~G~
-
Posts
1240 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by ~G~
-
-
Yes, unfortunately we can't spare more than a week anyway, so this period is perfectly fine.
-
We plan to spend time mostly in Essen and Amsterdam. Perhaps in Cologne as well. Will probably choose Dusseldorf as the entry point, don't want to take chances. Amsterdam was considered due to the availability of direct flights, as she will fly alone.
-
Don't worry Tomtom
, it's only a week's trip, starting around 22/1. -
So what are the chances she will be refused entry if flying from Bangkok to Amsterdam for example?
-
My girlfriend got the attached visa today from the German Embassy.
Can she use it to enter any of the Schengen states (using a flight from Bangkok), or must she enter Germany first?
-
I went to Laos about 5/6 months ago via Nong Khai and the couple in front of me was turned away due to lack of visa pages.
Yeah, I heard similar stories. I didn't like "The Terminal", and don't want to play the main part in real life!
Get some extra pages inserted into your passport first - no need for a whole new one, most likely. Depending on your nationality, it's not too hard to get extra pages inserted - just plan on spending a few hours in Bangkok and stop off at your embassy.I checked it with my Embassy - impossible for my nationality. Thanks for the reply anyway.
-
Nope.
Seems like I have to get a new passport issued then. Then move my Thai Visa to the new passport in Immigration after that.
-
The Laos visa is a sticker that takes up the whole of one page and then you have the entry stamp and exit stamp from Laos plus the re-entry to Thailand.
I have seen also non-sticker visas (I found the attached photo online), but they still take a very big space.
-
I am planning to fly into Luang Prabang from Bangkok or Chiang Mai for a short stay of about one week. The idea was to get Visa on arrival.
I have spaces in my passport, for say, around 6 average size stamps, however the spaces are on different pages and none of the passport pages is completely empty.
I recall from a previous visit to Laos that the visa and the related stamps took a full passport page. Do I have to get a new passport just for that short visit (adding pages in not an option), or do they also have a visa that does not occupy the full page?
-
Look at office rents. Labor Costs. They are cheaper or more expensive than Thailand?First, you have not demonstrated it. Just like anyone can say that to use a lawyer in Thailand you must pay 200 USD an hour because some firms charge that. If you did not explore all options in HK, Singapore or UK, you are just speculating. HK-based companies are VERY competitive in terms of costs. Second, I am not comparing it to Singapore, HK or UK, I believe my comparison was clear enough.Office rents are quite irrelevant when seeking the cheapest solution, as you have demonstrated. 3,900 baht a month per 1 or 2 square meters is quite expensive. 2,500 baht a month is very expensive for a sign on the wall.
Labor costs of English speaking staff is not more expensive than in Thailand. In fact, when it comes to good English speaking staff, Thailand is redicilously uncompetitive.
---
I have spent enough time on this thread, so I will conclude with a few points:
- So far, you are the only poster on this thread that pointed alleged advantages of setting up in Thailand, and why it is a good idea. Incidently, or not incidently, you may have direct or indirect benefits from expats believing in those views and acting upon them.
- Most of the points you raised were regarding an Export biz, that can be 100% foreign owned, and one with a very large profit margins, and therefore does not fall in my "no no" criteria anyway.
- To anyone considering setup in Thailand: go and speak to foreign business owners that lived here for years and ask them what they think. Speak to as many as possible, especially to those that are related to your industry. As for Legal Advisors, they do have an important role, but since they are biased, their advice must be treated accordingly.
-
Sorry "G" for the delay. Just saw your post.
No problems. In the meanwhile, we have seen several other posters, most of them share my views.
>>Some of your points were flawed however, as you did not say "If you are American, don't read my post".
Nonsense. I answered the OP, who is a Canadian. Your Amercian-related is completly irrelevant in this thread.
>>Cheap accounting is not true, and in fact we pay more than the amounts that many of our clients pay (they are salaried employees doing the books for each company).
