Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

blog.mobilejazz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 197 posts

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#71

Post by neindanke »

znq wrote: post #31
neindanke wrote: post #27

Is what they're doing legal? I'm pretty sure a tourist visa means you can't use it for work (activities for which payment is received or capital is gained), even remote work. I'm told that the Thai government is pretty harsh in punishing such things.

We were there on holidays ;-) But I know what you're talking and while what we're doing is technically a gray zone, what the government is after is mostly freelancers that basically live in Thailand, but are not paying taxes there and are constantly on a visa run to re-enter the country.

> We were there on holidays ;-)

No, you stated you were working. From your article's title: "Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand"

> what we're doing is technically a gray zone

Did you file a tax statement and did you pay any taxes on income earned while you were residing in Thailand?

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#72

Post by znq »

[deleted] wrote: post #66

[deleted]

Taking aside the current legal situation and trying to look at it from a purely financial aspect, wouldn't it be beneficial for countries like Thailand to allow those kind of people in for a limited amount of time and have them spend their money there?

Assuming Thailand will crack down on those temporary remote workers, they will just go some other place.

EDIT: fixed typo.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#73

Post by nonuby »

znq wrote: post #72
[deleted] wrote: post #66

[deleted]

Taking aside the current legal situation and trying to look at it from a purely financial aspect, wouldn't it be beneficial for countries like Thailand to allow those kind of people in for a limited amount of time and have them spend their money there? Assuming Thailand will crack down on those temporary remote workers, they will just go some other place. EDIT: fixed typo.

Agreed, but TIT. Google it..

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#74

Post by znq »

neindanke wrote: post #71
znq wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were there on holidays ;-) But I know what you're talking and while what we're doing is technically a gray zone, what the government is after is mostly freelancers that basically live in Thailand, but are not paying taxes there and are constantly on a visa run to re-enter the country.

> We were there on holidays ;-) No, you stated you were working. From your article's title: "Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand" > what we're doing is technically a gray zone Did you file a tax statement and did you pay any taxes on income earned while you were residing in Thailand?

> No, you stated you were working

Noticed the smiley?

Nevertheless, how do you differentiate between holidays and work and where to draw the line? If you're responding to a work emails while being on holidays, does that count towards the taxable income in that country you're visiting?

> Did you file a tax statement and did you pay any taxes on income earned while you were residing in Thailand?

Absolutely. We're not evading taxes. All income is taxed in Spain. And we weren't residing in Thailand. We were only visiting it and happened to also do some things that were related to our business back home in Europe. The work we did had nothing to do with Thailand itself.

I'm not an international tax specialist, but at least from a moral point of view I don't see that we did something wrong.

In European countries for example you only become a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days there.

EDIT: formatting

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#75

Post by Kiro »

ben_pr wrote: post #57
personlurking wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are a lot of other things to like here Can you list a few? Some questions I have, if you don't mind: How do you like Rincón? Do you need a car if in SJ? How much is Spanish used over English? Are living costs cheaper? Thx

My favorite part of the Island is the southwest side. I just moved to Yauco last week after living in Palmas del Mar for 2+ years. I can't say a lot about Rincon because I don't know but Mayaguez is the most American like city here with the highest rate of english speaking people I have seen. Living costs on most everything is a little expensive here except for service related items (car repairs, appliance repairs, e…

How is the crime?

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#77

Post by saryant »

[deleted] wrote: post #66

[deleted]

There are definitely coworking spaces. I just spent two weeks working out of Kohub on Koh Lanta. Had a great time and even ran into the creator of the framework I specialize in, he was on the same island. Hung out with some guys working on a Bitcoin startup, some other freelancers. Had a great time.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#78

Post by ben_pr »

Kiro wrote: post #75
ben_pr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite part of the Island is the southwest side. I just moved to Yauco last week after living in Palmas del Mar for 2+ years. I can't say a lot about Rincon because I don't know but Mayaguez is the most American like city here with the highest rate of english speaking people I have seen. Living costs on most everything is a little expensive here except for service related items (car repairs, appliance repairs, e…

How is the crime?

It's not too different than Atlanta, there are places to avoid and places that are OK. The west side of the island from Yauco around to the top center are going to be on par with most suburbs in Atlanta, San Juan and east are a more dicey. On the east side Palmas del Mar is very safe.

I've never had a problem here or felt in danger.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#79

Post by technomancy »

znq wrote: post #72
[deleted] wrote: post #66

[deleted]

Taking aside the current legal situation and trying to look at it from a purely financial aspect, wouldn't it be beneficial for countries like Thailand to allow those kind of people in for a limited amount of time and have them spend their money there? Assuming Thailand will crack down on those temporary remote workers, they will just go some other place. EDIT: fixed typo.

It's not financially motivated; it has more to do with nationalistic pride. They are very proud of the fact that they're the only SE Asian nation never to have been conquered by a western power.

They are rightly wary of western power being exerted now through corporations rather than through a military, because that's how things work these days, so they limit the ability for western companies to make inroads here. (For example the local Shell, Esso, etc. are all technically wholly owned by Thais.)

Obviously this concern doesn't apply for freelancers and small businesses whose clients are in the US, but those folks aren't numerous enough to affect immigration policy.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#80

Post by erkkie »

znq wrote: post #47
vbcr wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about Thailand, but this is true for USA. My colleague's wife is on H4 (dependant) visa and prior to coming to USA, she had a job in India. We talked to a lawyer and then with USCIS and both of them confirmed that it is not a possibility that she can work remote here in USA on H4 even though she gets paid in India.

What you can do though is travel to the US for business purposes.

Anyone doing this should also check what qualifies as business to avoid confusion at the border (there are specific things one is allowed to do and specific things not, IANAL, YMMV).
Post reply on HN