What should I do about my non-B visa if I will change employer?

[Great nestea]

Good day. I have worked from a government school in one of the provinces in Thailand and currently transferred to a government school in Bangkok. I have to cancel my old work permit and apply for a new one. Do i have to get out of the country to obtain another non-B visa or can I just use my existing non-B visa and just process my new work permit? Any help would be appreciated...

[ubonjoe]

The only way to avoid having to go out for another B visa is if your current school will cooperate with starting the work permit application process for your new school. They would have to agree for your new school to apply for the new work permit.

Then they would cancel your old work permit and give you a letter stating the date you job has ended. You would then go to the immigration office where you got your extension with the letter to cancel your extension and apply for a 7 extension.

Then before the 7 days are up you would apply for a new extension in Bangkok with your new work permit..

[gp2002]

I tried to do that last year but was told I couldn't do it because I had less than 21 days remaining before it expired. So make sure you have more than 21 days left.

[sirchai]

The only way to avoid having to go out for another B visa is if your current school will cooperate with starting the work permit application process for your new school. They would have to agree for your new school to apply for the new work permit.

Then they would cancel your old work permit and give you a letter stating the date you job has ended. You would then go to the immigration office where you got your extension with the letter to cancel your extension and apply for a 7 extension.

Then before the 7 days are up you would apply for a new extension in Bangkok with your new work permit..

A change of the province usually makes your visa invalid and you'll have ti apply for a new visa in a neighboring country.

The visa was given for that particular school and in another province.

[ubonjoe]

The only way to avoid having to go out for another B visa is if your current school will cooperate with starting the work permit application process for your new school. They would have to agree for your new school to apply for the new work permit.

Then they would cancel your old work permit and give you a letter stating the date you job has ended. You would then go to the immigration office where you got your extension with the letter to cancel your extension and apply for a 7 extension.

Then before the 7 days are up you would apply for a new extension in Bangkok with your new work permit..

A change of the province usually makes your visa invalid and you'll have ti apply for a new visa in a neighboring country.

The visa was given for that particular school and in another province.

As I said the extension (not a visa) would be canceled using the letter from the current school. The 7 day extension allows you to remain in the country until you can get a new extension based upon the new job.

Just changing provinces would not cancel the extension.

[Spoonman]

Your non b visa is not tied to your work permit so I don't see why you have to leave the country to get a new one for another job.

[Doc46]

Be smart and go to your local Immigration office ,they can/will explain what you have to do.Don't take note from the advise on TV ,every Immigration office has different rules,and make new ones.If you ignore to go to the Immigration office you are looking for trouble and a lot of running around for nothing

[digitalchromakey]

Your non b visa is not tied to your work permit so I don't see why you have to leave the country to get a new one for another job.

Suspect from comments made to date that the OP has an Extension of Permission to Stay based on Teaching/Working in Thailand, this would have been obtained from a local Thai Immigration Department and thus no longer holds a current Non B Visa which would 99% of the time have been obtained outside of Thailand.

An Extension of Permission to Stay based on work/teaching will end with the specific job. whereas a Non Immigrant 'B' Visa is not bonded to a specific job and thus remains valid per se on leaving that employment.

Edited June 15, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[Spoonman]

Your non b visa is not tied to your work permit so I don't see why you have to leave the country to get a new one for another job.

Suspect from comments made to date that the OP has an Extension of Permission to Stay based on Teaching/Working in Thailand, this would have been obtained from a local Thai Immigration Department and thus no longer holds a current Non B Visa which would 99% of the time have been obtained outside of Thailand.

An Extension of Permission to Stay based on work/teaching will end with the specific job. whereas a Non Immigrant 'B' Visa is not bonded to a specific job and thus remains valid per se on leaving that employment.

Yes, I know the difference between a visa and a permission to stay extension. The OP said he had a visa hence I replied to that.

