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Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

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Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#151

Post by byoung2 »

neindanke wrote: post #64
byoung2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/125980/thai-immigration-offici...

That article just confuses me. It says it is ok and then contradicts it a paragraph later. Eg: "Digital nomads – people working remotely or running online businesses – in Thailand can legally work there on tourist visas" But one paragraph down: "It is unlikely that travellers will be granted a re-entry stamp after two or three visa runs. If your passport is stamped “O-I” (out-in) upon arrival, it is unlikely that you…

It is confusing two separate ideas. One is that it is ok to work while on a tourist visa, the other is that doing multiple visa runs (regardless of whether you work) is not ok. The out-in problem is true of many countries and has nothing to do with working.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#152

Post by nicholasdrake »

gbog wrote: post #145

I can't stop thinking that this seemingly nice story is in fact the story of a failure. How many employees did learn Thai? How many did decide there was no better place for them and stayed there? How many did find their so in this island? Why didn't the whole team stay there indefinitely? I say that as a French who decided ten years ago that China was my place, learnt the language, married a Chinese woman and have ki…

哇塞！

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#153

Post by socialist_coder »

This is great.

My startup is really similar. We also value people over profits (and we're profitable!), we all work remotely, and we all meetup in random places for a few weeks so we can get a vacation plus some face-to-face working time in.

So far, it's been awesome. We've only done 1 meetup so far, at a ski chalet in the Alps, and it was great. The significant others & kids came for 1 week, and then we had 2 weeks of just the employees.

The biggest challenge is definitely the internet. When you have 6 people in a house all trying to pull/push from git, sync dropbox, do skype calls, etc; it can put quite a burden on whatever crappy DSL the vacation house has installed.

We would love to do a SE Asia work trip but so far we have ignored the region due to the internet connectivity. I'm actually really surprised that the mobile internet there was good enough for you guys to work with.

Cheers, and keep it up! It's nice to see there are more startups like this out there.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#154

Post by wila »

borgia wrote: post #132
wila wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's OK to work while on holidays. Eg. you can check your email and do a bit of work to keep things going at home, it's not legal, but it is understood to happen and you'll be fine. Full time work however is NOT allowed without a working permit. Your link at [1] even confirms that at pretty much the first line. There is no specific exclusion for "remote work".

>Full time work however is NOT allowed without a working permit. If you're being paid through an account back home and are working in a villa you've rented, it would be very hard for them to prove you're actually there working full time, would it not?

This is not about how hard it is for Thai immigration officers to prove you are working without a permit. I was just pointing out that it is illegal. Making it hard to prove doesn't make it OK.

You really would not want to end up in a debate with Thai immigration on this topic either, no matter if they have proof or not.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#155

Post by wila »

dataker wrote: post #39
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.

Technically, if they don't receive money in a Thai bank, it'd be both hard and unfeasible to be punished. Don't wanna state the obvious,but even If you're coding(could claim to be open-souce work), it's not like the police is gonna spy on you.

> could claim to be open-source work

Sounds reasonable , but it doesn't work that way. Work for free or charity work still counts as work and is no less illegal.

See also: http://www.thaivisa.com/462-0.html (the article is from 2006, but that law hasn't changed)

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#156

Post by hackerboos »

namuol wrote: post #90
[deleted] wrote: post #66

[deleted]

In general, it is legal to work remotely in Thailand, unless your clientele/employer are Thai. The purpose of the law [1] was to prevent foreign workers from displacing native Thai workers, and "digital nomads" do nothing of the sort. This becomes clear if you pay attention to the punishments imposed by the law; they concern Thai employers , not the alien workers, alone. [1]: http://www.thailandlawonline.com/translat…

That's simply not true.

Doing work for any employer in Thailand, paid or unpaid is illegal on a tourist visa.

Lets quote the act you link to:

"To be able to legally work in Thailand the foreigner must have a valid non-immigrant visa and a work permit issued in his name allowing him to perform a specific job at a specific location for a specific company in Thailand."

