My Process Of Being Resident After 3 Years?

[toxsickcity]

My Current Situtation

to start I would like to one day become a resident of Thailand as I will be

living in thailand in my future, I am 25 years old and My wife is the

same age, well 3 days older! we were married in Melbourne Australia 5

years ago, we have had the marrage documents converted to Thai as my

wife now carries my surname. We have an electronics shop in Korat under her name given to her from her parents, I am there to help in all the ways I can, manage staff and stay at shop to see everything is running smoothly, provide change to customers to help increase my thai language skills. I am not in the books for taxs as I dont have a work permit and I am unpaid.

To aquire 400,000 is not a problem to have in an bank account. My wife

is in the books and is taxed ie: the shop under her name and she pays taxes etc...

I need assistance in aquiring a Visa of a NON Multiple entry, 1 year

stay so I can get the resident visa after 3 years. Currently I think I am on o type, applied in Australia based on a marrage visa! I was granted a 1 year multiple entry this is my 2nd 1 year visa.

can you please explain if the Type O visa is my best option, and to

obtain type O, must I be employed as I wish to stay out of the books.

please provide with some great resources for more information on type

O as this sounds best for me.

[Noel]

Regardless of the fact that you are 'unpaid', you are actually working illegally.

Your first priority at this time should be to correct that situation.

Moreover, one of the most important criteria for obtaining Permanent Residency is to have a documented history of paying tax.

This subject has been widely discussed on this forum, so using the search function should prove useful to you.

[toxsickcity]

but to start with a multiple entry visa type O then extention for 1 year, 3 times is that what I need for the 3 years of continued living to be the requirment of permanant visa?

I have heard that getting a work permit is easier after having type O visa, true or false?

So attending and helping out is considered illiagel working. True or false?

This is now starting to worry me a little, I was aware that not being paid is same as not working. can someone confirm if what I am doing is wrong! thanks guys and gals!

Edited July 5, 2006 by toxsickcity

[Noel]

So attending and helping out is considered illiagel working. True or false?

This is now starting to worry me a little, I was aware that not being paid is same as not working. can someone confirm if what I am doing is wrong! thanks guys and gals!

I just told you above.

Try reading my post again...

[rcm]

but to start with a multiple entry visa type O then extention for 1 year, 3 times is that what I need for the 3 years of continued living to be the requirment of permanant visa?

This is just a part of getting there ....

I have heard that getting a work permit is easier after having type O visa, true or false?

Not sure about this , but maybe a good idea to wait for lopburi3 advise , or a forum search or try the guy's from Sunbelt (forum sponsor)

So attending and helping out is considered illiagel working. True or false?

True, any work including non paying work needs to have a Work permit.

This is now starting to worry me a little, I was aware that not being paid is same as not working. can someone confirm if what I am doing is wrong! thanks guys and gals!

[loytoy]

Even if you paint your own house and you are caught you are deem as working. So you helping your wife is working. 50,OOO Baht minimum fine and they could even deport you. Be careful.

[toxsickcity]

bloody hel_l..

does anyone know if I am able to have our shop under my name and I can be owner or something

is it possible for me to be self employed at my own business as I have seen many posts indicating a standard work permit is very difficilt to obtain. Many requirments are such as expert in certain areas. I grand area would be IT. I was a Computer Tech/ system builder for about 3 and a half years in australia but have no education to show for it. self tought.

Tho I did finsh my VCE year 12 in Melbourne Australia.

anyone know of owning business style of work permit!

maybe I can be the person on the books instead of my wife and then It will be me paying the taxes.

any advice would be greatfull and I will have to contact sunbelt to see if they can help. but to get advice from you guys is a great advantage!

[Tufty]

Even if you paint your own house and you are caught you are deem as working. So you helping your wife is working. 50,OOO Baht minimum fine and they could even deport you. Be careful.

So I can tell the g/f that I hvee seen this on the internet and by law I am not allowed to clean the floor or wash the windows, do I then need somebody carry the computer to the repair shop

Edited July 5, 2006 by Tufty

[loytoy]

Take the point how you want. The law states that doing any type of work you require a work permit. The work permit onlt allows you to do restricted work in the Provence or provences stated.

No you do not require a work permit to carry your computor to the shop but to do repair work on a friend computor legally you need a work permit.

[Axel]

All aliens engaged in any kind of work in Thailand must hold a valid work permit, issued principally by the Department of Employment of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare pursuant to the Alien Employment Act B.E. 2521 (A.D. 1978).

The term "work" is defined very broadly, covering both physical and mental activities, whether or not for wages or other remuneration. Working without a valid work permit even for a day is a criminal offense.

Above should be clear. It does not matter who is the owner of a company. You can be owner of shareholder but might not be allowed to work. If your company fullfills the requirements to hire a foreigner you can work in your own company but do need a work permit. To get this, one has to show that the job cannot be done by a Thai and therefore a foreigner is needed. Other requirements inidcate how many Thais must be employed to hire one foreigner who needs a minimum salary (depending on natioality) to pay tax on etc.

