Essentially I am making my way back permanently to Thailand next year (july). I'm joining up with some friends' company in bangkok and they'll officially hire me. They have 5 employees (8 if including them) and will be 3 years in business by the time I come.

Since they themselves have never done this sort of thing before, I thought I'll preempt it a bit by asking about it here. They're all Thai and I'm an American so they will have to get a WP for me. As far as I know the requirement still is 4 Thai per foreigner and need to have 2 million baht in the business and other things like having a salary of at least 50k (for the year extension).

My question is, what exactly would they need to do? and how much would getting the WP cost? Can I just hire someone there to help me with this to save them minimal work and how much would that cost? Will having this WP allow me to leave the country (for a company trip for example) with minimal issues? Do I need that WP to come in Thailand first or can I come in with a diff visa and then get the WP later on? Can I use WP as a reason to bring some goods into thailand without paying import tax? (basically a few servers).

Thanks for reading!

If they already have a work eprmit with the firm it seems to me that at this moment there are not enough Thai employers to employ a third foreigner.

A WP costs 3,100 baht per year. Having a Work Permit allows you to work, a visa allows you to travel to Thailand and a permisison to stay allows you to stay in Thailand. If you want to leave Thailand, you would need a re-entry permit to keep your permisison to stay in Thailand alive or start over with a new visa.

Depending on which country you will be comming to Thailand from you can get a non-B visa with an offer for employement from your friends their company and a letter from the company asking for a visa for you.

Once you get a 1 year extension of stay based on employement, you can import your household goods duty free. A couple of servers might be a problem, as they are not normally considered household items. A couple of computers would be no problem, if it really are two. % coputers would be a problem, as you can only import a reasonable amount of household goods.

The owners are all thai as OP says, no probs on number of thais to support one WP.

If they already have a work eprmit with the firm it seems to me that at this moment there are not enough Thai employers to employ a third foreigner.

A WP costs 3,100 baht per year. Having a Work Permit allows you to work, a visa allows you to travel to Thailand and a permisison to stay allows you to stay in Thailand. If you want to leave Thailand, you would need a re-entry permit to keep your permisison to stay in Thailand alive or start over with a new visa.

Depending on which country you will be comming to Thailand from you can get a non-B visa with an offer for employement from your friends their company and a letter from the company asking for a visa for you.

Once you get a 1 year extension of stay based on employement, you can import your household goods duty free. A couple of servers might be a problem, as they are not normally considered household items. A couple of computers would be no problem, if it really are two. % coputers would be a problem, as you can only import a reasonable amount of household goods.

Hi, as Mjo said they're all Thai so that part is covered. I am coming from the US so I suppose the non-B with offer employment sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the info about the re-entry. I figured there was something about that. How much is that? In that case then I'm looking at 3100 baht per year to stay in Thailand thru WP but everytime I leave, I will have to add the re-entry cost to my traveling cost.

As for the household duty free, that sounds great. Do I just pack my things and then wait til I get the 1 year extension and then have someone ship the goods to me? As for the household stuff, I actually don't have regular "PCs", just a macbook pro. I work as a sys admin (which I will also do in Thailand) so servers are what I have and I have a few in the house for "experiments" plus a rather large and heavy 4U media server with 20 drives. What do you think are my chances of convincing the import officials that these are legit household items? It would be great if I can bring 2 2U + my 4U media server. If I have to get rid of them I will be heartbroken.

This is a copy of the application procedures that I recently obtained from the Consulate in Houston. The cost of the single entry is $80, the regs indicate that they won't issue a multiple entry which is $200.

Non-Immigrant Visa

Documents Required:

- Passport or travel document valid for no less than 6 months

- One visa application form completely filled out and signed (signature must match that in

passport).

- Two passport-size photographs (2"x2") (photocopy or photo taken from Photostat will not

be accepted). Photographs must have a light color background with a full- face view of

the person without hat or dark glasses. Photos must be taken within 6 months of application

- A copy of recent bank statement or evidence of adequate finance ($500 per person and $1,000 per family)

Non –U.S. citizens must also provide the following:

- Copy of permanent resident alien card with employment verification or a copy of valid US

visa with employment verification letter

- If self-employed, copy of business license or business registration indicating the

applicant’s name

Purpose of Visit:

This type of visa is issued to applicants who wish to enter the Kingdom for the following purposes:

B – To work (single entry only) or to conduct business. In addition to the requirements above, applicants for a B visa must provide the following:

(1) Foreigners who wish to conduct business in Thailand must provide the following documents:-

· Letter from applicant’s company indicating the applicant’s position, length of employment, salary and purpose of visit(s) to Thailand

· Letter of invitation from trading or associated partners/ companies in Thailand Corporate documents of associated partners/companies in Thailand

.

This is a copy of the application procedures that I recently obtained from the Consulate in Houston. The cost of the single entry is $80, the regs indicate that they won't issue a multiple entry which is $200.

.

Hi, I really appreciate that thanks.

I was checking http://www.thaivisa.com/346.0.html and it looks like the re-entry fee is 1000 baht for a single and 3800 for multiple. Cheaper then I expected.

Looks like the major hurdle I'm going to run into is bringing some of my machines without it costing me an arm and a leg.

This is a copy of the application procedures that I recently obtained from the Consulate in Houston. The cost of the single entry is $80, the regs indicate that they won't issue a multiple entry which is $200.

.

Hi, I really appreciate that thanks.

I was checking http://www.thaivisa.com/346.0.html and it looks like the re-entry fee is 1000 baht for a single and 3800 for multiple. Cheaper then I expected.

Looks like the major hurdle I'm going to run into is bringing some of my machines without it costing me an arm and a leg.

The costs of the re-entry permit are 1000 baht single, 3800 baht multiple. I have no experience sending household effects to Thailand, but I have purchased items via the internet, laptops, tools, batteries, etc. I always had them shipped via USPS and only had to pay 7% VAT with no import duties. I've heard of others using Fedex or DHL and they were daught with high import duties. Maybe I was just lucky! You might try mailing one of your servers to your friend and see what happens.

It looks like I might be able to bring them back using a service like the following.

http://www.siaminternational.com/uscitizens.html

I can use the WP. Still not 100 percent sure on how custom official will view it.