1 Year Stay In Thailand

[gerbis]

I'm 21 years old Australian. What are the best options for me to stay in Thailand for 1 year? I will be working over the internet while in Thailand.

[Mario2008]

working over the internet while in Thailand is illegal and would require you to set up a Thai company, with at least 4 Thai employees. reason why many people in your position chose to do it illegaly.

You don't give much information. I guess you don't have any Thai friends? If not, the best choise might be to go and study in Thailand. The requirement is to study at least 4 hours a week. A Thai language school for studying Thai would do, but you could also go to a university. Above you see a few banners from language schools, where you can get some more information.

[lopburi3]

The only legal option for working in Thailand is to obtain a work permit and a visa entry that allows work. There is no direct path for overseas computer work and to be legal would require a Thai company that could obtain a work permit for your work and is unlikely to be feasible for a one year stay.

That said OZ has a work/study type program available with Thailand but do not have any idea of the details (and it probably does not fit your situation however) but you might want to check that out.

[magmur]

Hi you can apply for a 60day 2entries tourist visa in yr country, with that you can stay here for 60days and have to report to the local immigration office here for another 30days extension, so a total of 90 days. After 90days you have to do a border run which is offered here by many travel agents, usually a half day trip for around 50US$ incl assistance at the border. After that you can repeat the 60/30 days deal but you have to leave and obtain a new visa like that after 180 days in total. Many people from here take the short flight to Vientiane in Laos to obtain their new 60 days 2 entries over there with a 1 night stay there.

You cannot do any kind of work or promotion with this kind of visa, not even help yr friends to refurbish a house or s.th. but I guess nobody will check what you're doing on the Internet.

[Mario2008]

Some information about the working/holiday visa can be found on the Thai embassy webiste in Canberra: http://canberra.thaiembassy.org/doc/info/v...oliday_visa.pdf

[gerbis]

About working illegally...what is the chance of getting caught? I'm talking about AUD800/month, not alot, and certaintly not enough to hire anybody else. I can't see how they could find out if i say i receive money from my parents every month...

[Mario2008]

I can't see immigration or labour department raiding a house to check if someone is working over the internet. The problem is more that the Thai law doesn't provide for this situation and therefor it is illegal.

[thaiphoon]

If this is the path you want to follow then keep your head down and don't tell anyone what you are doing. As said, there is no provision for this kind of work under Thai law.

[doomster]

About working illegally...what is the chance of getting caught? I'm talking about AUD800/month, not alot, and certaintly not enough to hire anybody else. I can't see how they could find out if i say i receive money from my parents every month...

why ask then?

[Spoonman]

I can't see how they could find out if i say i receive money from my parents every month...

Another that thinks the Thai's are stupid, its people like you that when caught, make it harder for those of us who pay the piper and do it legally.

[Jingthing]

I can't see how they could find out if i say i receive money from my parents every month...

Another that thinks the Thai's are stupid, its people like you that when caught, make it harder for those of us who pay the piper and do it legally.

No. People like him do not get "caught" because there is no active enforcement about such activities in people's private homes. Only if he gets involved in hiring Thais (or sells his services to Thai customers) in relation to his business or if his business is illegal (such as porn producing) would there be any interest whatsoever from the authorities. If you don't believe me about the lack of enforcement in such private internet activities, do a search for this forum and find even ONE such report of an arrest over several years of this site. I bet you cannot find even one. No, I am not talking about small scale export operations -- they do actively interface with the local Thai economy, so you will attract legal problems with those.

BTW, technically by the definition of what is strictly illegal in Thailand, a foreigner buying or selling some overseas equities or bonds online in Thailand would be called illegally working without a permit. Same difference, nobody cares!

Another thing people always mention. Be discreet. I agree. However, I am not at all convinced if some enemy reported you, hey that farang is playing around with his computer in his apartment, that they would even bother to follow up on such a report. I have never heard of anyone reporting such a case either.

I agree it is important that people know what they are doing is technically illegal. No argument with that. I am not saying there is no risk. I am saying there is almost no risk.

The Thais are clearly VERY SERIOUS about their work permit laws when it involves a business that is happening in the local Thai economy. They don't want a foreigner doing a job a Thai could do here, taking food out of Thai mouths. However, these private computer operations that have nothing to do with Thailand except for the computer being in Thailand are illegal in my opinion because it is too complicated to bother to make a way to make it technically legal.

Edited December 7, 2009 by Jingthing

[gerbis]

((nested quotes removed - lopburi3))

Thankyou. The work i'm doing is computer programming and would only require a few hours a day, and only a small amount of it would require me to be on the internet. Earning money coming from outside of Thailand, and being spent in Thailand...wouldn't think they would have much of a problem with it.

[jazzbo]

There are many young males Thais here roughly your age that play computer games for 20 hours a day... just make sure that, while you are programming, that you have some kill-the-terrorist game loaded on your machine that you can pull up in case anybody really wants to take a look... and never say the word WORK.

[Gats]

Yeah i've said this in another post before. The rules are there to protect thai jobs. I'm not aware of any countries that have caught up with this situation and besides, if you're working online or "telecommuting" with a private network connection, you are technically working in your home country... try getting clear cut laws about that on border control.

Simple answer is they have the right to make a judgement but won't if you are not clearly doing business in thailand. Go the tourist route and make sure there is enough money in your account for a few weeks at a time to cover your stays when you apply. See if you can borrow a buffer of 1k or more and leave it as a minimum in your account. If asked, say you get parental support and are still getting paid for freelance work you did before you came. When i was freelance many people took over 6 months to pay up.

I'm a strong believer that these laws seek to create a black and white where there is a grey, but the spirit of them is to protect thai people and to prevent you being broke here and getting deported at their expense, not stop you spending your money earnt elsewhere here.