Leaving Thailand to get the non b

[Jackcwba]

So I’m currently on a tourist visa and I’ve been offered a job now and my employer is going to file for my work permit On July 1 hopefully ..

the work permit place have made it clear they are not processing WP applications until the international flight ban has been lifted ( so July 1 )

 

clearly you can’t work on a tourist visa so I need to convert that to a non b but to do that you need to apply for the non b in a country outside of Thailand at an embassy..

 

before anyone says “ you can get it in Thailand” no you can’t for boi companies / foreign companies.. I know they do convert tourist to non b for teachers because my Filipina girlfriend did it they must have a special agreement for schools.

 

so yeah back to the point it makes absolutely no sense to fly out of Thailand to get a non b just to fly back and spend a handsome amount of money to quarantine for 14 days which could cost 40-60K baht according to that Richard burrows guy. (he also said you can get the non b at the IO inside Thailand but you can’t in my case. I’ve asked them face to face and they said you need to get it outside of Thailand. It’s been this way for the last 3 years for BOI - board of investment companies 

 

 

ive been here since January and clearly it looks like Thailand has defeated COVID for now as no cases in 1 month.. just seems bizarre that the rules are still fly out and fly in for the non b while I’ve been offered this job..

 

 

anyone know what’s best to do? Anything a lawyer can do etc ? Any advice would be appreciated 

 

 

[BritTim]

It is definitely possible, under some circumstances, to convert from a tourist entry to a Non B visa in Thailand. More documentation is needed than when applying for the Non B through a consulate. I will leave it for @ubonjoe to give the gritty details tomorrow as I am not sure of them.

[ubonjoe]

Not sure who is telling you that you cannot apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category B) at immigration.

Have a look at this list for required documents. http://bangkokimmigration.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/01-edit_NON-B.pdf

[sencelebi]

Looks like someone want you to leave the country ???? You go out and not coming back who knows till when. 

[Max69xl]

No one told you about the conversion from a tourist visa (even from a 30 days Visa exempt) to a 90 days Non-immigrant at the local immigration office? The cost is 2000 baht. 

[JackThompson]

20 hours ago, Jackcwba said:

before anyone says “ you can get it in Thailand” no you can’t for boi companies / foreign companies.. I know they do convert tourist to non b for teachers because my Filipina girlfriend did it they must have a special agreement for schools.

It's not just for schools - but I also had your exprience with BOI.  I have a Non-O entry based on marriage, and if applying through the honest-process, they INSIST you must "go out and get a Non-B Visa" before they will give you a WP/Extension. 

 

BOI interfaces with Immigration - so immigration's corruption enters into it.  This problem is absent at the "normal" labor-department.  Therefore, there are 2 ways around this:

 - You company hires a "lawyer" who gives the BOI people the fat envelope they want to process your legit conversion / extension.

 - Your company uses the "regular" Labor office - NOT the immigration-corrupted BOI office; this is what I had to do.  First, you would get your "work permit acceptance letter" - which is then used with immigration* to get a conversion to Non-B 90-day extension, which you can then use to then get your work-permit. 

 

The problem might be that Immigration will not allow this, if you are now on a covid-extension - in which case, the "lawyer" comes into the picture again - a fat envelope being what immigration always wants, and why they create pointless barriers to legit-extensions.
 

When the 90-days is ending on your Non-B, you then apply for your 1-year extension, showing tax-payments from your job, and several other work-related documents.  It is more of a PITA than the BOI process, so your employer may not like this - maybe offer to help cover the lawyer's fat-envelope to immigration, and any additional accounting costs.

*Others please correct if I have an error on the 2nd option - as I had a Non-Imm entry, so skipped the Immigration part entirely - but did use the regular labor office instead of BOI. 

[G950]

I am in a similar situation, entered on a METV which has now obviously expired so here on the Covid/Amnesty automatic extension to July 31.

 

I am going through the process of registering a company and have been told I would have to leave and reenter to obtain the work permit.

 

Leaving the country is obviously sketchy right now as one may not get back in. Even if the borders open they could close again very quickly. 

 

I have heard rumours about the no leave option which would involved a paper bag with 40,000 inside it. 

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, G950 said:

I have heard rumours about the no leave option which would involved a paper bag with 40,000 inside it. 

I would NOT advise trying to navigate immigration-corruption directly that way.  If no way to do things straight-up, agents will handle it, and you will have no knowledge of any money-passing.  You pay the agent a fee for his service, and have no idea what he does with immigration.

 

Reports indicate most of the money goes to immigration, anyway, so not much savings for such severe risk - which could be a sting operation making you the jailed-poster boy for a "we hate corruption" PR operation.  Talk about bitter irony.

[G950]

3 hours ago, JackThompson said:

I would NOT advise trying to navigate immigration-corruption directly that way.  If no way to do things straight-up, agents will handle it, and you will have no knowledge of any money-passing.  You pay the agent a fee for his service, and have no idea what he does with immigration.

 

Reports indicate most of the money goes to immigration, anyway, so not much savings for such severe risk - which could be a sting operation making you the jailed-poster boy for a "we hate corruption" PR operation.  Talk about bitter irony.

Please don't take my post above literally.  I merely stated what the price is for such activities in passing and of course I am employing a law firm to register a couple of companies. 

[JackThompson]

12 hours ago, G950 said:

Please don't take my post above literally.  I merely stated what the price is for such activities in passing and of course I am employing a law firm to register a couple of companies. 

Good to hear - would hate to hear someone trying that, and then finding themselves on TV with the pointing-fingers.