Starting a business and getting a work permit in Thailand

Sooner or later, almost everyone who falls for Chiang Mai has the same thought: could I actually set up something here? A studio, an agency, a little brand, a base for the business I already run. It's a wonderful instinct, and the city rewards it. But Thailand's rules around working and company ownership are specific, and getting them wrong is expensive. So before anything else, one honest disclaimer from the Ada House team: what follows is general orientation, not legal advice. The rules shift, the numbers change, and your situation is yours alone. Treat this as a map, then sit down with a qualified Thai lawyer and accountant before you commit.

The rule almost everyone gets wrong

Here's the foundation: on a tourist visa, and on most long-stay visas, you generally cannot legally work in Thailand — and 'work' is defined broadly. The thing that makes work legal is a work permit, a separate document from your visa. You need both, and they're linked: a work permit usually requires the right visa underneath it, most commonly the Non-Immigrant B (Non-B), plus a sponsoring entity — a registered business that employs you. No sponsor, no permit. This catches a lot of well-meaning founders off guard, so it's worth saying plainly before we go further.

The Thai Limited Company route

For most people building something local, the path runs through a Thai Limited Company. The well-known shape is this: the company is typically expected to be majority Thai-owned (foreigners commonly hold up to 49%), to carry a meaningful amount of registered capital — the broadly-cited figure is around two million baht for each foreign work permit — and to employ a number of Thai staff per foreigner, often quoted as roughly four. We give those numbers as orientation only; they move, exceptions exist, and you must verify the current requirements rather than trust a blog.

This is exactly why structuring matters so much. The way shares, voting rights and capital are arranged determines whether you genuinely control the business you've funded, and whether you stay compliant. Plenty of nominee-shareholder shortcuts get whispered about in coworking spaces; most are illegal and genuinely risky. Good legal structuring isn't an optional extra here — it's the whole game.

BOI, LTR and the other doors

The Thai Limited Company isn't the only route. BOI-promoted companies — businesses the Board of Investment wants to encourage — can unlock real advantages, including relaxed foreign-ownership limits and friendlier work-permit conditions, though they suit specific sectors and ambitions.

There's also the LTR (Long-Term Resident) visa, aimed at higher-earning remote professionals, wealthy individuals and skilled experts. It bundles a long validity with a more streamlined work-permit mechanism, but it comes with substantial income or asset thresholds. For a well-established founder it can be elegant; for someone just starting out it's usually out of reach.

The DTV: working remotely, the honest way

Now the part that fits many of our guests best. A great number of people here aren't building a Thai business at all — they're working remotely for clients and employers abroad while living somewhere wonderful. The newer DTV (Destination Thailand Visa) was built for exactly this. The crucial distinction: the DTV is for remote work for foreign clients, not local employment. You can serve your customers in London or Singapore from a café in Nimman; you cannot take on Thai clients or work for a Thai company on it. If that describes you, the simplest, most honest move may be no company and no work permit at all — just the right long-stay visa. We've written a fuller walkthrough in our guide to the DTV visa, and it pairs naturally with the wider digital nomad scene the city is known for.

The unglamorous part: filings, social security and books

If you do set up a company, the work doesn't stop at registration. Thai companies carry ongoing obligations: monthly and annual tax filings, withholding, VAT where it applies, social security contributions for staff, and an annual audit signed off by a licensed auditor. This is genuinely not a do-it-yourself affair in a second language — a reliable local accountant is non-negotiable, and you'll want your local banking sorted early so payroll and contributions run cleanly. Founders who under-budget for this side of things are the ones who get caught out a year in.

Get proper advice before you commit

If there's one thing to take from us, it's this: the broad shape above is reliable, but the details — capital figures, ratios, fees, eligibility — change and carry real consequences. Speak to a qualified Thai lawyer and accountant before you sign anything, and verify every current requirement directly. There's no shame in the remote-work-on-a-long-stay-visa path either; for many people it's the smartest, cleanest choice, and there's nothing second-rate about it.

Whichever route is yours, we'd love to give you a calm, welcoming base while you figure it out — come and stay, and let the city make its case.