The Non-Immigrant B visa for business: full requirements

Two documents govern working life here, and they are frequently confused. The Non-Immigrant B visa is your permission to be in Thailand for business purposes. The work permit is your permission to actually perform work, tied to a specific employer, role and location. You need both, in the right order, and each depends on the other at renewal.

What the sponsoring company must show

• Registered, paid-up capital of ฿2,000,000 for each foreign employee (reduced to ฿1,000,000 where the foreigner is married to a Thai national).
• Four Thai employees on payroll and social security for every foreign employee, outside promoted structures.
• Genuine operations: audited financials, VAT registration where applicable, a real office, and social security filings that match the story.

Officers read these files with practised scepticism. A company whose capital was registered but never paid in, whose Thai staff appeared on the payroll the month before filing, or whose declared office is a serviced-mail address will find its extension refused, politely and without appeal.

The sequence, step by step

• Obtain the initial Non-B from a Thai embassy or consulate abroad: 90-day single entry (฿2,000) or one-year multiple entry (฿5,000), supported by the company's invitation and corporate papers.
• Enter Thailand and apply for the work permit at the Ministry of Labour, with the company's full corporate file.
• Before the initial stay expires, apply to immigration for the one-year extension of stay based on employment.
• Thereafter: annual extension, 90-day address reporting, and a re-entry permit before any travel unless holding multiple entry.

The order matters. Work performed before the permit is issued is an offence for both employee and employer, and immigration histories are permanent. We have unwound more problems caused by ten days of impatience than by any other single cause.

Common obstacles, honestly stated

• The ratio problem: young companies rarely need four Thai hires per foreigner operationally; the requirement is legal, not managerial, and must be planned for in the budget.
• Capital that exists on paper only: paid-up means paid in, and bank evidence is checked.
• Job descriptions that collide with the restricted-occupations list; drafting the role correctly is half the work permit.
• Renewals that assume last year's file still fits this year's company after an office move, director change or salary revision.

The BOI exception

Board of Investment promotion changes the experience entirely. Promoted companies process visas and work permits through the One Stop Service Centre, where approvals are measured in hours rather than weeks. The 4:1 ratio is relaxed, positions are pre-approved by the BOI, and the annual cycle becomes an administrative task instead of an anxiety.

For clients establishing anything of scale in technology, manufacturing, regional headquarters or the targeted industries, we usually assess BOI eligibility before touching the standard route at all. The promotion decides the visa strategy, not the reverse.

For owners specifically

An owner-director drawing a salary needs the same work permit as any employee, from their own company, meeting the same tests. Where the principal's real activity is oversight rather than management, it is sometimes cleaner to hold residence through LTR or Privilege and leave the operating company to run under Thai management. That is a structuring decision with tax consequences, and it belongs at the start of the planning, not the end.

This briefing is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Thai rules change frequently and individual cases differ. Verify current requirements with the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau, the Board of Investment, the Land Department, the Department of Business Development and the Revenue Department, and take advice on your own facts before acting.