Working in Thailand
The subject has been discussed before on this blog and usually it was about the disadvantages and (im)possibilities of getting in Thailand to be able to work.
Of course there are plenty of foreigners who do have a job here, so it is certainly not impossible. It is great if you are stationed in Thailand by a Dutch or at least a foreign company, but there are also opportunities to work as an employee in education, for example.
You can also start your own business as a diving instructor, restaurant owner, web designer, telemarketer, IT consultant, for example, and if you succeed, you will live and work in a country with a wonderful climate and friendly people.
If you are considering working in Thailand, take a look at the following questions to see if you are an a priori fit to work in this country:
- Do you have solid knowledge in your field and do you know the market for it in Thailand?
- Are you a patient person and are you a winner?
- Are you willing to go through a massive red tape and can you accept setbacks in the process?
- Are you willing to work hard and especially a lot, sometimes up to sixty hours a week?
- Do you think independent work suits you and should not be regarded as a necessary evil just to work in Thailand?
- Can you stand the fact that the bureaucracy here sometimes has many obstacles?
- Do you think you can work well in a country where the average temperature during the day is between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius (if you work indoors, the air conditioning can fail due to a power failure, but you have to work)
- Are you willing to learn some Thai habits, be polite to the locals and at least learn some basics of the Thai language?
- Do you have sufficient initial capital, which you may also need if your work or company is not immediately profitable?
- Can you get used to a foreign environment far away from family and friends?
If you answer yes to most questions, you are not there yet, because to work in Thailand – as an employee or as your own company – there are fundamental regulations that you must meet.
First of all you need a work permit and in order to obtain it you must apply for a Non Immigrant visa in advance at the Thai embassy or consulate. When applying for that Non Immigrant B visa, you must submit a letter from your new employer or a letter from a Thai lawyer if you want to start your own business. You are not allowed to work in Thailand with an ordinary tourist visa.
If you want to start your own company (Thai Private Company Limited or Thai Co. Ltd.) there are a whole series of regulations that you must comply with. You can arrange all that yourself, it is not impossible, but it is advisable to hire a good lawyer in Thailand who is knowledgeable and can arrange all (Thai) papers for you.
A Thai company must have a minimum capital of 2.000.000 Baht anyway. For the costs of setting up a company by a lawyer, you should take into account an amount of between 50 and 100.000 Baht. The entire procedure usually takes a month to a month and a half.
Anyway, good luck with it!!
Dear Gringo Turn on your spell check, see 4 uurper, nr 6 sosm, nr 7 den.
It's so hard to read this way.
You're right, Jack, but my typos weren't that bad!
I'll be more careful though.
Are you willing to pay constant protection money?
Can you accept that (e.g. if you have a restaurant) that 4 servants of St. Hermandad sit at a table and order anything without paying?
Etc.etc.etc.
Just serve very dirty food....they won't come by themselves 😉 And of course introduce an alcohol stop when they sit down.
I don't know what kind of lawyer you have, but I know that setting up a company costs between 35 and 50.000 baht, it takes a week at the most.
Regards,
Erik
@gringo, normally I read with interest your contributions to this forum. I thought from your previous responses that you no longer have to work in Thailand, but receive a monthly benefit from the Netherlands, and that is much easier than working in Thailand. I do not want to say that working in Thailand without being posted by a Dutch company is impossible, but the high percentage of pensioners does indicate a certain difficulty, namely that finding work in Thailand is not as easy as you say . I have been allowed to work as an English teacher in Thailand in Bangkok. A beautiful time, but the poverty that slowly announced itself forced me to return to Europe and earn a living salary again. Incidentally, an American friend, still living there, can hardly find a job there in Bangkok, unless you want to work in one of the many boiler rooms :-). It is difficult for him to survive Bangkok by going to work in Iraq or Afghanistan every year for at least six months. The salary is then very good and he can survive in Bangkok for another 6 months. I can't talk about setting up a company, I don't have any assets for that, but I can talk about working in education. As a Dutch person, as an English teacher, you might agree with that. The problem, however, is that you are not a native English speaker, and you can explain to the Thai a 100 times that you can better sense the difficulties for the Thai to learn English than an Englishman (after all, you also had to speak English). learning), the Thai still stares blindly at the requirement of a native English speaker. For the well-paid jobs at the private schools, in addition to a native English speaker, you also need a university education. Of course, as a non-native English speaker you can find a job, usually at government schools (classes of 50-60 students are no exception) but the salary may be around 500€. You will not receive a permanent contract and you will not be paid for the three months' holiday. Furthermore, you do not get the privileges that the Thai teachers do have, namely the construction of a parent day facility. Furthermore, you are uninsured, so if you end up in hospital, or if you want to go to the doctor, you can pay for everything yourself. I think that the AOW and/or pension per month that you receive is slightly higher than the €500. Please see this now not as I begrudge you. Incidentally, I would like to hear from you that I am completely wrong and the editors are pouring in where I will next month, at a normal salary (so not € 1600 net per month, but at a normal salary by Thai standards) where a farang can live. . The website of the embassy does not offer much help either. Hope for an interview soon for a position for a Dutch company, with work in Zo Asia (not necessarily in Thailand, but the region), but that is very premature. I am waiting for the job description and only then will I know if I qualify. Incidentally, you can work enough in the Netherlands as an intern or voluntary work, but that is without compensation or wages and I cannot feed my family with that. I'd like to hear that I'm next to it.
