pauleddy Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 I have been retired for about six years with a legit. retirement extension (based on finance). This morning, I was offered a job which is probably too good to refuse (my background is specialised and pays well). I know that I must give up my Ret Ext and revert to a Non-B. Some people have told me that I can do this at CW next week, but others have advised that I must fly to Laos or KL and go to the Embassy with my job offer. Each opinion-giver was quite adamant. I know KL well, and I could go there anytime. But I cannot be sure that I need to fly away to KL (Hanoi is also a place I know). I have looked at the Immigration Pages but, as a rarity, this event is not listed. Has anybody on here actually returned to work and needed to apply at an external Thai embassy to stop being retired? Or can I do a half- hour trip to CW with 1,900b? It's been a long time since I did any of this, incl. WP, so I'm not sure about the whole process. Eddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Unless the provincial work permit office will accept an application for a work permit you will have to leave the country. That is the only way you could change the reason for your extension from retirement to working. If they don't accept the WP1 work permit application you would have to leave and re-enter on a tourist visa so the application could be done to get a work permit application approval letter to get a non-b visa at a nearby embassy or consulate or to do a change of visa status at immigration to do get a non immigrant visa (category B ) entry. Or you could leave the country so your employer could do a WP3 work permit application and then send the receipt for it to you in a week or more. The consulate in Hong Kong is the only location in the region that I am aware of that will issue non-b visa without the work permit application approval letter or WP3 receipt. But if working for a BOI company a letter from the BOI will will be accepted instead of the approval letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allane Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 A year and a half ago, I was in the OP's position. My employer sent me to Savannakhet, Laos, where I was given a Non-immigrant "B" Visa. I did not review the sheaf of documents they had sent with me, as two colleagues had been successful in doing the same thing in the months shortly before my own trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 19 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: Unless the provincial work permit office will accept an application for a work permit you will have to leave the country. That is the only way you could change the reason for your extension from retirement to working. If they don't accept the WP1 work permit application you would have to leave and re-enter on a tourist visa so the application could be done to get a work permit application approval letter to get a non-b visa at a nearby embassy or consulate or to do a change of visa status at immigration to do get a non immigrant visa (category B ) entry. Or you could leave the country so your employer could do a WP3 work permit application and then send the receipt for it to you in a week or more. The consulate in Hong Kong is the only location in the region that I am aware of that will issue non-b visa without the work permit application approval letter or WP3 receipt. But if working for a BOI company a letter from the BOI will will be accepted instead of the approval letter. UJ, not following your explanation. It sounds like you are saying he has to leave country twice, once for tourist visa and then for non-imm B? Why not once, with all the paperwork to get the non-Imm B in one shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 12 minutes ago, leddie said: UJ, not following your explanation. It sounds like you are saying he has to leave country twice, once for tourist visa and then for non-imm B? Why not once, with all the paperwork to get the non-Imm B in one shot. If the work permit office would not accept an application with his extension based upon retirement he would have to leave twice in order to get the work permit application approval letter required to get the non-b visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. Many people have had to do it that way. That is why I mentioned the consulate in Hong Kong not requiring the approval letter that is required at many embassies and consulates. The approval letter is a requirement shown on the MFA website. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15388-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"B"-(for-Business-and.html Quote - Letter of approval from the Ministry of Labour. To obtain this letter, the applicant’s prospective employer in Thailand is required to submit Form WP3 at the Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour Tel. 02-2452745, or at the Provincial Employment Office in his or her respective province. The above mentions a WP3 since it written with the assumption that a person is not in the country yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 17 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: If the work permit office would not accept an application with his extension based upon retirement he would have to leave twice in order to get the work permit application approval letter required to get the non-b visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. Many people have had to do it that way. That is why I mentioned the consulate in Hong Kong not requiring the approval letter that is required at many embassies and consulates. The approval letter is a requirement shown on the MFA website. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15388-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"B"-(for-Business-and.html The above mentions a WP3 since it written with the assumption that a person is not in the country yet. Sorry I am really confused. If someone is here already on a tourist visa, they leave once, apply for non-Imm B and return. But if someone is on a non-Imm O, they have to leave to come back on a tourist visa, and then leave again to apply for the non-Imm B. I am not following the requirement for having a tourist visa. