A cautionary tale,

 

I went to one stop last week to extend my work permit, but they would not accept that September the 26th was an acceptable date to prove my visa was still valid (its actually valid till Feb 2021, but of course missing the 90 day chop as I could not leave the country and come back). They insisted that I had to get an EOT stamp in my passport. One stop immigration said they could not help as I "only" have a Thai Wife O visa and they only deal with those who have a B visa (why I have not a B is another story- see below). So I went to Pattaya immigration (the worst immigration department in the whole country) and asked for a 60 day extension. They said ok, but where is your wife? She must be with you to get an extension.

 

Unfortunately she is in Buri Ram at the moment so I had to drive to Buri Ram. Fortunately, the Buri Ram immigration office are really nice and I know most of the staff because I was one of their first customers when they opened the new immigration office about 3 years ago; and they thought it was very funny that one stop would not accept the September the 26th Government date. So they gave me a 60 day extension, but instead of dating it from the 31st August, they dated it starting from the 26th September, making it valid for nearly 90 days. Nice people in BR.

 

However, all this buggering about meant that my work permit was now out of date (do not believe those who tell you that there is a 10 day grace period) so now have to apply for new work permit.

 

Re why I don't have a B visa.

The company I work for now took me to one stop to get a work permit last year (2019) but as the personnel people were new and had not done this before, they were missing some documents, this meant we were sitting around all day waiting for them to get the right docs. Just before one stop closed we got the work permit, but it then turned out that they did not have the right papers to get a B visa.

 

This did not matter, except I still have to leave every 90 days as previously, because I decline to put money in the governments pockets and it has never been a problem for me to pop into Cambodia or Lao or Malaysia and immediately come back to get the chop in my passport. However, I may change this soon as last time I went to Cambodia the colonel in charge of the Arynaprathet crossing was extraordinarily rude to me, insisting I show 20 K baht, even though my car was outside. But he was rude to everyone else as well, as they were going through one of the traditional hate all farangs contretemps. Maybe this will change after K19 has cooled down and they want people back in Thailand.

 

Question - probably for Jo, Thanks in advance.

Can you still get a work permit if you have a retirement visa? I always though you could not, but the immigration officer in Buri Ram seemed to think it was ok.

 

 

One Stop Service Center does not issue "visas" - Thai consulates issue visas.

 

The B visa that you are alluding to needs to be applied for at a Thai consulate outside the country.

 

I guess what you probably mean is that your existing extension of stay was based on marriage/retirement, 

but you wanted to change it to based on work, via your employer.

 

Eventually, you did get the Work Permit at the One Stop Center,

but your extension of stay could not be successfully changed from retirement/marriage to work.

I think it is possible to do this i.e. get a WP based on marriage extension of stay,

best for the experts to confirm this.

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by varun