My Thai Life

Bombs going off, people dying, riots in the street and I still haven’t heard from the King. Where is the King? Why haven’t we heard from him regarding all this drama going on in the streets of Bangkok? I have my eyes and ears close to the news and I just don’t get it. Why hasn’t he come out and said something? BangkokPost.com reports nothing on it. All i see is people dying and bombs going off and nothing is coming of it.

I read an article today about how one million Thais will be out of work in the coming year and I can’t understand where the King is or what his thoughts are on this. The Thais respect the King and I would think that after what has been going on that he would come out and try to calm the Thai people down and try to talk to them and get them to try to understand more of what is going on. Is he doing this and I’m just missing it? I don’t understand. Mai Kao Jai….

The Thais respect the King and I do believe that if he came out and gave a speech that the Thai people might just listen to him and we might not have people dying in the streets. So, my question is, where is the King?

MyThaiLife

Here is a question that I get a lot. What is a Thai work permit and how do you get one? The answer is not that simple and definitely not that easy.

A Thai work permit allows you to do many things as that include opening a Thai checking or savings account as well as paying a minimum of 800 baht per month in taxes. Yes, a Thai work permit cost you money. Whether you want one for work or for extended stay in Thailand, you’ll have to pay taxes.

A couple years ago, Thailand changed their tourist visa laws. Seems that some people were staying in Thailand forever on a tourists visa. Now, a person in Thailand on a tourist visa can’t be in the Kingdom more than 90 days in a 6 month period. This means that you have been in Thailand for 90 days, you can’t come back for 3 more months. Yep, you have to leave. In order to stay, you have to have a job and provide tax money to the Thai government.

So, the Thai work permit helps but you still need an different Thai visa to get that work permit. That’s a whole different story. Search the site for non-immigrant B Thai visa.

Now, one you have the right paperwork then you will have to go down to the Thai work permit office and that should take you about 2 hours. You’ll need your two passport size photos or no work permit! If you don’t have the paperwork, then no work permit. No money to pay for the work permit, then no work permit. See how it works? There is a Thai way of doing everything. I’ll write about the “Thai Way” later.

Now getting a Thai work permit is a bit difficult and keeping it is even more difficult. Your Thai work permit will need to be renewed. Mine had to be renewed within 30 days of getting it then every 30 days after for about 6 months. Then it went to every 90 days. If you don’t renew it, you’re work permit becomes VOID. At least that is what they say. I’m always on time with mine. Don’t want to lose that thing.

Now, once you have your work permit, you’ll be able to open a Thai checking account or a Thai savings account. I suggest Siam Commercial Bank. They have what seems to be thousands of branches. ATM’s are always good and reliable too. Flash the current Thai work permit and your passport and you’re in business. Now, be careful of the fees. Make sure you fully understand the fees.

There you go, my blog about a Thai Work Permit!

MyThaiLife

People are always asking me about getting a Thai Visa. The answer is always the same., “What do you mean?”. There’s not a real simple answer other than the correct one.

You can’t stay in Thailand on a tourist visa more than 90 days in a 6 month period. After 90 days during a 6 month period, you must leave the country for 90 days before you can come back. This is because of all the expats living in Thailand on tourist visas that don’t pay taxes and have a work permit. So, they wanted to counter that.

If you want to stay in Thailand over 90 days then you will need a different Thai visa. I suggest that if you have a bit of money then you get a company started here in Thailand. Before you come to Thailand, contact Siam-Legal.com and get the proper paperwork so that you can get a non-immigrant B visa from the Thai consulate office in your home country. Once you get a non-immigrant B Thai visa then you can stay in Thailand for one whole year and only have to do a border run every 90 days. I suggest using ThaiVisaRun.com for they are really cool and cheap.

Now, your non-immigrant B Thai visa will expire in one year but you can get it renewed provided you have started a company and have your proper Thai work permit. I’ve done the whole non-immigrant B Thai visa and the work permit and it’s not a big deal. Just have to jump through a few hoops. Like a physical at the hospital and little bit of money.

Now, when you are wanting to get that non-immigrant B Thai visa, make sure that you ask for a mulitple entry version. It will save you time and effort.

The company Siam-Legal.com will take care of all the paperwork for you. You will just need to show up at the office with two passport photos for your work permit. Takes about 30 minutes to get the work permit. Now, work permits are tricky in themselves. You will need to go back down to the work permit office in 30 days to get a stamp then every 90 days to make sure it’s correct. This is the Thai visa way of making sure they get their work permit money. Because with a work permit comes cash for the country of Thailand.

This blog post has a photocopy of my work permit to show you what they look like.

Hope this helps…

MyThaiLife

Ok, people keep asking me about the Thai Visa laws. So, here is what I think is going on. I’ll keep it short and simple.

To my understanding, the new Thailand visa laws only affect the Tourist Visa. All other visas need not worry.

You are allowed 3 stamps in 3 months. That is it, then you will have to go out of the country for 3 months before returning to Thailand.

Some people tell me about how they get a new passport and then get a new stamp each time. It is only a matter of time before that catches up with you. Now, some people say that there is no way to check this, well, considering they will need a computer at every entry point, then I don’t see how they could catch that. I think Thailand is a few years off of a fully computer automated system that checks your entry date digitally.

Why you ask are they doing this? They want to crack down on the illegal people working in Thailand. This is all about money.

So, your only option looks like a Non-Immigrant B Visa. Or just leave and come back in 3 months.

MyThaiLife