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How to hire staff

In the World Bank 2010 Doing Business report, Thailand ranked 56th out of 181 economies in terms of difficulty in hiring employees, including the regulation of fixed-term contracts, flexibility in work schedules and procedures for redundancy and firing.

The World Bank 2010 Doing Business report - Thailand

Difficulty of Hiring Index 33
Rigidity of Hours Index 0
Difficulty of Firing Index 0
Rigidity of Employment Index 11
Firing costs (weeks of wages) 54

Each index assigns values between 0 and 100, with higher values representing more rigid regulations. The Rigidity of Employment Index is an average of the other three indices.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu says Thailand faces shortages of both unskilled and highly skilled labour.

Hiring staff

Employment contracts and labour relations are governed by the Civil and Commercial Code, the Labour Protection Act, the Labour Relations Act and the Labour Procedures Act. An employment contract may be either verbal or written detailing terms and conditions, duties and responsibilities.

Labour protection laws stipulate basic conditions, that is, minimum standards for working hours, rest periods, holidays, wages, overtime pay, employment of women and children, severance pay and compensation. An employer and employee cannot contract out of these minimum standards.

Foreign personnel

While the majority of foreigners are granted visa exemptions for short visits of up to one month, foreigners who wish to work must apply for a non-immigrant visa with which they are able to apply for a work permit.

There are certain occupations and professions prohibited to foreigners.

RSM Advisory (Thailand) says these are mostly in the fields of manual and industrial labour and also in some professional occupations, such as engineering, accounting, architecture and law.

The procedure for foreigners working in Thailand is normally:

enter Thailand with a valid category B non-immigrant visa
apply for a work permit (normally takes between 7 days to two weeks to process)
extend the category B non-immigrant visa beyond 90 days.

Foreigners intending to live and work in Thailand must obtain a non-immigrant visa prior to arrival, issued by a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate abroad.

Visa categories

There are several categories of non-immigrant visas including: business visa (category B), dependent visa (category O), long-term business visa (category B-A), diplomatic and consular visa (category D), and an education visa (category ED).

RSM says to avoid approval complications, the correct category of non-immigrant visa should be obtained before entering Thailand. Foreigners intending to work in Thailand will be issued a category B visa while members of his or her family are usually issued category O visas.

Upon arrival, a non-immigrant visa holder will initially be granted a 90 day stay. A category B visa is normally not extendable unless the applicant has applied for a work permit. In practice, the Immigration Bureau grants a temporary stay visa for up to one month at a time during applications for extensions of the category B visa.

The spouses of New Zealand investors, and intra-corporate transferees with non-immigrant visas, have the right to be employed as managers, executives or specialists, provided they comply with the relevant Thai laws and regulations.

(Additional sources used on this page: RSM Advisory (Thailand), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu)

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Use of the information is at your own risk and we are not responsible for any adverse consequences arising out of such use. This is a complex area and we recommend that you seek legal advice before taking any related action.