KamnanT

Strange, I just renewed mine and it was a one-page form, 2 photos and the fee.

Same here. Renewed my Australian passport in January 2008 and it was a single page form completed on the Internet, passport photos and (of course) money. Expensive, but all handled pretty efficiently. Renewal didn't even require a guarantor.

It's been 20 years since I applied for my Permanent Residency in Australia, but I do remember that getting my qualifications and experience (also in IT) vetted by the industry body (it wasn't the ACS in those days) was one of the most time-consuming stages in the process.

If you are applying for entry as an skilled independent migrant (Subclass 175), pretty well all of the IT related occupations are on the Skilled Occupation List and get you the maximum 60 points in the points scheme. So it's well worth getting your qualifications accepted by the ACS.

I would really recommend against using immigration consultants unless your case has unusual aspects to it (criminal convictions, previous unsuccessful migration applications, deportation from Australia or another country). Despite their claims, they can't speed up the process for you and they may even cause difficulties for you by not accurately representing your case.

If you require clarification of requirements or procedures, you may be able to make an appointment to speak with someone in the Embassy. However, there is no one in the Embassy who can make the ACS return a result faster. 20 years ago, the whole process from start to finish took almost 10 months and I would be surprised if it were a lot shorter now. You will have to patient, but it will almost certainly be worth it.

Certainly confirms much of what we have heard about Samui real estate operators...just not a very desireable crowd to hang out with.

because my office had sent the passport off to get a new visa, and i was supposed to off got it back today, but unfortunalty it was given to HR and not me........

It sounds as if your passport was sent off to Immigration to obtain a one year extension of stay on your current visa (to get a "new visa", you would have to leave the country). If this is, indeed, the case then your permission to stay will end on your last day of work, as communicated by your employer to the Labour Department. You must leave the same day or obtain a 7-day extension at Immigration...which will require your passport, of course.

You say your employer is "a bit of a mafia figure", but I think you have little choice but to report the theft of your passport (and it is theft) to the police. And this will have to be to the police in the jurisdiction where your place of employment is located. With the police report in hand, you can then go to the British Embassy and see what assistance they can or cannot provide. At a minimum, I would have thought they could arrange for a replacement passport that would allow you to leave the country and return later with a new visa for your new employment.

Correct. The Post article refers to a Residence Permit, which is another term for Permanent Residency. Permanent Residents are required to register with their local police station and obtain an Alien Registration Certificate (in reality, a red book rather than a certificate). The book contains your current address and you must inform the police station at both your old and new residential addresses within 7 days if you move. Immigration no longer requires 90-day notifications once you have an Alien Registration Certificate. The Alien Certificate must be renewed every 6 years, even if you don't change address.

Folks,

Just a quickie. Anyone got any tips for a decent hotel close to the UK Visa Application Centre at 183 Rajdamri Road in Bangkok. Done the usual web searches but only getting the top end hotels at 5000 BHT and upwards. Got an early appointment with them soon and would rather a 5/10 minute walk than be lumbered with public transport and turning up late.

Many thanks.

Grand Hyatt Erawan is a short walk up the street and I believe they are still running a special for Thais and Thai residents of THB 2,009++. Ostensibly requires one to produce a Resident Certificate or a Work Permit on check-in. Where else in the world could you enjoy a 5-star hotel for US$75 a night?

At the first stage of the process, the Permanent Residence section of the Immigration Bureau (a.k.a Room 301) collects and verifies the information required to support each application, including conducting interviews with each applicant and testing them on their spoken Thai language abilities. This is normally completed by the end of March following the December application period (three months).

Each application is then considered by the Immigration Commission, whose members are drawn from a number of government ministries. Your application must be unanimously approved by all ministry representatives. This is the part that takes over a year - your file is circulated around to all of the ministries, being reviewed and approved at each stop. Of course, it has to sit in a lot of in-trays on its epic journey.

13-15 months after submission, you should get a letter telling you that the Immigration Commission has granted "acceptance in principal" to your application or rejected it. If it's accepted, your file goes on to the final step: sign-off by the Interior Minister. This should take a month or two, but given the number of different Interior Ministers we've had in the last 3 years, it would appear none of them have gotten around to signing the stack of PR applications on the desk. Alas, as a result even the December 2006 applicants are still waiting.

Your unannounced departure wouldn't have done much for your reputation at the school, but AFAIK the Labour Department doesn't collect performance appraisals from employers. The school would have been required to inform the Labour Department of the termination of your employment but there should be no repercussions for a subsequent work permit application on your behalf.

Of course, if your next potential employer asks for references...

Just curious TeacherMO: if you're in Thailand, you must have a visa (visa-exempt entry requires a passport with at least 6 months validity remaining). I'm guessing the visa would have not have been valid past the expiry date of your passport. So are you technically on an overstay? Or are you juggling multiple passports?

Not a scam, I would think, just a woefully misinformed friend.

