Please help - new visa - changing employer ?

[mikeythai]

Hi to all,

I am coming for a job that I accepted with a new business (non immigrant ib) visa.

The question is that I found another job again in Thailand and when I will arrive I want to move to the new employer instead of the employer that issued the visa for me.

 

Questions are:

1) Can I do this? Can when I arrive to BKK (and during the quarantine - or after?) inform the employer that got me in, that I would not like to work for them and move to new employer ? (of course I will pay all their expenses).

2) If this is hard to be done, if I join the new employer for some time, what is the minimum time that I am able to resign in order to move to a new employer? Contract does not mention anything; as I read around, in this case I have to inform them at the end of the month and give them one month so I can leave the company at the end of the next month.

 

In those cases do I need to leave the country and do all process again, or simply I can just move employer somehow?

 

Thanks,

Mike

[ubonjoe]

1. It would require written consent of the company that provided the documents for your visa to use it for another job.

2. You could resign from you job, get a termination letter to cancel you extension of stay and apply for a new extension with supporting document from your new employer. They would first have to apply for your new work permit to get a approval letter for the application to be shown when doing application.

As far as I know there is no minimum amount you would have to work for the company to resign and change jobs.

[theghizmo]

1) It will be complicated to arrange, given the bureaucracy and paper work involved.

 

I suggest you to keep this simple because if anything goes south, you will be in a mess. Best if you join your second employer using their documents for visa.

 

If you join your first employer, and resign during probation period (most employer will have around 3 months), there is a very high chance that they will not like it and make it complicated for you (country change is not required for employer switch, but your employer can cancel your visa in a short notice and then you may have to leave the country). I highly recommend you to join directly to the second employer using their documents for visa. The terms of resignation must be there in your offer letter, if not then it is up to your employer for settlement and believe me it will not be nice

 

 

[ubonjoe]

29 minutes ago, theghizmo said:

If you join your first employer, and resign during probation period (most employer will have around 3 months), there is a very high chance that they will not like it and make it complicated for you (country change is not required for employer switch, but your employer can cancel your visa in a short notice and then you may have to leave the country).

Immigration cannot cancel a visa. They can cancel a extension of stay but a person's passport is required to do it. A employer cannot cancel an extension without you knowing about it.

[mikeythai]

6 hours ago, theghizmo said:

The terms of resignation must be there in your offer letter, if not then it is up to your employer for settlement and believe me it will not be nice

 

 

What do you mean by this?? you scare me!!!  No, nothing mentioned in the contract for resignation... In other countries you just go and say "i am resigning in 7-15 days".. What is the problem that the employer can create?????

Thank you

[mikeythai]

Thank you both for responding! @theghizmo please clarify.

Contract says nothing about resignation. What is the different in Thailand (except the sponsorship)?

 

I called a lawyer and told me if i want to find another job I simply go to the NEW employer, ask them to apply for the BOI papers (while i am with the other employer) and then resign from the first.

 

The question is 1) since in the contract nothing is mentioned, are there any obligations that i need long time to resign etc?  There is NO probation period mentioned on the contract.

 

Also what is happening if I want to resign and just change country? is it easy or no? Do i have obligation to stay long? (are 2 weeks enough to resign?) . I don't care for any amount compensation etc. at all; important is to be able to leave either to other country or new employer inside Thailand.

 

Thank you

[mikeythai]

11 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

1. It would require written consent of the company that provided the documents for your visa to use it for another job.

2. You could resign from you job, get a termination letter to cancel you extension of stay and apply for a new extension with supporting document from your new employer. They would first have to apply for your new work permit to get a approval letter for the application to be shown when doing application.

As far as I know there is no minimum amount you would have to work for the company to resign and change jobs.

Thank you so much @ubonjoe extremely appreciate it. There is nothing mentioned on my contract regarding resignation.

I was reading on the net that in this case i am obliged to ask for resignation on the end of the x month (before payment) and resign the next month during the next payment?

That means if it will be for example 7 of January when I will want to resign, i need to wait by 31 Jan to apply the resignation (or 30 if I will be getting paid on 31) and wait until end of February (1 full month??!?!!) to leave? I don't care for any compensation or salary, what I care is to be able to leave in 1-2 weeks (fair for the employer to handover) but not more.

