Degree Needed For Non-Teaching Work Permit Application?

[Darbar]

Hi all,

I'm looking to find out if you need a degree to apply for a non-teaching work permit?

I don't have a degree, but would like to apply for a wok permit. I understand I will need the non immigrant B visa, which I can't see being a problem as my Thai gf has a company (which I would like to work for)

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Darbar

[Gone]

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

When I was hired for a Thai Oil company they asked for my degree when they applied for my WP but am not really sure if it was necessary or not.

Keep in mind there is a list of jobs that expats can do in Thailand and if you do not fall into one of those categories then she cannot hire you.

You can get that list by searching here in this site.

[Darbar]

Thanks for the clarification, I was hoping that was the case. The position would be to do with website design & graphic design so I think it should be ok, but I will hunt that list down to be sure.

Thanks again.

Darbar

[PoorSucker]

Your gf's company must be capitalized for 2 million baht and have 4 Thai employees per foreigner.

[Lite Beer]

Prohibitive Types of Work

[Darbar]

Thanks for the help!

Just a quick question about the capitalisation for 2 million baht - I heard somewhere that the full 2 million doesn't need to be paid up straight away. Does anyone know what the rules with this are? I've struggled to find an exact explanation of how much is needed up front.

Thanks again for all of the input,

Darbar

[digitalchromakey]

Just a quick question about the capitalisation for 2 million baht - I heard somewhere that the full 2 million doesn't need to be paid up straight away. Does anyone know what the rules with this are? I've struggled to find an exact explanation of how much is needed up front.

When you form or expand a company you pay a fee to register the capitalisation at so many thousand THB per million.

Over the ensuing years you then need to show that capitalisation gradually being realised as assets via your annual accounts.

[gleeglee]

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

When I was hired for a Thai Oil company they asked for my degree when they applied for my WP but am not really sure if it was necessary or not.

Keep in mind there is a list of jobs that expats can do in Thailand and if you do not fall into one of those categories then she cannot hire you.

You can get that list by searching here in this site.

Sorry but you are wrong you need a degree if someone is to employ you or you are doing a job that a Thai person cannot do and his wifes company must be valued at 2 million baht if she is to offer a workpermit, This is fact as we spent 5 months trying to get a WP for a relation of mine and always the problem was the lack of education, We had no choice but to forget getting the work permit.

[gleeglee]

Sorry without a degree your choosen field of graffic design and website design you will not get a workpermit, and your wifes company should be valued at 2 million baht and she has to be paying social welfare for 4 Thai employees at 5% of the salary. You have to show that you are more qualified than a Thai person in the same field as you are potentially depriving a Thai person of a job.

[QED]

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

When I was hired for a Thai Oil company they asked for my degree when they applied for my WP but am not really sure if it was necessary or not.

Keep in mind there is a list of jobs that expats can do in Thailand and if you do not fall into one of those categories then she cannot hire you.

You can get that list by searching here in this site.

Sorry but you are wrong you need a degree if someone is to employ you or you are doing a job that a Thai person cannot do and his wifes company must be valued at 2 million baht if she is to offer a workpermit, This is fact as we spent 5 months trying to get a WP for a relation of mine and always the problem was the lack of education, We had no choice but to forget getting the work permit.

Sorry but you are wrong. I have 2 expats working for me who do not have degrees.

For certain occupations it would be expected, but only a requirement for teachers.

[kingstonkid]

DARBAR

With the amount of confusion i would suggest that your wife contact her lawyer. Mine did not mention that I needed a degree to start a business only the 2 million baht and 2 employees as well as 2 directors that are not Thai.

From what i understand the 2 mill can be cash and can also be equipment and proprietary info.

If it helps i am dealing with Siam legal and to sit down only cost 4 thousand and get the real answer.

[CWMcMurray]

Like with many other things... it is up to the discression of the officer in charge, which in this case will be the labor department covering the area your company is located in.

When I got my WP a few years ago, they did not require to see myt degree ( I have one, but never submitted it).

We just hired a new employee (foreign national) and this time around the labour department advised that we must submit the original degree before they could issue a WP.

He has it, but it is back in UK... Labour department finally agreed to issue WP3 so that he could go get his visa along with submission of copy of degree and promise to submit original to them within 1 months time.

Moreal of the story... check with the local labour department who will be responsible for issuing the WP.

[digitalchromakey]

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

Sorry but you are wrong you need a degree if someone is to employ you or you are doing a job that a Thai person cannot do and his wifes company must be valued at 2 million baht if she is to offer a workpermit, This is fact as we spent 5 months trying to get a WP for a relation of mine and always the problem was the lack of education, We had no choice but to forget getting the work permit.

A degree is not a necessity for non teaching jobs; I know of several non graduates with Thai WPs in my locality.

However proof of appropriate professional membership/qualifications may well be required; this per se is by no means unreasonable.