To apply for PR, you must currently be in Thailand on at least your third, consecutive one year extension of stay. The extensions must be consecutive, meaning that from initial Non-Immigrant visa entry, you must have three, consecutive one year extensions with no breaks, not even of a single day.

The PR regulations don't specify what type of Non-Immigrant visa you must be on, but given other criteria related to proof of income tax payments, the implication is that you must have been employed in Thailand and paying tax for this three year period. This can be either on a Non-Immigrant "B" or a Non-Immigrant "O". Again, the regulations don't specify a minimum income, but anecdotal evidence from applicants elsewhere on this site suggests that if your income is less than THB 100,000 per month, your application won't be accepted.

The regulations do provide for an "emminent persons" category which may be exempt from the income requirement, but you need written support from a Government Minister or senior Civil Servant to demonstrate your exceptional capabilities - very hard to get.

As for fees, the application fee is not unreasonable at THB 7,600, but if you are accepted, the fee for issuance of your resident certificate is a rather hefty THB 191,400. If you are married to a Thai, the fee is halved to THB 95,700. But definitely not free!!!

I found the officers in the Permanent Residence unit at Suan Phlu to be very helpful. They clearly aren't in it to scam fees, as from I could see they were giving applicants a pretty clear indication of whether or not their applications will be successful before taking the application fee and bribery does not appear to enter into the approval process (apparently the PR process was quite corrupt until the mid-90s).

It's important to note that applications for PR are accepted only during the last few days of December each year - a notice published at Immigration and in the Royal Gazette gives the exact application period. In normal times, applications take about 18 months to process completely, including the final sign-off from the Interior Minister. Unfortunately, due to the frequent changes of government, the December 2006 applicants are still waiting, along with those from 2007 and 2008.

Non-Immigrant "B" Visa - yes, depending on the embassy/consulate you visit, having a letter of introduction and corporate documents from a registered Thai company should get you at least a single-entry Non-Immigrant "B".

One Year Extension of Stay for Business - almost certainly not with a new company: new police order essentially requires your startup to be active and profitable for 2 years before you can use it as the basis for an extension of stay.

My account claims he has to do a year-and audit (and charge me 15,000 THB) in order for me to get a 1-year B-Visa and WP - although there is nothing to audit as we haven't done a single transaction.

Get a new accountant. THB 15,000 to audit a non-active company is very, very high. THB 8,000 would be more like it for an active small business with no complications.

Not really a Catch 22. There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as a "work visa"; your visa allows you to enter Thailand but does not confer the right to work. For that you need a Work Permit. This is issued by the Department of Labour, not by Immigration. However, you must be in Thailand on a Non-Immigrant visa in order to be issued with a Work Permit (i.e. you can't work on a Tourist Visa for obvious reasons). You do not apply for the Work Permit, your prospective employer does. So you need to find not only a suitable position, but one with an employer who is prepared to undertake the Work Permit application process.

I work in Information Technology and I haven't noticed that there are a large number of jobs being offered to non-Thais in the industry. With the economy turning south, I would think there would be fewer rather than more in the months ahead. I'm not trying to discourage you, but come with realistic expectations. The job search will in all likelihood be an extended one and you may have to accept a role that pays significantly less than you are accustomed to in the UK.

It's worth clarifying whether you are on a one year Non-Immigrant "B" visa or a one year Extension of Stay based on employment. A Non-Immigrant "B" visa is issued by an embassy or consulate outside of Thailand whereas a one year extension of stay is granted by Immigration inside Thailand. If you are on an Extension of Stay, then yes, it will expire on your last day of your employment and you will need a letter from your employer and a visit to Immigration. You can apply for a 7-day extension at Immigration (THB 1,900) to give yourself some time to prepare your departure.

However, if you're on a one year multiple entry Non-Immigrant "B" visa with a 90-day period of stay, this visa does not expire when your employment finishes and you may remain in Thailand until the end of your 90-day period of stay. Indeed, you can leave and re-enter Thailand for another 90 days as long as it's before the "must enter before" date on the Non-Imm visa.

So it all comes down to whether or not you have been granted a one year Extension of Stay by Immigration in Thailand.

One thing to know is your re entry permits are double the price once your on PR. around 3,800 baht

If a PR wishes to leave Thailand and return, he/she must have (1) a valid Non-Quota Immigrant Visa (THB 3,800 for multiple entry) and (2) a current endorsement in their Certificate of Residence (THB 1,900 for an endorsement valid for 12 months), so it's THB 5,700 in fees each year to maintain. The intended consquence of the endorsement is that a PR cannot leave Thailand for more than 12 months without losing his/her PR status.

Note that neither is required if you never leave Thailand. It can cause practical problems if you don't have a valid Non-Quota Immigrant Visa in your passport, though, as many Thai businesses don't know about or understand Permanent Residency. My visa expired in September and as I wasn't planning to travel immediately, I didn't get another. When I went into the bank to make an address change, the woman behind the counter insisted that my visa had expired and I was some kind of illegal. I had to go through two managers before I got to someone who understood.

