Thread: Possible to convert a visa exemption stamp to a a non-imm B in Thailand?

Hello I've been offered a teaching job with the government. I came here on a 30 day stamp for the interview.

Do I need to go out of Thailand to apply for a visa or can I convert this stamp at immigration? I read that it's possible to convert a tourist visa but I don't know about converting my stamp.

Can I convert a tourist visa into a non-immigrant B without leaving Thailand?

Updated: 12th November 2015

Yes, this can be done if you are a teacher with a guaranteed job offer but surprise! surprise! there is a certain amount of hassle involved.

A lot of the responsibility rests with your employer, who will need your paperwork in order to apply for a letter from the Thai Ministry of Education. This letter can take anything from 3-6 weeks to obtain.

Because of the hassle involved, many employers take the easy option of asking the teacher to go to a neighboring country such as Laos or Malaysia and apply for a new non-immigrant B visa from a Thai consulate or embassy in that country.

If I have to leave should I go to Penang or KL or Singapore? Which is best?

Thank you.

Thanks.

Malaysia is full of Muslims, go to Laos.

Going from either a 30 day visa exempt stamp OR a 60 day tourist visa stamp to a 90 day single entry Non-Immigrant Type B (business) visa is indeed possible to do inside the country.

In Bangkok it requires 15 days left on your current permission to stay stamp, because it goes under-consideration for 14 days before you go back get the 90 day Non-B stamped into your passport, a USED stamp on top of it, and the new 90 day permission to stay stamp.

In some immigration offices they require 21 days left on your stamp because it has to be sent to Bangkok for approval.

You'd need a pile 'o paperwork from your employer AND either that WP3 or WP1 receipt of your employer having applied for a work permit for you too.

I know Penang Malaysia, Savannakhet & Vientiane Lao all want that receipt of having applied for a work permit to issue 90 day, single entry Non-B visas..

The reason most places send people out to get those 90 day single entry Non-B visas is they are unable to meet the documentation requirements that an immigration office inside the country wants, BUT due to the requirements being different (not as stringent) for getting that visa at a thai consulate outside the country they tell you to go that route instead..

Good Luck.

Originally Posted by Trumpton

If I have to leave should I go to Penang or KL or Singapore? Which is best?

What do you mean by best?

Wherever you go, youre gonna need to spend 2 days, maybe 3. You have to go to them embassies abroad and apply in the morning and go back a day after in the afternoon to pick your passport up.

The Tefler Express overnight bus journey to Isaan then cross the border to Laos would be the cheapest. Its a bit of a shithole though with not a lot to do.

Penang is a shorter flight than KL and Singapore and its cheaper to get to the Thai embassy in a taxi than the other 2. Penang also has a beach. You can also hire a scooter from Chulia Street in Penang very cheaply and see the island

Singapore is the better sex tourist option and has eatigo

KL is half the price for a flight than either Penang or Singapore and has a lot more flights to choose from.

Personally i would go to Penang for 3 days

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Going from either a 30 day visa exempt stamp OR a 60 day tourist visa stamp to a 90 day single entry Non-Immigrant Type B (business) visa is indeed possible to do inside the country.

In Bangkok it requires 15 days left on your current permission to stay stamp, because it goes under-consideration for 14 days before you go back get the 90 day Non-B stamped into your passport, a USED stamp on top of it, and the new 90 day permission to stay stamp.

In some immigration offices they require 21 days left on your stamp because it has to be sent to Bangkok for approval.

You'd need a pile 'o paperwork from your employer AND either that WP3 or WP1 receipt of your employer having applied for a work permit for you too.

I know Penang Malaysia, Savannakhet & Vientiane Lao all want that receipt of having applied for a work permit to issue 90 day, single entry Non-B visas..

The reason most places send people out to get those 90 day single entry Non-B visas is they are unable to meet the documentation requirements that an immigration office inside the country wants, BUT due to the requirements being different (not as stringent) for getting that visa at a thai consulate outside the country they tell you to go that route instead..

Good Luck.

Todd is right

If you have 15 days or more left on your current permission to stay stamp.
you don't have to leave Thailand to change your Visa

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Going from either a 30 day visa exempt stamp OR a 60 day tourist visa stamp to a 90 day single entry Non-Immigrant Type B (business) visa is indeed possible to do inside the country.

In Bangkok it requires 15 days left on your current permission to stay stamp, because it goes under-consideration for 14 days before you go back get the 90 day Non-B stamped into your passport, a USED stamp on top of it, and the new 90 day permission to stay stamp.

In some immigration offices they require 21 days left on your stamp because it has to be sent to Bangkok for approval.

You'd need a pile 'o paperwork from your employer AND either that WP3 or WP1 receipt of your employer having applied for a work permit for you too.

I know Penang Malaysia, Savannakhet & Vientiane Lao all want that receipt of having applied for a work permit to issue 90 day, single entry Non-B visas..

The reason most places send people out to get those 90 day single entry Non-B visas is they are unable to meet the documentation requirements that an immigration office inside the country wants, BUT due to the requirements being different (not as stringent) for getting that visa at a thai consulate outside the country they tell you to go that route instead..

Good Luck.

Thanks muchly.

I didn't understand the bit about going back though. I went to chaeng wattana today and got the visa today, no waiting 14 days.

Originally Posted by Trumpton

I didn't understand the bit about going back though. I went to chaeng wattana today and got the visa today, no waiting 14 days.

Wow, good on you. Did your company do it for you, did you use an agent or do it all yourself?

Most of the people I see getting initial Non-Immigrant Type (what ever) visas in section C-1 out at Chaengwattana hafta come back after 14 days of it being under consideration.

The only people I've seen pull Non-Immigrant visas on the spot are the agents who "grease the wheels".

You got a 90 day single entry Non-B, it was stamped USED, then you got a new 90 day permission to stay stamp right? By that I mean does your Non-B stamp look sorta like this one?

I did the same thing, Todd, though a few years back. I got my non-B off a tourist visa at CW the same day, no waiting unlike a non-O.

It's working as a consultant for a government department (in education but not actively teaching) so they gave me an F visa. Perhaps that's why it was quick.

It's like your stamp but F not B and I don't have the two lines at the bottom of your image. but on the next page of my passport there's a 90 day stamp, my employer written in Thai, non Imm F again, and a stamp about not forgetting a re-entry permit.

Originally Posted by Trumpton

It's working as a consultant for a government department (in education but not actively teaching) so they gave me an F visa. Perhaps that's why it was quick.

It's like your stamp but F not B and I don't have the two lines at the bottom of your image. but on the next page of my passport there's a 90 day stamp, my employer written in Thai, non Imm F again, and a stamp about not forgetting a re-entry permit.

How much did that visa cost?

Originally Posted by Neverna

How much did that visa cost?

Because it's a 90 day single entry Non-Immigrant visa, it costs 2000 baht at the thai immigration office (the same as it costs buying that type of visa at a thai consulate).