Hi experts!

Is it the employee's or the employer's responsibility to ask for a work permit? What happens if the authorities find out that I worked for a few months in Thailand, will I be punished or will the company employing me be punished which omitted to make the necessary steps to ask for a work permit?

I am an independent consultant based in Thailand on a retirement visa. Do for the first time some time-bound job for a Thai company.

A bit worried

You are responsible for any working without a work permit and you will be the person subject to arrest. You can not obtain a work permit on a retirement extension of stay even if asked for.

The onus is on you to have a work permit, and the onus is on the employer to arrange the WP....A Company can be fined upto THB 60,000 if caught out, but the consequences for you could be possibly worse...fines, inprisonment, even right upto deportation. Nobody is saying they will do it...but there are provisions in the law to do it, and as Lop has pointed out on a retirement visa the company couldnt apply for a WP anyway.

If you are caught working without a Work Permit in Thailand then your liability (arrest and imprisonment up to 5 years , potential deportation at your cost, plus a fine of between 2,000 to 100,000 THB) is greater than your employers liability (fine).