Need for work permit if located in Thailand, working and getting paid salary from company abroad

[ubonjoe]

 

 

 

But there is a catch 22 - if someone is paid by a company outside of Thailand for work not involving Thailand - the company paying the salary most likely cannot sponsor a work visa - so how exactly is someone in this situation supposed to obtain the work visa?

There no such thing as a work visa. There is non immigrant B visas for work or business.

A work permit cannot be obtained unless working for a company registered in Thailand.

 

 

Not 100%true.  You can get a visa on arrival for work purposes for 15 days I believe under the Australian Thailand free trade agreement. Many of my colleagues  have done such.

We need to be mindful of setting ourselves up as the authority on on all things immigration wise when there are many obscure rules that the average Thai Visa mentor may not be aware of. Not all people are looking to stay here long term or to rort the system to do so. 

 

That would be what often is called an emergency work permit that is valid for 15 days. It is not a visa. And has to be applied for not given on arrival. It would also require a non immigrant visa entry to get.

It is not something special due to a free trade agreement.

 

• Thailand will not require a work permit for Australian citizens who are business visitors conducting business meetings in Thailand for up to 15 days, and up to 90 days for APEC Travel Card Holders.

 

save you the trouble of searching

Entering the country to conduct a business meeting does not require a work permit. A standard non immigrant B visa issued for business purposes allows that. There is no difference between the APEC travel card and it other than that the card is not considered as a visa entry by immigration.

[balo]

Thousands of expats in Thailand work online with their computer for a foreign company without a work permit.

They move around and bring the laptop with them.

Yes theoretically you are breaking the Thai law but as long as you keep it to yourself there will never be a problem .

Of course your bank account needs to be in another country , so nothing will be registered in Thailand.

Edited November 15, 2013 by balo

[GettingOlder]

Thank you for raising many interesting topics, although difficult to extract real consensus from the posts.

I tend to believe that if I only work with abroad clients and get paid by a company abroad I have "a good case" if not having any work permit. It can be that its not completely following the law, but if I cant get a permit, because application for it requires papers from a Thai company I am working for... And if keeping quiet, no Thais would ever get to know about it, as precisely balo just mentioned while I composed those lines.

But now it seems that I could service also a couple of Thai companies, so it starts getting really triggy...I still work on behalf on the company abroad, but will be serving a local client. If accepting that extra job, all commercial documents will be between client and the abroad employer, but I probably need a work permit. I think I thus have to arrange for getting at least some payment from a Thai registered company and apply for permit.