I joke with my friends that now that I'm PR, I don't need permission to stay in Thailand...I need permission to leave! Of course, the truth is I don't need permission to leave, I need permission to return after leaving. Confused yet, anyone?

I applied in December 2005 and was accepted in July 2007. The officers in the PR section at Suan Phlu are pretty helpful: basically, they will show you what you need and if you don't meet what they consider the minimum requirements, they'll let you know before accepting your application. Saves a lot of waiting around just to be told "No". And yes, a consistent recent history of employment and associated tax payments is a minimum requirement even though it's not explicitly stated in the online brief.

Here's a Non-Quota Immigrant visa issued at Suan Phlu. These are issued to Permanent Residents who wish to depart Thailand and return.

Yes, you should have a WP. But the roblem is that the rules are not writen with your case in mind. As a result you can't get a WP.

Correct. The Act creates a Catch 22 for those working in Thailand without a Thailand-based employer. Strictly speaking, a WP is required for any work in Thailand regardless of where the income is received. But only a Thai limited company, partnership or sole proprietorship can apply for a work permit (and in the case of a sole proprietorship, I believe it's only permitted to apply for the spouse of the proprietor). Makes life difficult for agents working in Thailand on behalf of foreign enterprises.

In the situation described by the OP, the best advice has already been given: don't draw attention to yourself and it is highly unlikely you would be the subject of enforcement action.

Hmmm....just wondering why you would be looking to do your 90-day report at the airport unless you live nearby. I would have thought that you were either leaving, in which case you don't need to file a 90-day report, or arriving, in which case your 90-day clock just restarted.

Teaching English is certainly an alternative for generating some income in Thailand, although salaries are generally speaking on the low side (THB 30,000 per month would be good compensation). Many schools are also not motivated to get a work permit for foreigners teaching English and will just pay you under the table while you break the law. If caught, you would most likely be fined and deported. Try to find a school that will get you a work permit. A work permit will also allow you to get a Non-Immigrant "B" visa, which grants a 90 day period of stay on each entry. If you will be living in Udon Thani, runs to the Lao border at Nong Khai every 90 days would be pretty easy.

The requirement is that it be available for inspection at your place of work. No requirement for the employee to hold it themselves.

There is no official "statement of tax withholding" issued to employees in Thailand. Your payslip normally includes year-to-date totals and your final payslip for the year thus includes the numbers you wil use when you fill out your P.N.D. 90 ("long form" tax return) or P.N.D. 91 ("short form" tax return for those having income from employment only). When you take your completed tax return to the local tax office, you will receive a cash-register tape style receipt showing the amount of additional income tax paid or "0.00" if you didn't need to pay any additional tax or were due a refund. In the latter case, you'll be mailed a cheque from the Revenue Department in April or May.

I keep a photocopy of my tax return with the original receipt stapled to it. This has always sufficed when I have been asked to prove payment of income tax. It is also possible to file online, although I've never tried it. I don't know what form the receipt takes if you file online.

Im a farang who was employed by a thai company and naturally i hold a work permit well sort of!!!! The now ex employer who has allways kept my permit in their possession still remains adiment that they have to hand it back to the thai authorities is this the case? I have been told that it is my property? IM confused big time.......

While the work permit is issued in your name, more than a few employers keep it in their possession because (1) if you lose it, it's a hassle to replace and (2) they have ready access to it should the Labour Department show up for a surprise inspection. It used to be the case that your work permit had to be returned to the Labour Department when your employment ceased - as noted above, this is no longer required. As with so many things in Thailand, the technicality of who "owns" the work permit is irrelevant; your employer probably figures that as they applied for it on your behalf, they are within their rights to keep it.

Say I apply for a double visa at the embassy - one to use in February and one for April.

If at the end of February, I went up into Laos for a few days, on leaving (overland) would they have to activate my 2nd visa or could I buy a 15 day one (just to go straight to the airport).

Was going to apply but seems like a waste of time (and money) to buy one that would only be used for a few days.

Two alternatives I can think of:

1. When you return to Thailand from Laos, don't enter a visa number on your arrival card and make a point of telling the immigration officer that you want visa exempt entry and want to save your second tourist visa entry for later.

2. Before leaving Thailand on your way to Laos, get a single re-entry permit for THB 1,000. That will allow you to leave Thailand and return and stay until the end of your initial period of stay (the one from your first tourist visa entry).

Visas cannot be transferred to new passport only only permission to stay stamps can.

I have never heard of Embassies overseas doing this. There is no need to anyway as he can just carry the two passports.

Visas are issued under the authority of the Minstry of Foreign Affairs at embassies and consulates outside of Thailand. Extensions of stay are issued under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior via the Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police inside Thailand. Immigration doesn't do anything with visas and embassies don't do anything with extensions of stay. The OP should re-enter Thailand with both passports - it's not a problem that your valid visa is in an expired/cancelled passport as long as you have a valid replacement passport.