@Jan: First of all, I appreciate you reading my contributions with interest. I enjoy writing them. Yes, I am retired and I have a more than good pension in addition to the AOW. It's nice that you write later in your response that you don't begrudge me that, but, with all due respect, I don't care about that. I don't have to say thank you to anyone, because I worked hard for it myself for 43 years (sometimes).
(Wanting to) work in Thailand is a very personal choice. In previous posts I have already listed some disadvantages and on this blog there has also been discussion often enough about what a reasonable income is to be able to (survive) live in Thailand for a Dutch person. Someone who wants to work here will certainly earn less than for the same work in the Netherlands. But everyone can have very good reasons, other than the nice weather and such, to want to work in Thailand. My story shows once again how well you should consider in advance whether the choice to work in this country is a good choice.
I've never considered it myself. When I was young, the company I worked for offered me a job posting to Hong Kong. I then thanked for it, because if I read the 10 points from my story again, I would say no to the vast majority. There were more objections, but that aside.
Indeed, the work for a foreigner is not for bragging rights. This already starts with the requirement that you only receive a work permit if you can demonstrate that you have a special profession or practice a trade, something that a Thai person could not do in principle. It may be a bit different to start your own business, because you bring in money.
Working in Thailand, with or without your own company, is not a lot of money. Some can live on a salary, for others it is far too little. This also applies to your own company aimed at the Thai market. I dare to say that of the 100 starting entrepreneurs, 50 fail, 30 to 45 can eat a reasonable to good sandwich and 5 can talk about real profit.
My conclusion (mind you, that's my personal opinion) is that you should carefully weigh all the pros and cons beforehand and if you're in any doubt, don't start! Look for a good salary elsewhere and come to Thailand for a holiday. You can always move here, just like I did.
Finally, I would like to wish you every success with your current application to work here in the region (perhaps Thailand).
My choice is to earn your money in the Netherlands now so that you can spend it there in Thailand during the holidays and later after work has been done with your pension and WAO.
Wonderful to be so happy in 2 different worlds. 🙂
SirCharles.
That's what I did, I think it's wise.
But do you mean AOW or WAO?
Mean the old age pension, my apologies for switching it up by mistake.
Although it is now the WIA, I hope not to end up in that 'O' of the WAO, I have already reached that 'O' of AOW, which I want to continue while alive and well. 😉
@gringo, thanks for your response. I have not lived in the Netherlands since 1998 and know what I would be getting into if I chose SE Asia/Thailand. It's not a whim and has nothing to do with wanting to live there because I've been there once on vacation, for example. No, I lived and worked there, but it was aimed at poverty by teaching English, so I consciously chose to return to Europe. My Thai partner followed me pretty quickly and since May 2011 I have been living and working in Germany again (had lived there for 2,5 years. Ireland for over 8 years) and my Thai wife has now also been living with me on a permanent visa since September 2011 . Can only say that I like it very much in Germany, regardless of what people say about the Germans, they have arranged certain things better and in 4 weeks the permanent visa was arranged for her, costs € 30 for the pass. This in contrast to the absurd amounts that I hear many Dutch people mention to get their Thai partner to the Netherlands. However, I miss Thailand and would like to live there, not for the weather, then I know other places such as Ghana where I could also work for a year, but it's the culture, the temples, the nature and the food. So I'm doing my utmost for that Dutch company and hope to be able to work in SE Asia this year and hopefully also be able to live there. And who knows, we might even drink a beer to that! 🙂
I would like to comment on some statements. First of all, I set up my own business here 2 years ago, it is indeed the case that you hire a good lawyer to arrange everything, it is also true that for a business (similar BVBA in Belgium) you need a starting capital of 2000000 bht, however, I never had to show that amount, it's only on documents, they didn't even ask for a bank statement, that start-up cost me something like 40000bht and was settled within 3 weeks, you also take care of 2 business bank accounts where you deposit 10000 bht each, the rest of the paperwork is arranged by the lawyer, so it is not that complicated, if you then employ 2 thai, you can also apply for a work permit per foreigner after 2 months, so 4 thai employed, 2 work permits, etc…
When I set up the business here, it was not the intention to do things myself, but after a while I started to get bored. I have been given the opportunity to work for one of the big schools in Khon Kaen as an English-French teacher, my starting salary was 2bht per month 35000 years ago, social security is in order, my school provides health insurance, so I don't have to pay anything when I go to the hospital, they provide workpermit,non immigrant B…..
