Owning A Business, Capital And Work Permit Confusion

[lnicholas]

Hi All,

I need a bit of info clearing up if possible and any info by people who have 'been there, done that' is very much appreciated!

So, the situation. . . . myself and my partner (both farang) are looking at the possibility of setting up a dive centre/bar/restaurant in Thailand. The more we research, the more we come across seemingly experienced people saying 'don't do it!', but that is by-the-by and a separate issue we are looking into. At this point I am looking into the legality issues involved with setting up this venture. I will be aiming to meet with a Lawyer at the end of this month, but I am trying to find out as much info in the meantime, but the problem I am coming across is that no-one seems to know anything for sure as all the info seems to be constantly changing!

What I would like to know is;

- 2mil thai baht capital per work permit. So we would need 2 work permits, which is 4mil baht, which is around 80,000GBP! I read somewhere that you never used to have to show the capital, just your word was enough, but now you have to have it as a mixture of physical money in the bank and assets? Does anyone know more on this?

- Per work permit you must employ 4 thai staff. So we would need 8. Again, I read that in your first year as a new company you only need employ 2 staff per work permit. Is this true? We aim to only be a small company, and don't think we would be able to employ 8 staff plus pay ourselves a salary.

- If we bought an existing dive centre that was already set up with working capital for 1 work permit, to get a 2nd one do we just need to show 2mil baht, or do they need to see the full whack again? Basically, how much easier is it to take over a business than starting from scratch?

- If our business was a dive centre/bar/restaurant would we be able to get a WP that allowed us to guide/teach diving and also to run the bar/restaurant, as we were the business owners?

- If we bought a restaurant could we then add a Dive Centre to it, or do we have to go through the whole process of setting up a new business?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. Most articles we come across are aimed at people who have a Thai wife/GF and will be putting the business solely in their name. We understand that you must have thai shareholders, but for us they will be silent shareholders and play no part in the business. It does seem like they make it very hard for farangs to come in and set up.

Thanks again and we hope to receive some responses soon

[Soutpeel]

1. You will certainly need 8 Thai employee's - 4 per WP - if married to Thai national requirement would be half

2. THB 2.0 millon is captialisation, (ie not all in cash) but have read somewhere they want to see at least THB 1.0 mil in cash, therefore would need to show THB 2.0 mil in cash for two WP

3. Existing business with 1 WP already approved, you would need to show 4 X thai employee's + addtional captialisation

4. the restaurant and adding a diving business to it ?.....yes could be done

Also on the work permits..you can be a business owner/investor and not require a WP, but the minute you start working in the business you need the WP

[DocW]

Soutpeel: I'm sorry to say but you are wrong in many ways.

1) I don't know where the OP or you are getting this "per WP"' idea?

2) I have experience and opened a textile company here employing 22 Thai's. A WP has nothing to do with how many employees you have.

3) different businesses involve different amounts of employees required under Thai law.

4) My business as will the OP's, requires that a Thai National will hold 50% share, your lawyer will (should) hold 1 share and you will have 49% share.

5) Your WP will be issued to you for being the Business owner and nothing more. YOU cannot work in the restaurant/dive shop etc as I cannot sew clothes. All you can do is far as work is oversee the business.

6) 2 million capital in cash is not required as your lawyer will put that up as bond so to speak because he holds 1 share. I did not put 1 cetang for capital.

7) Getting a second WP for your farang wife will be difficult but your lawyer van deal with that. I also recommend using your lawyers Accountant as your accountant also.

8) You cannot as I said before just add other businesses as that would be a new tax revenue issue and would need to register that business also.

9) My lawyer charged me about 70,000 THB to set up my business including tax id and card, company stamp, etc. His accountant did all my accounting for a fixed 3000 b per month which in my case was a good deal. You should also consider health insurance for your employees but not necessary.

10) After you have established your business and everything that goes along with it the WP office and the Government office will most likely visit your business to make sure it is real before accepting you and issuing ANY WP. This is not like the old days here where people opened fake businesses and got awY with it just for WP's.

[Soutpeel]

Soutpeel: I'm sorry to say but you are wrong in many ways.

1) I don't know where the OP or you are getting this "per WP"' idea?

It comes from directly thai law...actually..as do a number of my other comments.... and suspect some of the infomation you have given is incorect as well as regards the formation of a Thai limited company.

I cant really be bother answering you point for point...please go and read the relevant laws as formation of Thai limited companies and associated WP requirements

As regards point 8...why would you need to register another business ?.....you can ammend the articles of the company to include the "new services provided"