I am having some confusion about a visa change I am about to undergo and I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on it.

 

I am currently on a non immigrant type O visa for purposes of education. That will expire on November 1st. I will be transitioning to a non immigrant type B and getting a work permit. This is where the process is confusing for me.

 

Per the office accountant for the company I am going to be working for, I need to leave the country for 3 days while she submits paperwork to Thai government. I have to be out of the country while she submits it. Once she gets the paperwork back, I can then use that paperwork to get a non immigrant B visa, and then once I come back to Thailand they will submit more paperwork to get me the work permit within the first 30 days. This seems relatively normal. 

 

However, she says that I should just get a tourist visa while out of the country and then just come back, and I can transition from the tourist visa to a non imm B withing Thailand. To me this seems more complicated than just having the company paperwork overnighted to me and I go apply for a type B at the Thai embassy where I'm staying. I am also not sure if there could be issues with getting a short tourist visa after 8 months of education visa, or if I would have any problem transitioning from tourist to type B within Thailand.

 

If anyone has any advice for the best course of action, or sees any big misconceptions that I or the accountant might have please let me know.

The first way is that the will do a WP3 application for your work permit and when approved then send the receipt for it to you so that you can apply for the non-b visa. It could be longer than 3 days though.

The 2nd way would be that they would apply for the work permit and obtain a work permit application approval letter. Then you would apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category B) entry at immigration. The requirements for the visa application are much higher than than doing it at a embassy or consulate. Requirements are here: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_72 (click Eng at the top of the page for English) Number 12 can be a problem for many people when doing the application.

You will not have a problem getting a single entry tourist visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. They don't count the visa or extensions based on attending school against being able to get one. You could also just do a border hop for a 30 day visa exempt entry if you qualify for one.

@ubonjoe You don't think there would be any problem transitioning from a tourist visa to type B within Thailand? Or do you think it would be easier to just wait in Malaysia until I get the paperwork to apply for non imm B there, before coming back?

22 minutes ago, justaguy1 said:

@ubonjoe You don't think there would be any problem transitioning from a tourist visa to type B within Thailand? Or do you think it would be easier to just wait in Malaysia until I get the paperwork to apply for non imm B there, before coming back?

I don't think it would be a problem either way.

The only risk of applying for the non-b at immigration is not meeting the requirements. That is why I mentioned #12 on the list of requirements.

Waiting for the WP3 receipt is the only problem with getting the non-b visa at a embassy or consulate.

It is your choice between the 2.

12 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I don't think it would be a problem either way.

The only risk of applying for the non-b at immigration is not meeting the requirements. That is why I mentioned #12 on the list of requirements.

Waiting for the WP3 receipt is the only problem with getting the non-b visa at a embassy or consulate.

It is your choice between the 2.

I see that now, thank you for the advice.