Now a naive look at this paragraph might leave you with the impression you can be self employed or work for a foreign company.

The fact is that it's impossible to work for a foreign company in Thailand. They need to open local offices and incorporate here. It's also impossible to become self employed without opening a Thai company if you are a foreigner.

So the leading paragraph is correct. You need a work permit to work for a Thai company because all work must be conducted through a Thai company.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#157

Post by byoung2 »

socialist_coder wrote: post #149
gbog wrote: post #145

I can't stop thinking that this seemingly nice story is in fact the story of a failure. How many employees did learn Thai? How many did decide there was no better place for them and stayed there? How many did find their so in this island? Why didn't the whole team stay there indefinitely? I say that as a French who decided ten years ago that China was my place, learnt the language, married a Chinese woman and have ki…

Your goal was completely different. They like living in Spain / wherever else they live. They also like travelling to other countries. They're taking a vacation and working from a new place, for a short time. They don't want to live there.

It also may not be possible to live there permanently and work because of visa and residency restrictions. I wanted to move to the Philippines a few years back (my wife is from Manila), but in researching I found it would be difficult to live and work there as a US citizen. There are classes of visa that allow you to live there and start companies (e.g. SIRV [1]), but they usually require a large deposit (~$75,000 USD) and a lot of strict requirements. There is also a retirees visa (SRRV [2]) which is a little cheaper ($20,000 locked in for duration or $50,000 convertible to domestic investment), but you have to be 35 or older (which I am as of 2 months ago).

1. http://philippinevisalawyer.com/?q=special-investor-resident...

2. http://www.pra.gov.ph/main/srrv_program?page=1

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#158

Post by johnm1019 »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #104
ben_pr wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best to find a job in the states that lets you work remotely. I have not had any problems with the internet here either DSL or cable. For the most part of the year it is the same time as ET zone so it works out nicely for east coast jobs.

Can I just clarify - you work remotely for NY finance industry, at presumably near NY rates, paying 4% coproation tax and no tax on dividends from that income? With tropical weather. What's the schooling like?

If you're a US citizen it's not so easy. You are taxed on your worldwide income no matter what. There is a deduction for living abroad on the first $100,800 (2015) of income or you can also take a credit for income taxes paid to another country. You also need to pay into SS and Medicare either in the US or in another country which we have a treaty with. Don't get me wrong, getting the first $101k @ 4% tax sounds pretty good! Just want to make it clear that US citizens will pay taxes to Uncle Sam no matter where you try and hide.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#159

Post by cleaver »

ben_pr wrote: post #8

I'm in Puerto Rico, moved here from the states two years ago. There are a number of tax incentives for people wanting to start tech companies here. Google Puerto Rico Act 20. Short version: "Act 20 offers a four (4)% corporate tax rate for Puerto Rican businesses providing services for exportation, 100% tax-exempt dividends from earnings and profits derived from the export services income of eligible businesses, and…

Also, you don't have to deal with a disruptive timezone difference. Same story in Mexico, where I spent the winter and did a little remote work.

Re: Working Remotely From A Tropical Island In Thailand

#160

Post by prawn »

hingisundhorsa wrote: post #105
geomark wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, what they did violates immigration law in Thailand. And the comments of a senior immigration official don't change the law; they just indicate that at least in that region the enforcement is likely to be rather lax. But there's really nothing to get bent about. No locals were out of a job. They lived there as tourists so paid a lot more into the local economy than locals, including a lot more taxes in the form o…

> No locals were out of a job Could you explain how you formed that conclusion? > They lived there as tourists so paid a lot more into the local economy than locals How did you determine that? I've lived as a hippie in India, similar to what Steve Jobs did. I spent 0 money and lived off the temple welfare system. I was exploiting the generosity of people who had a thousandth the resources and welfare that I had. I wa…

They put more into the Thai economy (renting a house, buying products, paying for services) and didn't take any money out (all earnings were from existing clients abroad).

It might contravene visa issues from a literal read, but I think the intent was fair. Many Australians would call this "the vibe of the thing" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuXIq7OazQ

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