Doing Business in Thailand

What is the Education Visa?

The education visa is the visa granted to foreign citizens who want to pursue studies in Thailand.

This type of visa covers the cases of enrollment in a government educational institution or in a private educational institution (High School or University) and is also available to foreign citizen that whishes to conduct training or research into a university or research institute.

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Originally posted 2009-08-04 10:38:43.

What is the law that regulates Working of Aliens?

The new working of Aliens act dated of February 2008 has repealed the former Work of Aliens Act of 1978 and the Working of Aliens Act of 1981. Note that at the time this book was last updated all the regulations of application of the new act had yet to be issued. As long as those regulations have not been issued the Labor will continue to issue work permit under the Working of Aliens Act of 1981.

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Originally posted 2009-07-23 04:46:59.

Work Permits Requirements – Update

In France we have this joke of a Prime Minister giving a speech to restore confidence and saying:

” Last year we were on the brink of a cliff but I’m proud to tell you all that we have made a big step forward “.

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Originally posted 2009-07-28 11:25:22.

Pursuant to Thai Immigration Law; any foreign citizen who wishes to enter the Kingdom of Thailand is in principle required to obtain a Visa from a Royal Thai Embassy or a Royal Thai Consulate-General prior to entering Thailand.

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Originally posted 2009-07-29 10:42:10.

Working without a work permit is not something someone should take lightly as the penalties applicable are quite harsh.

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Originally posted 2009-11-26 02:57:42.

The infamous blacklist

There are a lot of lists most of us dreamt to be on (fortune list, most influent people, most eligible bachelor and so on….) but there is one you definitively don’t want to be on, Thailand immigration blacklist.

Note: I would be unfair to Thailand if I did not state that Thailand is not the only country with an immigration blacklist. All countries have one.

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Originally posted 2009-08-08 06:36:36.

Contrary to a common belief there are no minimum wages applicable to foreign workers. But because there is always a but in Thailand the Immigration Department has developed a minimum wage schedule applicable to foreign workers who benefit of a work permit and wants to apply and obtain a one year B visa extension.

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Originally posted 2010-01-16 07:20:22.

Extending a Non Immigrant Visa B for one year

A foreign investor conducting a business in Thailand or working for a Thai company may if all conditions and documentary requirements are fulfilled file an application and obtain a one year visa.

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Originally posted 2009-07-29 09:31:15.

Introduction to the Tourist Visa

What is the Tourist Visa?

Foreign investors who wish to come into Thailand for tourism purpose may either chose to come under the regime of Visa Exemption (providing that they are national from one of the countries that benefit from this exemption) or they may also apply and obtain for a Tourist Visa with a Royal Thai Embassy.

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Originally posted 2009-07-30 09:45:42.

This post is a continuation of a series dedicated to visas in Thailand. It follows: “Thailand Visas: Setting the Record Straight: The Rumor Effects” and “Thailand Visas: Setting the Record Straight: The Visa Exemption”. As a professional service provider in Thailand I realised that there is a lot of confusion in people minds as to the visa situation in Thailand.

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Originally posted 2009-10-25 06:36:33.

This post is a continuation of our series Thailand Visas: Setting the Record Straight. I wrote this series with a “back-to-basics” kind of approach because I don’t believe that it is possible to understand Thai immigration regulations without having first an understanding of basic terms such as visa, visa class, visa exemption, passport stamp, entry visa, departure visa, multi or single entry and so on…

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Originally posted 2009-10-26 09:27:19.

What is the  The Non-Immigrant Visa  “O-A” (Long Stay) Visa

The Non-Immigrant Visa  “O-A” (Long Stay) is a visa for people that are aged 50 years and more who wish to stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 1 year without the intention of working.

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Originally posted 2009-07-28 15:10:50.

This post conclude for the time being my series on visa. In this post I tried to make  a comparative table showing the most commonly used types of visa, their benefits and requirements. Note that some of the visa I discussed here have already been discussed in several posts already. I just want to permit readers to compare different type of visa without to switch from one post to the other.

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Originally posted 2009-10-27 10:46:41.

