Which Visa should I get as a self-employed independent

Hi, how old are you?

if you are over 50 you can get a O class visa.

Hello, I'm 35 years old.
What are the alternatives to O class visa to my kind of status?

thanks.

If you are working from home why would you need a Business Visa? I expect the money you earn is from your home country not Thailand.

If you are working and earning money in Baht, you need to contribute to Thailand!

A visa is about being able to stay in the country, regardless of type of work. He is asking how to stay in thailand while not having a normal job, like 9 to 5 in a Thai company. To me, this means a person has to form their own company and seek the visa from within the company. Am I wrong?

Maybe Thailand has a method for this person that is outside the ASEAN fundamentals but I'm not aware of it. "Work" or "business" visas come by way of employment in a company, whether yours or someone elses. To my knowledge, nobody can show up and announce they are independent and given a visa for that. Visas come by way of attachment to some existing situation like education, marriage, employment, retirement....so, first that situation has to exist, then the visa follows.

Please correct me if im wrong.

Thanks for the answers.
I'm am an individual, I run my own business, I'm my own boss etc..
That's I'm asking - How can I stay in Thailand for that matter, Continue working on my business and still not live by the limited tourist visa.

So if I get you right, There is not such an option for me on getting any visa other than tourist visa?

If so, can you recommend any way to do get any of the other more stable visas? like to blend in some study etc? what do people like me do if they want to live and work in Thailand but are independant?

Thanks.

I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but from what I've read, that seems the consensus: You can only opt for a tourist visa.
A good idea is to get a 6 month tourist visa multi-in/out from the Thai embassy in your country. That's my plan at least.
Hope that helps,
Cheers

To get the Non-B visa, you should have the employment contract with the registered company in Thai.

You may apply to retirement visa with;
- over 50 years old
- 800,000 baht above bank statement

You also apply to education visa. register at the language school for 6 months, 12 months and apply for the education visa. Consult with the language institute, please.

Both cases, retirement and education visa, you should not do any business in Thailand.

Hi DKV,

Ok...lets go backward a bit. There WAS a time in all of Asia that people could come, plop themselves down and work out of their houses. Nobody knew and nobody cared. But that door has been steadily closing since quite some time now.

As it was just said, you can go on a tourist visa and turn it around periodically by leaving for a few days but that door is also closing. Even in these threads, places like Chiang Mai have been clearing out of expats because they go to Malaysia for a few days and are denied entry when they return to Thailand, or given a short time to leave the country. USED to be that you could go in and out repeatedly while working out of your house but thats all ending in all of Asia. They dont want ploppers anymore, they want people with solid, firm reasons to be in the country, like school or work.

Some people marry to get a visa, some get employment, some make and grow companies, some leave, some wander about and dodge the cops. For a self-employed person,  seems to me you will have to form a company and then apply for a work permit within your company, and thats your attained visa.

Unless someone corrects me, I think getting a job teaching English is still a way in. You could gain the visa by working the minimum number of hours required to be employed, then do your own thing the rest of the time. Voila. Thats a well-travelled path by many an expat though I dont know the current rules about it.

Five or eight years ago, I would have given a different answer but things are changing. Its tough now. I couldnt even re-qualify for the very situation I have right now. If i lost what I have now, Id have to leave for good.

My advice today would be to go to Thailand with a plan to stay as long as possible on a tourist visa for the purpose of scoping out a job, like English. If you get it, then plan to return a second time and move there. Its not all so simple but thats a direction. Alternative, you could enroll in school. I notice some people enrolling, get the visa and never attend any classes (how thats going to work, i dont know!)

Point is, there isnt any visa for what you want but there are visas for alternatives. Its a matter of making harder, and possibly more expensive decisions.

In Chiang Mai at least there is an appreciable IT nomad population. I believe they come in on Tourist Visa's and then go from there. Many used to use border runs to extend their visa but the government has stopped that, from what I understand. I also understand that the government in Bangkok is trying to figure out a way of coming up with IT nomad Visa. They would like to issue the Visa's so that they could collect tax's. One complex element is that income usually comes from all over the world and seemingly is not taxable. Since last fall there have been many changes and more changes are in the works.

Many thanks for all the detailed answers.
As 6 months tourist visa might be sufficient for starters, I'm not sure if I've understood what's the  difference between this method and those who are making visa runs every 2 months or so, You can't stay solid 6 months altogether with 6m tourist visa anyway right? - I might be wrong here.

