Thread: Problems with Retirement Visa and Work permit

Here is what the Thai Embassy in Singapore requires. This the same in any Thai Embassy as far as I know. If Thai Immigration in Bangkok will allow you to apply, they will need the same documentation.



Non-Immigrant Visa-B
Required documents are:

1. One completed and signed visa application form
2. One recent passport-sized photograph (3.5 x 4.5cm)
3. Passport (valid for no less than 6 months)
4. Invitation letter from a company in Thailand (Original)
   (The letter must be typed in the company’s letter head and signed by authorized person)
   1. Company’s registration documents in Thailand
   2. list of shareholders
   3. business registration and business license (including capital)
   4. company profile
   5. details of business operation
   6. list of foreign worker stating names, nationalities and positions
   7. map indicating the location of the company
   8. Balance sheet, statement of Income Tax and Business Tax (Por Ngor Dor 50 and Por Ngor 30) of the latest year
   9. Alien income tax return (Por Ngor 91)
   10. Valued added Tax registration (Por Ngor Dor 20), etc
       (Copies of company documents must be signed by authorized person and affixed the company seal)
5. Recommendation letter from a company in Singapore (Original in the company’s letter head)
6. Airline ticket or confirmation slip with flight number and date of entry/exit.
7. Copy of Work Permit issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (only in case the applicant has previously worked in the Kingdom)
8. Financial evidence in case that the person applicant is doing his/her business
9. Application fee:
   1. $85 for Single enty (Cash only in Singapore Dollars)
   2. $220 for Multiple Entries valid for One Year

http://www.thaiembassy.sg/immigrantB_visa.html

The confusion likely stems from that not all Non-Immigrant O visas are created equal.

A Non-Immigrant O based on retirement does NOT make you eligible to apply for a work permit.

A Non-Immigrant O based on marriage DOES make you eligible to apply for a work permit.

The continued assertion that you can't get a work permit whilst on a yearly extension of stay based on "retirement" is totally hog-wash!

I know more than a few people here in Bangkok & scattered around the country who are on yearly extensions of stay based on 'retirement' and yet hold valid work permits and work.

I dunno why someone would ask Thai Immigrations about getting a work permit, seeing as those are handled by the Ministry of Labor (กระทรวงแรงงาน) NOT Thai Immigrations (สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง)..

Asking immigrations about what visa you need or don't need to hold a work permit is sure to get a totally b/s knee-jerk answer. There's nothing stamped in your passport which tells Immigrations you hold a work permit, nor are the Ministry of Labors data bases tied into Immigrations either (at least not at this point in time).

If you've spent any time here interacting w/these people you know asking a question which they don't know the answer to is unlikely to yield fruitful results. Rather than saying to you, "Hmm, that's a good question. I don't know the answer, let me go ask someone who does.." What you'll get from the thai you ask is their old fall back stand-by answer; "Cannot!".

Please remember that what we foreigners call a "retirement visa" doesn't even have the Thai word for retire (เกษียณ) in the Immigrations regulations!
In fact the heading that most "retirees" fall under says this; กรณีใช้ชีวิตในบั้นปลาย ให้อนุญาตครั้งละไม่เกิน ๑ ปี. Roughly; "in the instance of living out the end of your life, permission to stay allowed not more than 1 year at a time"

Now that some half-wit at Immigrations made up a stamp with the English word "retirement" which they use to stamp the type of extension you have doesn't mean anything. It's the same thing as that "Employment prohibited" stamp which they sometimes use. All that means is with just an extension of stay you can't work, you hafta apply for a work permit.

Almost every university in this country has foreigners who work there and who hold work permits while on extensions of stay based on "retirement". There are a LOT of them in Chiang Mai for sure, maybe more than at the unis here in Bangkok..

I'd wager it's more the company you are thinking of working for doesn't know how to do it or the company you are using to facilitate the work permit doesn't know that it can be done.

There is no such animal as a "freelance" work permit, although you can have several companies listed in the book. One company must meet what ever the wage requirements based on nationality and meet your tax liability as your primary employer in the eyes of the MOL, the rest are just other places you work too. I know a foreigner here who has 5 or 6 companies listed in his work permit book. You do hafta get a letter from your primary employer giving permission or stating they know you are also working somewhere else, but you can have a lot of companies listed on it, that's why a work permit is in the form of a booklet and not just a sheet of paper.

I'd almost bet dollars to durian, that the problem the poster "racefan" had; who related they held a work permit whilst on an extension of stay based on 'retirement' until they switched jobs, was the new company didn't know HOW to do it, or they thought a Non-B was the only type he could have to carry a work permit.

I've heard stories of people switching from extensions based on retirement to those of being married to a Thai national, just so that the company they work for could get them the work permit..

There is NOTHING written in the MOL's regulations about work permits which says an extension of stay based on "living out the end of your life" prohibits the holding of a work permit.. At least nothing in all the pages and pages of regs I've read. It can be done, and believe me it most definitely is done routinely...

Originally Posted by toddaniels

The continued assertion that you can't get a work permit whilst on a yearly extension of stay based on "retirement" is totally hog-wash!

Please remember that what we foreigners call a "retirement visa" doesn't even have the Thai word for retire (เกษียณ) in the Immigrations regulations!
In fact the heading that most "retirees" fall under says this; กรณีใช้ชีวิตในบั้นปลาย ให้อนุญาตครั้งละไม่เกิน ๑ ปี. Roughly; "in the instance of living out the end of your life, permission to stay allowed not more than 1 year at a time"

Here again it might be worth pointing out there is no such thing as a "Retirement Visa"

What you get is an extension of your non-immigrant O Visa based on retirement with the 800K THB in an account in your name or proof of that sum coming in throughout the preceding 9 months (2 months for the first time application) before showing up at your local Immigration Office.