On the 11 September 2009, Thai news reported a new crackdown on back-to-back Tourist visa applications under the form of an extended screening of visa applicants. Unfortunately I must say that this latest measure does not surprise me and is only one side of a new policy started by the immigration department around two years ago as part of a “spring house cleaning”.

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Originally posted 2009-09-12 06:32:32.

If you are working without a work permit the first thing you must understand is that you are at risk of a control either from the Labor Officer or the Immigration Officer.

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Originally posted 2009-11-25 04:22:54.

Once again the foreign community is busing with rumors of a next hike of work permit fees that would soon increase up to 7,000 THB. Of course as a foreign investor I regret any increase of fees or anything which will make the situation more difficult for foreign investors in Thailand. Read more…

Originally posted 2009-09-01 10:50:05.

Introduction to the Visa B

What is a Non Immigrant Visa B

Foreign investors who wish to come into Thailand to conduct a business or to work must first obtain a Non Immigrant Visa B with a Royal Thai Embassy.

The Non Immigrant Visa B will allow you to stay in Thailand for a period of not more than 90 days at a time. This visa may be granted for a single entry or multi entries.

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Originally posted 2009-07-29 08:45:28.

Introduction to the Non Immigrant Visa O Family

What is the Family Visa?

The family Non Immigrant Visa O is for foreigners who have Thai family in Thailand and who wish to stay in Thailand to take care of their family. Family means a Thai relative whether a parent, spouse, children, adopted children or spouse children.

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Originally posted 2009-07-30 12:06:22.

Frequently Asked Questions: Thai Visas

The point of the doingbusinessthailand.com blog is not only to provide potential investors with a comprehensive and up to date source of information on how to do business in Thailand but is also, as much as possible, to try to answer to readers immediate concerns.

One of the benefits of search engines is that they made it possible to keep track of the researches that are made by those among you who are interested by Thailand. Therefore from now on I will not only continue to provide substantive information but I will also from time to time discuss some of the queries that are made every weeks.

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Originally posted 2009-08-07 11:59:46.

Is it difficult to enter and stay in Thailand?

How many times did I hear foreign clients complaining about Thai Immigration policies and how difficult it is to live or stay in Thailand? Believe me we are the lucky one because Thailand gives us VIP treatment in comparison to what Thai citizens have to go through to visit our countries. Read more…

Originally posted 2009-07-21 14:54:28.

What is the Non-Immigrant Visa Investment?

The concept of the investment visa is not new in Thailand.

For example, after the crisis of 1997 an investment visa with a ceiling of not less than 3,000,000 THB of investment was created as an incentive to help Thai developers to sell their stock of condominiums units’ leftover of the crisis to foreign investors. This visa was discontinued  in October 2006 once Thai economy picked up.

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Originally posted 2009-08-04 10:51:25.

Visa abuse is not a novelty in Thailand and for the past 3 years we have seen a race between foreigners who abuse the visa system to stay in Thailand (and those who assist them) and the Thai Immigration who always finish by catching up.

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Originally posted 2009-12-19 05:48:46.

Section 37(5) of the Immigration Act B.E is anorther disposition that gets a lot of foreign citizens in trouble. To sum it up it requires that any foreigner who is permitted to stay in Thailand temporarily is required to report to the Immigration Department to confirm his/her residential address upon completion of every 90 days period of stay.

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Originally posted 2009-12-10 07:27:57.

Another big problem in Thailand for the professional who like us provide visa services is that foreign visas applicants are often confusing the names of the visas they are having and the benefits attached to say visas. This is why we will dedicate this post and the next post to give definitions of visas terms.

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Originally posted 2009-10-24 09:13:01.

Here below is the list of the post I wrote on the matter of visas and work permits in Thailand to date. Hope this list will be helpful.

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Originally posted 2009-11-08 07:36:05.

One of the biggest problems in Thailand for the professional who like our firm provide visa services is that everyone has an opinion on the subject. Having listen to dinner party rumors, gossip, the advice of well intentioned friends and family, many foreign citizens candidate to a visa, a visa extension or a work permit will come to their first meeting prejudiced as to what is in the realm of the possible and what is impossible to achieve.

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Originally posted 2009-10-23 12:44:03.