71–80 of 110 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd be more concerned with visa issues.
Ya, you aren't supposed to work with tourist visas, and you should be paying taxes in your country of residence on your income. Things can get pretty shady, and you really don't want to wind up in a Thai jail!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ya, you aren't supposed to work with tourist visas, and you should be paying taxes in your country of residence on your income. Things can get pretty shady, and you really don't want to wind up in a Thai jail!
And as a US citizen, you also need to pay US taxes on that income.
3:05 is the lake https://vimeo.com/87304272
Cheapest for whom? Many of my mates worked at mines, and therefore lived on site with all expenes paid - utilities, meals, boarding, etc. In the off time, I'm sure you could find some way to minimise many of those expenses too. Basically, any job that requires you to relocate will minimise YOUR expenses, because your company will pay for it all. But I get the feeling that's not what you were after.
I know a guy who works trucking the chemicals for the oil fracking. He makes a lot of money, and when on the job all expenses are paid. Once his rotation is over, he hops on a plane to Thailand. He owns a house there that he paid comparatively nothing for, has a housekeeper that he pays a good wage to for the area - but really a pittance here - and he chills out drinking on the beach until his next rotation comes up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, what? You aren't supposed to work for people in the COUNTRY Just like you aren't supposed to do business with people in the country No one says you can't continue working on projects for clients in your home country
That is very very wrong. Thai law doesn't allow you to work on a tourist visa, even if you are working for someone outside of Thailand, it is very unambiguous on this point and they have been cracking down on co-working spaces accordingly. Almost all countries are like this actually.
"Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is very very wrong. Thai law doesn't allow you to work on a tourist visa, even if you are working for someone outside of Thailand, it is very unambiguous on this point and they have been cracking down on co-working spaces accordingly. Almost all countries are like this actually.
So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? What if their company is generating passive income for them back home? Are they not supposed to access it? How are they supposed…
Yep.
> Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money?
You just can't get paid. If you were cooking for a "friend" but you were actually their personal chef...you would need a working visa.
For a visa waver country, you usually have the right to go to that country to attend conferences or training, but you aren't supposed to do any "work" like say...programming or writing documentation (again value creation).
> What is their company is generating passive income for them back home?
Passive and investment income don't count, only work that creates value and is paid accordingly. If you want to make investments in the country, there is a non tourist visa for that (and sometimes it is allowed on visa waver).
> How are they supposed to pay for all the touristy stuff?
Through the income you earned working hard back home.
> "Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported."
Yep. It hasn't happened yet, but there was a scare a few months ago:
http://www.itworld.com/article/2695072/mobile/digital-nomads...
A good description of the situation is here:
http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-...
Pick a college town and rent an apartment, optionally with a roommate. In much of the American midwest this implies an all-in rent & utilities expense in the $500 range. If you wanted to try something more exotic, you can do the digital nomad thing and rent somewhere in Thailand for ~$100 a month, but honestly as a programmer I feel that optimizing sub-$500 expenses is not the best use of one's time versus figuring o…
Tokyo is much better value imo, as central parts are easily walkable and the yen is really cheap, so the costs work out roughly the same as in Thailand with the added benefit of living in a first world country.
A room in a shared apartment in central Tokyo can easily be had for 50k yen which is about $400 right now.
$600 will get you an unfurnished apartment in Ikeburo or so.
Pick a college town and rent an apartment, optionally with a roommate. In much of the American midwest this implies an all-in rent & utilities expense in the $500 range. If you wanted to try something more exotic, you can do the digital nomad thing and rent somewhere in Thailand for ~$100 a month, but honestly as a programmer I feel that optimizing sub-$500 expenses is not the best use of one's time versus figuring o…
$100 in Chiang Mai is possible for nothing fancy, but only if you speak thai. A fresh of the boat foreigner will pay $250 rock bottom without thai skills for a very basic apartment. Visa costs are at least $50 a month and you'll also need a scooter or deal with pickup taxis, which will add about $80-120 to the expenses unless you enjoy walking or cycling through the heat on roads not made for either of that. Tokyo is…
Japanese companies also send young Japanese kids to work in Bangkok call centers, since they can pay them less there (the cost of living is lower? They would never dream of having non-Japanese staff the call center, BTW).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? What if their company is generating passive income for them back home? Are they not supposed to access it? How are they supposed…
> So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Yep. > Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? You just can't get paid. If you were cooking for a "friend" but you were actually their personal chef...you would need…
In the end, the whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding. Immigration officials thought that the nomads were actually Punspace employees, and, as such, would have been required to have work permits. After several hours of worry and hassles, everybody was allowed to go back about their business and nobody was fined or deported. Punspace’s owners were, according to Johnny FD, very responsive and helpful and gave everyone a free month of usage for all the trouble.
This whole situation can be a viewed a win for digital nomads, since the Thai authorities, ultimately, confirmed that they can work in the country on a valid tourist visa. This incident also comes about a month after Chiang Mai immigration officials declared that digital nomads could work under a tourist visa.
I mean, after all, any content you create (be it writing a book in your spare time, with intent of publishing when ou come back, or taking a video with intent of showing it for money back home) would be potentially work. If that was the case then any person arriving with less than X amount of local currency could be detained after a few months on the basis that they couldn't possibly pay their way unless they had an income from somewhere.