You did not get my point at all. Of course you'd pay more than a one man operation. My point is your accounting would be more expensive if you didn't provide accounting services as well.
>>The reason not included is if they are going back home for the Holiday, they could do this at the same time.
Not every embassy gives non-imm-B for one year. Many give only 3 months. Thai Embassy in my country gives only 3 months, so I have to travel especially. In addition, that is a big ÏF. Some people are not comfortable going at that specific time for a holiday.
>>Also they could have the extension of stay based on marriage or education.
Again, only good for those who are married. The OP isn't. Education? we are talking about a biz owner, not of a student. And can someone on an education visa get a WP???
>>90 days Visa runs cost. Say 2,000 baht each, which is 6,000 baht a year
If they had to travel anyway, no additional cost.
Again, a big IF. And if they were Thai, they didn't need a visa at all. IF.
>>This is NOT a virtual office. The lease is not a "hot desk" but a permanent space that he rents.
Do you really want to get me started about your "desks"? LOL. We have seen what another forum member thought about it in a thread a few days ago. Asked for a serviced office, you didn't bother reading his post fully and proposed your desks. He really didn't like it, and I can fully understand why. An exporter that should limit himself to around 1 square meter, without any place to keep samples, without privacy when dicussing prices on the phone, and having his computer, with all the records, in the same room where other non-related people work, must be quite deperate. No way an exporter that does 1M baht profit a year will go for that.
>> We have a number of export companies doing this.
Well, I just don't believe that statement. Not serious exporters that do 1M aht a year profit .Maybe the comanies are defined as exporting but their purpose is to provide visa for the owner? And I want to see what Revenue Department people say when they visit this kind of company, and they will.
>> The Executive Space secretary handles any incoming calls.
I am not talking about merely answering and passing the call or taking a message - I am talking about handling company issues.
>> Any Thai documents such as invoices are showed to the accountant,
What if they don't want to use your accounting service? Or don't want to wait for your accountant to finish his/her work to treat the document? By the way, I didn't point out another flaw in your calculation - you mentioned 2,500 baht accounting. That ay be a bit misleading. 2,500 you charge only for how many, 20 documents? Any seriously trading company will have more than that. Ah, maybe not if they pay Sunbelt for everything.
>> and legal document shown to the lawyers.
You don't need a lwayer for the vast majority of documents. Just a loyal, accountable and educated Thai secretary, which should be available any minute of working hours, one should not queue up to use your lawyers (we have seen here people comlainng about the time it takes you to process things). And your lawyers - I understand they don't speak English as well. LOL. So for every small document one should use one of your lawyers plus a translator? And who will follow up on this document? Sounds like a big joke.
>> Even with the new laws, 99.90% of our clients will not pay any additional costs.
Nonsense. you have no way of doing the statistics, many companies, altough set up by yours, use other law firms
for additional legal services.
>> The point I'm making is if Adam relocates to Hong Kong or Singapore or even to the UK, his costs would be higher.
First, you have not demonstrated it. Just like anyone can say that to use a lawyer in Thailand you must pay 200 USD an hour because some firms charge that. If you did not explore all options in HK, Singapore or UK, you are just speculating. HK-based companies are VERY competitive in terms of costs. Second, I am not comparing it to Singapore, HK or UK, I believe my comparison was clear enough.
And we have Sunbelt's word they won't change again? LOL !I didn't say that they would not change. I said that “The new laws could have been much worse, and would have been if they wanted foreign businessmen to get out."
I know what you said. You are maybe trying to use your psychic abilities and tell us what "they" want? We know very well what they want, and it is reflected in the changes. In addition, my point was that THIS IS A PATTERN THAT YOU MAY BE PRETENDING NOT TO SEE - they go step by step - the last government started anti-foreign changes:
limiting visa runs,
then cancelling Investment Visas altogether,
making it harder to get other visas,
more stricter enforcement of land law and company incorporation regulations
(that eliminated many of the "legal tricks" you used in the past).
