Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing virtual offices here in the Kingdom of Thailand. What are we talking about specifically? I especially see this in the case of SMEs and startups here in Thailand where they need to go ahead and deal with getting a corporate address; they need to have a place where their employees can get some work done. In the COVID era or I should say the post COVID era, we are going into that, we are seeing more of a demand for these kind of setups compared to times past especially where folks are working more remotely.

Basically, what is a virtual office? Well I think most people know the definition of a virtual office. It is basically where a corporation maintains its physical address but it may not necessarily be where everybody involved with that business is operating all the time or at any given time. So virtual offices are often used, again I especially see it in the startup arena, people getting started here in Thailand they often start in a virtual office. You need to be careful with this in Thailand, especially Bangkok, because different places may provide different services. We often see problems in the context of maintaining Work Permit and Visas for foreigners setting up a corporation here in Thailand because they are not apprised up front as to exactly what services they are getting with a virtual office. Oftentimes where folks are bargain shopping and obviously with a startup you are trying to keep costs at a minimum, they think they are getting a full virtual office when in fact they may not necessarily have their corporate address domiciled there or have all the documentation pertaining to things like tax certification at that corporate office. Therefore it may cause them a problem with respect to applying for a Work Permit or a Visa or a Visa Extension. So again, this is all going to be driven by the facts of a given case by the factual situation with respect to the office structure, with respect to the platform you are using for a virtual office. 

For those who are looking to deal with this issue and they don't really understand exactly all the ramifications of this, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional, get some insight and guidance as to what exactly you need, especially for those who are looking to just get the minimum at the most reasonable price, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional first so you know what that minimum is and then go from there.