dean Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 I'll be married within the next week, am building a house in Chiang Mai (which should be done in the next month) and am shipping a 20 foot container of furniture and used, personal items, to Thailand at the end of December. It seems that neither a retirement or a marriage one year visa will excuse me from paying duty on the goods shipped but a one year work permit will. I'll be helping the wife in her business and was planing on getting just a marriage visa but if its going to save me a lot of money, I'd go for the work visa. How hard is it to get one (or should I just forget about it and give the furniture away)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carew66 Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted December 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 After finally contacting someone that speaks decent English at a shipping company in Bangkok, they told me that I could get duty free status if I received a one year type "B" visa (not a type "O" visa. Does anyone have an explanation of what is a type "B" visa and is it hard to get (do I need to use a company like Siam-legal). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Hi, Non-Imm B is business visa. Should be fairly easy to get from any Western country. Just tell them you will be exploring business opportunities. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted December 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Thanks, KS. I believe that I can get a 3 month B visa in the U.S. during the 3 weeks that I'l over there. I do need a one year Type B visa to present to Thai customs when my 20 foot container comes in the end of February. I believe that these are issued on a case by case basis at any immigration office. Is there any immigration office where it is easier to get the type B visa from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted December 12, 2006 Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 I would forget trying the process of getting a non-immigrant B visa. I guess it ake a different take than KS on it is easy to get this type of visa. You have to show a lot of paperwork and what is your buisiness? Are you not shipping over personal effects? Just pay the duty tax. No big dela. if you are building ahose in someone else;s name (assuming your future's wife, then you surely can afford the tax and probably not a big dela to you compared to going throught the process of a visa B. If you are going to have a legitimite non B visa, then why not incoporate th epurchse of the land.house under that business. Now that would be a muvch better business decision than worrying about how to avoid a tax. I will assume the hose/land cost in the millions of baht say comapred to tax on a container.. Your bigger issue is whether you want a marriage visa or a retirement visa from a cost as well as a convenience perspective... The non b visa, good for a year is worth it only if you are serious about a business for you to have to deal with all the paperwork and actually produce a business meaning thai employees, paying taxes on income earned, showing receipts, etc. Is that all worth it for a few hundred or a couple of thousand bucks? One smart move in your porfolio (whay? five minutes time) can more than make up the tax money you will have to pay.... I live in CM as well and will build eventually on my property (not really mine legally). It is a great area so enjoy... CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangaroobar Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I confirm the "difficulty" to get a non B. The othe way around is to use the service of a company (there are a few legal ones in BKK) who for a modest fee (8-10k bht) will send you a "sponsorship" letter. (basically this is a letter from a company established in thailand that states you are coming for business purpose) Then once you have it you can apply for a non B and pay the visa fee. This is the easiest way to do it. I did it and got my non B (multiple entry) one year visa in just 24 hours. If you wish to apply for it by yourself then I wish you good luck if you can not prove you are employed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooNoi Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Kangaroo Bar is spot on. Unless you are being employed by a Thai company and have documents backing this up, its bery hard to get. Much better to use one of the visa services. Once you have this sponsorship letter for a Thai "Company", getting the visa is easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom Michael Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Also, the non-imm B visa gives you no right to import duty free. Where are you importing the container to? Chiang Mai? A few very good shipping agents up there that can help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean Posted December 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 I just got an e-mail back from the Thai consulate in Kansas (in the K.C. region where I'm from). She said she could issue me a 3 month type B visa with no problems. I then have to get it converted to a one year visa, which requires the paperwork and sponsors, so if I go that route (and I might actually start exporting some teak products back to the K.C. region), I'll use the visa service that you mentioned. I don't thinkthat a type B visa allows a person to import anything and any time duty free to Thailand but I think that it allows one 20 foot container with a reasonable amount of household goods and few electronic devises. Autos, motorcycles, cigarretes and alcohol are prohibited (or heavily taxed). I'd pay the damm tax if I knew in advance what it was. I've been on one customs site and it gave an average of 60% duty plus other taxes. I'm not going to bring anything over here if I can buy it cheaper here versus the duty and shipping costs. If its 10-15%, I can live with that. As far as the house, I lease the land from my business partner for 30 years. My soon to be wife does not like the female business partner and want the house in her name. Of course, I think that the marriage will last but I'd prefer to wait one or two years to switch it to her name. The alternative is to switch it to her name and have her sign a 30 year lease back to me. Or I may take the suggestion and incorporate the business and put the house into the coprporation. Anyway, once the house is done, I'll post some pictures of it (with help since I'm computer illerate). Its pretty much an all teak house and thats why its about 1.2 million baht over budget. I'm sure that I'm going to injoy Chiang Mai (as I've already have over the last two years of visiting). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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