O-A Long Stay Visa. Can I get a work permit?

[Tony59329]

I have a Non Immigrant O-A visa. I also own 49% of a limited Thai company.

How easy or difficult would it be to obtain a work permit / visa based on my ownership of a tax paying Thai company?

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

Tony

[Jingthing]

Extremely difficult. Some might say it is possible but under the visa rules it isn't allowed to work on either an O-A visa or retirement extension.

[Lite Beer]

You will not get a Work Permit with Retirement Status.

[Tony59329]

To re-phrase, I know that with a long stay visa I cannot work.

The real question is how easy or difficult would it be to get a separate work permit / visa with ownership in a Thai company?

[Soutpeel]

To re-phrase, I know that with a long stay visa I cannot work.

The real question is how easy or difficult would it be to get a separate work permit / visa with ownership in a Thai company?

You will not be getting a separate work permit, under what you currently have, to do that you would need to change your visa status completely

eg....get an Non-imm B and if your company qualifies ie captialisation and number of employee's you can apply for a WP...but you would no longer be on the O-A visa, that would be cancelled, and if you want to go back onto an O-A you would start the process all over again

So I would think very carefully about what your trying to do here...

[Issangeorge]

I don't know about an Oa, but on a retirement extension I have had 5 work permints from 3 different provinces.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[lopburi3]

Yes but normally Labor will not issue a work permit for someone here on retirement. You are one of a small number of exceptions to that rule and as OP has pointed out he is not asking with intent to remain on retirement - but change to a work extension.

For that there is employment needed (part ownership is not employment) and if company is not established several years extensions of stay would not be available. Not sure most people would want to do that but if for the work permit/banking you might ask about other options in the job/banking forum.

[ubonjoe]

Extremely difficult. Some might say it is possible but under the visa rules it isn't allowed to work on either an O-A visa or retirement extension.

Actually there are no rules for visas or extensions of stay based upon retirement that says you cannot work.

It is the labor department offices in most cases that will not issue a work permit to a person holding a visa or extension of stay based upon retirement. In reality the regulations for work permit issuance only says that a non immigrant visa entry is required and does not define any particular visa type. So by the written rules you should be able to a get work permit with any non immigrant visa entry no matter what reason it was issued for.

[NancyL]

Usually when Hubby and I get our annual retirement extensions, there is a stamp placed in our passports (in English) saying that employment is prohibited. I know that a retirement extension isn't the same as being here on a O-A visa but eventually, the OP will be extending his O-A visa.

Hubby has been extending based on an O-A visa. I've been extending based on a multi-entry O visa.

This is in Chiang Mai. I know several people here who claim to have WPs with a retirement extension, but I haven't seen their passports. As pointed out, WP are issued by a different dept than Immigration.

(Incidentally, we both have secured "temporary" WPs for special charity projects, but I don't think there's a problem doing this a few times a year with a retirement extension.)

Edited July 14, 2013 by NancyL

[OJAS]

Can the OP please clarify whether or not he is married to a Thai national? If he is, then presumably he might stand a better chance of obtaining a work permit were he to go down the marriage route for future extensions instead.

[SamMunich]

So, to summarize things mentioned here,

1) a non-im visa is necessary - among other conditions - to apply for a work-permit.

2) There are several kind of non-im visas, and the standard to apply for a WP is the non-im-B as in business.

3) Normally a retirement visa does not qualify to apply for a WP,- which does make some kind of sense.

4) Visas are issued by Foreign Ministry and the Immigration Police under the Interior Ministry issues the stamp, that allows you to stay in Thailand. Work-permits are issued by the Department of Labour under the Ministry of Labour and I-dunno-what-else. This allows the bureaucrats concerned some leeway in how they handle such an issue.

5) The most promising way to get a WP is to get the papers together to apply for a non-im-B from a Thai Embassy or Consulate, prefably in your home country. Then apply for the visa, get it, come back and here apply for a WP, supplying all the necessary papers and including your visa type non-im-B.

6) There is always the way to go through an agent or lawyer, who will handle the issue for you in a way you don't want to know in detail. It will cost you a substantial amount of Bahts and most likely will only be good for a year, after which you will have to cough up the same (or more) money for the next year. I remember something like 30+30K for Visa + WP, though I myself never went along that path.

7) Being married to a Thai national makes things easier in the way, that certain conditions are reduced, e.g. for retirees the amount of dosh to keep in the bank is 400K instead of 800K. But I doubt being married here will have any influence on how easy or difficult it is to get either a non-im B visa or a work permit.

Edited July 14, 2013 by SamMunich

[Eddy B]

Depending on your local labour office; some will issue a WP for business or teaching if you are married and are using a Non-O marriage visa. If it is your business you need to meet the guide-lines set out for you. If you are being employed, then the employer must meet the guide-lines. Basically Immigration and the labour office are separate departments. You take the documents needed for your visa to immigration for marriage. They do not need to know about your work, just do you meet there needs for the visa. Next you submit the needed document for the labour office to obtain your WP. This only works if you are married to a Thai national on a Non O, not a retirement visa. People may say I am wrong but I know many who are doing this and they get both with little hassle and not using an expensive agent or give bribes. They just have the right documents each departments needs to have.

[lopburi3]

Retirement extension is 800k regardless of being married or not - but with a Thai wife there is another extension available for 400k.

[Issangeorge]

For those people who say you cannot get a work permit on a retirement extension, you are just plain wrong. As I said previously I have had 5 work permits from 3 different labour offices on a retirement extension. Now nowhere is it stamped in my passport that employment is prohibited, obviously if you had that stamp, you probably would not get a work permit.

[Suradit69]

For those people who say you cannot get a work permit on a retirement extension, you are just plain wrong. As I said previously I have had 5 work permits from 3 different labour offices on a retirement extension. Now nowhere is it stamped in my passport that employment is prohibited, obviously if you had that stamp, you probably would not get a work permit.

Sometimes it's amazing the responses one gets to questions about visas and Immigrations on Thai Visa. Just reading through this thread you get people saying it's virtually impossible to do this, others saying it depends on this or that and still others saying there are no rules regarding working on a "retirement visa."

I know some of these things fall into gray areas or depend on the Immigrations office or officer you deal with, but it really seems quite often if you are a little confused and ask a question in one of these threads you'll come away even more confused. My sympathy for the O/P who thought he'd get the matter sorted out here.

[stoli]

It states right on your O-A visa that you can not work. Can't be much clearer. If your post is just to get someone to say it is fine, OK, it is fine. (but it is not!)

[lopburi3]

Can not work stamps are routine to indicate that the visa itself does not allow work - a work permit is required. And most offices will not issue that work permit if they know the extension of stay is for retirement.