Help...i'm Lost....moving To Bangkok From Usa

[sunilkumarkapoor]

Hi All,

I am a US citizen who actually initially applied for a fiance visa for my thai gf. It was approved and she should be on her way here in 1 month, however, coincidentally my job is transferring me to Bangkok for the next 2 years! I have a bunch of questions I am so confused about, such as:

1) What kind of Visa should I apply for when I get there? Will I just need a work permit?

2) Will I pay US or Thai taxes? Since I'll spend about half the year in the US and then Thailand, will I need to file 2 separate tax filings?

3) Should my wife still come here and should I start her on obtaining a greencard, or will that hurt my ability to stay in Thailand?

Thanks for all the help,

SK

[lopburi3]

Your status is not real clear with what you write - your employment here must be covered by a work permit and ( B ) business type visa (you not married) and visa could be (O) if/when married. So if your employer thinks you can work here because you have a GF or wife he needs to be made aware a work permit is going to be required. Quite frankly this whole scenario sounds very 'fly by night' to me.

1. You should have a B visa before you come here and that is going to require letter of employment from Thai office in most cases. You will need a work permit (unless something under the radar like Internet work outside of Thailand - in which case you will probably not be able to obtain a B visa).

2. You should get this from employer - most likely you will have to file both places but amount of time spent is critical as well as by who and where paid and deductions of tax likely authorized on payments made to other country. You really need to research or have professional advise on such tax matters.

3. I would go with the green card and have her set up in US as this job does not sound all that firm. Her living in US should not pose any problem for real employment or even to obtaining non immigrant O visa for visits. But you may have to plan on some time apart depending on the green card residence requirements (not sure of those).

Edited March 27, 2005 by lopburi3