Then, the current administration is continuing with:
changing the laws,
fiddling with the currency and imposing strange restrictions on incoming investments.
NOBODY CAN ASSURE FOREIGN INVESTORS THE CHANGES HASN'T ENDED.
Judging by the last years, the pattern and the trend, it is very probable more anti-foreigner laws will be introduced sooner or later.
-
Thailand is a place to spend money, not a place to make money. OK some (extremely few) foreigners make money in Thailand but the rest are telling themselves porkies.
Exactly. It is similar to a Gambler going to a Casino - the rules are set in a way that the Expectency is against the
gambler, so he is very likely to lose in the long term. The house is Thailand, the rules are clearly against small foreign investors, plus they change whenever the house feels like it.
Ok, you can certainly make some profit here and there, I'm not saying you can't. But in the long-term, the odds are against the small investor, and between doing visa runs endlessly and work permit renewals, always being at the mercy of immigration and ministry of labour for the renewals, begging landlords to renew leases (coz you can't properly own the land), changing company status, and potentially being subject to probes and investigations from the mutiple government bodies, in the long run you need quite Exceptional Returns to justify getting into this kind of adventure.
-
ZZZZZZZZZZZ
Since you know nothing of the transaction, why don't you hold it in a bit and breathe
Don't you know? Sunbelt is the Forum's god, his customers should avoid any criticism, even justified.
One should be grateful for him promoting himself and allowing us to know about his great services. If crappy advice was given, this means the client is a "Bad Manager". If a poor service was provided, the client should humbly shut up, if not come back for more. -
You did not mention the Amity Treaty, where Americans can own a business 100% in Thailand.
That's because he is not an American, is he? If you bothered reading his post, you'd see he is a Canadian.
You are certainly not a good example. Why?I'm involved with 22 businesses, ( This is all of them, not just restaurants.) All execpt one will pay corporate tax on the year end net profits for 2006. This is after all write-offs that can be used.A. You are an American, and Americans enjoy very significant benefits other nationals do not. My comments were not directed to Americans.
B. Your Thai wife is an experienced manager and plays a major part in your restaurant chain and organization as a whole. You have mentioned on this board, repeatedly, her significant contribution to your business. Whenever there is any difficulty with either the culture or language barriers, she can handle them much more effectively than the average "I love Thailand and wanna open a business" farang.
C. Your business is big anough to support plenty of overhead. Having in-house lawyers (that can help in drawing contracts, negotiating with landlords, etc), accountants (cheap accounting coz you charge others for those services as well), auditors (same same), secreterie etc. is possible for a law firm combined with a restaurant chain of around 20 locations, hardly the same story for a person that operates a single restaurant or bar.
Did he fail because of the rental, tax and legal overhead? It is around 10K per month.. the answer is no.By the way, this overhead is must cheaper than most countries.
Complete nonsense. You did not include:
- Obligatory yearly trips abroad to obtain the Non-Imm-Visa, including staying in a hotel 1-2 nights. Say around 10,000 baht a year.
- 90 days Visa runs cost. Say 2,000 baht each, which is 6,000 baht a year.
- Office costs, beacause unlike many other countries, he cannot operate from home. He must have a real address, and no, serviced office is not acceptable in the long run as you know very well. Around 15,000 baht a month.
- At least one Thai office manager or secretary to assist in any documents in Thai, phone communication with suppliers, etc.. Again, it's very convenient not to include it when you have both a Thai wife as an executive in your organization, plus in-house secretaries, lawyers, accountants, receptionists, etc. Minimum 15,000 baht a month.
Those points you conveninetly did not include amount to around 32,000 baht a month. Plus the 10,000 baht a month you did mention it's 42,000 baht a month, or around 1,200 USD of REDUNDANT MONTHLY OVERHEAD. This is certainly not little for a small business.
