Was just at immigration today and one of the employees at the law firm Baker and Makenzie mentioned that work permits will go up in cost to 21,000 later this year. Can anyone confirm this?

Do you happen to work for named law firm?

I can confirm that there is a draft revision to the Work Permit rules being circulated for review at the Ministry of Labor that includes an increase from 100 baht to 1,000 baht for work permit applications, and from 3,000 baht to 20,000 baht for approval of one-year work permits.

Our company received a copy of the draft rule.

Oddly, it did not address any fees for work permits shorter than one year. So - it did not appear to be a completed proposal. And - the source at MOL who gave it to us indicated that it was just a proposal, and still a long way from being finalized.

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

Can someone give me the English phonetics for the Thai pronunciation of "work permit" ?

Do you happen to work for named law firm?

No, just standing in line together

Can someone give me the English phonetics for the Thai pronunciation of "work permit" ?

bai ah no yaat tam ngaan

Can someone give me the English phonetics for the Thai pronunciation of "work permit" ?

bai ah no yaat tam ngaan

Thank you. All this while i had been saying "Baht prachachon", and telling people I don't have "baht prachachon". Must have shocked a couple of my Thai acquaintances.

I am attaching the original Thai-language pricing page from the draft rule, and also a rough English translation.

New_WP_Fees.pdf

New_WP_Fees_Eng.doc

I am attaching the original Thai-language pricing page from the draft rule, and also a rough English translation.

Can you scan the draft rule for us?

For teachers earning 30K per month (or only earning 20K per month, or only being paid 10 or 11 months every year), that would make a work permit too expensive. Unless, of course, the employer pays the fee. I notice the comment at the end of the proposal, "Remark: Government fee will depend on foreign’ position or occupation and place." Let us hope so.

I am honestly seeking work now, but if the fees were that high (and the employer did not pay the fee), I simply would not teach. And many who have to teach to earn a living would simply teach illegally. I am not talking about backpackers and sexpats and brickies and Hillbillies. I am talking about well qualified (but not fully qualified) native speakers who actually do a good job within the crazy system of education in Thailand.