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 18 minutes ago, leddie said: Sorry I am really confused. If someone is here already on a tourist visa, they leave once, apply for non-Imm B and return. But if someone is on a non-Imm O, they have to leave to come back on a tourist visa, and then leave again to apply for the non-Imm B. I am not following the requirement for having a tourist visa. He is here on an extension of stay (not a non-o visa) based upon retirement. He probably will not be able to apply for a work permit with that type of extension to get the work permit application approval letter. He would have to leave and get new entry from a tourist visa or possibley a visa exempt entry to do the work permit application while in the country. If he only had an entry from a non-o visa he might be able to do the application but that again would depend upon the work permit office. If the non-o visa was based upon marriage to a Thai it would not be a problem since a person could show their marriage certificate to prove the reason it was issued for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 45 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: He is here on an extension of stay (not a non-o visa) based upon retirement. He probably will not be able to apply for a work permit with that type of extension to get the work permit application approval letter. He would have to leave and get new entry from a tourist visa or possibley a visa exempt entry to do the work permit application while in the country. If he only had an entry from a non-o visa he might be able to do the application but that again would depend upon the work permit office. If the non-o visa was based upon marriage to a Thai it would not be a problem since a person could show their marriage certificate to prove the reason it was issued for. OK, I think my confusion was that I thought that it was not possible to apply in country for the WP while on a tourist visa or exempt. I thought this had to be done from outside the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 16 minutes ago, leddie said: OK, I think my confusion was that I thought that it was not possible to apply in country for the WP while on a tourist visa or exempt. A work permit can be applied for with a tourist visa or visa exempt entry but it will not be issued until the you have a non-b visa entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 (edited) 3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: A work permit can be applied for with a tourist visa or visa exempt entry but it will not be issued until the you have a non-b visa entry. Ok slowly catching on here. So theoretically, the retiree could do a visa run to Cambodia without re-entry permit on the retirement extension, then re-enter on a 30 day entry, and then apply based on that 30 day visa exempt entry(or do they only give 15)? Edited March 22, 2018 by leddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 15 minutes ago, leddie said: So theoretically, the retiree could do a visa run to Cambodia without re-entry permit on the retirement extension, then re-enter on a 30 day entry, and then apply based on that 30 day visa exempt entry(or do they only give 15)? Yes in theory. But some work permit office might make it difficult to do with a visa exempt entry. Visa exempt entries are 30 day at border crossing now. The 15 day rule was rescinded in January of last year but you can only do 2 visa exempt entries per calendar year at land border crossing now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FritsSikkink Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 1 hour ago, ubonjoe said: Yes in theory. But some work permit office might make it difficult to do with a visa exempt entry. Visa exempt entries are 30 day at border crossing now. The 15 day rule was rescinded in January of last year but you can only do 2 visa exempt entries per calendar year at land border crossing now. I did it with an exempt entry for a BOI company in BKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauleddy Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Still confused by all the technical jargon. Do I need to go out overseas to change to the working visa, or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 31 minutes ago, pauleddy said: Do I need to go out overseas to change to the working visa, or not? You will have to leave the country to get a non-b visa. But you may have to out twice to get the non-b visa. What technical jargon confused you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 On 3/22/2018 at 10:38 AM, ubonjoe said: If the work permit office would not accept an application with his extension based upon retirement he would have to leave twice in order to get the work permit application approval letter required to get the non-b visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. Many people have had to do it that way. That is why I mentioned the consulate in Hong Kong not requiring the approval letter that is required at many embassies and consulates. The approval letter is a requirement shown on the MFA website. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15388-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"B"-(for-Business-and.html The above mentions a WP3 since it written with the assumption that a person is not in the country yet. Hello, A couple final questions on your helpful HK suggestion for the non-Imm B. If I understand correctly, it is a 24 turnaround, so I could apply in the morning on Day 1 and pick up in the morning on Day2 (and fly out same evening). In addition to the company docs mentioned on the consulate website, are there any requirements for ongoing flights, hotel reservations for full 90 days and shoing 20000 baht at airport on arrival (assuuming Don Muang) Thanks for any final tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 3 minutes ago, leddie said: In addition to the company docs mentioned on the consulate website, are there any requirements for ongoing flights, hotel reservations for full 90 days and shoing 20000 baht at airport on arrival (assuuming Don Muang) Nothing more than what is shown on the website to apply for the non-b visa. On entry to the country the 20k baht would not normally be asked for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 2 hours ago, ubonjoe said: Nothing more than what is shown on the website to apply for the non-b visa. On entry to the country the 20k baht would not normally be asked for. Ok, thank you for all the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 On 3/29/2018 at 9:07 AM, leddie said: If I understand correctly, it is a 24 turnaround, so I could apply in the morning on Day 1 and pick up in the morning on Day2 (and fly out same evening). Sorry I though I better repost this last question about a 1 day turnaround time before booking my flights. Ideally would like to arrive in HK late in the evening, apply at the consulate the next morning, pick up the passport the following day in the morning, and fly out of HK late afternoon. Does anyone know if this is feasible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 12 minutes ago, leddie said: Does anyone know if this is feasible? I see not reason why it not be possible since they are one of few locations that has pickup the next morning. Just be sure it is not a holiday before going since there is more than one in the next 2 weeks. See: http://www.thai-consulate.org.hk/internet/attachments/711.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leddie Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 35 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: I see not reason why it not be possible since they are one of few locations that has pickup the next morning. Just be sure it is not a holiday before going since there is more than one in the next 2 weeks. See: http://www.thai-consulate.org.hk/internet/attachments/711.pdf Ok got it, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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