Applying For Work Permit Is There A...

[Redhawk]

Hello there

Question:

Is there a minimum amount of a monthly salary to be paid to apply for a work permit, not less 20.000,- or 30.000,- per month in Thailand?

Thanks a lot.

[thaiphoon]

Hello there

Question:

Is there a minimum amount of a monthly salary to be paid to apply for a work permit, not less 20.000,- or 30.000,- per month in Thailand?

Thanks a lot.

There is no minimum monthly salary requirement to apply for a work permit.

There is however a minimum monthly salary requirement of 50k/month for westerner (but varies on nationality) if apply for extension of stay based on employment.

[Redhawk]

Thank you for the immediate reply.

[PoorSucker]

If you have a WP you should pay tax on at least 30.000 baht/month.

No tax payments will get the tax authorities attention.

[TerryLH]

"If you have a WP you should pay tax on at least 30.000 baht/month.

No tax payments will get the tax authorities attention."

Are you saying that even if you make less than 30k, you should still pay taxes on 30k?

Why would anyone do that?

If you make less, and file the paperwork, the tax office is ok with you not owing them anything.

[ericthai]

There are regulations that falangs need to make minmum salaries. Im from the USA and my accountant says this is 60K per month.

she said weather I actually receive this amount or not we still need to pay tax on this amount to meet with govt regulations on minimum salary requirements. There have been a few months I did not take this much as I wanted to make sure my employees get paid instead of me. So I guess that would be one reason you would still pay taxes on that amount even if you dont get it.

[astral]

Only your employer can apply for a work permit for you.

You cannot do it yourself, unless you own a suitable company.

[thaiphoon]

There are regulations that falangs need to make minmum salaries. Im from the USA and my accountant says this is 60K per month.

she said weather I actually receive this amount or not we still need to pay tax on this amount to meet with govt regulations on minimum salary requirements. There have been a few months I did not take this much as I wanted to make sure my employees get paid instead of me. So I guess that would be one reason you would still pay taxes on that amount even if you dont get it.

There are regulations relating to minimum salary if you are on 12 month extension of stay, and they are detailed in exhibit A linked to section 2.1.2 of Police Order 777/2551. And for US citizen the minimum salary is 50k/month.

[Tywais]

There are regulations relating to minimum salary if you are on 12 month extension of stay, and they are detailed in exhibit A linked to section 2.1.2 of Police Order 777/2551. And for US citizen the minimum salary is 50k/month.

Just to add to that and that not all positions have that requirement. Teaching or school/university positions do not.

[monty]

If not planning to use your WP to obtain a 1 year extension (you might for example have a 1 year extension based on marriage), the minimum accepted salary is for the labor department to decide.

For managerial functions (most frequent job description seems to be general manager of a Co.,Ltd) the generally accepted minimum is 30,000 to 35,000 Baht.

For other functions it is very well possible they accept lower salaries. If I remember correctly Sunbelt Asia obtained WP's on a declared salary as low as 6000 Baht!

You only pay tax on whatever amount you declare to the tax office. You even can get away with declaring lower then the salary stated on your WP application, however the labor department will likely deny to extend your WP when it expires after it checks your tax statements!

[monty]

There are regulations relating to minimum salary if you are on 12 month extension of stay, and they are detailed in exhibit A linked to section 2.1.2 of Police Order 777/2551. And for US citizen the minimum salary is 50k/month.

Just to add to that and that not all positions have that requirement. Teaching or school/university positions do not.

If I remember correctly, journalists have different minimum salary as well.

[Mario2008]

There are regulations relating to minimum salary if you are on 12 month extension of stay, and they are detailed in exhibit A linked to section 2.1.2 of Police Order 777/2551. And for US citizen the minimum salary is 50k/month.

Just to add to that and that not all positions have that requirement. Teaching or school/university positions do not.

If I remember correctly, journalists have different minimum salary as well.

The mimimum income requirement is only for an extension of stay under rule 2.1, as Thaiphoon pointed out. If you apply under another rule, the minimum income requirement doesn't come into effect. That's why teachers, journalist, entertainers etc. don't require a minimum income.

[Tywais]

That's why teachers, journalist, entertainers etc. don't require a minimum income.

Still not sure what you are saying. Full time university employees/lecturers/teachers on one year extensions, such as myself, are not required to meet that. Am I missing something in the above statement?

[Mario2008]

That's why teachers, journalist, entertainers etc. don't require a minimum income.

Still not sure what you are saying. Full time university employees/lecturers/teachers on one year extensions, such as myself, are not required to meet that. Am I missing something in the above statement?

I'm saying that only when you work for a company and get an extension of stay under rule 2.1 you need to have the required minimum income. A lot of jobs don't fall under rule 2.1, but under other rules. Theachers and journalists are two examples of that and don't have to meet the minimum income requirement. They get an extension of stay under 2.6 or 2.7 (teacher) or 2.12 (journalist).

If you don't get an extension of stay under 2.1, the minimum income requirement doesn't apply.

[Tywais]

I'm saying that only when you work for a company and get an extension of stay under rule 2.1 you need to have the required minimum income.

Thanks for the clarification, was getting a bit confused - which is not too difficult for me when it comes to Visas/WPs.

[Marvo]

I recently obtained my WP (consultant). I am MD of a small Thai company which now has (and pays tax for) 4 employees as I wished to apply for a WP. At the time of my application (Prachuap), the labour office had adopted and were using "extension of stay salary guidelines" as the salary rate benchmark for WP application. Consequently, the minimum salary I could state on my WP application was 50,000 baht.

This is where the confusion has been arising over the difference between "extension of stay" salary requirements and salary requirements for a WP application. This rule "adoption" by the labour dept. is nowhere written on any English language section of the Labour Department website, it just appears to be an unpublished labour dept. "internal guideline" revision.