Buying products manufactured in Thailand and exporting them to the USA and Europe, while on a retierment visa.

[friendlyok]

Hello, I have a simple visa question, I think.

 

I am on a retirement visa and I want to purchase products that are manufactured in Thailand and export them to the USA and Europe. My question is this ok to do this on a retirement visa, or could I get in trouble with the Thai gov, because I don't have a business visa or work permit?

 

I would think it would be ok, as long as I am not selling anything in Thailand, only purchasing?

Thanks for any advice.

[wgdanson]

No it will not be OK to work on a retirement extension.

[8OA8]

Business visa and Work Permit are both required. You may think you are under the radar, but you will be wanting to receive payment from someone, be it the commission from a factory or the payment for the goods. If the payments were made by cash then maybe you could fly under the radar, but I can tell you I have left money with factories rather than allow them to make a transfer into my bank account since I changed from biz visa and WP, to now be here on a Non RE extention

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[Tanoshi]

You are purchasing and exporting goods for sale = working.

You would need a Work Permit, which is highly unlikely.

 

Under the Aliens Act, Section 51.

The penalty for working illegally is Imprisonment for 5 years or a fine ranging from 2,000 Baht to 100,000 Baht or both.

[friendlyok]

21 minutes ago, 8OA8 said:

Business visa and Work Permit are both required. You may think you are under the radar, but you will be wanting to receive payment from someone, be it the commission from a factory or the payment for the goods. If the payments were made by cash then maybe you could fly under the radar, but I can tell you I have left money with factories rather than allow them to make a transfer into my bank account since I changed from biz visa and WP, to now be here on a Non RE extention

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Thanks for your reply. Anyone have any advice on an easy way to change my retierment extension, to a business visa with work permit?

[BritTim]

3 minutes ago, friendlyok said:

Thanks for your reply. Anyone have any advice on an easy way to change my retierment extension, to a business visa with work permit?

There is no easy way. If you will be doing a lot of business wit one specific factory, maybe you can do a deal with them where they will sponsor your for a work permit (at your cost of course). The benefit to them will be that they stand to get extra business from the arrangement. I suggest you use an experienced lawyer, if you have an agreement from a company to sponsor you, to make sure the work permit is worded in a way that will properly cover your activities.

[8OA8]

Granted that is one way but something that I wouldn't want to do as you are then beholden to that particular factory and they can play games with you when the product isn't, pick any of the following; ready on time/wrong spec/failed inspection/increase prices...

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[dddave]

I believe "B" visas must be issued in the applicants home country.  I had a "B" more than 10 years ago, issued at a US Thai consulate but could not re-new it while in Thailand when it expired.  Back then, consulates were quite lax enforcing issuing requirements.  They have since tightened procedures up considerably.

If you are anticipating shipping regular shipments by post, you will probably eventually draw attention and be asked for export documents, as I eventually was.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, dddave said:

I believe "B" visas must be issued in the applicants home country.

A non-b visa can be issued at embassies and consulates anywhere. At nearby locations they will only issue them if you have a work permit or a work permit application approval letter unless teaching.

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, 8OA8 said:

Granted that is one way but something that I wouldn't want to do as you are then beholden to that particular factory and they can play games with you when the product isn't, pick any of the following; ready on time/wrong spec/failed inspection/increase prices...

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Assuming you are a US citizen, you could consider setting up a sole proprietorship under the US-Thailand Treaty of Amity. You can get a work permit as the owner of that business. I think your total cost per year comes to about US$3,000-4,000 It is something I have read about, rather than have first hand experience of. Talk to a good immigration lawyer if this seems like something worth considering.

[friendlyok]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A non-b visa can be issued at embassies and consulates anywhere. At nearby locations they will only issue them if you have a work permit or a work permit application approval letter unless teaching.

When you say embassies and consolits anywhere, does that mean Thailand also?

[friendlyok]

14 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Assuming you are a US citizen, you could consider setting up a sole proprietorship under the US-Thailand Treaty of Amity. You can get a work permit as the owner of that business. I think your total cost per year comes to about US$3,000-4,000 It is something I have read about, rather than have first hand experience of. Talk to a good immigration lawyer if this seems like something worth considering.

I am from the USA, but this will be a small non-profit business for childrens charities.  $3000 to $4000 a year is too much money for me to pay.

[ubonjoe]

42 minutes ago, friendlyok said:

When you say embassies and consolits anywhere, does that mean Thailand also?

Thai embassies are located outside of the country.

Immigration will issue one for working with a stack of required documents.

