In general, it is legal to work remotely in Thailand, unless your clientele/employer are Thai. The purpose of the law [1] was to prevent foreign workers from displacing native Thai workers, and "digital nomads" do nothing of the sort.

This becomes clear if you pay attention to the punishments imposed by the law; they concern Thai employers, not the alien workers, alone.

[1]: http://www.thailandlawonline.com/translations/foreign-employ...

That's simply not true.

Doing work for any employer in Thailand, paid or unpaid is illegal on a tourist visa.

Lets quote the act you link to:

"To be able to legally work in Thailand the foreigner must have a valid non-immigrant visa and a work permit issued in his name allowing him to perform a specific job at a specific location for a specific company in Thailand."

Now a naive look at this paragraph might leave you with the impression you can be self employed or work for a foreign company.

The fact is that it's impossible to work for a foreign company in Thailand. They need to open local offices and incorporate here. It's also impossible to become self employed without opening a Thai company if you are a foreigner.

So the leading paragraph is correct. You need a work permit to work for a Thai company because all work must be conducted through a Thai company.

Actually, there was an episode of the "Travel Like A Boss" podcast, which is about digital nomadism, where the host and others were taken downtown by the Thai police after a raid on a co-working space. After the police found out that they were paying to do work at the co-working space on unrelated businesses and weren't being paid by the co-working space they let them go without charges [1].

1. http://www.travellikeabosspodcast.com/episodes--show-notes/e...

I'm aware of the story. Just because Chiang Mai has chosen not to enforce the law, doesn't change the law itself.

As with all things in Thailand, what is ok today could be prohibited tomorrow.

By that logic, I was once let off on a speeding ticket, so speeding is therefor not illegal and no one should obey speed limits.. right?

It's OK to work while on holidays.

Eg. you can check your email and do a bit of work to keep things going at home, it's not legal, but it is understood to happen and you'll be fine.

Full time work however is NOT allowed without a working permit.

Your link at [1] even confirms that at pretty much the first line. There is no specific exclusion for "remote work".

>Full time work however is NOT allowed without a working permit.

If you're being paid through an account back home and are working in a villa you've rented, it would be very hard for them to prove you're actually there working full time, would it not?

This is not about how hard it is for Thai immigration officers to prove you are working without a permit. I was just pointing out that it is illegal. Making it hard to prove doesn't make it OK.

You really would not want to end up in a debate with Thai immigration on this topic either, no matter if they have proof or not.

Digital nomads are huge benefit to local economy. I can't imagine country would start enforcing some outdated piece of legislation against them. In other words, even if it's illegal, it's not enforceable.

Outdated legislation which is no longer enforced is common everywhere. For example Alabama has a homophobic law which says this must be included in every sex education program:

"homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state."

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/alcode/16/40A/16-40A-2

Illegal != Enforceable

While I have visited the USA several times I can not comment on US law. I have lived several years in Thailand and can guarantee that illegal action by intent like working without a work permit is enforcable. You are trying to apply a Western point of view, digital nomads are not considered to be an economic benefit by Thai law officials.

A Digital nomad paying no income tax, quite likely claiming back the VAT on purchases (because they're ostensibly on tourist visas), and often specifically in the country because its very cheap, are not having a huge effect on the economy.

REAL tourists have a HUGE effect on the economy.

REAL businesses that make the effort to operate legally, employ local staff, pay taxes, etc, have an effect on the economy.

Doesn't make it any more or less legal though.

There are definitely coworking spaces. I just spent two weeks working out of Kohub on Koh Lanta. Had a great time and even ran into the creator of the framework I specialize in, he was on the same island. Hung out with some guys working on a Bitcoin startup, some other freelancers. Had a great time.

i guess it's an individual preference, but if i were off working on a lark the last thing i would want is to be surrounded by people who do the same thing as me. i can get plenty of that anywhere on both ends of california.

Work in tech outside of the tech industry for a while. I go to conferences and just breathe in and out for what feels like the first time in months. Just being able to use jargon without stopping to explain it is a wonderful thing.

Hey, I think I met you there, was with my buddy Kevin (looks like an Asian version of Hurley from Lost). Kohub and Lanta was a blast. Hope to see you there next year too.

Yep, that was me! Looks like Kevin is still there, saw some photos of him on the Kohub Facebook page last week.

For a person trying to make a point about having a legal business in Thailand (sorry for the fortune spent) and hiring local people, you're actually being quite offensive calling them local retards. I'm sure those "retards" are not so much retarded if you actually funded a profitable company there, dou*bag. Or was it just because your charming personality?

I think he was just talking about the people doing wordpress/joomla development, not locals in general.

Probably so, still you're not a retard simply because you work developing Wordpress or Joomla sites. The condescendent and aggressive tone of the reply makes me read nothing but "boo-hoo" from the typical hater that finds joys in arguing over everything. Instead of focusing in the learning experiences and interesting facts of the blog post, starting with a "yawn" doesn't make very constructive does it?

True, people developing Joomla sites are not the retards, their customers are.

Just kidding. And I agree with you.

The tone is admittedly aggressive, but his feet are way more in the ground than those of the authors of the article. What those guys are doing is essentially illegal.

-1 his post furthered the discussion, yours does not

This seems to be contradicted by this recent article:

http://asiancorrespondent.com/125980/thai-immigration-offici...

Condescension aside, this post seems accurate.

Keeping your head down in SEA is really good advice.

Taking aside the current legal situation and trying to look at it from a purely financial aspect, wouldn't it be beneficial for countries like Thailand to allow those kind of people in for a limited amount of time and have them spend their money there?

Assuming Thailand will crack down on those temporary remote workers, they will just go some other place.

EDIT: fixed typo.

It's not financially motivated; it has more to do with nationalistic pride. They are very proud of the fact that they're the only SE Asian nation never to have been conquered by a western power.

They are rightly wary of western power being exerted now through corporations rather than through a military, because that's how things work these days, so they limit the ability for western companies to make inroads here. (For example the local Shell, Esso, etc. are all technically wholly owned by Thais.)

Obviously this concern doesn't apply for freelancers and small businesses whose clients are in the US, but those folks aren't numerous enough to affect immigration policy.

I often hear that bit about Thai pride over never being colonized. It's laughable in light of actual Thai history. Like the events of 1893 when the French sailed two gunboats up the Chao Phraya river, aimed their guns at the royal palace, and said we're taking everything east of the Mekhong River. The Thais gave it up without a fight. The French colonzied it and never gave it back. When they left it became what is now known as Laos.

My brother and I have been doing business in SEA for about 15 years now (exporting), and have looked into what is required to set up shop in Thailand or Indonesia.

Limitations such as max 95% foreign ownership (Indo) end up with local lawyers or accountants owning 5% of the companies that are set up and are figureheads there to fulfill government requirements. Or in Thailand where many industries are only open to Thai nationals, which means the only way foreigners may access those industries is through marriage, though when those marriages dissolve so to does the foreign claim on business assets.

I don't blame them for making it difficult for foreign investment dollars to pour in and displace domestic ownership, or for not embracing western capitalism as fast and as hard as they can.

It's the same in Thailand.

49% foreign ownership max, unless you are American.

Agreed, but TIT. Google it..

To clarify TIT = This is Thailand