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As the title of this videos suggests, we are discussing Thai Companies specifically as a path to certainty with regard to being an expat, and we're talking about SMEs. Look, I've set up a number of these for folks over the years, assisted them in various ways. This is sort of the standard method. If you want to come to Thailand, be self-employed, and have a vehicle to maintain your ongoing Business Visa and Work Permit status and open yourself up to a path to Permanent Residence or Citizenship, the best way to go about doing that is oftentimes through use of a Thai Corporate structure.

Now what are we talking about here? We're talking specifically about again basically just a standard Thai Company. Now I know there's a lot of news out there about "oh, they're cracking down on 49/51 corporate setups." Again, if it's within the legal parameters of Thai Law, it is most assuredly possible to set up a 49/51 company to the benefit of a foreigner so that they can do business here. And again I liken it to sort of like a pass-through entity when you are looking at sort of Tax Matters in a limited liability company context, where you get to choose between being treated for example like a C-Corp where revenue goes into the corporation and then it's just in the company, or sort of a pass-through entity like a limited partnership where revenues come through and then they accrue to the benefit of one or more of the principles. 

What I'm trying to say here is look, even 49/51 companies can act as a vehicle for a foreigner to be able to do business in Thailand, perfectly legally by the way, as long as they are maintaining compliance with the restricted occupations etc., and then you go ahead and get your Work Permit on that company and use that company effectively if you will as a vehicle for maintaining long-term status in Thailand, doing your business here. And again, depending on how you have sort of structured things, again if it's part of an overall sort of international operation or if it's just purely a local thing, again it will depend on how that revenue sort of comes through the company and how the pay and everything like that works. 

But long story short, it's a very effective method and it's completely in line with the Immigration Act of '79 to do a standard Business Visa and Work Permit utilizing a company; can be done, we do it frequently. Why are all these folks seeing all these problems with Thai companies? There has been a lot of talk in news media recently about this. Well a lot of them are being used to own land and that's a big No-No here. Another problem is a lot of these corporations, be they 49/51 or even some other type of setup, start engaging in occupations that are clearly restricted to Thai Nationals. That's something you have got to keep a close, close eye on. But yeah, strictly speaking, the structures themselves really are sort of the perfect opportunity for somebody who wants to set up a small business here in the Kingdom of Thailand.