Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing O Marriage Visas and Work Permits. So many people that are on the O Marriage Visa are aware of this but folks that are not or are looking at the O Marriage Visa, this is something to bear in mind. 

So, for maintaining a standard Business Visa and Work Permit here in Thailand, there is an employee to employer if you will or foreign to Thai ratio of 1:4, or 4:1. Four Thai employees for every one foreign employee on a standard Thai small company. Now I understand there are people out there that will say well I have a company, we are certified under the BoI, the Board of Investment, we don't have these ratio requirements. Yes, BOI has the ability to grant Work Permit concessions, thereby essentially circumventing if you will, the need for these ratios. What we are talking about in this video though is an SME, a Thai small company just sort of a standard small company, what I sometimes refer to as a "one-man-band". It is basically a company that is being utilized by a foreigner here in Thailand to maintain their business presence but also as a vehicle for Work Permits and Business Visas. 

Now a little known or less known fact is that O Marriage Visas, those married to a Thai national who have a visa based on that marriage can also apply for a Work Permit and they can do it through a similar type of corporate setup. The big difference between the O Marriage Visa and the B Visa operating as a platform for a Work Permit is the fact that on an O Marriage Visa you only need two Thai employees for every one foreigner as opposed to four Thai employees for every one foreigner in the situation involving a standard Business Visa. So, for many folks they look at an O Marriage Visa as being basically beneficial because it does not require as much expense associated with maintaining employee ratios. 

Now that being said, the O Marriage Visa itself can be something of a, I hesitate to say problematic type Visa, but as we have discussed in the past, there is a high level of scrutiny associated with the O Marriage Visa because Thai Immigration authorities want to make sure that folks are not entering into “sham marriages” in order to just get an immigration benefit here in Thailand. We did the videos some eight or so years ago talking about that very issue where there was some corruption that arose; people were engaging in these fake sham marriages and it was having an impact on the O Marriage Visa situation, notably the fact that there is heightened scrutiny regarding the underlying marriage when you are dealing with an O Marriage Visa application. That being said, there can be benefits associated with the O Marriage Visa again most notably the fact that the Thai employee ratio to foreigners is 2:1 as opposed to 4:1 for a standard Business Visa.