[ubonjoe]

Be smart and go to your local Immigration office ,they can/will explain what you have to do.Don't take note from the advise on TV ,every Immigration office has different rules,and make new ones.If you ignore to go to the Immigration office you are looking for trouble and a lot of running around for nothing

It is not just an immigration office that is involved in this. There is also the work permit that has to be taken care of that is done by the Labor Ministry.

I think you would find that many immigration officers would not have a clue about what the subject of this topic is.

[IMA_FARANG]

The only way to avoid having to go out for another B visa is if your current school will cooperate with starting the work permit application process for your new school. They would have to agree for your new school to apply for the new work permit.

Then they would cancel your old work permit and give you a letter stating the date you job has ended. You would then go to the immigration office where you got your extension with the letter to cancel your extension and apply for a 7 extension.

Then before the 7 days are up you would apply for a new extension in Bangkok with your new work permit..

A change of the province usually makes your visa invalid and you'll have ti apply for a new visa in a neighboring country.

The visa was given for that particular school and in another province.

No the VISA was not given for that particular school and province.

The visa got you into the country.

Then you got an extension and a work permit based on your employment with that particular school and province.

If your VISA is still valid (not expired) you can stay in country on your visa.

Your visa has a date.

If it is past that date, you will need to leave the country and get a new visa,

If your visa is not expired (past it's expiration date) you do not need to leave the country and get a new visa.

If the school is willing to aid you (as ubonjoe correctly said above) and your visa is still not expired then you can possible get the two schools to co-operate and you can get a work permit change which will allow you to go to your new job wuth their co-operation.

It is the work permit and the extension of your visa for your employment that is keeping you here IF your visa is not expired.

When you change your job your work permit and extension may be cancelled because they depend on your job.

So you need the help of the schools to get a new job and a work permit/extension on your visa for that new job.

Your visa is a separate thing. If you visa is still valid (not out of date) you can stay in country even without a job.

If your visa is out of date (expired) you need to leave country and get a new one .... because when you changed jobs, the job and work permit/extension based on that job ended with your job.

You see the logic of that?

[digitalchromakey]

Your non b visa is not tied to your work permit so I don't see why you have to leave the country to get a new one for another job.

Suspect from comments made to date that the OP has an Extension of Permission to Stay based on Teaching/Working in Thailand, this would have been obtained from a local Thai Immigration Department and thus no longer holds a current Non B Visa which would 99% of the time have been obtained outside of Thailand.

An Extension of Permission to Stay based on work/teaching will end with the specific job. whereas a Non Immigrant 'B' Visa is not bonded to a specific job and thus remains valid per se on leaving that employment.

Yes, I know the difference between a visa and a permission to stay extension. The OP said he had a visa hence I replied to that.

Appreciate you do know the difference, problem is that most do not.

Personally, I always try to emphasize the difference to help aid understanding for those that have issues to resolve.

Without any doubt, most foreigners in Thailand believe that Extensions of Permission to Stay are 'visas' and almost always describe them as such, leading to endless confusion.

Standing back and looking at both, it's a very subtle physical difference between them since both are stamps/stickers in the same passport, they allowing one to enter or stay for a certain period in country, but due to specific Thai regulations, the subsequent required actions/procedures to follow are very different indeed.

Edited June 15, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[Paphi1234]

The only way to avoid having to go out for another B visa is if your current school will cooperate with starting the work permit application process for your new school. They would have to agree for your new school to apply for the new work permit.

Then they would cancel your old work permit and give you a letter stating the date you job has ended. You would then go to the immigration office where you got your extension with the letter to cancel your extension and apply for a 7 extension.

Then before the 7 days are up you would apply for a new extension in Bangkok with your new work permit..

A change of the province usually makes your visa invalid and you'll have ti apply for a new visa in a neighboring country.

The visa was given for that particular school and in another province.

No the VISA was not given for that particular school and province.

The visa got you into the country.

Then you got an extension and a work permit based on your employment with that particular school and province.

If your VISA is still valid (not expired) you can stay in country on your visa.

Your visa has a date.

If it is past that date, you will need to leave the country and get a new visa,

If your visa is not expired (past it's expiration date) you do not need to leave the country and get a new visa.

