Applying For Work Permit

[hotshot]

Hi folks,

I am on my way to register a company and in that connection apply for a work permit.

I am told, if my company are in the travel business, then I need a document from my home country, that I earlier have been employed in a travel agency or something similar??!!

I also want to do visa service. And real estate.

But in my home country I have never done anything in this sort of business, so I have no documents!

Do I also need my school papers? Examinations i.e.?

[Richard Hall]

Hi folks,

I am on my way to register a company and in that connection apply for a work permit.

I am told, if my company are in the travel business, then I need a document from my home country, that I earlier have been employed in a travel agency or something similar??!!

I also want to do visa service. And real estate.

But in my home country I have never done anything in this sort of business, so I have no documents!

Do I also need my school papers? Examinations i.e.?

Basically you "just" need evidence that you are qalified to do the job.

When applying for a work permit your education and prior working career has to fit the job you intend to work in.

Why should the Labour Department issue a work permit as a stock broker to a cook even when he worked in a five star restaurant in Paris.

To open a travel company you need to register with TAT and surely also have to show them your qualification.

Principally, foreigners have a chance to get a work permit if they are experts in a field and their activities benefit the country and the Thai people. The logic is that the job can NOT be filled by a Thai national and this needs to be proven. Imagine you are a specialized butcher making the greatest sausages in the world. The right way to file the application is not to get your permit to make the sausages yourself here but rather educate the Thais to make them. That way you receive expert status and benefit the nation.

Obviously, in your case you have to show something qualifing you for the intended business. Either your are specifically educated in that area, used to work successfully in that business for a long time and/or you have the ability to draw lots of foreign tourists to Thailand maybe through special connections and/or for example outstanding language abilities.

Get them your school papers/education certificates and your career resumee. Somehow there must be an obvious link between these and the business you intend to engage in or otherwise your application will be rejected for ovious reasons.

Good luck.

Richard

[Indo-Siam]

I run a business that, among other things, helps foreign clients incorporate companies and obtain work permits. I advise paying clients - and I don't therefore give away full support on discussion boards.

But - I will lay out the following line of thought:

At incorporation, a company does not "do" anything - all companies are - at inception - holding companies, with the future intention of carrying our planned business objectives.

A foreign founder who is a principal investor in the business, and a company director, can obtain a work permit on the basis of having primary responsibility for protecting shareholder interests, and being responsible for hiring, setting up administration, establishing a bank account, and managing profit and loss activities. A work permit application for Managing Director of a company does NOT have to mention the nature of the company's business. Your job is managing a company - even if it is still working out what business activities it will pursue.

If you can document a university educational degree in any field, that generally suffices - and a work permit can be obtained even without an educational degree - but in that case only, you will have to match background experience with planned business activities.

As noted, travel businesses must register with government. Real Estate business is restricted to Thai majority-owned companies- see http://www.thailawforum.com/database1/foreign5.html - List 1, Item 9.

If interested in further fee-based professional advice and assistance, please contact me via private message.

Otherwise - good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com

[Sunbelt Asia]

Good advice Steve. One point however...

Real Estate business is restricted to Thai majority-owned companies- see http://www.thailawforum.com/database1/foreign5.html - List 1, Item 9.

Amity treaty companies can own a real estate business :-)

www.sunbeltasia.com

[Indo-Siam]

Sunbelt is correct. I used poor choice of words. It appeared to me that original requestor was not US citizen (by English syntax) - from his standpoint, Real Estate was not a field he could pursue as a majority owner.

Indo-Siam