Change From Work Permit To Tourist Visa

[freefunk]

I am a South-African Citizen who has been holding a work permit teaching English for nearly 2 years now. I am how ever in the proses of changing my profession to PADI Dive Master. I am not sure which steps to follow after the school has canceled my work permit. What kind of visa should I get then to allow maximum stay in the country?

Any help will be much appreciated.

[lopburi3]

Ok will guess you are currently on a one year extension of stay from Immigration and will have 7 days to leave Thailand when your work permit is returned. Is your new job going to be able to provide a work permit? If so they should be able to provide paperwork to obtain a new non immigrant B visa. If you are lucky they can also meet the requirements for you to obtain extensions of stay but that has become more difficult recently and many on valid work permits do have to make 90 day visa runs for an extended period.

I hope that you do not wind up only being able to obtain a tourist visa.