THAILIVING LAW

WORK PERMIT & VISA

Work Permits & Visa

To legally work in Thailand, a foreigner must apply for a work permit. Work permit is a legal document that states a foreigner’s position, current occupation, or job description and the Thai company he is working with. It also serves as a license to perform a job, or an occupation allowed for foreigners inside Thailand.

Foreigners entering Thailand are not permitted to work, regardless of their type of visa, unless they are granted a work permit. Those who intend to work in Thailand must hold the correct type of visa to be eligible to apply for a work permit.

To secure a work permit in Thailand, a foreigner needs an initial visa, which is a non-immigrant visa. The non-immigrant visa must be obtained before entering Thailand.

Once the foreigner has a non-immigrant visa, he may begin to process the work permit. The work permit process would take 7 business days to accomplish. Work permit application is processed in the Ministry of Labor office.

A foreigner is eligible to apply for a work permit as long as he has a non-immigrant visa or a resident visa, has an available employer who will provide documents for work permit, and the occupation he will perform is not prohibited to foreigners.

The applicant has to submit the following documents:

2 inches photo
Medical certificate
Original passport
Letter of employment
Certificate of degree
Address in Thailand

The employer has to provide the following:

Company certificate and objectives
List of shareholders
Application for VAT
Withholding tax of the company
Financial statement
photocopy of the director’s passport and work permit with signature affixed
Office map
Letter of employment stating position and salary of applicant
employment agreement

Once granted, the foreigner has to bring the work permit all the time especially
at the workplace and during working hours. Please note that the foreigner can
only perform the job stated in the work permit and on the specific employer.

TYPES OF VISA

Thai Elite Visa

Thailand Elite Visa is a long-term visa categorized under Privilege Entry Visa allowing residency in Thailand along with benefits for a period between 5 and 20 years depending of the chosen package in exchange of a membership fee. The Elite Visa is a 5-year renewable multiple entry visa with an extendable 1-year length of stay per each entry.

This visa is appropriate for anyone who lives or regularly comes to Thailand but doesn’t want to deal with Thailand’s bureaucratic visa system. This includes digital nomads that don’t want to do visa runs, retirees who don’t want to be stressed with the new complicated regulations that have been regularly introduced, or investors or businesspeople who need to fly in and out of Thailand several times a year.

Tourist Visa

This is a 60-day Tourist Visa to Thailand that can either be a multiple or single entry and can be extended for up to another 30 days by means of a visa run. Well, if you want to extend longer than 30 days, you can convert the visa to a Non-Immigrant Visa which will require you to go to the nearby city or country such as Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Non-Immigrant Visa

This is normally a single entry visa to Thailand valid for 90 days. Like the tourist visa, you can extend your stay by doing a visa run going to the border or nearby city/country. Obtaining a work permit and opening a bank account is possible.

UPDATE: Some embassies will reject your COE application if you do not have the correct format for the Health Insurance.

Work Permit & Visa