Putting that aside, I would even want try to live there in trial period for a couple of months if submitted to Thai laws and conditions, However - all decent condos/properties want me to sign for 1 year minimum leaving me with all the other less attractive properties which can accept only couple of months minimum.

It's kind of taking all the motivation of moving in, I might check about the education visa - Do I have to go to the Thai embassy in my country before I sign to education course in Thailand in order to get this Visa?

Does courses for learning Thai language count for Thai Visa?

Many thanks ahead.

You might want to double check about the visa runs. I didn't read all of the postings. I do understand that last fall the government or immigration was stopping border runs. As I say you should double check the border run issue.

bill kip wrote:

You might want to double check about the visa runs. I didn't read all of the postings. I do understand that last fall the government or immigration was stopping border runs. As I say you should double check the border run issue.

Border run visas are a thing of the past and should be avoided. You will get in trouble soon.

The main problem in this case is how to work legally in Thailand - not the visa.

The situation is not clear, if you only work for costumers outside of Thailand.

You may be not so in focus, when working from home. But the Thai authorities have already made some raids against digital nomads who were working in internet coffees.

You need a work permit when working legally in Thailand. A «self- employed» status is not possible for a foreigner. You have to set-up a company with 4 Thai nationals as staff (2 when you are married to a Thai national).

Good day Dkv_82

Unfortunately Thailand does not recognize the concept of online work by foreigners. There  is no work visa for self employed independents.

As you are under 50 worst yet as retirement visas are out.

As mentioned an education visa may be best if you want to stay in the country for a period of 6 months to a year.  You can apply for an education visa, through a language school, while in Thailand but you may need to go to Laos and renter the country. Once you have a visa you will need to report to the nearest immigration every 90 day still and pay 1200 baht. 

Thailand in some ways need to catch up with technology and the 4.0 that is promoted.

TriniMario  sums it up quite well. At your age and without being married to a Thai your choices are very limited. I don't believe a 6 months tourist visa exists. You can get a 60 day visa, then extend it at an immigration office for a fee of 1900 bht for a further 30 days.
You would then need to leave the country and obtain another 60 day visa which you can then extend again. That will give you the best part of 6 months during which time you can enrol on a Thai language course and get an ED visa. (You might do it in the 1st 90 days). You MUST attend classes and it is possible that when you visit an immigration office to renew it you will be asked some simple questions in Thai.

There are lots of rooms that can be rented by the month. Best to book a hotel for a few days whilst you find something.

Thank you for all the detailed answers, you all were very helpful to me!
I will have to rethink the whole thing - unfortunately

A TOURIST VISA FOR 6 MONTHS  EXIST,     YOU HAVE TO GET IT IN YUR COUNTRY BEFORE YOU COME HERE

PEOPLE MAKE IT COMPLICATE FOR YOU FOR NOTHING .....READ BELOW

1. I live in Thailand most of the time for about 4 years now

2.-  i work also from home on the internet on my PC .
      it s not consider a thailand job   so i am ok with the thai gov regulations   

you don t need a work visa to work on yur PC

3.-  I get a 6 months tourist visa.  but the thai reg  says I have to go out of Thailand every 2 months and come
       right back..  I go to Myamar by car    it takes 10 min for the whole process and they stamp my passport
        for 60 days.  So basically it means that yur 6 months visa is good for a total of 8 months
       then i go back to my country and get another 6 month tourist visa  and do the same all over

       you cannot stay for the whole term of yur visa. I mean you cannot stay 6 months without going in and out of Thailand
When you come in Thailand with a 6 months visa   they will stamp your passport for a continuous stay of 60 days   yu have  go out,  you go to border   you stamp out of Thailand   cross the street to Myamar     stamp in Myamar  ( cost 500 baht)
   then walk back to Thailand      stamp out of Myamar,   and stamp in Thailand      max 10 min   
yur then good for another 60 days    and then you do it again 

the problem with the visa run   all talk here    is that you have to go out of Thailand     and go to thai embassy and ask for another visa ( you heve to supply paperwork and pictures and money )  all of this to get a new visa 

with a 6 months visa     there is none of this complication   

6 months tourist visa is easy and non complicated but you have to do it before you come here .  you have to do it in yur home country

   all ohers are a pain in the .....if yu do it yourself

start with this,    after 6 months yu ll know more
and it s easy to open back account and transfert money
if you choose Bangkok get a place near the BTS   ( subway)  and don t rent long temr unless you are sure that s is the pace yu want

hi there,

I am probably repeating things here but it's like this

If you work here, you need a work permit, attained through your own business in this case. This in itself is a very costly process, you will need to hire 4 Thais for every farang that is working here (you) and many other things. most like this is not a viable option.

