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Integrity Legal

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18th Dec 2009

Thai Work Permit Fees Raised

Posted by : admin

It has come to this author’s attention through the channels of Thaivisa.com that the Thai work permit fees are going up effective December 21, 2009. There is only a raise of the initial application fee as the approval fee has not be raised as of the time of this writing. To quote Thaivisa.com’s post about this issue:

“Per written announcement that we received this morning from Bangkok Work Permit Office, the APPLICATION FEE for work permits will increase, effective 21 December 2009 (next Monday) from 100 baht to 600 baht. This increase also applies to applications for changes/modifications of existing work permits. No increase to APPROVAL fees.  I have attached to this posting the Thai-language announcement memo from Bangkok Work Permit Office. I have reported everything that I know about this change.”

A Thai work permit entitles the bearer to legally engage in employment activities within the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Thailand. Many people in Thailand are under the mistaken impression that a Thai business visa entitles the bearer to work authorization in the Kingdom. In point of fact, this is not the case as a business visa is only a travel document and only has an impact upon one’s ability travel to the Kingdom and request admission.

That being said, a Thai business visa can be used as one component of a well-founded work permit application. This is notable because not all Thai visas can be easily used as a basis for submitting a work permit application. Holders of Thai ED visas , for example, hold a Thai visa category that the Ministry of Labour will routinely deny for work authorization. This is due to the fact that this type of visa is not intended for employment purposes and therefore any employment that a foreigner undertakes on this visa must be substantially related to his or her school or University.

Thai O visas can support work permits, but work permit approval is highly dependent upon the reason for O visa issuance. If the O visa is issued because the foreign national is related to a Thai, either by blood or marriage, then work authorization is generally obtained rather easily. Meanwhile, if a foreign national obtains a Thai visa categorized as “O” simply because it is a long term visa, then it may be difficult to obtain work authorization.

Work permit issues are generally not a concern for those present in the Kingdom of Thailand on a Thai retirement visa because retirees are strictly barred from undertaking employment in the Kingdom. Therefore, a raise in work permit fees will probably not have an effect upon those present in the Kingdom for retirement purposes.


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more Comments : 2

2 Responses to “Thai Work Permit Fees Raised”

  1. Gaz says:
    January 5, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    A Thai work permit entitles the bearer to legally engage in employment activities within the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Thailand.

    Incorrect.

    A Thai work permit allows the bearer to work for the company specified in the permit, at the company address specified in the permit, performing the exact duties specified in the job description submitted in application for the permit.

    Under exceptional circumstances, the locality of employment may be widened – in my own case, as a South East Asian Correspondent, employed by a UK company from the UK, I had to fight tooth and nail with all officials in the Labour Ministry to obtain a Thailand-wide, all-provinces, workpermit.

    The persuasive argument being that as a SE Asia correspondent, if I was employed to work in all ASEAN countries as the work dictated, it then followed that I had to be able to work anywhere within Thailand in order to follow the news sources.

    I am an exception. The Director of Provincial Labour Department, in the province where I live, informed me that less than 20 people total, in the Kingdom, have “all provinces” stated specifically in their work permit, despite over 500 members of the foreign media being stationed in Thailand. To me this indicates the desire of Thailand to absolutely control the working activity of foreigners, and the movements of the Press Corps.

  2. admin says:
    January 8, 2010 at 6:29 pm

    I do not believe the statement was incorrect as you yourself said, there are different types of work permits, but all of them authorize employment at some locale within Thai jurisdiction. Work permits are granted with a number of different conditions and yes unfortunately it is difficult to obtain a Thai work permit that provides work authorization anywhere.

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