Starting business, hiring four Thai's

[seancbk]

What you heard is not correct, the not paying them for real and only social security makes them ghost employees. That is not legal either, often advisers tell you this will be ok but it is not. If you want to be full legal you will still not be full legal.

OK, thanks. So if I were to create a paper trail showing I'm paying minimum wage + social security for 4 Thai employees, but they return the money to me in cash, is this legal?

This would appear to be shady, yet legal in my opinion.

Social security and insurance payments work out at around 750 baht per month per person.

You also need a registered office and you will need to show the 4 people sitting at desks working if the labour department want to check (which they do)

You will also need a registered Thai company with 51% owned by Thais.

Setting up a Thai company will cost you

Registering company in Bangkok 23000 Govt Fees, Company Seal etc 14500 Registering Capital (2 million THB) 10000

On top of those fees you'll also have to pay for the Work Permit (I don't have current fees for that).

However, as a digital nomad so long as you stay under the radar you are unlikely to have any real issues. Just fly in and out of the Kingdom every 90 days. Depending where you are from you can get a triple entry tourist visa and get almost 9 months here before needing to fly home for the next triple entry.

If triple entry visas are not available to you then just stay in Asia getting double entry ones from the numerous consulates around Asia.

Excellent information, thank you.

If I were to do this, what about the minimum wage which I heard is 300 baht a day? Is this required? Or could I do as you suggested I could above, and consider them 'interns'?

I spoke with a reliable friend who runs a recruitment company here. He told me you can get a work permit with zero employees as long as you make an effort to hire them within a year.

I believe you could hire them as interns, if you can find people willing to work for free.

Personally if I were you I would simply do visa runs every 90 days or so.

Triple entry tourist visa, fly in (entry 1), 60 days in go to Immigration for a 30 day extension, 30 days later fly out for a few hours (Macau is a cheap hop - no need for a hotel just spend a couple of hours looking around). Fly back in (entry 2) - repeat process two more times.

That give you almost 9 months here, with only 3 trips to immigration and a couple of short flights.

[apalink_thailand]

There is also the matter of registered and paid up capital, which if memory serves, is 2 million baht per work permit. That can be registered initially but must be shown as paid up within a year. Things may have changed since I last set up a company but you should look into the requirements on capital as well.

[apalink_thailand]

You will also need a company bank account, a tax I'd both personal and corporate, you will have to do monthly vat returns, annual audits, annual reports, annual tax submissions. I don't know where your income derives from, but if overseas you will have to account for 15% withholding tax on each invoice etc. my information may not be complete because as I said, it's been a few years since I ran a company here, but check these out. A lawyer can give you better advice than me though. Just a heads up that it's not a simple matter of hiring four ghosts.

[Rimmer]

Cross posted link removed

[apalink_thailand]

Better to bum off of someone else's business that meets capital requirements, or a law firm.

What is the passport nationality of the OP?

Canadian.

So it would be legal for me to find a farang who has the necessary thai - farang employee ratio, and have him hire me? He'd then pay me, pay for social security or whatever, and I'd compensate the farang for providing this service?

Sounds legal to me, but probably shady.. as there are job placement agencies where I come from where you pay for a job.

That can work if you know someone with a large enough company, paid up cap and employees. Know that the process for him to get the WP for you is onerous. Stacks of VAT returns, annual reports, tax returns etc need to be provided. He would have to be a very good friend indeed.

[farang000999]

Why don't you wait and see if the Thai government ever starts to actually care about digital nomads. Because peopel have been worrying for years and nothing ever comes of it. Also, the current laws were written before the internet existed so perhaps the Thai government might wish to revisit them at some point - for instance, the 4 Thai employees rule doesn't make a whole lot of sense since something like 15%+ of people in the tech industry work remotely from home/out of the office.

So far, despite the thousands or rathers tens of thousands of farang in Thailand living this life style in Thailand there have been almost no reports to my knowledge of anyone getting into any trouble.

The worst case scenario in the current enviroment is that you have to pay a bribe and how that would even come about seems rare to begin with. The cost of the bribe will still be less than being legal.

The good thing to remember is that Thais themselves have no value for the law whatsoever. Thais don't give a flying <deleted> about the law. The police don't follow the law. The courts dont follow the laws. The politiicans dont follow the laws. The street vendors dont follow the laws. Nobody does. There are no real laws in Thailand - just bribes. Which is why Thailand is the ideal country for digital nomads.

[farang000999]

A Thai Elite Visa does not allow you legally work in Thailand.

Not sure why in every one of these topics that is proposed as a solution.

OP would be breaking the law working in Thailand under an Elite Visa.

[4evermaat]

A Thai Elite Visa does not allow you legally work in Thailand.

Not sure why in every one of these topics that is proposed as a solution.

OP would be breaking the law working in Thailand under an Elite Visa.

Technically you also still need a work permit, but what prevents someone from working on a TE/PE visa? Tourist visas prohibit work. Non-o for retirement also prohibits work. Haven't seen any provision banning work on TE/PE visa. The concierge service is supposed to [for an extra fee] arrange a work permit/company docs]

I always looked at the PE visas as an enhanced non-B. If TE/PE visas do not specifically prohibit work, dont see what the problem is.

Edited October 10, 2015 by 4evermaat

[elviajero]

A Thai Elite Visa does not allow you legally work in Thailand.

Not sure why in every one of these topics that is proposed as a solution.

OP would be breaking the law working in Thailand under an Elite Visa.

Technically you also still need a work permit, but what prevents someone from working on a TE/PE visa? Tourist visas prohibit work. Non-o for retirement also prohibits work. Haven't seen any provision banning work on TE/PE visa. The concierge service is supposed to [for an extra fee] arrange a work permit/company docs]

I always looked at the PE visas as an enhanced non-B. If TE/PE visas do not specifically prohibit work, dont see what the problem is.

• The immigration act prohibits someone from working on a TE/PE visa. And every other visa including a non 'B'.
• WPs are only granted if the person is holding the appropriate visa/extension such as a non 'B' or non 'O' (marriage). TE/PE visas are not on the list.
• As a TE/PE visa holder doesn't qualify for a WP they cannot work.

[Gringogazzer]

A Thai Elite Visa does not allow you legally work in Thailand.

Not sure why in every one of these topics that is proposed as a solution.

OP would be breaking the law working in Thailand under an Elite Visa.

The OP, troll or not wasn't looking for a true "legal" way of working out of Thailand but looking to bend whichever visa he could acquire.

Ghost employees, ฿10,000,000 borrowed for show, not for investment.

Each way all he had to ask himself was what would an immigration officers answer be to be legal. Each time would be no.

So why go through a convoluted series of hoops just to end up non legal when he could just purchase the TE & what he does on his own computer is his own business so long as he doesn't deal with Thai companies.

About ฿1900 a week (tax). Cheap by any standards.