5 ms·

I'd be more concerned with visa issues.

by percept 12y ago

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
Ya, you aren't supposed to work with tourist visas, and you should be paying taxes in your country of residence on your income. Things can get pretty shady, and you really don't want to wind up in a Thai jail!
- zkhalique 12y ago
  Wait, what? You aren't supposed to work for people in the COUNTRY Just like you aren't supposed to do business with people in the country No one says you can't continue working on projects for clients in your home country
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    That is very very wrong. Thai law doesn't allow you to work on a tourist visa, even if you are working for someone outside of Thailand, it is very unambiguous on this point and they have been cracking down on co-working spaces accordingly. Almost all countries are like this actually.
    - zkhalique 12y ago
      So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? What if their company is generating passive income for them back home? Are they not supposed to access it? How are they supposed to pay for all the touristy stuff? "Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported."
      - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
        > So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Yep. > Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? You just can't get paid. If you were cooking for a "friend" but you were actually their personal chef...you would need a working visa. For a visa waver country, you usually have the right to go to that country to attend conferences or training, but you aren't supposed to do any "work" like say...programming or writing documentation (again value creation). > What is their company is generating passive income for them back home? Passive and investment income don't count, only work that creates value and is paid accordingly. If you want to make investments in the country, there is a non tourist visa for that (and sometimes it is allowed on visa waver). > How are they supposed to pay for all the touristy stuff? Through the income you earned working hard back home. > "Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported." Yep. It hasn't happened yet, but there was a scare a few months ago: http://www.itworld.com/article/2695072/mobile/digital-nomads-in-thailand-get-a-scare.html http://www.itworld.com/article/2695072/mobile/digital-nomads... A good description of the situation is here: http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-and-immigration-law/ http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-...
        EGreg 12y ago
        Interesting. But the article seems to suggest the exact opposite: In the end, the whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding. Immigration officials thought that the nomads were actually Punspace employees, and, as such, would have been required to have work permits. After several hours of worry and hassles, everybody was allowed to go back about their business and nobody was fined or deported. Punspace’s owners were, according to Johnny FD, very responsive and helpful and gave everyone a free month of usage for all the trouble. This whole situation can be a viewed a win for digital nomads, since the Thai authorities, ultimately, confirmed that they can work in the country on a valid tourist visa. This incident also comes about a month after Chiang Mai immigration officials declared that digital nomads could work under a tourist visa. I mean, after all, any content you create (be it writing a book in your spare time, with intent of publishing when ou come back, or taking a video with intent of showing it for money back home) would be potentially work. If that was the case then any person arriving with less than X amount of local currency could be detained after a few months on the basis that they couldn't possibly pay their way unless they had an income from somewhere.
- glandium 12y ago
  And as a US citizen, you also need to pay US taxes on that income.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    If you are paying Thai taxes, then you will probably get out of paying US taxes either by deducting or via the FEIE. Of course, if you are working remote in Thailand for an American company, you are pretty much in a double tax situation that you legally can't get out of (you can just not pay Thai tax, but that is breaking Thai law).

I'd be more concerned with visa issues.

by percept 12y ago

I'd be more concerned with visa issues.

Ya, you aren't supposed to work with tourist visas, and you should be paying taxes in your country of residence on your income. Things can get pretty shady, and you really don't want to wind up in a Thai jail!

zkhalique 12y ago
Wait, what? You aren't supposed to work for people in the COUNTRY Just like you aren't supposed to do business with people in the country No one says you can't continue working on projects for clients in your home country
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  That is very very wrong. Thai law doesn't allow you to work on a tourist visa, even if you are working for someone outside of Thailand, it is very unambiguous on this point and they have been cracking down on co-working spaces accordingly. Almost all countries are like this actually.
  - zkhalique 12y ago
    So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? What if their company is generating passive income for them back home? Are they not supposed to access it? How are they supposed to pay for all the touristy stuff? "Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported."
    - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
      > So, a person with a tourist visa isn't able to do any work in their own hotel room, no matter what it is or for whom? Yep. > Is it that they aren't supposed to do a service for anyone else (such as cook for a friend, or translate anything for a relative back home) or that they can't receive money? You just can't get paid. If you were cooking for a "friend" but you were actually their personal chef...you would need a working visa. For a visa waver country, you usually have the right to go to that country to attend conferences or training, but you aren't supposed to do any "work" like say...programming or writing documentation (again value creation). > What is their company is generating passive income for them back home? Passive and investment income don't count, only work that creates value and is paid accordingly. If you want to make investments in the country, there is a non tourist visa for that (and sometimes it is allowed on visa waver). > How are they supposed to pay for all the touristy stuff? Through the income you earned working hard back home. > "Sorry sir. We noticed you were debugging your iPhone app in your hotel room, a version of which is being sold in the app store. You will now go to Thai Jail or be deported." Yep. It hasn't happened yet, but there was a scare a few months ago: http://www.itworld.com/article/2695072/mobile/digital-nomads-in-thailand-get-a-scare.html http://www.itworld.com/article/2695072/mobile/digital-nomads... A good description of the situation is here: http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-and-immigration-law/ http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-...
      - EGreg 12y ago
        Interesting. But the article seems to suggest the exact opposite: In the end, the whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding. Immigration officials thought that the nomads were actually Punspace employees, and, as such, would have been required to have work permits. After several hours of worry and hassles, everybody was allowed to go back about their business and nobody was fined or deported. Punspace’s owners were, according to Johnny FD, very responsive and helpful and gave everyone a free month of usage for all the trouble. This whole situation can be a viewed a win for digital nomads, since the Thai authorities, ultimately, confirmed that they can work in the country on a valid tourist visa. This incident also comes about a month after Chiang Mai immigration officials declared that digital nomads could work under a tourist visa. I mean, after all, any content you create (be it writing a book in your spare time, with intent of publishing when ou come back, or taking a video with intent of showing it for money back home) would be potentially work. If that was the case then any person arriving with less than X amount of local currency could be detained after a few months on the basis that they couldn't possibly pay their way unless they had an income from somewhere.
glandium 12y ago
And as a US citizen, you also need to pay US taxes on that income.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  If you are paying Thai taxes, then you will probably get out of paying US taxes either by deducting or via the FEIE. Of course, if you are working remote in Thailand for an American company, you are pretty much in a double tax situation that you legally can't get out of (you can just not pay Thai tax, but that is breaking Thai law).