Thai Work Permit Issuing in Phuket, and Return to Thailand on a Tourist Visa

[Ama Rylls]

Hi All,

 

I would appreciate some advice and clarification regarding my current situation.

 

Im and Indian national currently here on a non-immigrant business visa due to expire on April 15th 2019. 

I have recently found myself a new job at a different company than the one through which I got a business visa in Bangkok.

This new company is in Phuket, they are asking me to leave and return on a tourist visa to allow them enough time to process my work permit. They have said that once I return on a tourist visa, they can convert that to a work permit without me having to leave the country. 

My nationality only gets me 7 days visa extension, and a 15 day visa on arrival. None of these will offer HR at my new company enough time to process a Work Permit in Phuket. 

So I have a few questions:

 

1. Will i need to get my current business visa a void stamp before leaving Thailand when I do the visa run?

2. How likely am I to run into trouble with immigration at the airport/have my tourist visa application rejected because I just left Thailand on a business visa?

3. The company can arrange an agent for a THB 8-9k fee, who will help me get through immigration at the airport if needed - how likely is that to work?

4. Whats the cheapest/best way to send and access money overseas from my Thai Krungsri bank account?

Any suggestions are much appreciated, sorry if that's too many questions.

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, Ama Rylls said:

Im and Indian national currently here on a non-immigrant business visa due to expire on April 15th 2019. 

Is this an "extension of stay" from immigration?  If so, it becomes invalid the day your job ends.  If it is permitted-stay from a "Visa" issued from from a Thai consulate, you can stay until April 15th on it, even if your current work ends sooner.

 

2 hours ago, Ama Rylls said:

1. Will i need to get my current business visa a void stamp before leaving Thailand when I do the visa run?

If an extension from immigration here in Thailand, you need to cancel that extension the day your job ends.  If you have a post-dated letter stating your last day, you can do this in-advance, and immigration should post-date your permitted-stay to that date. 

 

When your time is up, you can then apply for an extension, which will be denied, but still get 7 additional days to leave the country.  If you are on permitted-stay Visa, vs an "extension" from immigration, you could also get another 7-days this way.

 

I am afraid I cannot help with questions #2 and #3 - hopefully someone with experience entering with a passport from your country can advise on those.

 

2 hours ago, Ama Rylls said:

4. Whats the cheapest/best way to send and access money overseas from my Thai Krungsri bank account?

Did they give you a debit-card with a Visa or MasterCard stamp on it?  Perhaps this can be used in ATMs abroad (mine from Bangkok Bank worked in Cambodia), but best if someone with a debit-card from that bank could confirm.

[Ama Rylls]

12 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Is this an "extension of stay" from immigration?  If so, it becomes invalid the day your job ends.  If it is permitted-stay from a "Visa" issued from from a Thai consulate, you can stay until April 15th on it, even if your current work ends sooner.

 

Thanks Jack,

It was not an extension of stay from immigration, that would be a work permit I believe. I acquired a non-immigrant business visa before coming to Thailand and that is a 90 day period I am about to see out on April 15th.

 

12 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Did they give you a debit-card with a Visa or MasterCard stamp on it?  Perhaps this can be used in ATMs abroad (mine from Bangkok Bank worked in Cambodia), but best if someone with a debit-card from that bank could confirm.

Krungsri bank gave me a debit card, I spoke to them and they have told me that if I pay 500 baht I can withdraw money in my country, subject to overseas charges.

Thanks again for your help.

[ubonjoe]

15 hours ago, Ama Rylls said:

1. Will i need to get my current business visa a void stamp before leaving Thailand when I do the visa run?

2. How likely am I to run into trouble with immigration at the airport/have my tourist visa application rejected because I just left Thailand on a business visa?

3. The company can arrange an agent for a THB 8-9k fee, who will help me get through immigration at the airport if needed - how likely is that to work?

1. No need to cancel your 90 day entry from the non-b visa entry. You visa is already invalid since it has been used and it may of expired already.

2. If you get a single entry tourist visa you should have no problem entering the country. It hard to predict whether you will be able to get a tourist visa when your return to India to apply for it.

3. No need for that.

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, Ama Rylls said:

It was not an extension of stay from immigration, that would be a work permit I believe. I acquired a non-immigrant business visa before coming to Thailand and that is a 90 day period I am about to see out on April 15th. 

The work-permit and extension-of-stay are 2 different things.  But, the important thing is that you have a Visa from a consulate, so you can legally-stay until your permitted-stay ends. 

 

You can also apply for an extension of 7-days - they "deny" the extension, but will give you the 7 days.  That takes you until April 22.

 

If you did a VOA after this, that gets you until about May 6th (+/- a day or so).  Would this give your new company enough time? 

The hard-part is knowing if the agent-bit is trustworthy (VOA or Tourist Visa), or whether the Thai consulate in your country will issue the TR Visa.  I cannot recommend the agent, as I have not seen reports of this - but it would not surprise me, given the Bangkok Airport IOs, are well-known for their dishonesty (how they reject entries, etc).

 

In any case, when you do return, be sure you have 10K Baht worth of Cash if entering VOA, or 20K Baht worth of cash when entering with a Tourist Visa.  You will not be able to use an ATM to get it.  You might also need to show an outgoing flight, and proof of where you will be staying (hotel-booking, etc).

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, JackThompson said:

If you did a VOA after this, that gets you until about May 6th (+/- a day or so).  Would this give your new company enough time? 

Immigration will not do a change from a visa on arrival to a non immigrant visa. Plus he would need at least 15 days remaining on his entry to do the application.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Immigration will not do a change from a visa on arrival to a non immigrant visa. Plus he would need at least 15 days remaining on his entry to do the application.

Ok - VOA vs Visa-Exempt then on the change rules.  Bummer.

[Ama Rylls]

Thank you all for your helpful tips, much appreciated.

 

Best Wishes.