What are the documents required to apply for work permit? Should my employer apply the work permit in advance prior to my arrival in thailand?

What are the normal procedures in applying for work permit for a person going on a semi-expat package to work in thailand?

My job scope is about accounting working for a factory in thailand but company is based in singapore. How will this affect the application on the work permit?

In order to get a work permit the company has to be registered in Thailand.

Accounting appears on the list of prohibited jobs.

Supervising, auditing or giving services in accounting, except occasional

international auditing

Source: See page 49 of BOI business guide http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/post-a87102-.html

The company will probably will need to seek legal advise to get your work permit unless they already have experience in doing it already.

I will be doing it for a branch and the headquarter is based in singapore. I will be doing reporting to HQ (Singapore). Is it possible to get a work permit?

The factory is at samut sahkorn, can i based on shortage of thai labour in the area to give an excuse?

It will probably depend on how your job description is formulated. Accounting is on the not allowed list.

I believe there are people who are on work permit is doing accounting for foreign company but are there a list of job description where i can input in the application to convince the authority that i am needed here?

There are only lists of jobs you cannot do, but these don't give a discription of the job. Therefor if you are able to convince the labour department that your job is not the same as an accountant, it should be enough. You might want to hire a lwayer to guide you through the proces, subsequent extensions you could do yourself.

The work permit process is all done by submitting forms and documents. It is not a clear cut and straight forward process and lacks transparency in many cases. Whether the work permit is issued can come down to one persons signature at the provincial labor office. That is why I suggested legal assistance to get it done.

As said it will all come down to the job description.

You should read the other pages that are near page 49 of the business guide I posted a link to.

thanks for all the input.

Anyone knows how much is the cost of hiring expertise on applying work permit?

I believe i have met all the requirement such as salary wise, etc... but what worry me most is the job specification.