Hi all,

Thanks for an excellent informative forum.

My situation is as follows - My South African employer has sent my to Thailand to work for a year. I have the non immigrant B VISA and invitation letter from Thai company.

In terms of being able to stay here for the year, what is the best option?

1) Do I apply for a 1 year extension? For this option do I need a work permit as I am not employed by a Thai company?

2) Do I do multiple 90 day exit/re-entries? Do I need a work permit for this option? As a South African can I do this in a neighbouring country? (i.e. not have to go back to SA).

Sorry for a lot of questions but I am finding things a bit confusing.

Basic is if you do any work in Thailand you must have a work permit.

If you qualify for extension of stay then you should do so. If not you will have to cross a border every 90 days (if you have multi entry visa) or leave and return on a new B visa if not (which may not be easy to obtain). In any case you do need the work permit.

I see that the documentation for the work pemit asks for a lot of information from the "employer" - in my case would I provide the information from my forign company? Would I also need to pay tax in Thailand as I already pay in my home country?