company incorporation and working visa 1year

[startuper]

Hi guys,

I would like to live in Thailand for year or two with my family. I'm kind of digital guy, it means I need only notebook and internet to my job. All my income comes from abroad. We all hold European Union passports.

My question is, what kind of visa would work best for me?

One friend of mine recommends to incorporate a company first, write down an employment contract and then ask for one year working visa for me and my spouse, and for dependent visa for children. I would like to ask you, if you have some experiences with this approach and if do you think it is a best working solution.

I think it could work, however there are some open questions:

How exactly this process looks like? Have I to be in Thailand to incorporate company? If yes, should I travel back to my homeland to ask for work permit?

Can I incorporate a company and directly employ myself and my wife, or it is under some kind of restrictions?

Any kind of help you can provide will be highly appreciated :-)

Thanks a lot.

[ukrules]

There are many rules and regulations which have been carefully designed over the years to prevent you from doing exactly what you're planning.

 

Prepare for a world of hassle and expense, I'm sure lots of people will be along shortly to explain it all in great detail.

 

[rwdrwdrwd]

In terms of the actual visa, what are you planning for schooling? If you're going to put them in school here (and if you are, i recommend you pick a good international one) then that can be a route to a visa for you as the parents.

http://gam-legalalliance.com/non-immigrant-o-guardian-visa/

To legally 'work' in Thailand, you would need to be employed by a local company. Many people who operate as you do (online, with clients all offshore and payment all received offshore) simply do it under the radar. It does not appear that Thai authorities are especially interested in pursuing people that work online and do not deal with Thai customers or clients.

Edited March 15, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[elviajero]

Thailand does not really accommodate foreigners setting up in business. In general, it would require 51% Thai ownership, 4 Thai employees for each work permit and 2m baht in paid up capital. It is unlikely to be practical if you're only staying 1-2 years.

 

You are going to find it difficult to get a 1-2 year visa/permit to stay unless you or your wife are over 50, or your children get permission to stay for education.

Edited March 15, 2017 by elviajero

[ubonjoe]

A post that had incorrect (wife is not Thai) and misleading information has been removed.  Apparent failure to read the OP.

11 hours ago, startuper said:

We all hold European Union passports.

 

[Dontbestupid]

Thank you, Ubonjoe. In my excitement to share the possibility of gaining a work permit via an ordinary person, I neglected to point out that the applicant need not be married to a Thai to get a work permit under a Thai sole proprietor. The conditions, as stated in the specific law under which I received my work permit, clearly state that it is not related to the foreigner being married to a Thai. If, as it is in my case, the foreigner is married to a Thai, the requirements are halved much like they are in the case of being employed by a company.

I apologise for not making this point in my first post.  In the case of the OP, I guess my route is not likely best for him, but it is a possibility.

Note: Ubonjoe, I would like to thank you for your information on other posts related to sole proprietors. Your information and honest insight gave me the belief to look beyond the typical information available.

 

[ukrules]

3 hours ago, Dontbestupid said:

Thank you, Ubonjoe. In my excitement to share the possibility of gaining a work permit via an ordinary person, I neglected to point out that the applicant need not be married to a Thai to get a work permit under a Thai sole proprietor. The conditions, as stated in the specific law under which I received my work permit, clearly state that it is not related to the foreigner being married to a Thai. If, as it is in my case, the foreigner is married to a Thai, the requirements are halved much like they are in the case of being employed by a company.

I apologise for not making this point in my first post.  In the case of the OP, I guess my route is not likely best for him, but it is a possibility.

Note: Ubonjoe, I would like to thank you for your information on other posts related to sole proprietors. Your information and honest insight gave me the belief to look beyond the typical information available.

 

I mentioned something about this method in a forum post a few months ago, I had read about it in the past but nobody appeared to have heard anything about it.

 

Do you have any pointers to the exact Thai law text for further reading ?

[startuper]

Thank you guys. I really appreciate it.

 

Thank you rwdrwdrwd for recommending student/guardian visa, I will think about it. We would like to enroll our daughters to one of French schools, where they already spent some time one year ago (but it was only for 3 months). But even on a first look, I have some questions. What do you think:

• Older daughter will be 6 years old and she will attend 2nd class, it should not be a problem
• But younger daughter will be only 5 and she will attend only kindergarten (class GS in french system), do you think I can ask for student visa even for such small children attending kindergarten? 
• Both parents can apply for a guardian visa, or only a mother? It seems to be enough to guard a kid by mother, don't it?
• And of course, there is a small financial problem... "Deposit of THB 500,000 in a Thai bank account so you would have to set up your Thai bank account." Me and my spouse together, it is about 25.000 euro. What do you think, what does it mean this deposit? I will be able to reach my money only after moving out from Thailand, or before (after first month of stay or something..)?

Thanks a lot.

Yes, I agree, that to start a company could be tough and if I really have to meet all this requirements, even not possible. But I found something about BOI Company, where it is not necessary to meet all this conditions. Do you think it could  be a way for me?

 

http://siamstartup.com/boi-company-thailand/

 

Ubonjoe, unfortunately I can't see your first post. So, if there is described somewhere the method you write about, please could you leave me a link here please? Or could you briefly explain? Thanks a lot.

