up2you2 Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Work permits even for artists. Copied from the Phuket Gazette, Issues and Answers ... I'm 70 years old and retired and I like to paint pictures for pleasure. I have had some inquiries about selling some paintings, and I may even stage an exhibition one day, but I understand that I will probably need a work permit to do either of these. Can I call myself a "part-time" artist on my work permit? PG Kathu An Officer at the Phuket Provincial Employment office replies: Yes, you need to have a work permit. Whether your work is full time, part time, paid, or unpaid, you need a work permit to do it. Even if you want to exhibit your paintings in a gallery without selling them, you need a work permit. And yes, you can apply as a part time artist. However, in order to be issued with a work permit, you need to be either be an employee of a business or operate a business yourself. If you operate your own business, it must be majority owned by Thais, in terms of shareholders, no matter how small or big it is. This means your company cannot be more than 49 per cent owned by foreigners. If you are staying in Thailand on a retirement visa, you have to contact the Phuket Immigration Office to change your visa from a retirement visa to a non-immigrant "B" visa, which will allow you to conduct business and work. For more information, call the Phuket Provincial Employment Office at 076-219660 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hi, Fucking ridiculous that Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelgianBoy Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hi, Fucking ridiculous that Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumsoda Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 ....... If you are staying in Thailand on a retirement visa, you have to contact the Phuket Immigration Office to change your visa from a retirement visa to a non-immigrant "B" visa, which will allow you to conduct business and work. For more information, call the Phuket Provincial Employment Office at 076-219660 This part is incorrect It is not..("Technically") possible to change a Non Imm O...retirement visa into a Non Imm B...Business from within Thailand... The Visa holder must first go to the Labour Office and apply for a Work Permit.....They will be issued with a receipt (WP3)... This receipt must be taken to a Consulate..OUTSIDE Thailand and presented with the application for a non Imm B......If this receipt is not presented the applicant will be told to go back...get one...and re apply All going well the applicant will be issued a 60 or 90 day non Imm B.....which will then need to be taken back to the Imm boys...here in LOS...to be extended to 12 months. If own Company....in order to get a WP...one must have paid up Capital of 2 million baht....and employ 4 Thai staff Thai staff need to be covered by Social Security....costs 720 bt / mth per employee...(LOL...and 1200 for Farangs) Also it is a requirement that the WP holder receives a minimum salary of 50k bt / mth Not that this is checked...BUT....the WP holder must pay Income Tax of 3000 bt / mth I have heard...on the Grapevine....that if someone is a little bit of a Social Butterfly...and was to attend the Policeman's Ball....that there have been situations where the time consuming trip "Overseas"..(or over land)....has been avoided Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 ...two years ago, I was issued a work permit using my retirement visa! I asked and the labor dept said it was OK...TIT However, Thai Immi was not pleased!! so I had to jump thru the hoops again, turn in my work permit, the Labor Dept canceled the work permit, go to Penang and get a visa, come back and get the proper visa and another work permit The tax is rated per your salary: 0 ~ 100K 0% 100K ~ 500K 10% 500K ~ 1M 20%.....etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hi, It is VERY common to get multiple different answers when asking government officials about any of these rules. Most of them either don't know or don't care, likely both, and will just tell you something to get rid off you. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 I've probably told this here before, but I'll throw it in again. I taught here for years without a work permit, then one day at visa renewal Immigration demanded I get a WP. I'd gone with a university colleague, and we both got hit with it. We went back to the university and told they faculty head. She said she'd never heard of such a thing in her life. We were temporary Thai civil servants with an ID card identifying us as such. But she gave us letters to the Labour Department and we went anyway. Labour told us, "Oh no, archan. Lecturers at goverment universities are exempt." In fact, all teachers were supposed to be exempt. They showed us the part of the labour law that said so. I asked for copies of the section in both English and Thai, and off we headed for Immigration. The Immigration sergeant stood straight and literally glared at us. "We don't care what the law says. WE SAY YOU HAVE TO HAVE A WORK PERMIT." End of conversation. We returned to the uni, wondering what the police were smoking. This time the university rector - a mom rachawong (child of a prince) got into it. The rector called the Labour Dept, who told her they didn't know what Immigration expected them to do. They could only issue a WP to someone who already had a visa, and Immigration was refusing to give us a visa until we got a WP. A compromise was finally reached, by which Labour gave us a WP for the few remaining days in our old visa, after which Immigration granted us a two week extension. We ended up paying for a WP and visa extension, and then had to pay all over again two weeks later for the remaining 50 weeks. We must have made 5 trips back and forth to Soi Suan Plu and Din Daeng, all at our own expense and for something which we legally did not need. That was around 1983, and ever since government lecturers and teachers have been paying for a WP simply because the Immigration police decided they should. Never try to seek logic in anything Thai Immigration decides to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hi, "We don't care what the law says." That pretty much sums things up. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 And what about this? http://www.pwc.com/th/en/press-room/column-article/2011/ltw-08-09-2011.jhtml http://www.thailawforum.com/blog/work-permit-law-changes-in-thailand I see the policy and the lack of information as an almost deliberate attempt to render it impossible to know the facts. In this way authorities can be almost sure to have an avenue to pursue you should the need arise, related or otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 "seven days a week before starting work or attending a meeting or seminar in Thailand." "Furthermore, immigration laws have not been amended in accordance with the work permit application changes. If the new Thai work permit law seem to be good to be true, that may be because it is too good to be true." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.