Non-Immigrant B

[egghead]

Anybody out there heard of someone coming into the country on a multiple entry non immigrant B visa, getting a work permit for 90 days, doing a visa run after the 90 days returning and getting another work permit for a further 90 days. Doing this for the duration of the multiple entry visa.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Anybody out there heard of someone coming into the country on a multiple entry non immigrant B visa, getting a work permit for 90 days, doing a visa run after the 90 days returning and getting another work permit for a further 90 days. Doing this for the duration of the multiple entry visa.

Ask 'Immigration for a longer term and get a multiple re-entry permit. Is your company lawyer doing the extensions ? He gets paid 4 times a year rather than one timeon the 90 day arrangement.

[Indo-Siam]

Egghead -

What you are describing is the solution for someone who wants to be fully legal, but whose employer does not qualify to sponsor a long-term entry permit.

Meaning - if your employer does not have four Thai employees per foreign work permit holder, or 2,000,000 baht paid-in capital per work permit holder. Or, is not willing to pay you a sufficiently high salary to qualify.

All of these requirements are IMMIGRATION requirements for obtaining a long-term entry permit - they are NOT requirements to get a work permit.

To get a work permit, all you need is a non-immigrant entry permit (90 day permit is fine), and a legally registered employer - and you need to meet ONE of the following:

1) Be married to a Thai (with Thai marriage certificate)

or

2) Be able to document that you paid at least 18,000 baht in Thai persomnaln income taxes in personalincome tax during the prior calendar year (working legally for any Thai employer)

or

3) Be presently employed by an employer with at least 2,000,000 baht in REGISTERED capital (they do not verify amount paid-in).

There are also some other qualifying criteria - involving total number of Thai employees or amount of export revenue earned the previous year - but they are tyoically not practical to satisfy.

So - if you meet ONE of the last three LABOR MINISTRY qualifications, but your employer does NOT meet the IMMIGRATION requirements, then your one alternative to be employed here in a fully legal manner is to enter the country on a non-immigrant entry permit (60 or 90 day), and then apply for a work permit - which will initially only be valid for the duration of your entry permit. Turn-around time for approving a work permit in Bangkok is presently 7-10 days.

Then, when you near the expiration date of your entry permit (which is also the expiration date on your work permit), make sure you execute your visa run early enough so that you are able to re-enter, and have another 60 or 90 day entry permit PRIOR to what would have been the expiration date on your work permit. As long as you apply for revalidation of the work permit for anther period (60 or 90 days) before it expired (under your previous entry sequence), then you can simply revalidate it on the spot. If you allow the work permit to expire (by even one day), you must refile an entire new work permit application.

Good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com