Leaving Country With A Work Permit

[sbk]

I have a non-computer literate friend who has a multiple entry visa with a work permit. He needs to leave the country to renew at the end of May but plans on going home mid to late June.

If he goes home several weeks after renewing his visa & wp does he then have to get another work permit, same as with the usual exit/reentry after 3 months? Can he get a re entry permit and thus keep the work permit? Also, he is assuming the multiple entry visa is valid for, literally, mulitple entries and is not limited to 4 in a year.

Forgive these questions if they are obvious but as I have never had to deal with these things I am utterly clueless!

[Khutan]

He will certainly need a re-entry permit, otherwise it can void his workpermit.

If his Visa Extension and Work Permit cover him for the time he is out of the country, then the Re-Entry Permit will be sufficient.

If he needs to renew the Visa, Workpermit while he is out of the country, that could be problematic.

I hope that helps.

[HarryHerb]

I have a non-computer literate friend who has a multiple entry visa with a work permit. He needs to leave the country to renew at the end of May but plans on going home mid to late June.

If he goes home several weeks after renewing his visa & wp does he then have to get another work permit, same as with the usual exit/reentry after 3 months? Can he get a re entry permit and thus keep the work permit? Also, he is assuming the multiple entry visa is valid for, literally, mulitple entries and is not limited to 4 in a year.

Forgive these questions if they are obvious but as I have never had to deal with these things I am utterly clueless!

I will explain this to you as to a 6-year old (not a reference to your questions, but to your signature, btw):

Your friend leaves the country on his multiple entry visa (i.e. does a border run) end of May, comes back and gets a new period of stay stamped in his passport for 3 months (until end of August). He then goes to the Labour Dept and is able to extend his work permit until the end of August. That's it.

He is leaving the country in the middle of his permission of stay and provided he comes back before his original stamp (end of August) there is no need to clear anything with the Labour Dept (although he might like to inform them anyway).

Actually, he can go in and out of the country as many times as he likes within this 3 month period (he does not need a re-entry permit as he already has a multiple entry visa), but must go back to the Labour Dept to extend his work permit before the original visa stamp (end of August) expires. He will then receive an extension to his work permit until the latest stamp on his visa.

In this scenario, if your friend returns to Thailand in late June, he will get another stamp in his passport for 3 months until late September. He can then either go to the Labour Dept in late August and extend for a single month, then do the normal border run, or do a border run just before his original stamp expires and get a 3-month extension as normal.

[sbk]

So, which is it then? He does need a reentry permit or he doesn't?

I thought that once you were stamped out of the country the same thing happened to your wp, or are they just completely independent of one another?

So, Harry has the scenario right, but is Khutan right or Harry?

[Khutan]

SBK;

Mabe my advice was a bit simplistic, but my companies Visa and WP consultants" told me, if I gor a multi-re entry permit then my travel in and out of Thailand was not going to affect my work permit, during the currency of the WP.

Please consider I am on a year by year scheme, and I need to travel regularly, so we didn't want problems entering and leaving the country.

He probably can go without a re-entry permit, but then he will have to go back to the MOL and re apply for a wp. If that is not a problem then he can do that.

[HarryHerb]

So, which is it then? He does need a reentry permit or he doesn't?

He doesn't. He has a valid multiple entry visa. Re-entry permits are only for those who have one-year visa extensions. I believe Khutan is giving you an answer for the latter (in this case incorrect) scenario.

I thought that once you were stamped out of the country the same thing happened to your wp, or are they just completely independent of one another?

Nope, they're independent if you return within the validity period of your work permit.

So, Harry has the scenario right, but is Khutan right or Harry?

Well, I am, of course

Trust me, I've been doing this (multiple entry / WP ) for years - have never bothered with the extension.

And I'm in fact doing the very same thing as your friend next month - going home for 2 weeks in the middle of my 3 month permission of stay / work. It's never been a problem.

[sbk]

Cheers for that, I will let him know.