Digital Nomad in Hat Yai

You do realise that what you are proposing is illegal, i.e.. working in Thailand without a work permit?

Am I?

I was under the assumption that being a digital nomad is a thing. Do people not do this all the time? Work online with foreign companies to pay for those travels.

You can't seriously expect me to believe these people are applying for work permits every few month for each country they visit.

I could of course be entirely mistaken.

I do appreciate your help and your comment. I'm not sure I appreciate the tone or lack of constructive advice.

Cheers :-)

Unlike most other countries we have have more chiefs than Indians and someone did say you no longer need a work permit to work on line. That may just have been someone talking out of place as many do without any real authority here.

If your payments are not going directly into a Thai bank account I doubt If anyone out there cares.

Thank you for the help and clarification. It's much appreciated! Yeah, I really can't see it as a problem if I'm getting money from a my home country and its going into my own back account.

Thanks again!

It's illegal, but it's just like not wearing a helmet while driving in the countryside: you're unlikely to get caught. You may have issues after a while if you come to Thailand on a tourist visa, as immigration may not allow you to come back over a land border. Some people work around the issue by going the education visa route. That's also abusing the system though, as people get an education visa for one year, and then work illegally in Thailand.

I'm assuming you are under 50 years old which rules out a retirement visa (which does not allow you to work either, but you can stay one year at a time).

If you have longer-term plans in Thailand, you should really go the legal route, but that's expensive. You'd need to go through companies like IGLU which will provide you with a work permit, visa + extension (one year each time), and pay your taxes in Thailand. You'd need to make at least $2,500 per month (on average), and they take a 30% charge for their services that include taxes, social security, and office space. They have offices in Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai, so you'd be allowed to work in Hat Yai for the company in Phuket.

Besides if working online is illegal or not, your business model sucks. Do you really think you will make enough money by filling out surveys and crowd sourcing micro jobs? If you think so, try those jobs now before you move to Thailand. I hope you will not be disappointed!

In any case, bring enough money to Thailand so that you can survive for at least 1 year. It would be not funny to be stranded in Asia with enough resources.  One year should give you enough time to settle down in one way or the other.

I'm an expat in Thailand and know what I'm talking about. Be as secure as you can when moving here, and that includes return ticket, money and health insurances.