Work Permit Cancellation Consequences

[Roel]

My Work Permit is valid until 12 August 2009. It will not be renewed. My 1-year extension of stay is valid until 1 December 2009. Now my employer says that I can hand the Work Permit over to her and have to do nothing.

I told her I thought that in this case I will immediately have to leave the country within a day or buy the 7 extra days for THB 1,900?

She says the rules have changed and Immigration and Labour Department are completely seperated in this regard.

She told me she called them and it was confirmed that my extension of stay (based on the WP) will not be void and therefore I am allowed in the country until 1 December 2009. Can anyone confirm this or must I leave in order to get a new visa abroad?

[lopburi3]

There has been no change that I am aware of - your extension of stay ends the day your work ends. She must provide you a letter of termination so that you can report to Immigration. Will they find out if you do not do as required? Probably not if nothing comes up to cause a check. But it is not allowed by regulations.

[InterestedObserver]

An extension of stay based on a WP is indeed voided by immigration on your last day of work. You must immediately leave the country or arrange for another extension of stay. If you don't you will be on overstay.

[thaiphoon]

There has been no change that I am aware of - your extension of stay ends the day your work ends. She must provide you a letter of termination so that you can report to Immigration. Will they find out if you do not do as required? Probably not if nothing comes up to cause a check. But it is not allowed by regulations.

But you are likely to have problems later if you find alternative employment in Thailand and have to apply for a new WP, or if she fails to (separately) notify the Labour Department of termination of your employment. On the latter point I would also ask her for a copy of her letter to the Labour Department.

[scorecard]

There has been no change that I am aware of - your extension of stay ends the day your work ends. She must provide you a letter of termination so that you can report to Immigration. Will they find out if you do not do as required? Probably not if nothing comes up to cause a check. But it is not allowed by regulations.

But you are likely to have problems later if you find alternative employment in Thailand and have to apply for a new WP, or if she fails to (separately) notify the Labour Department of termination of your employment. On the latter point I would also ask her for a copy of her letter to the Labour Department.

From personal experience, employers are generally not that knowledgeable about this subject.

I was also told by previous employer (about 6 months ago):

- "The regulations / procedured have changed" and no need any more to actually cancel the WP (this gem of advise turned out to be totally wrong, nothing has changed, WP must be officially cancelled as has always been the case, and surely the labour ministry needs to keep control of this matter, therefore WPs would need to be cancelled upon expiry of need for foreign employee. If there was no cancellation process then this matter would be total chaos and totally out of control. No government would ever take this approach)..

And I would strongly support the suggestion from another poster that you insist on some form of documentary proof of cancellation. Before I could get another WP the labour ministry demanded proof of cancellation of old WP, plus the need to take documentation to the immigration office.

- "Cancellation of WP has no effect on your visa ". This comment proved that my old employer is lacking in knowledge about this subject. I have PR status, old employer tried to tell me that 'there's no connection between PR and visa, you still need to apply for a new visa when your 12 months current visa expires'. And she went on to suggest I get a 'multi-purpose tourist visa', which of course doesn't exist.

The bottom line. Many posters have already given you the correct interpretations, however you probab need to get some professional legal advice.

[thaiphoon]

- "The regulations / procedured have changed" and no need any more to actually cancel the WP (this gem of advise turned out to be totally wrong, nothing has changed, WP must be officially cancelled as has always been the case, and surely the labour ministry needs to keep control of this matter, therefore WPs would need to be cancelled upon expiry of need for foreign employee...

Yup, spot on Scorecard. I know of one person who left his job and his old employer failed to advise the Labour Department. The Labour Department then refused to issue him a new WP later on because the old one was still outstanding. Hence my suggestion the poster gets a copy of the letter that should be sent to the Labour Department by his employer, and then matters can then easily be fixed later on if necessary. Don't yet your ass bitten