I have a job that allows me to work from anywhere.

[stevenl]

How about Belgium playing a super boring football match against Algeria?

Anyways.... Guess I'll bite

And then what? That's exactly what they'd be doing, or rather what our company would be doing. The only difference would be that one Ltd would be supporting multiple WPs, rather then the additional overhead of setting up god knows how many additional Ltd's for the sole purpose of supporting a WP.

There are no benefits to each individual going through all the hassle of setting up a new Ltd, solely for the purchase of getting a WP. To me, it makes a lot more sense to pool efforts and have a single registered Ltd, one that's already creating Thai jobs and has the infrastructure in place to support multiple WPs.

Each web worker with a WP through this structure would be meeting all the legal requirements, paying taxes, paying into the social fund, etc.

Those constructions do exist, certain lawyers are offering this.

[JLCrab]

I was once offered a consulting position with a Thai government agency contingent upon my obtaining on my own a work permit. I contacted a consulting firm that had made it known that they were in a position to offer a work permit based upon permits issued for prior engagement. By the time all the taxes and other official expenses were added in plus the service fee from the consulting firm it was not an inexpensive proposition. I passed and gave the Thai government agency my regrets.

[Soutpeel]

How about Belgium playing a super boring football match against Algeria?

Anyways.... Guess I'll bite

How about setting up a Thb 1.0 million Ltd company, pay their tax, business set up fees, monthly book keeping fees, unemployment contributions, and own medical scheme and costs towards the WP ?

And then what? That's exactly what they'd be doing, or rather what our company would be doing. The only difference would be that one Ltd would be supporting multiple WPs, rather then the additional overhead of setting up god knows how many additional Ltd's for the sole purpose of supporting a WP.

There are no benefits to each individual going through all the hassle of setting up a new Ltd, solely for the purchase of getting a WP. To me, it makes a lot more sense to pool efforts and have a single registered Ltd, one that's already creating Thai jobs and has the infrastructure in place to support multiple WPs.

Each web worker with a WP through this structure would be meeting all the legal requirements, paying taxes, paying into the social fund, etc.

What's wrong with what I have suggested "freelance" person setting up a Ltd company is a done thing certainly in the UK so why wouldn't the model work in Thailand and tack the WP to it ?

[JLCrab]

I don't remember the figures from almost 10 years back but I think the monthly cost quoted by the consulting firm was more like 25K baht per month not 10K -- and that would be every month whether one would have a consulting engagement or not.

Edited June 18, 2014 by JLCrab

[Maestro]

Removed an off-topic post about Skype.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[balo]

It appears a thread like this pops of every so often (perhaps more often recently?) and I think it's clear that the current laws (wether enforced or not) are not designed for the current day and age.

That said; there might a way to solve the problem for freelance/web workers wanting to go legit by obtaining a work permit and paying income taxes in Thailand. We have a registered company in Thailand and we could, theoretically supply internet workers with a work permit. Obviously, this would mean for each work permit we'd have to increase capital and pay additional contributions into the social fund.

To those following this thread and working online, would you be willing to pay a fee to go fully legit and receive a work permit? I am not saying we're actually going to be supplying this service, however I have been playing with the idea for a while, and it seems there is a way to make this work.

Our company does software development and related services, so hiring several foreigners who are doing similar work seems like fair game to me. There were times when I was doing remote development work and was making north of 100.000b a month, during those days I would have been more then happy to pay say 10.000 a month in exchange for a WP and the change to be fully legit...

Thoughts?

If you want to ask everyone working freelance if they want to pay a fee to stay legal in Thailand , then yes it's possible but some people earn less than 30k per month so the fee must be based on your monthly income. I know several web workers doing translations or making web content but they do not earn a lot of money, maybe enough to pay for the rent and food. A fee on top of that could be a problem for them.

Sent from my SM-P601 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited June 18, 2014 by balo

[JLCrab]

Mr. WW said on another topic: Whether Thai DoL or Immigration would go to those lengths for the sake of proving that an individual is in breach of a 60-day Tourist Visa is a tough one for me

... and all I said was that if they have a concern that someone is not being truthful about their source of funds while staying Thailand, it is not incumbent upon IMM of DoL to prove anything; rather, if they have such concern, the burden would be on the non-Thai citizen to prove to the satisfaction of DoL or IMM that their source of funds is other than from working in Thailand

Edited June 19, 2014 by JLCrab

[mjnaus]

Obviously this proposition would not be directed at freelancers making 30.000 a month. This would be directed at serious web entrepreneurs and remote workers, and I'd guess it wouldn't be interesting for those making south of a 100.000 a month. For those web workers making a lot less then said amount, I seriously doubt they'll be in Thailand for a long time and are serious about either their work or about making their situation in Thailand legit.