Please don't believe too much of some cowboy stories here, it really doesn't have to be difficult, but you should take the time to find out everything, also the fact that some here say that you have little chance as a non native speaker, is really not true, if you have a thorough command of a language, you have pretty good perspectives here, if this were not true, there would not be so many people from Cameroon walking around here… or since when is Cameroon an English native speaking country? ??
would also like to mention that I get an annual contract here with school (now my 3rd year) and that I get the full 12 months, students here really still respect teachers, studying… is unfortunately something else, I keep my cheers for Thailand in 3 years when ASEAN starts. It is true that all my classes have between 40 and 45 students, which certainly does not make the job easy, but this aside, I have already noticed that we as foreigners and certainly Belgians and Dutch people can certainly do beautiful things here, because we are not afraid from work or too much work 🙂
Then what are you afraid of when ASEAN starts?
@Matthieu: As you probably know ASEAN is the Asian equivalent of our EU, well… in 2015 they plan to open their doors to the participating countries (currently 10, including Thailand), which means that these countries trade more easily, also that the inhabitants of these countries can simply work in other Asian countries without a passport or work permit, just like with us in Europe! What they do not yet realize in Thailand is that the participating countries can also come and work here, and let Thailand be an interesting country in that respect, after all, we are here for one of those reasons, right? Climate is good here, living here relatively cheap, etc…
But….Thailand is the worst scoring country in terms of English and Mathematics, English is the official language of ASEAN, which means that the other participating countries speak much better English than their Thai brothers and sisters, which also means that with the heavy foreign investment decline over the last 5 years, jobs in Thailand will be highly coveted, but English will be a tough condition to get started here in the future, take it from me!
My Thai friends here realize all too well what is happening and they also know all too well that unemployment among the Thais will only increase in the next 10 years! Long live the Thai school system, surely? 🙂
Hope it continues (Filipino girlfriend who also works here and will soon be rid of all visa and WP hassle. Hence the interest)
@Bart, I'm really not a Comboy, and those people from Cameroon are mostly illegal as you know and whoever keeps the Thai newspapers often reads that the police raid somewhere and then expel them from the country. Especially the ladies from Nigeria, including illigaagl, are mainly in prostitution. My English is very good after having spoken English daily for 8 years when I lived in Ireland. You also know that many well-paid jobs require an English-speaking nationality, anyone who does not believe this, I still ask to consult the Thai job website. I really think you were lucky, I did many job applications, and also worked, but the salary was not like yours and I was definitely uninsured. Again, if I'm all wrong, I'd like to see the offers appear. Has nothing to do with laziness, I have always been able to find work, but to prove myself wrong. Have a nice day.
Dear Bart,
Do you have any idea how things can be arranged if you have a sole proprietorship and want to have your home base in Thailand? (if you work strictly via the internet, you can work as long as you have an internet connection)
Regards,
Erik
@Jan: I think you are as much a cowboy as I am an Indian… :) All joking aside, I just want to say, I speak from my experience in Isaan and more specifically Khon Kaen, I have been living and working here for 2.5 years now and I come here even 6 years. I have seen this city experience a huge boom in recent years and it will only increase in the coming years, it has been the fastest growing city in Thailand for the last 2 years. These Cameroonians are certainly not illegal immigrants, just like you and me, they are people who are looking for a better life abroad and many of them work in education. I just want to make my point between “ask” and “get”. It is true that most advertisements ask for a native speaker, the reality is that everything depends on how well you master a language and how you present yourself. I have long noticed that many Flemish and Dutch people do have good positions or companies in Thailand. We have that drive to work and perform within us without feeling TOO important. Every school wants native speakers, also quite normal, but… our “work drive” so to speak, suddenly comes in handy now, the fact is that many native speakers don't really take this job seriously, I am head of the Department of Languages in my school, together with a Thai teacher, so I also receive all resumes from “teachers”. You should know how many letters start with “I heard that Khon Kaen is a beautiful city, would like to live there…” or “I met a girl there…” 🙂 Funny reasons sometimes, but they are the trash can. A job here is nothing more than a job with us, so to speak, a job requires commitment and certainly as a teacher also some sacrifice on your part, so I am sure that if you present yourself in a good way and say the right things , you definitely have a chance at a job here! By the way, Khon Kaen is about the most important city in terms of education in Thailand after BKK and certainly in Isaan, I speak from experience when I say that most schools here have a minimum wage of 30000 bht for foreigners, and most of them under also offer them social security, health care and expenses for visa and work permit. Nice to meet you Jan 🙂
I have read several texts on this site. Very interesting! We just got back from Thailand and you described exactly what I'm feeling right now. I miss Thailand and I want to live there and start something!
When I started reading your site, I realized that my plan for a cocktail bar in Koh Lanta is not a good one. I didn't know about protection money.
I am originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and I have been living in NL for 17 years. Me and my husband want to leave here within 10 years to a better climate. I have fallen in love with Thailand but I believe I need to explore elsewhere…
Many thanks for your site!! You were able to answer all my questions. I am an English teacher but not a native and as a Human Resources Manager I can't do anything in Thailand. My husband is the director of a taxi company (passenger transport). but I believe taxis in Thailand are also a mafia, right?
Thanks again!