Employment Ends On Friday - When Do I Have To Leave?

[edwardandtubs]

If I'm on a non-B (single entry) which was extended due to employment, and my employment ends on Friday, when do I have to leave? I've heard you have to leave the country "immediately" but this isn't really possible. Would there be an overstay fine if I left on Saturday or Sunday? 1900 baht just for an extra few days seems excessive so I want to avoid that if possible. Also what else do I have to do in terms of cancelling my work permit and visa? From what I've read on other threads it seems I can leave the work permit cancelling to my employer but I have to cancel the visa myself. Is that right or will it be automatically cancelled when I exit Thailand? I plan to come back in on a double entry tourist visa. Thanks!

[lopburi3]

You require a letter of employment termination to present to immigration to cancel your extension of stay and then should leave within 24 hours if you do not wish to pay for 7 days to leave or able to extend for another reason.

[edwardandtubs]

You require a letter of employment termination to present to immigration to cancel your extension of stay and then should leave within 24 hours if you do not wish to pay for 7 days to leave or able to extend for another reason.

Would they let me off if 24 hours after the letter was a weekend? If I was unable to get to immigration in time surely they couldn't fine me if I turned up on Monday. Also do I have to hand over my work permit or can I keep it as a memento?

[edwardandtubs]

What if the letter was dated Friday but I turned up at immigration on Monday? Would I be fined? Sorry for the extremely specific questions!

[lopburi3]

The requirement is day of employment ending and Friday is not a holiday so suspect you would be charged overstay.

[edwardandtubs]

If there's only a week left on the visa anyway, and the employer doesn't inform Immigration (but does inform the DofE), isn't there a good chance that I'll be able to leave Thailand next week without the issue being noticed by Immigration?

[Mario2008]

Immigration might not notice, but if you ever want to work again in Thailand, labour or immigration might notice when you apply for a new work permit/extension of stay and they review your history and see something is not right.

[edwardandtubs]

Do you really think they inspect the dates that closely?

[digitalchromakey]

Do you really think they inspect the dates that closely?

There have been posts recently of people in similar circumstances being held up at the Border whilst a WP cancellation, etc was requested from the employer, also with overstays then being applied depending on the WP cancellation dates.

The border officials would probably notice when you are leaving on an Extension of Permission to Stay without holding a current re-entry permit.

[wayned]

Do you really think they inspect the dates that closely?

I worked with someone who went home for a year without turning in his work permit. When he came back and reapplied for a new work permit, they would not issue him one until he went back to the labor office that issued his other work permit, turned it in ans was issued a receipt, Tor Tor 10. Luckily he still had his old one otherwise he would have been up the creek without a paddle. They actually do check sometimes, and this was in the sticks, not Bangkok.

[edwardandtubs]

Is there a requirement that the employee must physically go to immigration and hand them the letter confirming the employment has ended? What would be the penalty if I left the country today without going to immigration first?

[lopburi3]

Yes that is the new requirement. Do not know of a penalty except some have not been allowed to leave - immigration has tried to be helpful and pointed out they have no re-entry permit - they have said employment is over - immigration has advised them to visit local office to cancel extension of stay prior to exit.

[edwardandtubs]

What do you do if you don't have a letter to present to immigration?

[lopburi3]

You get one - employer is required to provide and Immigration Police will make the call for you if they refuse.

[richard_smith237]

I left the country to work overseas without going to Immigration and cancelling / termintating my extension of stay.

It was only on my 3rd re-entry from working overseas that a sharp chap at immigration noticed that I still had an open extension of stay.

I was bollocked and told to go to cancel it at Chaeng Wattana (as it was expiring the following week I simply let it expire instead)...

[sabaijai]

If there's only a week left on the visa anyway, and the employer doesn't inform Immigration (but does inform the DofE), isn't there a good chance that I'll be able to leave Thailand next week without the issue being noticed by Immigration?

If you are on good terms with your employer, ask for a more convenient termination date be set. I have done this before. It's perfectly legal as long as the termination date is specified.

[KKvampire]

If you have a non ImM B and it's still valid you can stay in the country . If you want to finish employment (stay in the country) or they dont want you, then your visa is not affected even if work permit cancelled, Extension of stays which usually comes from tourist visas and can be used to get a work permit Suck.

And if any poster says the Non Imm B is cancelled when the work permit is issued or if the WP is cancelled they are wrong. I finished with an employer 6 months into a 1 year non Imm B , they kept or revoked WP but my Visa was valid for the remaining 6 months

[lopburi3]

Extensions of stay for employment are always from a non immigrant visa. And they are fine for most people and allow them to stay in country without need to leave as long as there reason for extension is maintained.

[KKvampire]

Immigration might not notice, but if you ever want to work again in Thailand, labour or immigration might notice when you apply for a new work permit/extension of stay and they review your history and see something is not right.

You think Labour and Immigration are that efficient in Thailand?

[edwardandtubs]

Yes that is the new requirement. Do not know of a penalty except some have not been allowed to leave - immigration has tried to be helpful and pointed out they have no re-entry permit - they have said employment is over - immigration has advised them to visit local office to cancel extension of stay prior to exit.

So the lesson is don't say your employment is over. Say you have some holiday left over but you're still employed until the visa expires. Of course that only works for people leaving near the date of visa expiry.

[edwardandtubs]

You get one - employer is required to provide and Immigration Police will make the call for you if they refuse.

I asked immigration to do this but they refused.

[beechguy]

You get one - employer is required to provide and Immigration Police will make the call for you if they refuse.

I asked immigration to do this but they refused.

Why would you ask immigration for something, your employer is supposed to provide?

[Mario2008]

Go to the labour office and cancel your work permit. The labour office will give you a form, which immigraiton can use to cancel your pemisison to stay.