know I'll have to do a lot of research to see if it is even viable but I'm hoping someone has been through this before and can just scribble a few lines in reply from their experience.

[chanthas]

HI mercury

To words spring to mind, HARD WORK.

Good luck.

[Bisto]

Wishful thinking

[cyb]

Wishful thinking

(1) You must if employed legally pay the minimum wage per hour.

(2) you need to convince uk immigration that she is a must and there is no one in the uk to fit the bill. (your on a loser there as so many Thai students are looking for jobs all around the uk) and most if not all would be suitable.

(3) I'm not sure as regards the legalities of you reclaiming your expences back from her.

Somewhat vague and my opinion as never being in that situation.

My Thai employees in uk have being there a long time.

Edited September 26, 2009 by cyb

[Bisto]

Wishful thinking

Wishful thinking

(1) You must if employed legally pay the minimum wage per hour.

(2) you need to convince uk immigration that she is a must and there is no one in the uk to fit the bill. (your on a loser there as so many Thai students are looking for jobs all around the uk) and most if not all would be suitable.

(3) I'm not sure as regards the legalities of you reclaiming your expences back from her.

Somewhat vague and my opinion as never being in that situation.

My Thai employees in uk have being there a long time.

thanks mate you elaborated some guys do not use search or look up

[KickJixenberg]

"I might want to employ a Thai female in the UK as a maid come housekeeper come cook etc. I don't think I will be able to find the right person in the UK"

With all due respects you are living in la la land. You want to bring an unskilled Thai woman to the UK because you don't think you will be able to find the person in the UK'. Oh please ... I'm sorry, but this just read that you are looking for an alternate way to bring your Thai GF to the UK, and your story has more holes than Swiss cheese. Good luck though.

[learningcurve]

Forget it. Look up the requirements for Domestic Worker. I think you will find that the 'applicant' will need to have been working in your household in Thailand for at least 12 months (provable by showing salary slips / tax payment paperwork etc). Also, as stated earlier, by law you will have to pay them the hourly minimum wage. Sounds like you want to bring your g/f to the UK without going the settlement visa route!

[Eff1n2ret]

As mentioned by learningcurve, there is only provision to employ a domestic servant who has worked for you abroad for at least 12 months.

Aside from that, employers now have to have a sponsor licence to bring someone in from abroad - if you can wade through all the pages linked to this one, you're a real glutton for punishment:-

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers...gettinglicence/

The short "layman's" answer is that there's no realistic prospect of importing an unskilled worker as a low-paid skivvy.

[KickJixenberg]

Forget it. Look up the requirements for Domestic Worker. I think you will find that the 'applicant' will need to have been working in your household in Thailand for at least 12 months (provable by showing salary slips / tax payment paperwork etc). Also, as stated earlier, by law you will have to pay them the hourly minimum wage. Sounds like you want to bring your g/f to the UK without going the settlement visa route!

Spot on ....

[Mercury]

Did I say I wanted to bring in a TGF ? No, thought so. Seriously, don't read into things into situations which are not there.

Let us just say that if anyone needed Thai tax payment receipts then you can get those in 15 minutes upon payment of the said taxes so let's forget about that "problem". OK ?

The way I look at it is like this. If I was offered a job in a new town, I might expect to have to make my way there, sort out accommodation and all those sorts of things. Heck, if I employ an au pair in the UK, I don't pay for her travel. There is certainly no requirement to pay an au pair some fictitious minimal wage. Amongst other things, the issue of accommodation, no utility bills, provision of food and largely flexible working arrangements all cloud an hourly wage calculation.

I suppose that was what I wanted to get across when I talked about the "total package". To me, it does not really matter if I earn £200 and have bills of £100 or I have all my bills covered and I receive £100. I get the same, why should I care ?

Let's say someone works on minimum wage of £6 (for ease of calculation) and they work 40 hours a week. That brings in £240 gross and again for ease, let us assume that equates to £200 net. Now if rent costs £80 per week and bills £20 per week and your food costs £50 per week, then you have a net free income of £50 per week. Many people live in situations similar to this in the UK.

Compared to the above example, the employee is far better off if they have accommodation, bills and food provided and they receive £100 net per week. Very simply, they get twice as much in their pocket.

Obviously, the second example is better for me as well as the employee and living in would be a condition of the job. If a Thai at this level got £100 a week net (approx Bt6000 a week) then I reckon they'd think it wasn't a bad position, especially if the contract was structured with some flights and a bonus structure over time.

As for there being people in the UK willing or able to do this job, don't make me laugh. The first condition is a native Thai speaker so all Uk nationals and their European immigrant friends fail at the first hurdle. Second is that they have to be female. So half of what is left are gone. Then they have to live in where I live, so we discount another 99% of what is left and you know what, the 1 female left has just died of old age. Thus, there are no suitable candidates in the UK. Don't anyone else suggest illegally employing Thai students.

