Non-imm B: How To Prove Finances?

[Dancali]

Hello,

I am going to be applying for a one year non-imm b visa to Thailand soon. My business will consist of exporting products out of Thailand. I'll be applying at the Los Angeles consulate.

I understand I will need to submit a statement of finances. What does this consist of? Who makes it? Do I just sumbit my account balances for my various accounts and investments? How much money are they looking for?

I am just a sole proprietership, and in California, no official documents are required for this, so I don't have articles of incorporation or things like that. What other forms will the consulate want? (the consulate website lists a variety of forms that seem irrelivent for my situation, such as a "thai sponsoring company")

I am going on my own with no sponsoring Thai company, if that matters.

Would it do any good to submit copies of some of the multiple purchases I have made in the past from the Thai suppliers? I didn't have the proper visa at the time I made these purchases, do they care? Is there a problem with giving these invoices to the "authorities" when it's not clear if the businesses charged tax or might not have complied in some other way?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated with my situation.

Thanks,

Daniel

[Indo-Siam]

My reply will not directly help you, but it may give you some new information.

A Class B non-immigrant visa is issued to persons who convince the issuing Thai diplomatic post that they are going to Thailand to take up employment. What the Class B visa does, is get you a 90 day entry permit, and the authorizatiuon to apply for a work permit - which must be issued by a qualifying Thai company.

There is no provision for someone to just come to Thailand on a Class B visa and "work" for himself without a company or a work permit. Lots of peopledo just that, but it is not legal.

The point for you is that to get the Class B visa, you basically will need to tell them that you are planning to start-up a company in Thailand, and then work for that company. That is the only sceanrio in which it is reasonable to not have an employment letter from a sponsoring Thai company.

I understand that the LA consulate is fairly strict, and hard to deal with. Maybe someone else can advise you on that.

If I were you, I would get my visa from the Honorary Consul in Houston, by mail:

Royal Thai Consulate-General

2800 Texas Commerce Tower

Houston Tx 77002-3094

Tel (713) 229 8733

Fax (713) 228 1303

As I understand it, they basically "sell" visas with little justification or documentation required. Call them yourself, and find out what is needed. Just tell them that you are going to Thailand to set up an export trading company.

Asthe world turns - if you ever find it necessary to start a company here, please contact my company.

Good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com

www.bangkokstaff.com

www.thaitradedata.com

[randyksf]

I did the exact same thing last September. Indo-sam is correct. Do not use the LA; use any of the Honorary Consuls. Call them and talk to them. I have seen too many Houston visas I might look at some of the other places. I will when I need to renew.

What I sent them was the following.

A letter stating the purpose of going to Thailand.

Company Charter and incorporation articles. (Signed by a notary)

Bank statements of the company.

Personal Bank statements.

You will want to show that you have funding of over a million baht both personal and company is fine. I think the exact number is 800,000 baht. Not exactly sure

Go to the Bank and ask them for the statements. The letter will spit out in a form with information needed. I am sure someone will know the figer but call the Consuls.

I also included my stock and 401k plans. Your brokerage can print they out for you too.

I dincorporated my self out of Nevada for tax reasons and personal liability protection. I am not sure what you will be importing. Personally for the liability alone it was worth it. If little John pokes and eye out it his mom can sue the company but not me. You are in CA the land of the law suites.

PM me and I can help you with that. I too live in CA so I have a friend who can set you up with out of state incorperations.

Now I am not sure how you are going to have the items shipped or distributed but talk to Indo after you get going. Form a Thai based company that is owned by your US based company. Alowing you to ship the items directly to your distribution points or customers. Keeping everyone hidden from each other.

There is also a huge tax advantage of doing this. You can become and employee of your company for 60,000 baht a month, pay the Thai tax. This will allow you to gain a work permit. The real advantage is; working as an Xpact you do not pay income tax on the first 80K you make.

Tell me more what you are going to export to the US.

Plan on things moving 3 times slower than you expect. Also EVA Airlines is a great Airline to use, there tickets have a return date of 6 month. There is no charge for you to change it.

Example flew to Thailand in July and the return dates was Dec. Something came up in Sept. I was on the plane the next day. Also for exporting once you have flown a few times you can check in 3 bags, and the evergreen deluxe is so cool.

As to the older documents IE. purches orders.

Under the current environment you DO NOT SHOW ANYTHING THAT IS NOT PERFECTLY LEAGAL. Also there is no need.

As far as taxation when you purches for exportation and ship them by the manufacture to and out of country location there is not VAT charged. If you personally take delivery they should change you VAT. You can get a refund through some process.

