Hi,

I am an American citizen who will soon be travelling to Thailand to begin working for a BOI registered company in Bangkok.  My understanding is that my company had attempted to initially apply for my work permit in advance and hit a speed bump when it was discovered that my proposed job title, "Program Manager" was the same as one of my colleagues working at the Thai company. The BOI rejected the application on this basis and my company sought out alternative options.

They have decided to change my title to "Planning Manager" and alter my job desc so that it is different from that of "Program Manager". As a result, I now understand that the following steps will occur:

1. My company will apply for "Planning Manager" position approval from the BOI and this takes approximately 2 weeks processing time.

2. Once the position is approved by the BOI, my company will then submit my application to the BOI to have me placed in this position which takes another two weeks processing time.

3. Once I have been approved for the position, then they can apply for my work permit with the BOI...but how long does this stage take?

Is this the common intra-company transfer process as I have some other colleagues who will eventually transfer to Thailand as well?

3. Once I have been approved for the position, then they can apply for my work permit with the BOI...but how long does this stage take?

As soon the work permit application documents are ready, it can be submitted to BOI's One Stop Center, and they process the application and give you the work permit book and a one-year extension within a couple of hours, or at least the same day.