[YetAnother]

this is as far from the intent of a retirement visa as you can get

[jethro69]

9 hours ago, 8OA8 said:

Business visa and Work Permit are both required. You may think you are under the radar, but you will be wanting to receive payment from someone, be it the commission from a factory or the payment for the goods. If the payments were made by cash then maybe you could fly under the radar, but I can tell you I have left money with factories rather than allow them to make a transfer into my bank account since I changed from biz visa and WP, to now be here on a Non RE extention

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Yes, but the OP stated to "export" to the US and EU. I believe in that case he would have bank accounts in both locations, rather than get money transferred into a Thai bank account. Also a quite unclear definition about "export". Does the OP want to deal with Thai companies, or just picking some Shirts at the local market and sell them on Ebay.

[Paul944]

Buying items at factories does not require a work permit.

Shipping parcels to the US or Europe does not require a work permit

But all work related actions for buying, shipping and selling you should keep outside Thailand if you do not have the correct permits.

 

How much boxes do you want to send in a year? If it is just  a few you can see it as gifts and souvenirs for relatives and friends. If it a ship container a month you better get the paper work in order.  But If you can not afford $4000 to spend on overhead costs for lawyers and tax advisers your business will be very small.

 

the US is famous to have 'advisers' everywhere, so you could opt to advise a Thai friend how to buy, ship and sell stuff overseas. However if money is involved this tend to give a lot of problems because the money  always seems to go a different place as where you intended it to go. And officially it can not have been your money because you are only an adviser.

 

I know a guy in his 70ties who goes 3 months a year to Thailand and buys a lot of stuff to sell on markets in Canada. He tried to get a business visa but that was too much work for him so he just gets a tourist visa and does a few days trip outside Thailand after 60 days.

 

 

[friendlyok]

30 minutes ago, jethro69 said:

Yes, but the OP stated to "export" to the US and EU. I believe in that case he would have bank accounts in both locations, rather than get money transferred into a Thai bank account. Also a quite unclear definition about "export". Does the OP want to deal with Thai companies, or just picking some Shirts at the local market and sell them on Ebay.

I want to have a small product manufactured (getting parts from a few Thai companies) and then ship it to the USA to be sold, then hopefully sell to the EU in the future.

I will only have a Thai bank account. Also maybe use Payoneer (kinda like a US bank account), works similar to PayPal.

 

Thanks for your help.

[jethro69]

I pay like 0,175% for a transfer into my BB account, but the minimum amount is 7EU, that's why I only transfer 4000 EU when my BB account runs low. Don't know the fees from the US into a Thai bank account but I guess similar.

Something to consider I would say.

[Denim]

Depends what the OP means.If you just want to buy small things to sell online......say eBay for example........then its possible to do if your operation remains a one man band and the cash involved is not much. Yes....it is illegal....like riding a motorcycle without a crash helmet......but in reality if you are sensible it is doable.

 

I used to make about 50,000 baht a month but believe me....to get that it was like working a full time job. Started on the computer at 8.30 am and after buying , packing and posting was not done until about 5.00 pm. This was because I carried virtually no stock so had to go out to buy my daily orders.

 

Now , I live three hours from Bangkok such a business is totally impossible since obviously I am cut off from the easy supply market of Bangkok . Into something different now.

 

You do have to be a bit careful selling online because of copyright or money laundering laws outside of Thailand but unfortunately these are things you have to learn in the school of hard knocks because anyone who knows is not going to tell you on an expat forum.

 

I used to know a Khao Man Gai seller and he was so protective of his business he wouldn't even tell me how many portions he could get out of one chicken !

 

( of course.....I know now and can make it myself no problem but the fact is if you want to succeed in anything here it is best to put in some thorough research first because on an expat forum you are not going to get much useful help .)

 

Good luck with it anyway ......

 

[friendlyok]

3 hours ago, BritTim said:

Assuming you are a US citizen, you could consider setting up a sole proprietorship under the US-Thailand Treaty of Amity. You can get a work permit as the owner of that business. I think your total cost per year comes to about US$3,000-4,000 It is something I have read about, rather than have first hand experience of. Talk to a good immigration lawyer if this seems like something worth considering.

I remember looking into this and thought the Thai Gov. wanted more money. See this page...

http://www.siam-legal.com/Business-in-Thailand/US-Thai Amity.php

"In case that the business is not restricted under the FBA, the minimum capital requirement for a treaty-protected company is THB 2 million."  I think the US$3,000-4,000 is the fee and the 2million baht is the investment that needs to be made?

Bummer, another roadblock. It seems like Thailand wants to push outsourcing away, where countries like China, Vietnam, India want to make it as easy as possible for small and large business to do business with them.