 

Thank you all guys for your help. 

Edited March 18, 2017 by startuper
link to BOI company

[lkv]

11 hours ago, startuper said:

Thank you guys. I really appreciate it.

 

Thank you rwdrwdrwd for recommending student/guardian visa, I will think about it. We would like to enroll our daughters to one of French schools, where they already spent some time one year ago (but it was only for 3 months). But even on a first look, I have some questions. What do you think:

• Older daughter will be 6 years old and she will attend 2nd class, it should not be a problem
• But younger daughter will be only 5 and she will attend only kindergarten (class GS in french system), do you think I can ask for student visa even for such small children attending kindergarten? 
• Both parents can apply for a guardian visa, or only a mother? It seems to be enough to guard a kid by mother, don't it?
• And of course, there is a small financial problem... "Deposit of THB 500,000 in a Thai bank account so you would have to set up your Thai bank account." Me and my spouse together, it is about 25.000 euro. What do you think, what does it mean this deposit? I will be able to reach my money only after moving out from Thailand, or before (after first month of stay or something..)?

Thanks a lot.

Yes, I agree, that to start a company could be tough and if I really have to meet all this requirements, even not possible. But I found something about BOI Company, where it is not necessary to meet all this conditions. Do you think it could  be a way for me?

 

http://siamstartup.com/boi-company-thailand/

 

Ubonjoe, unfortunately I can't see your first post. So, if there is described somewhere the method you write about, please could you leave me a link here please? Or could you briefly explain? Thanks a lot.

 

Thank you all guys for your help. 

 

Yeah it's all very nice. I will just underline a few key points from your link.

 

- The whole process takes 3-6 months.

 

- Initial nonB visa (special visa for feasability study period) = THB 30,000

 

-Fee for processing the aplication = THB 150,000

 

- If succesful, an additional THB 100,000 to be paid.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by lkv

[blorg]

Just to throw out one other alternative, if you want to do it all above board, there is a company in Bangkok called Iglu that specialises in this.

 

https://iglu.net/join/

 

The deal is, you must have your own clients and income from abroad. You then sign up with Iglu as an employee of Iglu and they will invoice your foreign clients and in turn pay you a salary as their employee in Thailand after taking a 30% cut. This 30% covers their fee but also your Thai taxes and social security. I presume it is marked up quite a bit higher than it would work out paying your Thai taxes directly but it's lower than most EU countries and you avoid the whole company setup thing yourself.

 

With this arrangement you will have a fully legit non-immigrant “B” visa and work permit and can bring your wife and children on a dependent visa:

 

https://iglu.net/dependent-visa-in-thailand-for-a-spouse-or-child/

 

The downside is the 30%, but the upside is their company is already there and set up and the whole process is a lot easier. So for a short-term dipping your toes in it may be a lot easier and indeed even cheaper than going through the whole process of trying to set up your own company.

Note I have no association with these guys and no personal experience with them, I just know about them from reading on the internet.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, blorg said:

Just to throw out one other alternative, if you want to do it all above board, there is a company in Bangkok called Iglu that specialises in this.

 

https://iglu.net/join/

 

The deal is, you must have your own clients and income from abroad. You then sign up with Iglu as an employee of Iglu and they will invoice your foreign clients and in turn pay you a salary as their employee in Thailand after taking a 30% cut. This 30% covers their fee but also your Thai taxes and social security. I presume it is marked up quite a bit higher than it would work out paying your Thai taxes directly but it's lower than most EU countries and you avoid the whole company setup thing yourself.

 

With this arrangement you will have a fully legit non-immigrant “B” visa and work permit and can bring your wife and children on a dependent visa:

 

https://iglu.net/dependent-visa-in-thailand-for-a-spouse-or-child/

 

The downside is the 30%, but the upside is their company is already there and set up and the whole process is a lot easier. So for a short-term dipping your toes in it may be a lot easier and indeed even cheaper than going through the whole process of trying to set up your own company.

Note I have no association with these guys and no personal experience with them, I just know about them from reading on the internet.

Note that if you do not bring in business-proceeds in the same year they are earned, you don't owe Any Thai taxes.  You just need more savings than you spend here in a year to reach that benchmark.  The Big downside of Iglu is losing 30% of gross-receipts - not net-proceeds.  Its ~E1850 /mo minimum you are required to funnel through Iglu, so ~E560 / mo (E6700 / yr) for a visa and work-permit. 

Of the suggestions I have seen here, getting parent-based visas for your children in-school would be the way to go. If the money "in the bank" is close, you could stagger your applications in order to share those funds across both applications - moving it from one to the other prior to applying.  For some visas, the money needs to be in the bank for a period of months - I am not sure if that applies to Parent-visas, though - but even if it did, staggering the applications by 3 months would solve that hurdle.

 

If you have spare-time, a Volunteer-based visa might also work.

Edited March 19, 2017 by JackThompson

[blorg]

@JackThompson- I guess it depends on exactly how "legit" he wants to be with all of this, as the parent-based visas and the volunteer visas do not entitle him to "work" here. Not that that stops people, many digital nomads do exactly that under the radar without issue on a variety of visas. I'm more suggesting it as a "legit" path to an actual work permit that would be easier to obtain than actually setting up your own Thai company.