Hello everybody,

Not sure if this is the right forum, but couldn't find another. I'm studying in Thailand at the moment and have a student visa. My question is: can I start a company in Thailand been here with this kind of visa? Or the students are not supposed to work, and can not obtain a work permit? Do I have to finish my studies and apply for another kind of visa in order to set up a company?

Thanx in advance for any feedback on this

You can set up a company on any kind of visa!

Remember, you can only have 49% of the shares (apart from in some exceptions), with 51% of the total shares has to be held by Thais. At least 3 shareholders are needed.

If you want a work permit, 2 million Baht registered capital is needed, and you'll need 4 Thai employees with social security payments done for the last 3 months.

You cannot get a work permit issued while on an ED visa, but you can apply for one. Once the application is in, and you have all the paperwork, you can travel to a neighboring country and get the non immigrant B visa. Once you re-enter on that visa, the labor department can proceed and issue you your work permit.

Studying you can do on any visa!

You can set up a company on any visa but you cannot obtain a work permit on Non-ED visa. You would need to obtain Non-B visa from consulate abroad to facilitate issue of work permit - requiring 2M baht registered share capital and normally 4 Thai employees (but can sometimes be less for new business start ups). You can only own a maximum of 49% of the registered share capital, so you will need Thai shareholders too for the remaining 51%. The consulate will require Form WP3 receipt from the labour department confirming you have lodged your application for a work permit to issue Non-B visa. You would have to do 90 day border runs for 2 years+ until the company can produce 2 years audited accounts (and you meeting minimum salary requirements -50k/month for westerner, but varies on nationality) to enable you to apply for extension of stay based on employment. You could continue your studies using Non-B visa.

Thank you monty and thaiphoon for the replies. Very helpful info. I know I can study with any visa but I didn't knew that I can set up a company with any kind of visa. Now I know I can start the process.