Cancelling a work permit/non-b visa by just leaving the country?

[MOEHARD]

After many years in Thailand, we are finally moving away. I will finish my job, then leave the country, and come back on a tourist visa to spend a few months on an island. Then we'll move away permanently.

 

It's a bit of a pain to go to the labor department, then immigration, as I would have to leave a holiday and travel back to Bangkok.

 

Are there any downsides to just leaving the country and not getting a re-entry permit, auto-cancelling the visa? Will there be any issues when applying for a tourist visa at a neighboring country and coming back for a few months?

 

Thanks for the help

[ubonjoe]

Normally it is not a problem to leave the country without cancelling your extension of stay.

There were a few rare posts in the past of a couple of border crossings sending people to the nearby immigration office to have it cancelled.

It will not affect applying for a tourist visa since you will not have a valid re-entry permit.

[MOEHARD]

9 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Normally it is not a problem to leave the country without cancelling your extension of stay.

There were a few rare posts in the past of a couple of border crossings sending people to the nearby immigration office to have it cancelled.

It will not affect applying for a tourist visa since you will not have a valid re-entry permit.

Okay thanks - I'll most likely be flying. Will there be any impact of me not cancelling the work permit? Or is this done from the company?

[DrJoy]

31 minutes ago, MOEHARD said:

Will there be any issues when applying for a tourist visa at a neighboring country and coming back for a few months?

Nope

 

Just exit without a re entry, the visa will be invalidated.

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, MOEHARD said:

Okay thanks - I'll most likely be flying. Will there be any impact of me not cancelling the work permit? Or is this done from the company?

Certainly not a problem leaving by air.

[Iamfalang]

If someone is a teacher, then maybe there needs a little more clarification if this person wants to teach again.

 

I remember a school years ago asking about making sure my last WP was cancelled and they needed a particular form.  Maybe this isn't a real problem, but maybe it is.  

 

It really should be about 20 minutes at the labor department and like 20 minutes at immigration, if it's not busy of course.   Once I was in and out at the labor department in about 10 minutes.  

[johnnybangkok]

29 minutes ago, MOEHARD said:

Okay thanks - I'll most likely be flying. Will there be any impact of me not cancelling the work permit? Or is this done from the company?

It's the companies responsibility to cancel not yours. You cannot cancel a WP without their permission so just let them to cancel it for you.

 

[FarangRimPing]

Years ago, an Immigration attorney suggested that the simplest way to cancel everything was to go to Immigration and have them cancel my re-entry permit. When I went to Immigration to have this done, they knew exactly why I was doing it without me asking, and it was done very quickly.

 

My reason for doing this was so that I could live in Thailand on a Retirement Extension.

 

I exited the country and my extension and Work Permit were automatically cancelled. I then started the retirement extention process and re-entered the country. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by FarangRimPing

[allane]

Ah yes, "Years ago..."....  In March 2018 I walked into the Labour Office and cancelled my own Work Permit, simply by telling them I wanted to do so. (no letter from my employer). I may have been one of the last who was able to do so.  I recall reading shortly afterward that other people were having trouble trying to do the same, and were being told they needed a letter from their employer.

[MOEHARD]

Okay thank you everyone for your advice.

 

If I'm not in Bangkok I'll just leave the country without cancelling anything at labor department/immigration.

[Neeranam]

18 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

If someone is a teacher, then maybe there needs a little more clarification if this person wants to teach again.

 

I remember a school years ago asking about making sure my last WP was cancelled and they needed a particular form.  Maybe this isn't a real problem, but maybe it is.  

 

It really should be about 20 minutes at the labor department and like 20 minutes at immigration, if it's not busy of course.   Once I was in and out at the labor department in about 10 minutes.  

I just needed to go to the police station near the dept of labour and pay a fine of 1500, then got the new WP. 

[tomazbodner]

Extension of stay is cancelled if you leave country without reentry permit. Don't really need to go to immigration unless you need an extension of a week to leave the country as you were "supposed to" cancel extension on the same day as your last day of work. I don't know anyone who had problems by leaving without reentry permit.

 

WP is a little different, but will only bite you if you ever apply for a work permit in the future. When you do, they'll find in records old one wasn't cancelled. You'll be sent to police station, where minimum fine is 2000 baht, and you need to get their statement that you paid the fine, before employment department would entertain you again in issue of new work permit.

 

To cancel work permit, download form from labour department (it's just a table with your name, work permit number, and day of cancellation). Go to labour department with 2 copies of it, along with copies of your WP booklet (or to BOI with just that 2 forms). They'll stamp both of them, keep one, return you the other, punch holes through the booklet and return it to you. All in all 5-10 minutes + waiting for queue.