Work Permits in Thailand??

[smartecosse]

Makhno,

Good explanation, just one thing about the WP's through a DC: one WP is allowed per 2 mio registered capital and 4 Thai employees. So for 2 WP's 4 mio and 8 Thai employees are required.

Thats incorrect

You only need to have the 4 Thai employees per WP if you are having your non b EXTENDED.

If you are on normal single or multi entry non b's there IS NO REQUIREMENT AT ALL for thai employees.

You merely need to have the 2 mil capital (either actual paid up or bonded) per WP

 

[stevenl]

Smartcosse: there is a big difference here between the law and the requirements from the labour office. What I wrote is what the labour office requires.

What do you mean with 'normal non b'? There is no visa called that way.

 

[smartecosse]

Smartcosse: there is a big difference here between the law and the requirements from the labour office. What I wrote is what the labour office requires.

What do you mean with 'normal non b'? There is no visa called that way.

so let me spell it out for you then

if you have a non immigrant b that has NOT BEEN EXTENDED in Thailand then there is no requirement to have any Thai staff on you payroll

If you meet the requirements to have your non b EXTENDED rather than get a new one then at that point you are required to have 4 thai staff per WP.

so to sum up, if you have a non b (single or multiple) then there are no requirements for thai staff. If you have that non b EXTENDED then part of the requirements for that process is 4 thai staff per WP

Please do not confuse visa / border runs with EXTENSIONS they are not the same thing at all

 

[Makhno]

As it was explained to me, the requirement of Thai employees only applies if you want a non-B visa that allows you to stay in country for 1 year without doing visa runs (this also requires a minimum salary of 50,000 baht/month -- more than most scuba instructors actually make). Maybe what Smartcosse meant by "normal" non-B visa is the non-B visa for which the foreigner must do a visa run to the border every 3 months.

For what it's worth, in Surat Thani (includes Koh Samui and Koh Tao), at least, if not all of Thailand, you can get 2 scuba instructors' work permits per 2 million baht capitalization, not just one WP per 2 million. The diving industry is one a just a few (usually farang-dominated) industries for which the government allows this, as the normal rule is only one WP per 2 million registered capital. My accountant told me that the government knows that a lot of scuba instructors are working illegally, and is trying to make it (a little bit) easier for us to get WPs, hence they will let a company give 2 WPs rather than just one.

All of the above goes with the following caveat: I consulted about 6 different Thai lawyers/accountants about setting up a company and getting a work permit, and I got about 7 different stories as to what the rules actually are. Just one example: about half of the people I consulted said that a company must have 2 million baht IN THE BANK; the other half said "no, no -- the requirement is just for 2 million baht REGISTERED capital. If 61% [not 51%] of the shares are owned by Thais, then you don't need to actually have anything in the bank at all, as long as the company has 2 million registered capital." [I guess "registered capital" means something roughly equivalent to the "book value" of shares in a western corporation, which may have very little to do with the actual market value of those shares]. In any event, I don't know very many scuba instructors who have 2 million baht that they are willing or able to put aside in a Thai bank just so that they can get a work permit ...

 

[stevenl]

For what it's worth, in Surat Thani (includes Koh Samui and Koh Tao), at least, if not all of Thailand, you can get 2 scuba instructors' work permits per 2 million baht capitalization, not just one WP per 2 million.

Easy life you guys have there , here you will only get one per 2 mio.

 

[smartecosse]

Anyway...................

best site to visit for this type of info is Home - Thaivisa.com

 

[Diver_City Boys]

I want to add that from the date you apply for your work permit, in low season it takes nearly 2-3 months to get your WP , and nearly 4 months if you apply before start of high season, thai immigration wants to control No. of farang employees during high tourism season

 

[Quero]

I want to add that from the date you apply for your work permit, in low season it takes nearly 2-3 months to get your WP , and nearly 4 months if you apply before start of high season, thai immigration wants to control No. of farang employees during high tourism season

That may be true if your Thai go-between/accountant is not well connected. If s/he knows who to 'talk to' things can go significantly faster... of course this kind of 'expedited service' costs more.

 

[stevenl]

I want to add that from the date you apply for your work permit, in low season it takes nearly 2-3 months to get your WP , and nearly 4 months if you apply before start of high season,

I had 2 instructors apply last week, should be finished this week. Agree that is very fast, but 2-4 months is slow, that really means somebody is stalling things (could also be labour office if they don't like the account taking care of the WP process).

 

[smartecosse]

That may be true if your Thai go-between/accountant is not well connected. If s/he knows who to 'talk to' things can go significantly faster... of course this kind of 'expedited service' costs more.

and its exactly for this reason why they drag their feet

"slowly, slowly, stupid farang pay extra backhander for us to do our job" :no

why do people pay extra for a service that they are already paying for? As long as people continue to pay the bribes the scum will continue to hold their hand out for cash rather than simply do the job that they are already paid to do.

BTW the speed of the work permit being processed is also linked to the quals of the applicant