Integrity Legal - Law Firm in Bangkok | Bangkok Lawyer | Legal Services Thailand Back to
Integrity Legal

Legal Services & Resources 

Up to date legal information pertaining to Thai, American, & International Law.

Contact us: +66 2-266 3698

info@integrity-legal.com

ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawThailand Immigration LawIs the Thai Business Visa the "Gold Standard"?

Is the Thai Business Visa the "Gold Standard"?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggest, we are discussing Thai Business Visas. I was in some correspondence the other day with a gentleman whom we assisted a year ago in getting set up with their Company. They got into Thailand under some pretty onerous restrictions that were on entrants coming into Thailand a little over a year ago. We were just going back and forth and he brought up the fact that in his mind, the Thai Business Visa with a Work Permit is kind of the "Gold Standard" of Thai visas. I kind of inquired with him why he said that. He said, "Well one, when they locked down the country, and it was fully locked down for a couple of weeks, but when they first reopened, Work Permit holders with a Business Visa were on the list of prioritized re-entrants right in there with Permanent Residents and Thai Nationals abroad. It took quite a long time, a number weeks before Thailand re-opened for example to those who had family in Thailand, an O spousal or child visa holder. Then it took even longer to re-open to retirees etc. and then it of slowly reopened as things went along. If you want to look into that, we documented it as it was happening on the ground here in Bangkok.

But I had never really thought about that. In a way, the Business Visa with a Work Permit, it is specifically laid out in the Immigration Act which is a different animal for example than an O Marriage Visa which is just laid out “as otherwise noted in Ministerial Regulations” and the same can be said for Retirement Visas. Those are regulatory creatures whereas a Business Visa is spelled out in Thai Law, the Work Permit as well.

To a certain extent, I definitely think "gold standard" might not be exactly the correct terminology but I definitely think a Business Visa holder, Work Permit holder is probably going to remain a prioritized status in the event that we ever have a repeat of what happened in 2020.