As A Company Director, Can A Foreigner Obtain Work Premit Without Having Enough (4) Thai Employees?

[ineedavisa]

As a company director, Can a foreigner obtain Work Premit without having 4 Thai employees?

Seems like the regulation has changed recently, Does anyone know about this?

[macan]

Not sure about recent changes but I got a work permit in early 2009 as managing director of a new company with one Thai employee. The WP was renewed the second year still with one Thai employee and the third year with three Thai employees.

[tombkk]

Where did you get the information that the law has changed?

[Tywais]

On Thaivisa this is shown but is dated August 2010.

2. THAI EMPLOYEES. There are requirements for minimum numbers of Thai employees per work permit; this is dependent upon the status of the company. BOI approved companies usually have a relaxed ratio of Thai employees to foreign work permit holders. However, other companies will require 4 Thai employees for every work permit. It is important to note that there is an exception to this rule. If the company was formed less than one year prior to submitting the work permit application, the officer will accept 2 Thai employees per work permit. However, when coming to renew the work permit, the usual regulations will be enforced and the company will therefore require at least 4 Thai employees per work permit. Whereas, when applying for the extenstion of stay the immigration requires the company to have at least 4 Thai employees listed in Social Security Fund 3 months prior to the application. This is a compulsory requirement from the Immigration.

6 Steps to a Work Permit

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Something I found dated 2009:

Past situation

Two years ago and in order to facilitate the obtaining by foreign employees of work permits the Labor Department relaxed the requirements for the obtaining of work permits by putting an end to the requirement of four Thai employees per foreign worker.

Of course this criterion (i.e four Thai employees per foreign worker) was still enforced by the immigration department in relation to the one year visa extension.

However the fact that a foreign company director could apply for a work permit even if the employer (the company) did not have four Thai employees was a real progress in the right direction.

Indeed, most newly set-up companies are generally not be able to fulfill this criterion for a few months after their incorporation. This place the foreign director of the company in a difficult situation because if the foreign director of a newly incorporated company is not able to obtain a work permit he will be at risk of being sanctioned for working without a “work permit”

Going Backward

Following a complaint from the Immigration Department (at least that was what i understands happened) the Labor Department has recently changed its policy and reinstated the requirement of four Thai employees for the obtaining of a work permit.

In order to prove that it effectively has four Thai employees the company will have like in the case of a visa extension to provide proof that it has paid the social security fees on the employees’ salaries for the past three months.

Doing Business in Thailand

[Munutkangkao]

This for me is the most confusing and difficult challenge to overcome and comprehend in a Thai-Limited start-up. Please see my post for more confusion. Thanks.