Thailand work permit

Question

I am going to thailand and want to source products for export from thailand

Do i need a work permit

Answer 1

Technically anything that is work related in Thailand requires an appropriate visa (Non-Imm O or Non-Imm B) and work permit. As you'd normally be given a tourist visa-free entry stamp under which employment is prohibited, this technically is inappropriate. However, like many things in Thailand, the rules are not black and white and rarely enforced. If what you're doing is low profile, then you can just say you're here to buy stuff to send back to your country. If that's the case then you wouldn't be expected to have a work permit. However, if you were here to broker a deal that say involved a large government agency sourcing raw materials, the situation would be somewhat different. Really it depends. Generally the spirit of the law is such that work permits are issued to people who are genuinely working, to regulate the local jobs market and to ensure that foreigners are not taking a job away from a Thai person (i.e. not doing jobs that local Thais can easily do). I would suggest you check out the rules via a website like www.thaivisa.com. If you were to explain what you were going to be exporting, your involvement and how high profile it is then we might be able to advise further.

Answer 2

No