As to WP being locked for location and job description; my understanding is that a location is mentioned in the work permit, however I'm not totally clear as to wether or not working anywhere else then said location is against any laws (I can't imagine it would be though; I know several foreign engineers who are employed by Thai employers and who are working at different locations around Thailand). Options for the location would be either our head office, or (if allowed) the contractors home/shared office.

As for the job description; I reckon the actual job description for the contractor would be used here; ie programmer, web developer, graphic designer, translator, remote teacher, copy writer, etc.

[mjnaus]

Those constructions do exist, certain lawyers are offering this.

Would you happen you have any details on how's offering something like this? I'd love to learn more and perhaps have a chat with them. Thanks!

[mjnaus]

What's wrong with what I have suggested "freelance" person setting up a Ltd company is a done thing certainly in the UK so why wouldn't the model work in Thailand and tack the WP to it ?

Nobody said it doesn't work or there's anything wrong with it; I'm sure it does work. That, however, does not automatically mean it's the best solution available, does it?

Again, if efforts can be pooled, and a single company can supply multiple WPs for freelancers and remote workers, then that would drastically reduce overhead and therefor be a cheaper, and more efficient solution as opposed to each individual worker setting up their own Ltd for the sole purpose or acquiring a work permit.

Whatever is the norm in the UK is utterly irrelevant to our little discussion here; we're discussing options in Thailand, not the UK. If foreigners looking for a WP in Uganda are required to offer two goats and a chicken to the village headman and dance naked under the moon, that wouldn't change anything to the road to a WP in Thailand, would it?

Edited June 19, 2014 by mjnaus

[JLCrab]

So to set-up a company to provide work permits for non-Thai citizen freelancers such that overhead per WP could be 'drastically reduced' would require maybe 10 such freelancers which would mean that the start-up company would also have to have 40 Thai citizen employees.

Which is maybe why there are no such companies as sponsors on ThaiVisa.

[mjnaus]

So to set-up a company to provide work permits for non-Thai citizen freelancers such that overhead per WP could be 'drastically reduced' would require maybe 10 such freelancers which would mean that the start-up company would also have to have 40 Thai citizen employees.

Which is maybe why there are no such companies as sponsors on ThaiVisa.

Do you have any math to support your statement? Not saying it's BS, simply interested to learn how you've reach that conclusion. Btw, the 4 employee per WP only applies when the application is not married to a Thai, when married to a Thai the number goes down to 2 (I know this also depends on the location and officer you're dealing with, but where we are this is still applied).

[JLCrab]

So only married freelancers need apply to keep the required Thai citizen employees down?

I posted information on one of these topics when a well-known consulting firm years back had 2 existing work permits that they could transfer. However, if this whole freelancer bucket operation idea was feasible on a large scale, I would presume someone like one of the existing consulting/law firm ThaiVisa sponsors would have already done it.

[mjnaus]

I don't see why only those married to a Thai should apply. I simply stated that the 4 Thai employees rule only applies to non married workers. This could mean the fee for those married to a Thai would be lower then for those who aren't.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm only exploring the possibilities here.

[JLCrab]

Well as long as you're only exploring possibilities, maybe you should talk to a company like a big Thai hotel that already has hundreds of Thai citizens on the payroll such that the 4 employees per WP is a non-issue and see if they would like to set-up a 'human resources consultancy' that would offer Work Permits to well-healed non-Thai computer services freelancers.

[Buckeye21]

Get a smart phone you can use in Thailand and download an app that keys you call free over wifi. I dusting one that have me a local Canadian phone number that my friends and family could call me on and it would work over wifi or 3g.

[balo]

I use my smart phone all the time , the 3G service from DTAC is better and more stable than my "10 mb"" TOT line .

And pay only local rates for phone calls in Scandinavia , using a 3rd party app on my smart phone. So I can talk to my customers anywhere I go .

Edited July 5, 2014 by balo