Work Permit Confusion

[HowardJohnson]

Greetings All,

I hope somebody here can clarify the work permit situation for me as I am quite confused by the different terminology and conflicting advice I have been given so far. I really don’t want to make matters more complicated by doing something wrong.

My Background: I entered the country with a 1 year Non Imm B multi entry visa which is valid until 6th November 2007. My first 90 day entry stamp expires on 10th February 2007 – Hence the urgency! I have my own 2 million baht company set up and I successfully applied for my work permit (I collected it on Friday just gone) which also expires on the 10th February.

Now, where do I go from here?

Obviously, I need to have an entry stamp and WP both valid until 6th November but what is the best way to achieve this?

Many thanks in advance.

HoJo

[Sunny Valentine]

Do a Visa run and have your WP extended before it expires!

As the 10th is a Saturday, I suggest you make your trip on the 8th, and go to the Labor Department for extension on the 9th. My understanding is that the WP would expire if not extended before the last day of validity, forcing you to reapply.

As you mentioned that you just have set up a company, your chances of getting a 1 Year extension is zero. Be prepared to do these Visa trips and extensions for the forseeable future. It will become part of your life.

Sunny

[Sunbelt Asia]

Do a Visa run and have your WP extended before it expires!

As the 10th is a Saturday, I suggest you make your trip on the 8th, and go to the Labor Department for extension on the 9th. My understanding is that the WP would expire if not extended before the last day of validity, forcing you to reapply.

As you mentioned that you just have set up a company, your chances of getting a 1 Year extension is zero. Be prepared to do these Visa trips and extensions for the forseeable future. It will become part of your life.

Sunny

Spot on info if you just set up the company. You will get another 90 day visa and then revalidate your work permit for that time period of 90 days. Repeat the process every 90 days until you have an annual audit that shows a balance sheet of at least one million Baht and gross sales higher for the previous year than your foreign salaries for the upcoming year. You’ll also have to have 4 Thai employees per work permit and other criteria of a mininum salary depending on your nationality.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[HowardJohnson]

Thanks for the advice.

I will do the visa run on Thursday, renew my WP on Friday and then repeat again in 90 days.

[Sunny Valentine]

My understanding is that the WP would expire if not extended before the last day of validity, forcing you to reapply.

Sunbelt, can you confirm this? What would happen when you fail to renew the WP while still valid? And are there exemptions for weekends and other official closure days?

Sunny

[Sunbelt Asia]

My understanding is that the WP would expire if not extended before the last day of validity, forcing you to reapply.

Sunbelt, can you confirm this? What would happen when you fail to renew the WP while still valid? And are there exemptions for weekends and other official closure days?

Sunny

Depends on the officer. Best is revalidate it before the Holiday or do a suspension of the work permit. Otherwise if they won't revalidate it, you have to start back over from the beginning and reapply for a new work permit.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com