What Labour are looking for is the reasons why a foriegner should be employed instead of a Thai, so if for example the company is selling to foreigners then the employee being of the same nationality and culture may in itself swing the case for a job say as a sales manager.

Company Capitalisation must be 2 Million THB per WP for each foreigner employed in lieu of a Thai, it is registered by payment of a fee to the Commerce Dept, it is not the same as cash invested.

Edited February 13, 2012 by digitalchromakey

[fire and ice]

Just a quick question about the capitalisation for 2 million baht - I heard somewhere that the full 2 million doesn't need to be paid up straight away. Does anyone know what the rules with this are? I've struggled to find an exact explanation of how much is needed up front.

When you form or expand a company you pay a fee to register the capitalisation at so many thousand THB per million.

Over the ensuing years you then need to show that capitalisation gradually being realised as assets via your annual accounts.

Capitalisation and assets are not he same thing. The very very first thing you get taught in Accounting 1 (Or "Acounting 101" as Americans call it) is that Equity(ie: capitalisation) = Assets minus Liabilities. So you'd have to show you have Equity building up, not assets alone. You could attempt tp call it net assets but that is a misleading term.

[fxe1200]

The company who wanted to hire me, had to show their balance sheets for the last five years, a drawing, where the company actually is located at, plus another million THB, as the registred capital was only one million THB. Tht happened in Songkhla, and might be different in some place els. Who knows?

[anon467367354]

From looking that the post, this "rule" seems to only apply to Caucasians aka "farang". There are many foreigners in Thailand that have work permits that are doing jobs just about any Thai person can do like construction and housekeeper jobs. Looks like a pretty racist rule to me.

[digitalchromakey]

Just a quick question about the capitalisation for 2 million baht - I heard somewhere that the full 2 million doesn't need to be paid up straight away. Does anyone know what the rules with this are? I've struggled to find an exact explanation of how much is needed up front.

When you form or expand a company you pay a fee to register the capitalisation at so many thousand THB per million.

Over the ensuing years you then need to show that capitalisation gradually being realised as assets via your annual accounts.

Capitalisation and assets are not he same thing. The very very first thing you get taught in Accounting 1 (Or "Acounting 101" as Americans call it) is that Equity(ie: capitalisation) = Assets minus Liabilities. So you'd have to show you have Equity building up, not assets alone. You could attempt tp call it net assets but that is a misleading term.

You are quite correct.

Equity accrues by the net increase of assets vs liabilties; so add to your assets with invariant liabilities and your equity has increased.

[Darbar]

Hi all

After reading the mixed experiences here, like CWMcMurray suggested we will check with the Labor Department to see what they say.

I suppose like most things in Thailand, there is no 100% answer to something being completely right or wrong.

I think we will also change the job description to something more English speaking sales related as this is also something I would be doing here, I think that along with my previous strong sales experience would help with my application.

I'll let everyone know the outcome once we've had an answer.

Thanks for the input, you've been very helpful.

Darbar

[digitalchromakey]

From looking that the post, this "rule" seems to only apply to Caucasians aka "farang". There are many foreigners in Thailand that have work permits that are doing jobs just about any Thai person can do like construction and housekeeper jobs. Looks like a pretty racist rule to me.

There are certainly different rules for people from neighbouring countries like Burma, who can for example get 2 year visas for Construction Labour (Non Immigrant Type 'LA') then obtain work permits with Thai Companies holding approved quotas for such workers.

This may be a recent development representing movement towards the ASEAN agreement which will eventually allow free movement/trade between the member countries like what has happened in the EC.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

From looking that the post, this "rule" seems to only apply to Caucasians aka "farang". There are many foreigners in Thailand that have work permits that are doing jobs just about any Thai person can do like construction and housekeeper jobs. Looks like a pretty racist rule to me.

Yes, the Thais don't find racism to be a problem, just like sexism, discrimination based on age, marital status etc, all perfectly OK, including both private company rules and government laws.

A Thai man can divorce his wife for infidelity, the other way around only for financial reasons (spending too much on the mia noi). An employer advertising for any kind of position can specify "attractive 18-24yo female, 35-45kg". The law requires different minimum levels of income, highest for Americans, lower for "kaek". Foreign wives of Thai men can get residence/citizen status, for men nearly impossible. Many hotels publish fineprint on their rates "not for Indian/Middle-eastern customers". etc etc.

It's also perfectly acceptable in polite conversation to make statements such as "aren't farang men crazy liking girls with dark skin?", "arab people stink so bad" and such classics as "Laos people are lazy and stupid" "Burmese are theives" and "Cambodians are evil".

You can't apply your imported standards here, get used to it.

