Work Permit And Starting New Business

[seeker108]

Hi all,

I am getting ready to set up a Thai limited company and get my work permit on this basis and would like to hear from others who have gone through either or both of these processes in Chiang Mai to know how easy or hard it is in Chiang Mai. Also it would be good to have any advice or tips in this regard based on your experience locally.

Greg, the owner of Sunbelt Asia down in BKK has been extremely helpful with the basic information of what is needed in general in Thailand and now, knowing that I will be setting up in CNX, has referred me to their CNX office for help with the actual processing. If the CNX office turns out to be even half as helpful/knowledgeable as Greg then I will be using their services to help with most of the setting up process.

It would still be nice to know what I and others might be able to do on their own to reduce some of the expense and what is not worth the trouble to do on your own and better to have a legal firm handle. The Sunbelt Asia processing fees seem more than reasonable for the time involved, except maybe getting the work permit, though I have no idea how complicated this process may be.

As a prliminary to coming back for this purpose I am about to receive my non-imm 'B' visa from one of the honorary consulates in the US. Doing this is quite easy and can be done easily by oneself. In addition to all of the usual documents for an 'O' visa you simply need to provide a letter on your own business letterhead stating that you are going to Thailand to look at establishing a business there.

As I go through the process of getting set up I will in turn keep all here informed on what I find.

seeker

[meadish_sweetball]

The work permit procedure is the most complicated, because it involves several trips back and forth to city hall, and as a beginner it is easy to misunderstand and/or misinterpret requirements (now and then you may also be given misleading information by the government employees who do not always know what they are talking about - the turnover of employees is rather high, and as a result their work experience leaves a few things to be desired), which leads to even more trips back and forth for you, and more documents that need to be copied, signed, stamped and physically presented at the Labour Department.

It is definitely possible to handle the process yourself. However, in the end only you can decide what your time and peace of mind is worth. I suggest that if you are busy anyway, you should hire a professional.

This goes for most aspects of the whole process, in fact.

[seeker108]

The work permit procedure is the most complicated, because it involves several trips back and forth to city hall, and as a beginner it is easy to misunderstand and/or misinterpret requirements (now and then you may also be given misleading information by the government employees who do not always know what they are talking about - the turnover of employees is rather high, and as a result their work experience leaves a few things to be desired), which leads to even more trips back and forth for you, and more documents that need to be copied, signed, stamped and physically presented at the Labour Department.

It is definitely possible to handle the process yourself. However, in the end only you can decide what your time and peace of mind is worth. I suggest that if you are busy anyway, you should hire a professional.

This goes for most aspects of the whole process, in fact.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for this reply Meadish! I had a feeling there must be some convoluted aspect to the process since the fee for this (at least in BKK) is more than double the fee for registering the business. I was hoping that maybe in CNX it might flow more easily. It seems not.

seeker

[Guest DragonStar]

Hello seeker108

Welcome to your local forum. I've browsed through that "O to B or .." thread, you started on the general TV Visa-forum and know that I can't add much to the knowledge you evidently already have. Besides, I'm only a small step ahead of you with respect to the local issue... (But - as taken from what I've gathered from your writing, so far - more than just a small step ahead of you with respect to having an actual, physical CM-based platform for a company).

I'm mainly grabbing the pencil, because we have a few things in common - we're both getting near to the point where we will form a company in Chiang Mai with the main incentitive to be legally allowed to take our hands out of our pocket without money in it. We're both concidering Sunbelts local office for the paperwork, we're rather unlikely to be able to handle ourselves (at least not the first time around) - but we don't mind to do some legwork with respect to the less complicated paper-matters.

As far as I have gathered, the various Chiang Mai offices (imm, wp, etc.) are not too bad to deal with. CM has a large community of rather well-adjusted expats (mainly owed to the Universities) and at the same time the majority of expat beerbar-dropouts don't go for CM, but prefer BK, Pattaya, Phuket. Those two things make thing easier for the rest of us here in CM.

Personly, I'm certain that I can handle my first 1-year extension of my current non-o, spouse-support visa all by myself (thanks to some experienced guys on TV). However, I'll take the advice of Swedish Meattroll as granted and let the professionals handle my wp and also the company formation. However, I'll make sure that whatever "deal" I make with the professionals includes English translations of all relevant document (so that I maybe can handle things myself, next time around)...

[paulnuek]

Hi all,

I am getting ready to set up a Thai limited company and get my work permit on this basis and would like to hear from others who have gone through either or both of these processes in Chiang Mai to know how easy or hard it is in Chiang Mai.  Also it would be good to have any advice or tips in this regard based on your experience locally. 

Greg, the owner of Sunbelt Asia down in BKK has been extremely helpful with the basic information of what is needed in general in Thailand and now, knowing that I will be setting up in CNX, has referred me to their CNX office for help with the actual processing.  If the CNX office turns out to be even half as helpful/knowledgeable as Greg then I will be using their services to help with most of the setting up process.

It would still be nice to know what I and others might be able to do on their own to reduce some of the expense and what is not worth the trouble to do on your own and better to have a legal firm handle. The Sunbelt Asia processing fees seem more than reasonable for the time involved, except maybe getting the work permit, though I have no idea how complicated this process may be.

As a prliminary to coming back for this purpose I am about to receive my non-imm 'B' visa from one of the honorary consulates in the US.  Doing this is quite easy and can be done easily by oneself.  In addition to all of the usual documents for an 'O' visa you simply need to provide a letter on your own business letterhead stating that you are going to Thailand to look at establishing a business there. 

As I go through the process of getting set up I will in turn keep all here informed on what I find.

seeker

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good luck.

I hope it all works out.

[ThaiPauly]

I would have to agree that greg at SBA is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in these matters, you are on the right track.

Good Luck with whatever it is you will be doing here

TP

[seeker108]

Thanks gentlemen.

I have received a formal proposal from the CM office of Sunbelt Asia. All seems quite reasonable and as expected. I am now awaiting a response to some clarification questions.