really depending on how long you intend to stay in one go and if you're likely to return back to Thailand after a visit back home within one year you may want to look into the possibility of a student (ED) visa.

this will give you the opportunity to stay here quite easily, still not allowed to work here though but you don't have to do the costly and time consuming border runs, which they are still cracking down on.

possible side-effect: you get to learn some Thai and interact with the people of this fine country.

ED visas are quite a good option and the schools take care of all the paperwork, well, they do here in Hua Hin.

I have been an expat and nomad for 40 years, feel free to contact me for more questions relating to this or the nomadic lifestyle

cheers
RJ

Yes I have been doing the ED visa for 3 years now, its the way to go! Find out what place you want to stay and find a school and they take care of all the paperwork here. Usually they will advise you to do it here in Thailand and not in your home country. let the school advise you.


This is in reply to some other comments:

I don't want to be negative but if you work from home and make money doing that, the Thai gov WILL consider that as working. IF you work from home on your pc and the money you make you spend here in Thailand, OFFICIALLY you are working here.

The question remains: what is the likelihood you'll get caught and get fined or deported?

Yes there are many people just living here and doing all kinds of "work" and everything seems ok but officially it's the same as working, so the official advice should be, follow the rules. What people do in the end is their own responsibility.

cproll said:

3.-  I get a 6 months tourist visa.  but the thai reg  says I have to go out of Thailand every 2 months and come

you cannot stay for the whole term of yur visa. I mean you cannot stay 6 months without going in and out of Thailand.

Therefore you do not have a 6 month visa, you have a 60 day multi entry visa. I have heard these are no longer available. (needs further research)

One might wonder why you are leaving at 60 days when you can go to immigration and extend by 30 days? Thereby only requiring one out/in in 179 days.

When you come in Thailand with a 6 months visa   they will stamp your passport for a continuous stay of 60 days   

More proof that what you have is a 60 day visa.

yu have  go out,  you go to border   you stamp out of Thailand   cross the street to Myamar     stamp in Myamar  ( cost 500 baht) then walk back to Thailand      stamp out of Myamar,   and stamp in Thailand      max 10 min   
yur then good for another 60 days    and then you do it again

You can't do it continuously. This exactly what they are clamping down on.

Thank you all for the expanded information, I will currently visit Thailand again as a tourist in 3 days from now.

Will have to take everything into consideration maybe a little bit later on.

Dkv_82 wrote:

Thank you all for the expanded information, I will currently visit Thailand again as a tourist in 3 days from now.

Will have to take everything into consideration maybe a little bit later on.

Lucky you. Wish I was coming. Have a great time.

We have to stick to the point in the thread question about visas so I'll make one correction--its not that you dont NEED a visa to work from home, its that you CANT HAVE one because such a thing doesnt exist.

I cant remember how many times the question has been asked, and thought of by expats, and often by expats who arent even expats yet. It has to be thousands.

The two most frequent thought-questions are:
1. I have a self-supporting job, I can stay, right?
2. Im spending imported money everyday and the country needs that, so they will let me stay, right?

There are more thought-questions inside expat logic but those are the main ones which can apply to any country. For some reason, expat cannot get into their heads that the world doesnt operate on their logic and reasoning but the RULES of the country to which they dont like to abide because they like their logic better. In fact, they like their logic so much that they will even break the laws and risk huge trouble to attempt to prove they were right. They just will not extricate themselves from their made-up reasoning. I wonder how many languish in jails while still believing: "How can they do this to me, i was spending money in the country everyday!!"

By the time an expat asks either of those questions, they are a lost cause and on their way to trouble because the correct and trouble-free expats of the world do not ask those questions. They dont ask because their brains are wired to do the steps correctly and follow the laws.

I will suppose that every expat has to go through some kind of painful comeuppance while they continue to reason their way through a foreign life and for their sake I wish it would stop.