Best visa procedure when moving to Thailand to start business

[tool84]

Hi,

My Thai wife and I will be moving to Thailand from Canada to start a business. I would just like to know the best way to proceed. Should I just get a tourist visa or non immigrant o visa to start off? It will probably take a few months before we hire 4 employees so I can be eligible for the work permit as we get things started. Once we have the 4 Thai employees, if I'm on a tourist visa I will need to leave the country to get a non immigrant o and then apply for a work permit, right? If I already have a non immigrant o can I apply for the work permit in Thailand or is there anything special that need to be done.

Thanks

[beano2274]

2 employees for someone married to a Thai.

[wolf5370]

Also 2 Thai people for the first year per WP. Non-Imm 'O' is fine for a WP if married to a Thai (i.e. 'O' was gained for the purpose of being married to a Thai, not as a precursor to OA (retirement) or 'ED' to study etc).

If you have the money for a business - put 400k in a Thai account (you can get up to 3.5% in Bangkok Bank) and get the Non-Im 'O' before you leave and get an extension of stay when you are here - then when you are ready, set up the business, pay up the required capital, employ your 2 Thais, and apply for the WP.

[Tony Rabbott]

tourist visa can be change in country to other things that you qualify for.

non immig visa if you are near the embassy and can deal with messing about..

but wait for the experts to arrive in a couple of hours. before dawn here now.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Tony Rabbott

[ubonjoe]

If you can meet financial requirements for an extension of stay based upon marriage then you should get a single entry non-o before leaving. Financials are 400k baht in a Thai bank for 2 months or 40k baht income.

If not then you should get a multiple entry O visa. Thais would give you 90 day entries for a year.

[IMA_FARANG]

As a rule of thumb try to get the best visa they will allow to have BEFORE you leave your country. Even if that is a little more in initial cost.

You CAN arrive with a tourist visa and then extend it at your local immigration in Thailand but for one thing, it means extra fees to do that. Also it will need time and effort for that.

So, as a general rule, get the best visa early in your home country. If they will give it, try to get a multi entry (one year) Non O visa to enter Thailand.

It's like starting a new business that you know will need you to buy equipment to run that business.

Start out by buying the best equipment you can afford and not used second-hand equipment.

Same way with visas....get the best you can afford up front as long as it suits your needs.

[ubonjoe]

The best you can have is an extension of stay. Why get a multiple entry if you know you can get an extension. If the 90 days from a single are not enough to get financials sorted out he can get a 60 day extension and then the one year.

[RaysFan]

No money required. When u do the paperwork at the tax office and work permit office you just pur 3 mil baht or 4 mil baht. They cant check. Also, I would get the non o visa because that should be good for a year and buy u some time. Then you can supposedly change it to a non b in bangkok but likely you will have to fly to Singapore to change it to non b then changing it to wp is very simple.

Sent from my GT-I9500

[ubonjoe]

No money required. When u do the paperwork at the tax office and work permit office you just pur 3 mil baht or 4 mil baht. They cant check. Also, I would get the non o visa because that should be good for a year and buy u some time. Then you can supposedly change it to a non b in bangkok but likely you will have to fly to Singapore to change it to non b then changing it to wp is very simple.

Sent from my GT-I9500

Why would he need to change to a B visa?

He can do every thing with an extension of stay based upon marriage to a Thai. In fact he can set up his company without needing to meet all the requirements needed for an extension based upon working. Including the minimum salary.