[loytoy]

Very correct Axel

[camerata]

does anyone know if I am able to have our shop under my name and I can be owner or something

is it possible for me to be self employed at my own business as I have seen many posts indicating a standard work permit is very difficilt to obtain. Many requirments are such as expert in certain areas. I grand area would be IT. I was a Computer Tech/ system builder for about 3 and a half years in australia but have no education to show for it. self tought.

Tho I did finsh my VCE year 12 in Melbourne Australia.

anyone know of owning business style of work permit!

maybe I can be the person on the books instead of my wife and then It will be me paying the taxes.

First, the Permanent Residence is a permit rather than a visa, and it isn't given automatically or semi-automatically to anyone who has been here 3 years. It's a big deal. They are looking for reliable applicants with a solid financial background. You can read up on the requirements for the different categories of application at:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/do...tion4extend.doc

It may be a little out of date but it'll give you an idea of what they are looking for. They will definitely be interested in your income for the last 3 years.

As a foreigner, in general you can't run a "sole ownership" business like many Thais do. But you can be a major shareholder in a company. That's the way most folks go - set up a company with 2 million baht registered capital, yourself as a shareholder, and apply for a work permit.

but to start with a multiple entry visa type O then extention for 1 year, 3 times is that what I need for the 3 years of continued living to be the requirment of permanant visa?

The three years continuous residence with a non-imm visa is just the most basic requirement. There are many others.

So attending and helping out is considered illiagel working. True or false?

True.

This is now starting to worry me a little, I was aware that not being paid is same as not working. can someone confirm if what I am doing is wrong! thanks guys and gals!

It's wrong according to the Labour Law. Otherwise Thailand would be full of illegal workers claiming to be "just helping out" and getting paid in cash. The point is that people helping out are actually helping someone (perhaps not themselves) to make money, and they are likely to be getting something in return at some point. In any case, if you want permanent residence, you'll need to show that you can support yourself and your wife in Thailand.

[lopburi3]

You have been given good advise above. Being here on a support Thai wife extension of stay can help with work permit a bit as there are slightly less restrictive conditions on your employment (some of Sunbelts posts go into this); but right now the most important thing is to get yourself legal. I would highly advise contacting them as you need to get yourself into the act if you ever want to obtain PR and you are young enough for it to be of great value in the long term.

[dave111223]

Even if you paint your own house and you are caught you are deem as working. So you helping your wife is working. 50,OOO Baht minimum fine and they could even deport you. Be careful.

This makes no sense? Even if you had a word permit to work at ABC company it would only allow you to work at that location, so this means that any foreigner doing repairs on their home, or cleaning their home, or even... making the bed, would be subject to 50,000 baht fine?

[Noel]

My Current Situtation

to start I would like to one day become a resident of Thailand as I will be

living in thailand in my future, <snip>

Just in case you missed it when searching, you may find Camerata’s Guide To The Permanent Residence Process of interest...

[camerata]

Even if you paint your own house and you are caught you are deem as working. So you helping your wife is working. 50,OOO Baht minimum fine and they could even deport you. Be careful.

This makes no sense? Even if you had a word permit to work at ABC company it would only allow you to work at that location, so this means that any foreigner doing repairs on their home, or cleaning their home, or even... making the bed, would be subject to 50,000 baht fine?

Well, let's do a reality check on this before we go off in hypothetical directions. The Labour Dept doesn't have an army of stormtroopers waiting to pounce on any farang painting his house. They do some unprompted raids/investigations - probably of companies which have or had foreigners working for them. But most of the raids come from tip-offs by business rivals.

A guy painting his house isn't going to get into any trouble. A guy painting someone else's house as a favour is unlikely to get into trouble. A guy regularly painting other people's houses and putting the local painters out of work is likely to get into some kind of trouble. But... I'm pretty sure the Labour Dept is empowered to enter registered business premises in office hours to ask questions, check records and see the work permit of any foreigner - they aren't allowed to enter private residences. It might be legally difficult to prosecute a foreigner painting private residences.

In the OP's case, the whole neighbourhood knows he is working in the shop, which sounds like a registered business. It only takes some other guy with a nearby electrical shop to have a bad day and start looking for someone to blame, and there could be a tip-off. Or the OP just steps on some local toes one day. In the long run there's a fair chance of someone shopping him to the authorities. And that won't look good on his PR application.

[loytoy]

Take the law as you want you are not allowed undertake any form of work without a work permit. That includes entertaining customers in a bar not actually doing any work. Painting the outside of your house is classed as work.

[samran]

Painting the outside of your house is classed as work.

So is splitting hairs......

[percy2]

Take the law as you want you are not allowed undertake any form of work without a work permit. That includes entertaining customers in a bar not actually doing any work. Painting the outside of your house is classed as work.

Yet people are allowed to come here for business on a 30 stamp? If its business they must be workin?

So is splitting hairs......

Ahmen