0

I am almost a year in Thailand. I can speak and read a bit of Thai, and I'm learning Thai with a student visa. I generally like this the country and like to travel in it and want to keep doing so with less bureaucratic demands as those inflicted on students.

With the current regulations, a technical college student must extend visa every 75 days, which can take hours, with the long queues in some areas. A business owner must do so once a year.

As Thai law requires at least 1 Thai partner for semi-company, me and a Thai partner could open a semi-company via a Thai lawyer while I get 49% of income and the partner gets 51% of income.
As I understand from a local lawyer I consulted, the procedure includes:

  • Debt free agreement: Debts of any partner would not be bestowed upon another partner
  • Business agreement: Probably declarations regarding opening of the business
  • Free responsibility agreement: Probably each partner declares partnership was done based on free will and enough contemplation
  • Share holders agreement: Probably declarations regarding profit distribution
  • Sales agreement (I don't know what it means)

How complex and how costly should opening a business (semi-company) be approximately?

  • Is working permitted under a student visa? – DavidRecallsMonica Nov 07 '19 at 03:28
  • 1
    No, in order to work you need a non-O ("family") or a non-B ("business") visa, and a work permit. My guess is that the OP is asking how best to stay in Thailand without having to extend the visa every 75 days, and whether a different visa (obtained through setting up a company) would make this easier. – Scott Earle Nov 07 '19 at 07:39

1 Answers1

1

In order to set up a company in Thailand that you could use to get a non-immigrant B visa and one-year extensions of stay, you need to have:

  • at least 2 million Baht in capitalisation.
  • an accountant to process the monthly accounts (accountancy is one of the proscribed professions in Thailand, and so the accountant must be a Thai citizen).
  • four Thai employees.
  • a lawyer to help set the company up is recommended ('lawyer' is also on the list of proscribed professions, so you would need to find a Thai lawyer).
  • a Thai citizen to own 51% of the company (you can only own 49% of it yourself). Obviously this should be someone you trust!

You would get your lawyer to set the company up, and your monthly (and annual) accounts would need to show the salaries being paid to the four Thai employees, as well as the tax they paid.

Then you could get a non-immigrant B visa that will allow you 90-days of stay in Thailand at a time.

Once you have a non-immigrant B visa, you could get a work permit (you would need an immigration lawyer to help you with this), and your accounts would need to show your salary and the tax paid on that salary every month.

Once you have a work permit and a suitable salary (the minimum varies by country, but it's at least 40,000 THB per month, and as high as 60,000 THB per month for some nationalities) you can then apply at immigration (again - immigration lawyer recommended) for a one-year extension of stay.

Once you have the one-year extension of stay, you can then get that renewed along with your work permit, every year while the company is still doing business.

Worthy of note: you are not permitted to work on a student visa (that is to say that you cannot get a work permit on a non-ED [education] visa, and you can not work without a work permit!). But you are allowed to study when you have a non-B (or extension of stay based on employment) and a work permit.

Scott Earle
  • 3,325
  • 1
  • 14
  • 24
  • Hello, I might be wrong but I'm not sure we mean the same thing --- I think you describe a full company while I meant to ask about semi-company. Also, I am sorry for the late update in question --- it is only because the question was migrated and now the data does fit. Thank you for the time to answer. –  Nov 07 '19 at 11:14
  • 2
    There is no such thing as a “semi company”, just a company. You’re right about only being able to own up to 49% of the company - you need to find one or more Thai citizens to own at least 51%. All the rules I stated in my answer still apply. If you are a US citizen you can in theory create an “amity treaty” company that is 100% by you, but I’ve never looked into the details of those because I’m not a US citizen – Scott Earle Nov 07 '19 at 13:56
  • Hello, your comment is surprising for me because I heard this term "semi-company" from an expat-lawyer in Thailand (although the price was way cheaper than any other expat-lawyer I spoke with and I learned lots of true data) he told me lots of things but about 3 more incorrect things. I think the law in Thailand changes so rapidly that even lawyers sometimes wrong or confused. –  Nov 07 '19 at 14:57
  • First, he’s not a lawyer - he’s a legal consultant. I think you need to talk to an actual Thai lawyer. (“Lawyer” is on the list of professions that foreigners are not allowed to do.) – Scott Earle Nov 07 '19 at 14:57
  • Yes I saw it just a few moments ago when starting to read the answer anew... BTW, the 2 million Baht things is new, isn't it? That legal consultant didn't mention it, as far as I remember. –  Nov 07 '19 at 14:59
  • It’s been there at least the 15 years I have been in Thailand. It’s not actual cash - it’s “company registered capitalisation”, and it’s possible that the lawyers will be able to find that for you, and you pay them interest on it or something. Ask the lawyer about the capitalisation. ALSO - don’t forget that it might be easier to get an actual job that pays a salary, and get a work permit and extension of stay from that. – Scott Earle Nov 07 '19 at 15:02
  • 1
    Yes, I fully agree. Thank you so much Scott, –  Nov 07 '19 at 15:10