Has anyone out there with a valid three month work permit, tried to apply for a 12 month multi entry Non B in Penang recently? If so what were the results as I've been hearing mixed results...as always! Any comments will be much appreciated!

I was in Penang the week before last, got a one year multiple entry non-immigrant B visa - no problems. I Had all the required company paperwork listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, I have a work permit with a one year validity.

When you talk about a three month work permit, I am not sure what you mean. My WP still goes to labour for a new stamp after every three month visa run. However it originally had a six month validity, which I got labour to change to 1 year when people started having problems getting 1 year multi non B visas last November.

I was in Penang the week before last, got a one year multiple entry non-immigrant B visa - no problems. I Had all the required company paperwork listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, I have a work permit with a one year validity.

When you talk about a three month work permit, I am not sure what you mean. My WP still goes to labour for a new stamp after every three month visa run. However it originally had a six month validity, which I got labour to change to 1 year when people started having problems getting 1 year multi non B visas last November.

Same same in July. (three months WP, never heard about it)

I always thought a WP is valid only as long as your permission to stay?

So, if you get it issued while being on a 3 Month Visa, it will be valid until your date of admission in the Country. Then you have to extend the Visa (Visarun or New Visa), and get the WP extended again ...

How can someone have a 1 Year validity of a WP while on 3 Month permission to stay?

Sunny

Believe it is similar to a one year multi entry visa - it is issued as one year (or whatever) but only remains active for the time the current permitted to stay stamp is valid - upon a new permitted to stay stamp it must be revalidated for that time period. That way the work permit does not have to be re-issued for those on 90 day stays - just a new validation stamp (or whatever they call it).

I always thought a WP is valid only as long as your permission to stay?

So, if you get it issued while being on a 3 Month Visa, it will be valid until your date of admission in the Country. Then you have to extend the Visa (Visarun or New Visa), and get the WP extended again ...

How can someone have a 1 Year validity of a WP while on 3 Month permission to stay?

Inside the WP (bottom of page 5 in mine) it has two fields for Work Period and Valid Until.

Before, it was straightforward to get a 6 month entry for the Work Period with the Valid Until field empty. Your WP would be renewed by the Labour Dept until the date on your most recent passport entry stamp (max 90 days), given you had a valid working visa.

When you did a visa run, you then took the WP to labour and they renewed it again. Because the work period was in effect beyond the until stamp, the WP was still valid and could be renewed/extended for a further period, provided you reapplied at labour before the until date stamped in your WP at the previous renewal.

In November last year asian region Thai Embassies like KL stopped issuing new, or repeat, 1 year multiple entry non B visas if the Work Period in the WP was marked as 6 months. So now every one I know with this problem is getting labour to change the WP Work Period to one year (you need a special stamp from labour in the WP noting this ammendment).

Edited September 25, 200718 yr by digitalchromakey

Thanks for the help everyone - digitalchromakey could you please post a URL for the required company paperwork listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website? It would much appreciated, cheers!

http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2482.php?id=2492 see the pinned section for other links...

Anyone got an new O visa from Penang recently? Whats docs req?

disforkid - check the list from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that wineaux posted. Please note that you don't need to worry about a letter of approval from the Ministry of Labour, which is only required when you have applied for a new work permit, or your previous work permit is no longer valid. You have a current WP already, so you don't need it.

Edited September 25, 200718 yr by digitalchromakey