If you are based in Thailand, working for yourself, and looking to one day get Thai PR or citizenship, but work remotely or derive your income from offshore, then you are going to want to read this article.
Paths and dead ends to Thai citizenship
Staying for extended period of time in Thailand has never been easier.
The proliferation of visas by the Thai government, has meant it’s never been easier for people to come and live and work in Thailand for months and years at a time. Options such as the ‘Destination Thailand Visa’, commonly known and the DTV Visa, the Long-Term Resident Visa (also known as the LTR visa) and the various incarnations of the Thailand Elite Visa have opened the door to longer stays in Thailand for many looking to stay in Thailand. For those over 50 years of age, retirement visas are also an option, or marriage visas for those married to Thai citizens
But while these visas give you the right to stay in Thailand for an extended period of time, they ultimately are temporary in nature and offer no guarantees of renewal. To stay in Thailand without any limits on your stay, you either need Thai Permanent Residency, or Thai citizenship.
How do I get Thai PR or Citizenship working for myself?
One of key requirements for qualifying for either of these is for you to earn a sufficient income to qualify. For those wanting to get Thai Permanent Residency, the income needed is a minimum of 80,000 baht per month for three years, or 30,000 baht per month if you are married to a Thai citizen.
For those wanting to apply for Thai citizenship, the numbers are similar. A minimum of 80,000 baht per month for three years, which is lowered to 40,000 baht per month for those married to Thai citizens.
Does foreign income count?
Put simply: ‘No’.
In many cases, people based in Thailand but working remotely have that income paid to them offshore. These people generally tend to be ‘digital nomads’, or in other cases, employees or contractors to foreign companies who live in Thailand but work elsewhere.
One of the major misconceptions is that we hear a lot is that from people looking to get Thai PR or citizenship is that they think that earnings from these offshore activities can be considered.
Unfortunately, for the purposes of residency or citizenship applications, offshore income doesn’t count. The income needs to be sourced from a Thai entity based on work that you’ve done for that entity. In other words, a Thai based salary.
As such, working for a Thai company in most cases is a crucial, and non-negotiable, part of most Thai citizenship or Permanent Residency applications. On top of that, the other ‘must haves’ are work permits, and Thai income tax returns based off that same Thai company.
For expatriates working here for a Thai firm already, that makes applying for PR or citizenship fairly straight forward.
However, for those who earn income offshore, you are going to need to channel your income into Thailand via a Thai corporate entity. In other words, you are going to need to be employed and paid by a Thai company.
Establishing your own Thai company vs using an ‘Employer of Record’
For those who earn income outside of Thailand and are needing a company structure and work permit to stay in Thailand, there is a huge temptation to make things easy and engage what is known as ‘Employer of Record’ (EORs).
EORs are essentially visa and work permit ‘shops’ who have established a corporate entity that makes you an instant employee on paper. These Thai EOR’s provide you with a ready-to-go work permit, act as your official employer and HR, paying your salary and social security contributions. For their services, the EOR will invoice you offshore for these services and typically charge a 20% to 30% premium on top of your ‘salary’ for you to remain an ‘employee’.
The downside of using EORs
One of the major downsides of using an EOR becomes apparent after you’ve been with them a few years and want to apply for citizenship or permanent residency in Thailand.
As part of the citizenship or permanent residency application process, you will need to show as part of your application a variety of company registration, tax and earnings documents. Normally, if you work as an ‘regular’ employee of a normal firm, these documents are mostly fairly straight forward to get.
However, EORs know that these documents are valuable, and generally make it impossible for their ‘employee’s’ to get them – unless they pay them a very large fee.
If you decide to go elsewhere and you lose your work permit, the three year qualification clock for PR and citizenship restarts. So your hands are tied. We’ve heard that many EOR firms will charge applicants wanting to access these documents anywhere up to 600,000 baht. The costs don’t just end there however, depending on the amount of employees the EOR has, statutory printing costs by the government agency responsible printing these can run into the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of baht.
At the other end of the spectrum, some EOR’s will simply just refuse to cooperate given that they will be forced to hand over sensitive corporate information as part of your citizenship or PR application.
Don’t risk using an EOR. Establish your own company instead
The only way to avoid all this is to establish your own Thai company. One which you can control.
The company you establish will be your formal employer, providing you with a work permit and thus formally qualify you apply for either Thai Permanent Residency or Thai Citizenship.
Your Thai registered company will invoice your offshore clients and you can channel those revenues properly and legally into Thailand. You can decide yourself the amount of monies you need to be diverted into Thailand, and use them as your living costs, as well as the same time, lining yourself up to be fully qualified to apply for citizenship or PR later down the track.
Helping you establish your own Thai Citizenship compliant company
Given that we’ve been approached by so many people over the years who would like to obtain citizenship or permanent residency, but simply don’t have the correct structures in place, here at www.thaicitizenship.com we’ve come up with a solution which will help set you on your path to staying in Thailand forever.
We have partnered with some excellent lawyers and accountants who work with you to establish your firm in Thailand legally and provide you with ongoing administrative services at highly competitive prices. Please feel free to drop us a line via our contact page to find out more.
Still would to speak to an expert?
The whole purpose of this website is to provide factual and useful information on all things to do with Thai citizenship and Permanent Residency. We want to be the most authoritative place on the internet, stripping away both the misleading ‘bar stool gossip’ and lawyers hoarding information, stifling your ability to understand your options.
Nevertheless, we realise that everyone’s case is unique. If you’ve read the website and would like a one-on-one consultation to discuss your personal case and circumstances, then please click on the link below where you can organise a time to speak.
