Hi Matthew, there is a Treaty of Amity with Thailand that permits American majority ownership of businesses in Thailand. The capitalization requirement is 2M THB, from which you can pay your salary, but equipment etc. If you don’t employ 4 Thai staff you will have to make 90 day border runs as your Non B one year extension would not be granted until you meet the staffing requirement. There are other options available to you. FB can give you some perspectives, but if you’re making Thailand home and are committed to starting a business I would recommend getting advice from counsel or someone who has been down this path. Best of luck to you. Mark
It’s official….45 day visa exempt and you can extend for 30 days at any immigration office for 1900 THB. This is a “high season” change and is scheduled to go back to 30 days next spring. Here’s an article and enjoy the Kingdom.
You may want to consider applying for your 90-day Non-O from your local Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate. Then, with that in hand enter Thailand, open your bank account and after 2 months apply for the extension. In any event, here’s an article on opening bank accounts in the Kingdom. Best of luck to you.
All work in and from Thailand requires a work permit issued by the Department of Labor. There is a new 10 year LTR visa that is administered by the Board of Investment, but applies to those who either work remotely for a “substantial company” (publicly traded or $50M in revenue/annum), or who are highly skilled as defined by the BOI regulations. If you might qualify it’s worth checking out on the BOI/LTR website. Otherwise you may consider working for a Thai company and obtain a work permit and Non-B visa through that entity. I appreciate that you’ll get advice that enforcement for those working remotely is difficult and hit or miss, the consequences can be troubling if you intend to make Thailand your long term home. Best of luck to you, and here’s an article on the LTR program:
I’d be happy to have a free consult. In the states for a couple of weeks visiting first grandchild so if this is of interest send me a note to my attention at