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Visa and Work permits
Visa and work permit
requirements
With very limited exceptions (including for diplomatic or
governmental work), foreign nationals require both a work permit and a
long-stay visa before commencing work in Thailand. Although the work permit and
the visa are issued by different authorities, the two are, in practice, inter-related
and are usually valid for the same periods.
Generally, a foreigner applying for a work permit must
already have a non-immigrant visa (not a tourist visa) issued by a Thai embassy
outside Thailand. There is a distinction between a visa which is issued from
outside Thailand and which allows a foreigner to enter Thailand, and a permit
to stay, which is issued once the foreigner enters Thailand. The period of the
permit will depend on the type of visa used to enter Thailand. A foreigner
obtaining a visa on arrival is generally given a 30-day permit to stay whereas
a foreigner entering Thailand on a nonimmigrant visa is generally given a
longer permit to stay depending on the type of visa obtained. Once a work
permit is granted, the non-immigrant visa supports a long-stay visa which
should track the period of the work permit (usually one year). Lastly, the
permit to stay will be automatically cancelled if the foreigner leaves Thailand
without first obtaining either a single or a multiple re-entry permit. Typically,
an expatriate worker will hold a work permit, a long-stay visa and a multiple
re-entry permit, which are all renewable annually.
Applications for work permits can be made by the employer
before the foreign worker enters Thailand, but the work permit will be issued
only after he or she enters Thailand. The foreign worker must not commence work
until the work permit has been issued. In general, there will be minimum
requirements as to the wage of the foreign worker, the registered capital of the
employer and the ratio of foreign workers to Thai workers at the employer’s
workplace.
Short-term work permits (of up to 15 days) are also
available for work which is “urgent and essential”. These types of work permits
can be obtained within a day by an applicant who holds a valid visa, but need
not be a non-immigrant visa. What is considered “urgent and essential” is not
defined in the relevant legislation and, as such, it is at the discretion of
the Director General of the Department of Employment.
Companies granted investment privileges by the Board of
Investment or the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand may also receive
specific privileges relating to visas and work permits for their foreign
workers, including applying different criteria (see below for more details).
One-stop service center
Since 1997, the One-Stop Service Center has been established
to expedite and facilitate the issue and renewal of visas and work permits. The
center is staffed with representatives from the Board of Investment, the
Department of Employment and the Immigration Bureau and processes both visa and
work permit applications from a single location. The center is only available
to expatriates who satisfy certain conditions.
Recently, changes to the Alien Employment Act B.E. 2551
(2008) extended the maximum period for work permits to two years under certain
circumstances. However, the maximum period for long-stay visas is still one
year.
In addition to the laws and regulations, there are internal
rules, practices and requirements of both the Department of Employment and the
Immigration Bureau, all of which change regularly and specific advice should be
sought in each case.