I don't think it should be overly complicated.

[endure]

Slavery was abolished in the UK in 1833.

[KickJixenberg]

So why do you require this person to speak Thai? Why is that an employment prerequisite.

[Mercury]

Slavery was abolished in the UK in 1833.

Grow up.

So why do you require this person to speak Thai? Why is that an employment prerequisite.

Because it is a requirement of the job and I write the job specification. They will be required to speak Thai with a native tongue.

[the scouser]

Quite simply what you propose is called trafficking.

Even if they don't do you for that, they'll do you for assisting illegal entry (aka facilitation).

Enjoy your 14-year stretch.

[KickJixenberg]

Slavery was abolished in the UK in 1833.

Grow up.

So why do you require this person to speak Thai? Why is that an employment prerequisite.

Because it is a requirement of the job and I write the job specification. They will be required to speak Thai with a native tongue.

Quite simply what you propose is called trafficking.

Even if they don't do you for that, they'll do you for assisting illegal entry (aka facilitation).

Enjoy your 14-year stretch.

This guy is a joke - the lengths that some will do to get their Thai GF into the country.

I love your reply (priceless) that you write the job description and that is why it is a pre-requisite that she speaks Thai.

[KickJixenberg]

Hey Mercury,

Below is a cut and paste from one of your post of the 22nd of August .... Do us all a favor, if you want advice, fine, but don't treat us all like fools. If we can see through your plan, you can be UK Immigration will too. It is a clear as daylight what you are wanting to do. Disguising your Thai wife as some unskilled domestic worker as a way of slipping her in the back door. Nice one Merc, but it wont work.

We've no intention of getting married so all marriage related visas are out of the question. The 4 year thing apparently requires the passing of this Life in the UK test which cannot be completed outside the UK and thus, no-one can apply for ILR on the basis of a 4 year plus relationship outside the UK, if they have never first visited the UK to take this test.

She could apparently apply on the basis of a 2 year plus relationship and then do the test in the UK. I do not know whether that would then mean she could just get ILR automatically ? Costs, feasibility and times - any ideas ?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Wishful thinking

Dreaming or drinking.

[7by7]

Mercury,

Let's ignore your previous posts on how to get your girlfriend to the UK and so assume that you do want to employ a Thai domestic worker.

You could argue that there are three possible ways to do this; domestic worker visa, au pair visa or work permit.

To get a domestic worker visa you would need to show that you had employed that person in a similar capacity in Thailand for at least the last 12 months. Can you?

The au pair scheme is now abolished as it applied mainly to Europe and most European nationals can now, of course, exercise their EU/EEA treaty rights to live and work in the UK. It has been replaced with the Youth Mobility Scheme, and Thailand is not one of the countries in the scheme.

To obtain a work permit you will need to show that it is impossible for you to fill the position from within not just the UK but the whole of the EU/EEA. You say that you need to employ a native Thai speaker. Saying it is not enough, you will need to convince the UKBA why this is so. Even if you can explain this to the UKBA's satisfaction there are plenty of Thais living in the UK on settlement or student visas who could do the job so you would need to convince the UKBA that none of them are suitable.

See Working in the UK and the relevant links from that page.

If you want to waste your time and money making an application that is bound to fail, that is your choice.

[KickJixenberg]

I actually feel a bit sorry for Mercury. He got caught out big time trying to see whether he could get a back-door UK visa for his wife under the guise of her being some unskilled 'dish washer'. It is is that kind of attitude/mentality that severely demeans Thai women. Shows what he really thinks of his lovelly wife (not much) I guess. Anyway, he has posted on several other forums since, so is lurking nearby. No doubt too ashamed to raise his head. Mercury, if you wife is worth it, and I am sure to you she is, do it the right way, and dont take us and her for fools.

[erikr_]

Hey Mercury,

Below is a cut and paste from one of your post of the 22nd of August .... Do us all a favor, if you want advice, fine, but don't treat us all like fools. If we can see through your plan, you can be UK Immigration will too. It is a clear as daylight what you are wanting to do. Disguising your Thai wife as some unskilled domestic worker as a way of slipping her in the back door. Nice one Merc, but it wont work.

We've no intention of getting married so all marriage related visas are out of the question. The 4 year thing apparently requires the passing of this Life in the UK test which cannot be completed outside the UK and thus, no-one can apply for ILR on the basis of a 4 year plus relationship outside the UK, if they have never first visited the UK to take this test.

She could apparently apply on the basis of a 2 year plus relationship and then do the test in the UK. I do not know whether that would then mean she could just get ILR automatically ? Costs, feasibility and times - any ideas ?

If you want to get her in easy it is simple enough. Open an office in Paris, then claim you work and live there and ask for a family permit for france. Then after 3 months in France relocate your business to UK and move along with your TGF

Is it that simple?