If the school is willing to aid you (as ubonjoe correctly said above) and your visa is still not expired then you can possible get the two schools to co-operate and you can get a work permit change which will allow you to go to your new job wuth their co-operation.

It is the work permit and the extension of your visa for your employment that is keeping you here IF your visa is not expired.

When you change your job your work permit and extension may be cancelled because they depend on your job.

So you need the help of the schools to get a new job and a work permit/extension on your visa for that new job.

Your visa is a separate thing. If you visa is still valid (not out of date) you can stay in country even without a job.

If your visa is out of date (expired) you need to leave country and get a new one .... because when you changed jobs, the job and work permit/extension based on that job ended with your job.

You see the logic of that?

Did you not explore the matter of work permit with the new school to get an understanding of wether you existing permit was able to be used in the new school?

Did not the new school offer to provide you with the necessary documentation so that you were able to work with them legally? If not, why did you decide to resign from your current school where you knew you already had a legal permit? I know that this is a bit of hindsight thinking, but surely, that kind of stuff is basic when planning a change -- wouldn't you agree?

[Spoonman]

Your non b visa is not tied to your work permit so I don't see why you have to leave the country to get a new one for another job.

Suspect from comments made to date that the OP has an Extension of Permission to Stay based on Teaching/Working in Thailand, this would have been obtained from a local Thai Immigration Department and thus no longer holds a current Non B Visa which would 99% of the time have been obtained outside of Thailand.

An Extension of Permission to Stay based on work/teaching will end with the specific job. whereas a Non Immigrant 'B' Visa is not bonded to a specific job and thus remains valid per se on leaving that employment.

Yes, I know the difference between a visa and a permission to stay extension. The OP said he had a visa hence I replied to that.

Appreciate you do know the difference, problem is that most do not.

Personally, I always try to emphasize the difference to help aid understanding for those that have issues to resolve.

Without any doubt, most foreigners in Thailand believe that Extensions of Permission to Stay are 'visas' and almost always describe them as such, leading to endless confusion.

Standing back and looking at both, it's a very subtle physical difference between them since both are stamps/stickers in the same passport, they allowing one to enter or stay for a certain period in country, but due to specific Thai regulations, the subsequent required actions/procedures to follow are very different indeed.

I think it should be mandatory for all people these types of questions to put up a picture of their actual stamp so there can be no confusion as to whether it is a visa or a permission to stay extension.

[Great nestea]

Be smart and go to your local Immigration office ,they can/will explain what you have to do.Don't take note from the advise on TV ,every Immigration office has different rules,and make new ones.If you ignore to go to the Immigration office you are looking for trouble and a lot of running around for nothing

Thanks for the advice. I think this idea should be the best option so everything will cleared.

[Great nestea]

I tried to do that last year but was told I couldn't do it because I had less than 21 days remaining before it expired. So make sure you have more than 21 days left.

In my case, I still have 69 days remaining before the expiry..

[digitalchromakey]

I tried to do that last year but was told I couldn't do it because I had less than 21 days remaining before it expired. So make sure you have more than 21 days left.

In my case, I still have 69 days remaining before the expiry..

Expiry of what?

1) B Visa 90 Day Entry,

2) Multiple Entry B Visa 'Use Before' Date.

3) Extension of Permission to Stay based on Working/Teaching in the Kingdom of Thailand.

4) Work Permit

If you let this thread know what you have then you can be given some meaningful advice.

Edited June 15, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[digitalchromakey]

Be smart and go to your local Immigration office ,they can/will explain what you have to do.Don't take note from the advise on TV ,every Immigration office has different rules,and make new ones.If you ignore to go to the Immigration office you are looking for trouble and a lot of running around for nothing

Thanks for the advice. I think this idea should be the best option so everything will cleared.

Completely different Branches of Government.

Immigration Department will know very little about Work Permits and similarly Labour Dept will know very little about Visa/ Extension of Permission to Stay.

Unless you work for a BOI company there is no one stop solution for advice.

Edited June 15, 2014 by digitalchromakey