If you have decided that Thailand is the place you want to be and working remotely is not an option, then your only solution would be to work in Thailand.

You have 2 options here. Or you work for yourself and you create your own business or you can just find a job.

OPENING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

As mentioned in the previous articles, Thailand is home to about 3-4 million foreigners most of whom are Europeans, Americans and Australians. Most of them are just retired and they have already built their wealth before coming to Thailand, however there’s a very good amount of younger foreigners working in Thailand.

Foreigners who create their own business are in the hospitality and restaurant sector. These foreigners open small hotels, bars, restaurants and even tourist attraction agencies in the major cities such as Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

The cost of opening a business in Thailand is much less than opening one in a Western country. You will have to open an LLC and go through all the paperwork necessary to start this process. Obviously you will need some capital to start, but there’s money to be made.

Thailand gets millions of tourists each year so you can definitely do well if you know what you are doing.

One important thing that helps you personally as a business owner, is the fact that you would be able to get a long term visa and stay in Thailand without needing to leave the country every 30 days. A normal tourist visa is valid for 30 days (can be extended to 60), so by having your own business, you won’t need to leave often and come back.

WORKING AS AN EMPLOYEE IN THAILAND

If you don’t have the capital to start a business in Thailand, then your only option is to work for a company. Keep in mind that Thai companies don’t hire foreigners unless they really have special skills (multiple languages speaker, special doctor, English teachers, etc etc).

Finding a job will be very very very hard, especially one that pays well. The average salary in Thailand is around 50000 Baht a month ($1300 USD), maybe even less, and again….Thai employees always prefer to hire Thai nationals. To hire a foreigner they would need to pay to sponsor the applicant for a visa. Not to mention the fact that they always think that the foreigner doesn’t plan to stay for a long time, so that’s why they are skeptical about hiring a foreigner and that’s why the 99.9% of employers prefer a Thai national.

The BEST and PERHAPS THE ONLY way to try to make good money in Thailand as an employee and foreigner is to work in Real Estate. The beauty of Real Estate in Thailand is the fact that you don’t need to have a Real Estate license. There’s no regulations in Thailand, anyone can work in Real Estate.

The easiest way to find a job as a Real Estate agent is to work for a developer and not an agency. Agencies don’t hire foreigners that often, while Real Estate developers are always looking and that’s because most of their clients are foreigners themselves so they prefer to have agents that are foreigners.

Real Estate developers often offer a small base salary of around 10000-20000 Baht a month ($300-500 USD) plus commission. The commission can be very good, depending on how much you sell. The most important thing is that once employed, they will sponsor you for a visa and with this visa you can live in Thailand with no issues at all. Some agents I met are very successful and they make very good money.

If you choose this route then I strongly suggest you choose Phuket or Pattaya or Ko Samui for work. Those are the main areas where Real Estate developers are always looking for foreigners to act as their agents.