How To Apply Work Permit At Ministry of Labour in Thailand

Work has been busy. I have not had the opportunity to do a follow-up post after my first story. I have obtained a Non-Immigrant B visa at Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read more about it here. I flew in to Bangkok, Thailand the very next day.

 After entering Thailand with my Non-Immigrant B visa, I was required to make a trip to Ministry of Labour for work permit application. I was accompanied by a staff from the Visa and Work Permit agency appointed by my employer.

The agency prepared some paperworks in advance. From my end, I prepared:

• Passport with TM.6 Card
• Medical Certificate (Read here)
• Photographs size 3 x 4 cm with suit attire and white background
• Government Fee THB 3,100 (paid by my employer)

Ministry of Labour’s office is located at Din Daeng. It took us less than half an hour by car, from Silom Road. The agent parked quite far from Ministry of Labour’s office, due to lack of parking space.

I thought that my presence was quite redundant. But law has it that applicant must collect the work permit in person. For my previous application, I only turned up at One Stop Centre at Chamchuri Square, about 10-15 minutes before for collection.

Basically, at work permit’s office at 1st floor, I was asked to sit and wait, whilst the agent handled the necessary paperworks submission. After submission, he was told that we’ll be called in 1-2 hours time.

Well … waiting begun.

We were called in one and a half hours time. I was required to sign on some documents, and on the work permit itself.

The agent told me that if documents were prepared and submitted in advance, the wait would have been shorter. But this time, there were some documents ‘not ready’ (not sure from which party).

  So, work permit obtained. And next step would be on visa extension. I learnt to be ‘jai yen yen’ (be patient), so I’ll just wait till someone approaches me again, I guess.

My Non-immigrant B visa allows me to stay for three months till Jan 2016. Thereafter, my visa will need to be extended up to one year.

Will write about that when it happens.