Hi.

Youve probably all heard tghis before but i'm a bit confused.

I am a partner in a business in thailand but have not been going out any where near enough. What is acceptable as a reason for non immigrant o visa? ive looked at business etc and it said i needed ludicrous amounts of funds. I head out in 4 weeks and am not sure

any help is much appreciated.

thanks

Such a visa has nothing to do with business and suspect the funds you refer to are for marriage extensions or retirement extensions from immigration or for issue of visa for marriage reasons. Business would be a non immigrant B visa.

...I am a partner in a business in thailand but have not been going out any where near enough...

Ludichris, your post makes no sense to me at all. What do you mean with being "a partner in a business"? Where are you and out to where do wish to go?

If with "partner in a business" you mean that you own shares of a Thai company, this does not give you any visa privileges at all. If, on the other hand, you mean that you live in Thailand and are employed by a Thai company, you should have a work permit, regardless whether or not you own any shares of your employer's company, and as a work permit holder you can get one-year extensions of stay if your employer and yourself, basically the amount of salary you get, qualify for it.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry for the wording of the post. I'm starting from scratch here and dont really know what I'm talking about. I am a shareholder in a guest house in the south of Thailand. I am a UK citizen. I am looking to open a bank account to secure any income from the business. I am self employed in the offshore sector. I work on a month on, month off rotation. so at most could only be in Thailand 6 months of the year but in reality this would only be 3 or 4. I'm mainly looking to open a bank account and was told that the non immigrant O was probably the best way to go about it.

Any more info I would be thankful for.

Thanks again

You can open a bank account with a Tourist Visa.

You might have to try a few different banks or branches of the same bank but you will get one.

I did not know that. Thank you very much. I'll look into that just now.

I did not know that. Thank you very much. I'll look into that just now.

You might get some help here.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/260738-opening-a-new-bank-account-in-thailand/

You say you are a partner in an Thai business and get money from this.

In this case this is classified as work and you need a workpermit.

To be able to apply for a workpermit you need an Non-O B visa or a Non-O Marriage visa.

I don't see that you are married to a Thai national so the Business visa is you only option to obtain an workpermit.

To get a Business visa you need a lot of papers and everything has to be official.

I don't how official your involvement is and if this is possible for you.

As mentioned you work 4 on 4 off and i presume that you are never longer then 30 days at the time in Thailand.

In this case you don't really need a visa at all as you get 30 day VOA ( visa on arrival ) stamp in your passport everytime you arrive by plane in Thailand.

Their is no limit on doing this.

I have several friends who work in the off-shore industry and they live in Thailand as they stay 6 x 28 day's in Thailand a year without any long stay visa.

And yes you should be able to open an bank account but this can take some effort and asking around.

Even the different branches of the same bank have sometimes their own rules.

Edited January 14, 201313 yr by merijn

You say you are a partner in an Thai business and get money from this.

In this case this is classified as work and you need a workpermit.

Er No....if the OP has no direct dealings in the running of the business and is not signing any paper work in Thailand a WP would not be required, using your logic any farang who had shares in a Thai company listed on the Thai stock exchange would need a WP as well then

However the minute the OP gets involved with the running of the business, he would need a WP...

If the sole reason he want the visa is to open a Bank account, shop around, some banks will open an account on a visa waiver