Helping Your Wife

[wrongway]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope these questions have not been asked before. Did a search prior to posting, with no luck. Anyway, really two questions here.

I met a very nice guy (farang) in a provincial capital (I'm puposely being vague to protect him in case he's wrong) whose wife is the owner of a restaurant (not incorporated). When busy, he helps out by serving food, taking orders, or just staying out of the way. They've been doing this for nearly 10 years. I assumed he had a work permit, but he said he didn't need one. He said a farang may help in his wife's business if he is legally married. Said he has an extremely good lawer with whom he confirmed this, the lawer showing the relative law in both Thai and English. He said you need to have a work permit if you want to be on the payroll of a company, but if you are just helping the wife out, it's not necessary.

This case is interesting for me because my wife and I are opening a restaurant/pub in Ubon soon. I am from the US, 41, so too young for the retirement visa option. I lived in Japan for 14 years prior to coming here and still earn 70- 100,000 baht per month. My wife and I are not legally married, but I am shown as the father on my daughter's birth certificate. I could clear up a technicality (I might still be married to another Thai), marry my wife (I know that sounds strange), get an "O" visa, and stop doing this in-and-out of Thailand every 30 days hassle. It also occured to me that, leaving the marriage issue out of it, I might be able to get and "O" visa as I am supporting my daughter. I could have my company in Japan issue a statement as to my annual income, or monthly salary, or something to that effect, but I'm not able to show them I have 400,000 in the bank because we just bought a house by cash and every remaining baht is being put into the restaurant. Can anyone tell me what my chances of getting an "O" visa are, and whether I need to be concerned about helping out in the restaurant?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[astral]

IMHO he needs a visa, he is working.

It does not matter who owns the restaurant.

This thread will answer some of your questions, but is not quite the same as it refers to a farang lady married to a Thai man. However it is a starting point for the restaurant question.

[lopburi3]

Believe he is playing with fire but as long as on good terms with the law probably is safe.

You, however, need to get your divorce and marry if you want to obtain yearly extension status. Without that the best you can get would ge a multi entry O visa to visit your daughter (using her birth certificate) and Penang would probably be the best place to obtain. That would be a lot better than 30 day runs. To obtain extension of stay you would need legal custody type paperwork so that is probably not something you can do. For now recommend the multi entry O and for future divorce/marriage.

I would strongly urge you to not even think about working in a bar without a work permit. But I am not an authority on such laws - but have heard too many stories not to urge caution.

[wrongway]

Lotburi3,

Thanks for the advice. My intention in the restaurant/pub/cafe is to sit at the counter and chat with nice fellows while keeping an eye on the staff. In Japan the right to work to support your Japanese spouse was a given. Not the same here, it seems. My main interest is in whether there is a right to help with the family business or not. There's no salary, of course, what's left over at the end of the month just puts food on the table. Working for a company is a different matter. If helping out were not allowed and strictly enforced, then giving your wife a ride to her shop would be putting a driver out of work, taking care of the kids while she's away would be putting a maid out of work, etc. I think as long as I'm not standing in front of a crowd of customers wearing a chef's hat and tossing a pizza, it will be all right. Sure would like to know if the "law" this guy I met really does stipulate that assisting in a family business (not incorporated) is legal. Understood about the divorce thing. That was seven years ago and I expect she's probably sorted it out as she's the one who "forgot" to bring some document, promised to soon, and then pissed off. She's probably run into the "polygamy" problem before me. Anyway, thanks for the advice.