Is this true that I read?

Thank you very much

Mike

[theghizmo]

 

19 hours ago, mikeythai said:

What do you mean by this?? you scare me!!!  No, nothing mentioned in the contract for resignation... In other countries you just go and say "i am resigning in 7-15 days".. What is the problem that the employer can create?????

Thank you

Mike, Didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to share an experience on how it goes with some "not so big" employers. You might be absolutely right about your legal limits and process which you mention, and your employer's limitation to harass you too. But do understand that it doesn't work quite that way here, if nothing is mentioned in your contract about resignation and exit, then it is a red flag as its a standard clause in all job offer letters. I suggest, ask your employer about the details if you are going the first way (join them and then resign). It is a bit off for a job offer which is missing Probation and exit details, do some research on the employer too.

 

You see, some employers need experience letter and some documents, and if you leave your employer on bad terms, they might make it difficult for you to get these documents. All I wanted to say, is there's too much bureaucracy involved (Labour dept (for non BOI), Visa, extensions, your two employers etc). If your second employer agrees to handle these in case your first employer doesn't support (like doesn't cancel the WP or doesn't issue you a work certificate etc) then it should be all good for you.

[theghizmo]

by the way, In addition to that, if your first employer is a BOI employer then it should be pretty simple and you might get some support from one stop visa office too if something goes wrong. In my case, my first employer was a BOI company but they closed the business in thailand after some time. For some reason, they did not cancel my WP and my next employer asked me to get it sorted by myself. After explaining everything to the HR (of my new employer), they a asked some "agency" to handle it and so they did. So, in my case the first company went bankrupt and it was a good reason for my second employer to help me out, but I am sure they wouldn't have helped me if I left my first company without proper exit formalities, and I my self could not get it sorted given the bureaucracy of BOI office.

[theghizmo]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:56 AM, ubonjoe said:

Immigration cannot cancel a visa. They can cancel a extension of stay but a person's passport is required to do it. A employer cannot cancel an extension without you knowing about it.

Thanks ubonjoe for the explanation, I was misinformed about this.

[mikeythai]

Hi @theghizmo I've seriously lost my sleep with all this thing, and I'm thinking not even to come and get this job. No,  nothing is mentioned on the contract about exit or probation and I think will be hard to ask the company to add it now. My question is what is the law. Yes all companies are BOI, and my question is what is the worst that the first employer can do? Assuming after 1 month I want to go, can I simply give them a 2 weeks notice and say good bye ? (if i go to the second employer I will sort it out with the second employer to apply for visa etc, if I go to another country, I will just get the plane and fly).

But CAN I do this? Or they can force me to stay or do anything that I might not know yet ? (That's why I say you scare me).

Thank you, Mike

[VyacheslavKHV]

13 hours ago, mikeythai said:

Yes all companies are BOI

If both companies under BOI then it is simple. Negotiate with First employer, explain that you don't want to work with them and ask to cooperate with Second employer. Probably they will ask to cover some expenses but for BOI process there is shouldn't be much.  Almost all process could be done online in case with BOI companies, you just have to go there to get  visa and WP.

If first employer will not cooperate, after you quit they must cancel your visa shortly anyway, then you will be given up to 14 days to do new visa. 

If you need help you can PM me i will explain. 

[VyacheslavKHV]

13 hours ago, mikeythai said:

can I simply give them a 2 weeks notice and say good bye ?

yes, i don't see anything they can do about it. Just give them proper notice. 

[timendres]

I am a bit confused. It sounds like you have not traveled to Thailand yet, and have not officially signed an employment contract. It also sounds like your Non-B visa has been issued. Obtaining your Visa does not create employment and does not create any contractual obligation. Even if you were to arrive in Thailand with your visa, I do not believe that are required to accept the employment offered to you. The Non-B Visa is typically "supported" by a company that is interested in hiring you. It is expected that you will accept the employment once you arrive, but as far as I know this is not mandatory. Further, I am not sure you can be stopped from accepting employment from another company, as long as you have not executed any contract with the company that supported your Non-B visa. That said, if you have executed an employment contract with the first company, then you must deal with that as noted by previous posters.