PLUS, I was refering to the case of restaurant/bar, not to an operation one can own 100%. This means possible periodical changes in the status of the company whenever the govenrment feels pissed, plus the costs to arrange for loan agreements, holding companies, joint venture agreements, and god know what other semi legal hocus focus. Those cost can be pretty high.
And why do I say REDUNDANT OVERHEAD? Because for a SMALL BUSINESS, in his own country he can start a one -
- Without forming a company. He can be a Sole Propriteor.
- Without having an office. He can work from home.
- Without using a secretray. He is fluent enough in his own language and understands his own culture.
- Without using an accountant - he can do his own accounting with little instructions from the respective government offices.
- Without any lawyer setup fees. One can easily figure out how to start a sole proprietorship in his own country and go through the process without paying a cent.
The correct comparison is:
- Small buisness in your own country: ZERO OBLIGATORY overhead.
- Small business in Thailand: Over 1,200 USD a month overhead.
That is correct. One should take responsibility for one's actions, and NOT START A SMALL BUSINESS IN THAILAND, where he is at disadvantage. Instead, look for places you have advantage.However I can say, when someone fails, it is never is their fault. Easy to blame someone else rather than themselves. Better to blame the country or the lawyer or the employees. How many people you ever hear say " I'm a bad manager" not too many.The new laws could of been much worse and would of been, if they wanted foreign businessmen to get out.And we have Sunbelt's word they won't change again? LOL !
-
Thanks ~G~ for being straightforward. How does one get 100% control over the company legally? I can see I'm gonna have to do a ton of research before I make any moves. I wonder if the situation is any better in Laos or Cambodia?
100% foreign ownership is possible in the cases of:
- BOI Sponsored companies - if your company is in one of the categories Board Of Investment likes (contributing to Thailand in one way or another). Application for BOI is not trivial, niether cheap. I don't believe Bars or Restaurants can fall in this criteria.
- Companies that engage in specific areas - such as Export, Manufacturing, Hotel Management. In those cases you can register with 100% foreign ownership with no problems - but will not be able to engage in other areas of trade / service.
- Companies that received Alien Business License. I know little about this option, AFAIK you need a significant capital to receive it.
Don't know much about Laos, but Cambodia is much less strict than Thailand when it comes to boths issues of long term visas and foreign businesses.
-
Hello, I am new to the forums and I'm looking for some advice on setting up a business in Thailand. I have recently returned home to Canada and all I can think about is getting back to Thailand.
This makes a lot of sense. Thailand is great for tourists, also pretty OK with retirees that has Thai spouses.
Stop right here - Thailand does not want you to do small business here. Laws are changing periodically for this purpose exactly. Unless you plan to start a really large operation, stay away. The only ones that will try to pursuade you to go ahead, and reassure you that "its ok", are biased law firms that make their living out of:I am a young guy (24) who has been running my own small business for the last 2 years so I do have some experience. The kind of business I could see myself doing in Thailand would be either some kind of bar/pub or restaurant. ~- Stating small companies here using all kinds of loopholes
- Charging them to arrane for every little document
- Charge them for accounting and serviced offices
- When Thai laws change, charging them again to move them to another loopholes
- If all fails, they have another chance to charge again - this time to close the company
DO NOT START A BUSINESS HERE UNLESS YOU CAN OWN IT 100% - STAY AWAY FROM LEGAL TRICKS
DO NOT START A BUSINESS HERE UNLESS ITS LARGE ENOUGH TO PAY FOR A LOT OF OVERHEAD
DO NOT SEEK SEEMINGLY CONVENIENT LOOPHOLES - THEY WILL CLOSE SOONER OR LATER
Some questions: what kind of money do you think I should have as a minimum?You don't need much - Thailand will be happy to take whatever you have (in form of fees and taxes), then your law advisors and accountants will take the rest.
