Thailand Work Permit — Full Service

Visa and work permit are two separate permissions

A foreigner working in Thailand needs two distinct permissions: an immigration status that permits the stay, and a work authorisation under the Royal Decree on Managing the Work of Aliens B.E. 2560 (2017) as amended. The immigration side is administered by the Immigration Bureau; the work side by the Department of Employment of the Ministry of Labour, or by the One Stop Service Centre for BOI-promoted and certain other categories.

The sequence matters. In the ordinary route the employee enters on a Non-Immigrant B visa obtained abroad on the strength of an invitation and corporate documents, then the employer applies for the work permit, and only then is the one-year extension of stay applied for at Immigration on the basis of the granted permit. Attempting the extension before the permit is issued produces a refusal that is entirely avoidable.

'Work' is defined broadly, and the definition is what catches people out. Unpaid activity for a business, attending meetings on behalf of a foreign parent, or supervising staff can fall within it depending on the circumstances. The safe planning assumption for anyone doing anything productive for a Thai entity is that a permit is required unless a specific exemption clearly applies.

Employer conditions that decide eligibility

How we run a work-permit file

1. Employer readiness audit: Before the employee books a flight we check registered capital, the Thai-employee count with the Social Security registration to prove it, VAT registration and the most recent financial statements.
2. Position design: The job title and description are drafted to sit clearly outside the reserved-occupation list and to match the qualifications actually evidenced by the candidate's degree and experience letters.
3. Consular stage: We prepare the invitation and corporate pack for the Non-Immigrant B application at the Royal Thai Embassy, sized to the mission's own published checklist.
4. Work-permit application: We lodge with the Department of Employment or the One Stop Centre, including the qualification documents legalised and translated where required.
5. Extension of stay and reporting: With the permit granted we file the one-year extension at Immigration and set up 90-day reporting and TM30 notification so compliance does not lapse quietly.
6. Change management: Any change of position, workplace address or employer requires an amendment. We treat these as filings, not as internal HR matters.

Compliance obligations after issue

• The permit is tied to the employer, the position and the workplace stated in it; working outside those parameters requires an amendment before the activity starts.
• Ninety-day reporting to Immigration continues independently of the work permit and is the obligation most often missed by otherwise compliant employees.
• TM30 address notification is the property owner's or possessor's duty and is checked at extension time; an unfiled TM30 can delay an otherwise clean extension.
• Personal income tax withholding and Social Security registration follow employment, and Immigration frequently asks for the tax filings at extension.
• On termination the permit must be returned and cancelled, and the permitted stay is shortened accordingly; leaving this undone creates an overstay exposure for the departing employee.
• Renewal is applied for before expiry, with the corporate evidence refreshed rather than resubmitted from the previous year.

Common mistakes and how we avoid them

More questions we are asked

Can I hold work permits for two employers?

Additional employment requires separate authorisation reflecting each employer, position and workplace. It is not a matter of informal arrangement between the companies.

Does a work permit lead to permanent residency?

It can contribute. Permanent residence applications under the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) generally require consecutive years of extensions of stay with tax filings to match, which is why continuity of the permit chain matters.

What happens if my company falls below the Thai-employee ratio?

Renewal is at risk. We monitor the ratio through Social Security filings during the year rather than discovering the shortfall at renewal.

Is a digital nomad on a foreign salary required to hold a permit?

The Destination Thailand Visa introduced in 2024 addresses part of this population, but the analysis depends on who is being worked for and where the value is delivered. We assess it case by case rather than by slogan.