New rules for foreign employees in Thailand

Background

In May 2007, the Cabinet approved certain changes to the Foreign Employment Act. These will now be forwarded to the Council of State (this is the body that scrutinises and drafts new legislation) for further consideration. In this article, we discuss the current law regarding foreign employees and work permits, and the changes that are proposed.

Current law

The Foreign Employment Act is the principal Act dealing with the employment of foreigners in Thailand. In general, any foreigner who wishes to undertake any form of work in Thailand, whether paid or unpaid, must hold a valid work permit authorizing that employment. There are exceptions to this general rule for foreign diplomatic staff and employees of the UN and certain other international agencies. A regulation issued under the Act contains a list of 39 occupations that are prohibited to foreigners, and thus a work permit cannot be obtained for any of those occupations.

Applications for a work permit for an occupation that is not prohibited, are dealt with by the Ministry of Labour. Generally, work may not be commenced until a work permit is issued. A large quantity of documents must be submitted with a work permit application, broadly speaking, these are documents concerning the applicant, including his c.v. and educational certificates, and documents from the sponsoring employer, including its corporate documents, tax registration and annual accounts. Conditions related to the paid up capital of the sponsoring company and the ratio of Thai staff to foreign employees must be observed.

If a work permit is granted, it will be for a period of 12 months backdated to the applicant’s date of entry into the country (24 months where the employer has Board of Investment privileges). The employee may only engage in the duties specifically referred to in the work permit, at the location specified. Permission to change employment duties or location must be applied for in advance. An application to extend a work permit must be made before its expiry. Special rules apply where a foreigner works in a representative office, regional operating headquarters or regional office of a foreign company.

New proposals

In May, the Cabinet approved a number of changes to the FEA, which are summarized below:

• The requirements regarding work location, the time period and prohibited work will be changed, by permitting foreigners to work only as specified by Ministerial Announcements.
• A person who wishes to employ foreigners must have a permit and pay a fee for this right.
• A person who hires foreigners must deposit a guarantee for the expenses of a return trip out of Thailand and maintain such guarantee.
• A work permit shall not last longer than two years and there will be a daily fine if it is renewed after its expiry date.
• The Minister may issue regulations stipulating the work permit criteria and method of foreign employment, in addition to Section 10 of the Act.
• There will be a Foreign Employment Appeal Committee, consisting of the Permanent Secretary of Labor Ministry or his delegate as Chairman, and eight other committee members. A representative from the Employment Department shall be a committee member and Secretary.

Comment

Unfortunately it has not been possible to obtain a full copy of the draft Bill, and thus we have been forced to rely on a summary. In general, the provisions may be seen as imposing additional requirements and placing obstacles in the way of companies that wish to employ foreigners. The reversal of the present rule that foreigners can engage in any employment except for 39 occupations that are presently prohibited, to one where the Minister may specify occupations that are open to foreigners, is unnecessarily restrictive, and represents a reversal of the current law.

We shall have to wait for publication of the full draft before making further comment.

© Stephen Frost, Bangkok International Associates 2007

______________________________________________

Bangkok International Associates is a general corporate and commercial law firm. For further information, please contact Stephen Frost by email at sfrost@bia.co.th or telephone (66) 2 231 6455.

These will now be considered in detail by the Council of State – the primary body that considers and drafts new legislation. If approved, it is likely that regulations will also have to be drafted, to flesh out the additional obligations.

Smoking & Drinking in Bangkok Thailand

Smoking Tobacco, and Drinking Alcohol in Bangkok and Thailand

Smoking Cigarettes, Cigars and Pipes

If you arrive as a tourist in Bangkok, you may initially be puzzled as to where to find cigarettes or tobacco. The reason is that tobacco wares are not allowed to be displayed in public and no advertising is allowed. Smaller shops will usually sell cigarettes (which are not expensive, even the imported ones). Most convenient places to buy tobacco are the 7-Eleven convenience stores scattered around Bangkok. The cigarettes are located just behind the counter, but as I mentioned, you will not actually see them displayed and must aks for them.

Not quite sure why anyone would want to smoke cigarettes, but for the more serious smokers you will find tobacco wares (cigars, pipe tobacco) at Siam Paragon and Emporium. The shops that sell tobacco are called Bangkok Wine Cellar (they mostly sell wine and spirits). There is one located on the 5th floor (next to the Gourmet Market) at Emporium Shopping Center, and another one (a bit larger, maybe somewhat more choice) in the corridor left of Gourmet Market at Siam Paragon (located at the basement level floor). The pipe tobacco and cigars are not openly visible, so you have to ask to see the wares.

Most five star hotels will have a small shop where you can buy tobacco wares. I noticed that these shops are allowed to display tobacco for sale.

Smoking is prohibited in restaurants and public places in Bangkok. Smoking is allowed outside buildings. For example, if you are a smoker and visit a Starbucks for your morning coffee, you may want to select one that has an outdoors section.

When you visit bars, well you will see the reason why smoking has been banned in most places, and gets such a bad press. The bars are filled with smoke, and any visit may have you coughing for the next few days. In our opinion, if smokers would have been more self-restraining, things would not have developed as far as they have now, with smokers being treated almost as bad as plain criminals.

Update : As of February 2008, there is a smoking ban in airconditioned bars and night clubs. Up to then, bars and nightlife entertainment venues had been exempted. A grace period has been granted, and full implementation of the new law will probably occur around May 2008.

Drinking and Buying Alcohol

Drinking alcohol is still allowed in Thailand. However, you can not buy alcohol at all times of day. Shops like supermarkets and 7-Elevens are not allowed to sell alcohol between 2.00-5.00 P.M. and after midnight. Sometime in the morning (the time escapes me) sales are permitted again. As far as we know, you can drink alcohol all day though in restaurants and bars.

On some days (religious and national holidays, election days) alcohol sales are banned altogether, and drinks can not be served even in restaurants and bars (which usually close on these days anyway).

Wines are invariably priced high. Even table wines that would be sold at less than 100 baht a bottle in Europe, cost 400 baht and upwards.

Stronger drinks like whisk(e)y, gin, vodka are quite cheap altogether. A bottle of good whisky such as Grant's or Ballantines can be had at around 550 baht a bottle (about 15 US $).

Most supermarkets will sell wines and spirits. Beers and mostly local brand alcohol is available at 7-Elevens (prices are about 20% higher than at supermarkets though). By the way, Thai brandy (sometimes called whisky or rum) is actually quite tasty and very cheap.

Drunk driving is a major problem in Thailand, and thousands of people are killed each year because of it. Most victims (and perpetrators) are 'low-class' motorcycle drivers, and little is done to enforce existing laws, and/or to improve drivers' conduct. Invariably, each year around New Year and with Songkran (the Thai New Year) there will be temporary campaigns to limit the number of road deaths. Unfortunately, the value of life in Thailand is rather low, and therefore little is done to preserve it.