Could someone explain to me the 49% ownership situation and how that all works? Basically I want to know from some experienced people what I should expect to deal with and watch out for if I go ahead with this. Thanks a lot.It is a xenophobic mechanism designed to keep Thailand backwardS and foreign businessmen with as little control as possible. Stay away.
-
i am a tourist for all intents and purposes, staying for a long time.
Tourists cannot stay here for a long time BY DEFINITION. That is exactly why you kept coming in and out of Thailand. They changed the law to make sure you won't be able to stay here long term on a tourist visa.
This is very nice, and I agree with you 100%. Unfortunetaly, Thai autorities will not.i am not making my income from thailand, and i pay taxes on my income in the US, where it is earned. i am not taking jobs away from thai people, thai people aren't even competitors for my job. i am ONLY bringing money into thailand.as you can see in the following links, thai authorities seem to agree with me.I can't open the immigration link becuase of the terrible connection in the last days. Ten minutes and it's still stuck. The other link only shows that certain posters in ThaiVisa thought it's not neccesary. That hardly says anything about Thai authorities. If you are so sure, call Employment Department in the Labour Ministry and ask them if you need a Work Permit or not.
-
BANGKOK: -- Commerce Minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet Monday pledged the amended Foreign Business Act would not affect foreign investors' confidence or obstruct foreign investment in the Kingdom.
Anyone knows when should this "reassuring" Act be published? (not being impatient, just need to make sure I will have spare time to run to the Bank
) -
As I was having serious difficulties to connect to several sites this morning (and still do), I called TRUE. They told me some international connections are down due to an Earthquack in Taiwan. clueless as to when it will be fixed. mumbling something about CAT Telecom. Anyone knows anything about it?!
-
Hmm...this makes sense and I may need to reevaluate anticipated returns. Would investing ETFs that track indexes(e.g., SPY, FXI...) closely match the returns of the underlying indexes? I own FXI , EWO, EWY, and SPY.
By all means stick to ETFs, as diversified as possible. Also note that in some years there will be drawdowns to your equity - bearish years - you better hold at least 10%-20% of your portfolio in bonds to balance that, and gradually move more from ETFs to bonds as you get older and are running out of alternative options for income. You don't want to experience a 30% drop in one year when you're 65.
That will be quite careless and irresponsible to assume. Most Mutual Funds, with armies of experts and money managers, who get paid millions of dollars a years, are not able to beat the market consistently. On what grounds do you assume you will? I am not saying you shouldn't try to, but when it's your retirement money on the stake, I wouldn't use more than 10% of the equity for hand-picked stocks.If I had more time to dedicate to investing, I think I could beat the before mentioned index returns in the long run.I have learned a little over the last year:* Don't jump on the bandwagon - it's already to late
* Stocks with high P/E might payout, but rarely do. For every Google there are 10 losers
* Don't panic - I almost did last May and would have lost thousands
Believe me, there is much more to learn. The more I learn, the more I see how much I don't know.
Good luck!
-
-
The first to have the Executive Desk Concept. Subleasing space to one or two man operations with an exclusive desk for the owner.
Are you sure about this one? AFAIK, serviced offices for 1-3 people have been operating in Bangkok for many years...
-
...if then you decide to do it, do it with everything you have, you will not be on holiday you will be working like a dog.............if you do that and are prepared to keep at it,well, there is money to be made.
Exactly. Unfortunetaly, too many people start business out of sheer boredom and are unable to commit to making such an effort. The first and main objective of a business is to make money, not to entertain the owner. If you are just bored, find a hobby!
-
There are sites doing just that, such as http://www.sitepoint.com/marketplace/viewc...hp?categoryid=1
, it's only a week's trip, starting around 22/1.
Entry point for Schnegen Visa holder
in Visas and migration to other countries
Posted
Thanks for the tips. I will be at the airport to meet her. It is her first trip abroad.
I am not German by the way. But yes, me being her guarantor, with the various evidence regarding our relationship and my background / financial status, were indeed a central part of the visa application, so I assume this point is indeed one they may ask about.