Once more I need to know more information about what you are doing.

[Dancali]

Thank you for your helpful emails.

I've been reading these boards some time so I knew about the supposed strictness of LA. But I thought that since I'm in California I have to go through them. But they also cover Nevada, and randy said he did his with a Nevada company, so Houston should be ok.

And randy, it was your ingenuity that gave me the idea to try to go this route in the first place with your post a while ago.

Let me try to address some of the things you guys have said.

Randy mentioned 4 things he submitted. But 2 of those things I just don't have. I don't have articles of incorporation as I am only a sole propetership and no papers are needed for that. And related to this, I don't have a financial statement of the company. I DO have financial statements for myself.

I will show at least 1,000,000 baht to be safe. But again, how exactly do I show this? I have some money in this account, in that mutual fund, etc. Do I have to give them all my personal financial statements?

I have weighed the pros and cons of incorporation and it makes sense for me currently to just stick to the sole proprietership. I don't have any serious liability issues, I can still make deductions, I cut down on the paperwork, etc. Also, corporations in California have to pay a mandatory $800 fee per year in addition to anything else. And I absolutely must pay this coporate tax in California because I do business here; many people think you can just go to Nevada to incorporate and do business in California but that is illegal.

That $80,000 tax-free sounds great. But I wouldn't be earning money abroad really as I get paid by my American customers. Isn't this more for, say, a teacher working in Thailand than someone who basically just purchases stuff from Thailand? At worst, it sounds like an abuse of the tax system that would be figured out by the IRS if given enough time.

The idea of having to then start a company in Thailand or work for someone else after having arrived sounds silly. I know it has been discussed a lot on this board already, but there are MANY businesses who just buy stuff from Thailand but don't worry about jumping through these sorts of silly legal hoops. I have no intention of opening a Thai business and dealing with all the hassles that would involve. Did you do this yourself randy? How much of a hassle and how expensive was it?

I'm just a guy who wants to legally go to Thailand, buy thousands of dollars worth of product a month and support the Thai economy, export back to America, and pay my proper American tax on income. This sounds like all governments involved should love for me to do this, but I guess this isn't exactly the case.

My trump card option is just to marry my Thai girlfriend/assistant to get a nice long steady visa. She'd do it just as a practical matter since we're both doing well with my business.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Houston is a bit too helpful. Use Dallas or any other Consulate in Texas.

[randyksf]

Visa locations:

They really don’t care what state you are in. You could live in NYC and fly to DC and be fine. They care if you are doing it from a different country.

Items needed:

A letter with a company letter head and a copy of your business lic should be fine. But call and ask.

Money to be shown:

I went to Schwab and printed out my brokerage account. I am sure if you give them enough accounts to show you have the 1,000,000 baht you will be fine. From what I have heard they just want to be sure you can support your self. But call and ask them.

LLc.

Personally I am selling to businesses in CA, and Utah. I do not have a shop or anything physical location CA. I have a resident agent in Nevada. In March my car will be registered in NV. It’s no different than a selling stuff from a CA business to a New York. My customers wire the money to my Nevada account and then I wire the money to my account here or directly to my factory. Because I am making after market bumpers and such I need the personal liability protection.

It is not illegal at all you just have to follow the rules.

If at some point I need to register in CA I only need to have a certificate of good standing. Then I can register my out of state company there.

I followed up with my personal CPA and a CPA from H&R Block business division. They both confirmed that this is ok.

80k sounds great

As Xpact you declare your first 80k as tax free. It’s an old rule and not and abuse at all. My tax accountant gave me this advice. But the only thing is you have to live in the country for a year with limited trips back to the US. There are a lot of rules and procedures. If you are making lots of money and the business is profitable why not try to save using the laws as they are written? Talk to your CPA for about the advantages of this.

I know once I start making money I will take this route. But to start it is not worth the head aches.

Thai company.

Who said working for anyone else, I would be working for my self. Once I start making money back home. I want the advantages of a work permit and the Tax breaks. The costs are not the high to start a company.

I have products from different factories going in the same customers. Having a company here makes it simpler for me. Its’ far cheaper to orders packaged and shipped directly to my customers. Than to ship to NV, store them, pack the orders then ship them to the customers.

Just wants to be legal

If you are buying a 1 k at a time and taking it home with you then most of what I said is modeled for larger shipments. Just an option to look at. That way you don’t have to go home every month to pedal your wares.

None of the information I gave was illegal or circumventing the laws. You should look into shipments, more products more money.

Conclusion

Everything I said was just an idea of different ways to do things. More, food for thought. You shouldn’t have a problem with getting your B Visa.