Looking At Starting A Business In Thailand

[pimpin]

Looking at starting a business in the next year or 2 in thailand and will be looking at employing staff etc.

What i would like to find out is what visa would i need and how long would it be before i can obtain a work permit to work myself?

I am 39 years old from australia but want to stay in thailand on a more permanent basis.

Is this possible?

Cheers

Darren

[grantbkk]

If you want to be a millionaire in Thailand bring two million. Don't invest a Dollar more than you are willing to lose.

Good Luck!

[pimpin]

If you want to be a millionaire in Thailand bring two million. Don't invest a Dollar more than you are willing to lose.

Good Luck!

Not looking at making a million bucks and in my post did not say that!

Maybe read what i asked again.

For me im more interested in the lifestyle not being a millionaire..

[YanTree]

If you want to be a millionaire in Thailand bring two million. Don't invest a Dollar more than you are willing to lose.

Good Luck!

What does this have to do with his question?

OP,

Think to do it perfectly legally you are going to need to setup a Thai company with a 51% Thai shareholder. If you employ 4 Thai's you can get yourself a work permit and stay here using that.

You could also do the investment Visa requiring a 10mm Baht investment, there are restrictions on how that money can be invested. This can be renewed every year. I don't believe this gives you the right to work in Thailand, other than researching investments, or to hire employees - though I imagine there are people doing so with much more dubious Visa's than this.

ED Visa is good for a long stay without leaving the country - you absolutely cannot work legally using it, nor hire employee's - though there are probably people doing it. I know a lot of teachers are here on ED Visa's.

Short of that you could just get the standard 60-day tourist visa everybody else gets, extend it for 30 days and leave the country every three months. Again, cannot legally work or hire people - but I imagine lots of people do it anyway.

I don't think I missed any other options further up the 'totem pole' - but maybe others can assist.

Good luck.

Needless to say, they do not make it easy for foreigners to come here and setup shop.

[pimpin]

If you want to be a millionaire in Thailand bring two million. Don't invest a Dollar more than you are willing to lose.

Good Luck!

What does this have to do with his question?

OP,

Think to do it perfectly legally you are going to need to setup a Thai company with a 51% Thai shareholder. If you employ 4 Thai's you can get yourself a work permit and stay here using that.

You could also do the investment Visa requiring a 10mm Baht investment, there are restrictions on how that money can be invested. This can be renewed every year. I don't believe this gives you the right to work in Thailand, other than researching investments, or to hire employees - though I imagine there are people doing so with much more dubious Visa's than this.

ED Visa is good for a long stay without leaving the country - you absolutely cannot work legally using it, nor hire employee's - though there are probably people doing it. I know a lot of teachers are here on ED Visa's.

Short of that you could just get the standard 60-day tourist visa everybody else gets, extend it for 30 days and leave the country every three months. Again, cannot legally work or hire people - but I imagine lots of people do it anyway.

I don't think I missed any other options further up the 'totem pole' - but maybe others can assist.

Good luck.

Needless to say, they do not make it easy for foreigners to come here and setup shop.

Thanks for your reply YanTree very helpful..

[pimpin]

With the 60 day tourist visa and 30 day extension before leaving the country every 90 days can i do this over and over again or is there only so many times this can be done?

Thanks

Darren

[richardt1808]

hi,

Some good points and advice above, but let me add something for you to think about:

I'm not sure if you have holidayed here or actually experienced living here, but unless you have actually lived here and gotten used to the culture, I would think very carefully about setting up here on a permanent basis - which probably wont end up being permanent with all the restrictions and moving goalposts. Don't think only in terms of your business; you also need to think in terms of culture and living generally. Thailand may seem rosy on first glance but there are mountains of things to overcome in terms of language, culture, friendships and outlook. Good relationships are very hard to find and running a business also has numerous hidden pitfalls and risks. In order not to put the cart before the horse, as it were, I would give it a go living here for a while first and don't rush to setting up the business part right away if you can help it.

If you are simply thinking of getting away from where you are to a quieter and more relaxed place, you should probably consider Malaysia and Philippines before you think about Thailand. They both have a far more friendly and open attitude towards foreigners wanting to open businesses and their English is way better, so at least you wont have the enormous language barrier.

If you have considered all the above and still fixed on Thailand, there is a phrase mentioned above which should always be first and foremost in your every thought: Don't invest anything more than what you can afford to lose. Do yourself a huge favour and read as much as possible in this forum before making a decision. The posts here are a treasure trove of advice and comment which tells the unvarnished story of life here. There is good and bad - you just need to be sure that you can live with the bad parts

[Ayutthaya69]

With the 60 day tourist visa and 30 day extension before leaving the country every 90 days can i do this over and over again or is there only so many times this can be done?

Thanks

Darren

hi if you wants stay thailand go for ED Visa no need to do a border run you have to go school 4 hours a week and everry 90 days you have to go immigration and paid 1900 baht or Work Permi teacher you have to do a course some TEFL i think the course its 6 weeks up to you gl

[YanTree]

With the 60 day tourist visa and 30 day extension before leaving the country every 90 days can i do this over and over again or is there only so many times this can be done?

Thanks

Darren

Hypothetically you can do it forever and there are people who have been doing it for years - though some people have started getting red stamps in their passport's saying they can't do it anymore and I believe some people may have even been denied (could be wrong about that last part). So I would not consider this a reliable long term option - this forum is definitely the place to read up for the latest news.

[Penkoprod]

The above is the kind of advice that causes Immigration to have crackdowns every now and then

Tourist visas are for........... TOURIST purposes

Ed visas are for ........ EDUCATION purposes

As the OP is neither a tourist or a student, then its a BUSINESS visa he requires

All info needed is HERE!

Penkoprod