Graphical Designer in Thailand.

[jimholio]

Hmm, im an educated graphical designer myself but i have untill now thought that graphical designer/webdesigner and such has been a restricted occupation in Thailand. But looking at the new restrictions that came out im no longer sure, and even if it was im sure the title could be something like Graphical specialist or whatever.

Perhaps this is something i should look into again but would anyone hire a farang for this type of job? I mean the Thai's can work for less money and without any work permits and such. Ofcourse i suppose this is a type of job you can do in your own appartment, but then it would be a problem with the new Visa regulations.

Im also very curious about what these type of jobs pay in Thailand? My area is only the design part though, ofcourse i can handle HTML and such but i realy prefer not to because its not what im good at.

My area would be; Illustration, Webgraphics, Image editing, Desktop jobs and some Flash design. With webgraphics as my speciality.

Prefered Softwares; Adobe CS family. But with alot of experience in many others, for the webdesign part i prefer to have Dreamweaver as my helping hand, basicly to puzzle the graphics together and making it ready for the coding.

Finally, does anyone know someone who works in this area as an employee in Thailand? If so please send me a PM.

[LivinLOS]

Freelance online, dont work for Thai clients, dont get paid into Thailand, work from home..

Good solution.

Working for a Thai business is unlikely, the language, the resistance to farangs, and local labour rates all against you.. Work on a good portfolio of work and attempt to build repeat clients yourself.

Just my 2 satang.

[jimholio]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Freelance online, dont work for Thai clients, dont get paid into Thailand, work from home..

Good solution.

Working for a Thai business is unlikely, the language, the resistance to farangs, and local labour rates all against you.. Work on a good portfolio of work and attempt to build repeat clients yourself.

Just my 2 satang.

Agree, been working on that Portfolio for a while, but this would require to set up a company back home, and this would also require licenses for all the softwares, not doable, not in the start anyways.

What if you start a company in Thailand but work for the clientel back home, would it be hard with workpermits and such then?

And LIL, even if i got this going properly, how could you get around the new visa regulations then? I mean with the new VISA's you can only stay in Thailand to a max of 9 months before having to leave for 9 months right? or is it 6 months in and 6 months out?

[LivinLOS]

Dont get a work permit, work from home, dont do anything, do visa runs..

Sure its not 'legal' but its what 99% of online workers do here. Many tax offices have evenb said if you have no Thai clients and dont get paid in Thailand then your not working here your working in your home country (case by case basis.. Sunbelt has provided facts on this).. Thais dont have a handle on telecommuting yet.

No company back home (as long as client will pay privately).. Software licences from pantip ?? Of course this is not the legit way to do this.. But it is a way to do it.

[jimholio]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

No company back home (as long as client will pay privately).. Software licences from pantip ?? Of course this is not the legit way to do this.. But it is a way to do it.

I just dont see how any company would or could pay for a service without a receipt. I suppose in some business you can do a part untaxed but if you run a legit company, with your products fully taxed you have no money to play around with at the end of the year when it's time to do the books. My knowledge in this area is very limited though to say the least but i can just imagine what kinda of trouble i could end up in if i would do something like this.

But even so, lets say i get the clients, i get the money for a comfortable living etc then the new visa thing still bothers me. Now with the new regulations I can get a 3 months visa before leaving Sweden and as i understand it get another 1+1+1 for Visa on arrival a total of 6 months on Tourist visa's but then i have to leave Thailand for 6 months right?

Not sure with the new Swedish government but before this election we could also get 6 months support while starting up a new business in Sweden. This means we would get 80% of our old sallary for 6 months while starting up a new business. Doing this from Thailand would require 2 things as i see it realy, 1: A computer, 2: A fast enough Internet connection for VoIP(Skype, VoipDiscount - or similiar)

Im gonna meet up with an old friend this weekend, he used to run a medium to large sized company before that worked with commercials of all kinds, I need to know how important face to face marketing realy is in this area.

If it realy works it would be a cheap way to do it, Considering the prices for stuff around here and down there.

Anyways - LIL thanks for your input, always helpful as usuall.

*Edit*
Oh Btw - i know about 1 guy who was into programming, both database and softwares, and he also had some guy over in Sweden to handle hosting services and such. He charged something like 400SEK(45€) per/h down in LOS + eventuall hosting he worked fulltime i think. Now he's moving back to Sweden, he's building a house in Gothenburg now i think. (Land prices there is quite insane) So i suppose it's doable to say the least. The marketing would be the hard part i suppose.

[LivinLOS]

Originally Posted by jimholio

I just dont see how any company would or could pay for a service without a receipt. I suppose in some business you can do a part untaxed but if you run a legit company, with your products fully taxed you have no money to play around with at the end of the year when it's time to do the books. My knowledge in this area is very limited though to say the least but i can just imagine what kinda of trouble i could end up in if i would do something like this.

Who said anything about no reciept.. Invoice them for work done with made up letter head paper and a Thai bank account.. Or be a 'sole trader' so you xxx trading as xxx (thats how Brits used to do it) or use an offshore bank account.. Or use your gome country account (as long as your not going to have home country tax issues)..

But even so, lets say i get the clients, i get the money for a comfortable living etc then the new visa thing still bothers me. Now with the new regulations I can get a 3 months visa before leaving Sweden and as i understand it get another 1+1+1 for Visa on arrival a total of 6 months on Tourist visa's but then i have to leave Thailand for 6 months right?

You could probably get a triple entry tourist (maybe even a quad) back home.. Good for 9 months..

Not sure with the new Swedish government but before this election we could also get 6 months support while starting up a new business in Sweden. This means we would get 80% of our old sallary for 6 months while starting up a new business. Doing this from Thailand would require 2 things as i see it realy, 1: A computer, 2: A fast enough Internet connection for VoIP(Skype, VoipDiscount - or similiar)

Again with the government claims.. Dont know.. I dont ask Governments to support me.. I make a mental deal.. I leave them alone they leave me alone.. we get on better this way.

Im gonna meet up with an old friend this weekend, he used to run a medium to large sized company before that worked with commercials of all kinds, I need to know how important face to face marketing realy is in this area.

I would have to think a good clinet base is absolutely key.

[jimholio]

Thanks LivinLos, much appreciated.