How many thai staff

[johninbkk2000]

Could somebody please let me know latest ruling on how many Thai staff you need in a company to grant 2 workpermits for foreigners. Also is it possible on a Visa O (marriage) to apply for a workpermit ?

Many thanks,

John

[Indo-Siam]

I most cases (exceptions being schools, and certain professional and consultantcy practices), for a Thai Private Co. Ltd., the Labor Department rules specify that for each foreign work permit, you must have four Thai employees, plus 2 million baht in paid-in capital.  Plus you must be paid a salary of at least a certain amount.

For a new company, they accept identity documents for the required number of workers, plus a chart or list of employees that specifies their job position, and their monthly salary.  This is all you need to get the initial work permit for a new company.

If it is an already established company, or come time for renewal of your work permit, they require social fund pay-in receipts for four Thai employees per employed foreigner - and they will only count as qualifying employees those employees who have had social funds paid in for at least the preceding three months - last minute hires are disallowed.

Concerning the "O" visa, you are eligible to apply for a work permit based on an entry permit granted on the basis of a Class O visa - that is how I got mine.  You are also then able to get your entry permit extended for a year based on employment - that is my present status.

Good luck!

Steve

Indo-Siam

www.indo-siam.com

[opalhort]

.....for a Thai Private Co. Ltd., the Labor Department rules specify that for each foreign work permit, you must have four Thai employees, plus 2 million baht in paid-in capital.  Plus you must be paid a salary of at least a certain amount......

Hi Indo-Siam,

you are probably right as far as the rules are concerned, but here is something different based on my own situation:

our company (Co.Ltd.) was established 16 years ago with me (German) holding 15% shares and six Thai shareholders holding the rest.

Now being married for 10 years to a Thai national, the latest workpermit requirements (renewed April 2003 in Bangkok) are:

1 Million B. paid-up capital.

at least 7 (yes seven) Thai employees and all of them have to be registered with the social security fund for at least 3 months!!!

income not fixed, but have to show evidence of at least 18,000 Baht personal income tax payment per year (ภ.ง.ด. 90/91).

Anybody reading the above post plaese DO NOT take this as a rule! I am only stating my own experience!

Regards

opalhort

[Indo-Siam]

Hi -

There is a specific page in your blue work permit booklet where the number of required Thai employees (to support that work permit) is listed - it is a typed-in entry on a small line that appears in the middle of a Thai sentence - and that sentence is the only thing on that page.  The entry on that line in my booklet is "4".  In your booklet, it must be "7".  I understand that the number was higher in the old days.  I can state with absolute certainty that the number in my booklet (and what they required me to document in May 2002) was four.  I now have seven Thai employees, so it is a moot point for me.

I have never taken the time to personally look at the work permit booklets of my clients - but we have consistently gotten work permits with exactly four Thais documented for one work permit.  We have never actually processed two work permits for one company simultaneously, so I cannot attest to the methodology used in that case.

Concerning the required pay-in, in fact, there has not recently been a requirement to document actual pay-in of cash to a company account.  What has been required is a statement signed by a director stating that 2 million baht has been paid in - per each work permit.  I also understand that this amount used to be lower.

The official MOL site for work permits is at:

http://www.doe.go.th/workpermit/index.html    They clearly have an intention to post an English version, but that link is currently not operational.  My ability to read Thai is not good enough to wade through all this.  The site appears to show very many references to dates of changes in rules.

I suspect that once a company has a work permit for one of its principals, the rules are "grandfathered" for that company, for its ongoing operations.

My firm's most recent submissions (in Bangkok) for both work permit renewals and one-year employment-based entry permit extensions was - yesterday.  But the work permit was for a company that had significantly more than four Thais per its lone foreigner, and it also had 3 million baht paid in capital.

Final comment.  I did correspond several months ago with someone on this borad who obtained a work permit in Pattaya for a new company with only one million baht company capitalization.  My experiemce suggestthat this is impossible - but he did it.  So - there appears to be some room for discretion - at least in some jurisdictions.

Steve

Indo-Siamm

www.indo-siam.com

[opalhort]

Hi,

number of Thai employees:

yes it is stated under "conditions" on page 19 as 7 (Seven) Thai employees. I'm up for WP renewal in April '04 and will try then to find out if this is still a must.

paid-up capital:

I did have a WP from the late '80s to the early '90s based on a paid-up capital of 1M Baht. Lost this WP after five years because the Co. did not match the profit requirement of the Labour department, in fact had losses for two years, and was told the Co. could no longer afford to employ a foreigner (I was not married at that time).

Later the rules changed and 2M paid-up was required but when I applied for a new WP (after getting married) I was told that since I'm married to a Thai national who is also an executive and shareholder of the Co. 1M paid-up is sufficient.

NOTE: I did not see any of this in writing! It is only my experience in Bangkok!

But...it appears that the Labour Department is now more tough regarding income/profit of a company. (!?) need a lot of documents if the Co. is not doing too well. (!?)

Regards

opalhort

About us