[belg]

webdesign only needs him i guess, so why bother with 4 thais that would be doing NOTHING ALL DAY anyway... why make it so hard for farang to live and work here ? would like to see if in your home country when a THAI wants a job, they will ask to have 4 natives working there, just to be able to hire the Thai, lets say as a COOK in a thai restaurant, what or why would you need for locals that know nothing about thai cooking ???

good for me, i dont (have to) work (anymore or less)

[PoorSucker]

webdesign only needs him i guess, so why bother with 4 thais that would be doing NOTHING ALL DAY anyway... why make it so hard for farang to live and work here ? would like to see if in your home country when a THAI wants a job, they will ask to have 4 natives working there, just to be able to hire the Thai, lets say as a COOK in a thai restaurant, what or why would you need for locals that know nothing about thai cooking ???

good for me, i dont (have to) work (anymore or less)

Does your country allow anyone to just move there and work?

[red1green0]

A degree is not needed for a WP for a teacher either, depending on other factors.

[sausageandmash]

So how come I wasn't asked for a degree when I got my work permit as a musician. I also had a job a few years ago with a work permit as a manager of a language school and wasn't asked to produce a degree.

So, you are the one that's wrong. Stop scaring people with false information.

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

When I was hired for a Thai Oil company they asked for my degree when they applied for my WP but am not really sure if it was necessary or not.

Keep in mind there is a list of jobs that expats can do in Thailand and if you do not fall into one of those categories then she cannot hire you.

You can get that list by searching here in this site.

Sorry but you are wrong you need a degree if someone is to employ you or you are doing a job that a Thai person cannot do and his wifes company must be valued at 2 million baht if she is to offer a workpermit, This is fact as we spent 5 months trying to get a WP for a relation of mine and always the problem was the lack of education, We had no choice but to forget getting the work permit.

[sausageandmash]

Actually yes, most countries do. Thailand has "little man syndrome" when it comes to foreigners working here. Pathetically outdated.

webdesign only needs him i guess, so why bother with 4 thais that would be doing NOTHING ALL DAY anyway... why make it so hard for farang to live and work here ? would like to see if in your home country when a THAI wants a job, they will ask to have 4 natives working there, just to be able to hire the Thai, lets say as a COOK in a thai restaurant, what or why would you need for locals that know nothing about thai cooking ???

good for me, i dont (have to) work (anymore or less)

Does your country allow anyone to just move there and work?

[Berkshire]

From looking that the post, this "rule" seems to only apply to Caucasians aka "farang". There are many foreigners in Thailand that have work permits that are doing jobs just about any Thai person can do like construction and housekeeper jobs. Looks like a pretty racist rule to me.

There are certainly different rules for people from neighbouring countries like Burma, who can for example get 2 year visas for Construction Labour (Non Immigrant Type 'LA') then obtain work permits with Thai Companies holding approved quotas for such workers.

This may be a recent development representing movement towards the ASEAN agreement which will eventually allow free movement/trade between the member countries like what has happened in the EC.

Yes it has more to do with agreements amongst ASEAN countries, much like NAFTA and the EU in that respect. Nothing to do with race. Why do some posters automatically read "racism" into everything they see in Thailand?

[Berkshire]

Actually yes, most countries do. Thailand has "little man syndrome" when it comes to foreigners working here. Pathetically outdated.

webdesign only needs him i guess, so why bother with 4 thais that would be doing NOTHING ALL DAY anyway... why make it so hard for farang to live and work here ? would like to see if in your home country when a THAI wants a job, they will ask to have 4 natives working there, just to be able to hire the Thai, lets say as a COOK in a thai restaurant, what or why would you need for locals that know nothing about thai cooking ???

good for me, i dont (have to) work (anymore or less)

Does your country allow anyone to just move there and work?

That's an incredibly ignorant statement, sausage. So you're telling me anyone can just cross the border into America and work? Rhetorical question, of course, as the answer is no. Do you actually think before typing a post?

[Fatherfluffybottom]

Work Permits, Work Visas, Work Visas, Work Permits, what a pain in the hole............

[marquis22]

Actually yes, most countries do. Thailand has "little man syndrome" when it comes to foreigners working here. Pathetically outdated.

webdesign only needs him i guess, so why bother with 4 thais that would be doing NOTHING ALL DAY anyway... why make it so hard for farang to live and work here ? would like to see if in your home country when a THAI wants a job, they will ask to have 4 natives working there, just to be able to hire the Thai, lets say as a COOK in a thai restaurant, what or why would you need for locals that know nothing about thai cooking ???

good for me, i dont (have to) work (anymore or less)

Does your country allow anyone to just move there and work?

Yep, true in Australia too. But make sure you go there by small unseaworthy boat tho !!

[PoorSucker]

Does your country allow anyone to just move there and work?

Actually yes, most countries do. Thailand has "little man syndrome" when it comes to foreigners working here. Pathetically outdated.

Cool, so you will take care of all refugees in the world.