The colonel, a superintendent at the immigration office in the city, and two other immigration officers met local officials and dignitaries, including honorary British consul Ben Svasti Thomson, at a city hotel. The team stated that people who had entered the country on tourist visas could work remotely, provided they were not working for a Thai company and any income from their work was remitted abroad.
Asian Correspondent reported the meeting took place to clarify recent changes in the way Thai immigration deals with long-stay tourists who go to border crossings to get new visa exempt entries every 15 or 30 days. Attendees raised the question of whether carrying out employment via the internet was still a problem.
Foreigners working online in Thailand is a bit of a grey area as current laws were enacted before the internet even existed. The law states that foreign nationals working in Thailand need to have a Non-immigrant Class B visa and have a work permit issued by the country’s Labour Department.
Thai labour laws also stipulate that foreigners cannot take jobs that Thai nationals are able to do. This bars foreigners from taking jobs such as tour guides, drivers and bartenders.
Thai officials say online work no problem
News in Asia
A leading Thai immigration official told attendees at a meeting last week that tourists who were working online would not face any problems. Colonel Rutphong Sanwanangkun made the statement at a meeting held in the northern city of Chiang Mai.