Does Thai employer need to go to Labour Dept with foreign employee to cancel work permit?o

[Toolong]

Will soon need to go to labour Dept in Bangkok to cancel my work permit. My school is saying they DON'T need to go with me when I do that, with me just taking the appropriate completed form. Someone at Labour Dept 'seemed' to think they WOULD need to go with me (Her English was poor and my Thai ain't great!). Most stuff online about this is a bit outdated and I know rules have changed in recent years. Don't want to waste my time in any way if I can help it, so could anyone please kindly nail it for me, one way or the other? Does my employer have to go with me or not? 

 

PS: Might be of interest to foreigners in Bkk that it seems that the place in Labour Dept in Din Daeng no longer deals with foreigners & their work permits. As of Jan 16 2020, I was told, people will need to go to their local employment office near their place of work. Mine happens to be in IT Square Laksi, which is an employment office that seems to mostly deal with locals' employment issues...I was the only foreigner there. 

[VocalNeal]

It is your work permit so school doesn't need to go.  How much longer to go on the permit. If not long I wouldn't even bother.  

Your visa/extension may be linked to your work permit. Another reason to leave things be. Used to be but not sure now that one had to leave 7 days after surrender of work permit? That's what i was told once before.

 

If you wish to stay in Thailand and don't yet have a bank account, driving license etc. Do those now while your work permit is current. 

[Toolong]

Thanks, VocalNeal. Very informative and I appreciate your help. Your advice about bank accounts and driving licenses is good., not just for me but others. Fortunately I do have both already but things would get difficult if i didn't. Cheers! 

[allane]

The short answer is no. I have cancelled my own Work Permit 3 times, in 3 different provinces. But, as Vocal Neal said, cancelling your W.P. cancels the associated Extension of Stay,

[Toolong]

Thanks allane. And thanks to both you and VocalNeal for the warning about the associated ext of stay being cancelled automatically once wp is cancelled.

[brewsterbudgen]

15 hours ago, allane said:

The short answer is no. I have cancelled my own Work Permit 3 times, in 3 different provinces. But, as Vocal Neal said, cancelling your W.P. cancels the associated Extension of Stay,

Isn't it necessary to go to Immigration after the WP has been cancelled, to officially cancel the Extension of Stay and apply for a 7-day extension if necessary?

[overherebc]

On 2/15/2020 at 8:31 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

Isn't it necessary to go to Immigration after the WP has been cancelled, to officially cancel the Extension of Stay and apply for a 7-day extension if necessary?

If on good terms with your employer you might be able to get a letter from them saying your last day of work is the same day as the last day of your wp/extension. No one will bother checking it out.

[allane]

On 2/15/2020 at 8:31 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

Isn't it necessary to go to Immigration after the WP has been cancelled, to officially cancel the Extension of Stay and apply for a 7-day extension if necessary?

Yes, if necessary. It depends what you are going to be doing next. Are you leaving the country, changing jobs, changing to a Retirement Extension, or changing to a Marriage Extension ?

[Toolong]

allane : Yes, if necessary. It depends what you are going to be doing next. Are you leaving the country, changing jobs, changing to a Retirement Extension, or changing to a Marriage Extension ?

 

allane, maybe you could help clarify something for me. I am changing the work extension to one based on marriage and was told by immigration at CW rather emphatically that I should go to them FIRST with letter from employer and cancel the extension/visa, after which I then apply for the marriage extension (incidentally, up in Korat) soonafter. Regarding cancelling the work permit, they seemed to advise me to not do that at that time (but unfortunately, without detailing why). As I plan to apply for marriage ext the next day in Korat and not return to Bangkok, where I assume I would have to later cancel the work permit anyway, I thought it best (more convenient) to cancel work permit in Bangkok the same day I cancel the work extension/visa at CW, as I can't see why I would NOT cancel the work permit at that time. Plus I wouldn't need to return to Bkk to cancel work permit. Make sense? So it's CW first, then work permit place. Anything wrong with that plan? Am I missing something? Cheers.

[allane]

Where did you obtain your current Non -B extension ? Where do you currently live ?

[Toolong]

Extension from Chaengwattana, Bangkok, and I currently live in Bangkok. (Work permit also issued in Bangkok.) 

[allane]

You can only change the reason for Extension (from Employment to Marriage) at the office where it was issued. So, I think you should do that in Bangkok. If you have no plans to work again, don't worry about the Work Permit. i think the advice Chaengwattana gave you is sound. If you start by cancelling the Work Permit, you then have no legal basis to stay here while your Marriage Extension is being processed. And, it is not a fast process. It involves an "Under Consideration" period of a month or so, lots of requirements for paperwork & photos, and a home visit by an immigration officer.

[ubonjoe]

21 minutes ago, allane said:

You can only change the reason for Extension (from Employment to Marriage) at the office where it was issued. So, I think you should do that in Bangkok.

Only the cancelation of the extension based upon working has to be done at the office where it was issued.

The extension based upon marriage can then  be done at another office with proof of residence for where it is it located.

[MagnumForce]

4 hours ago, Toolong said:

I am changing the work extension to one based on marriage and was told by immigration at CW rather emphatically that I should go to them FIRST with letter from employer and cancel the extension/visa, after which I then apply for the marriage extension (incidentally, up in Korat) soonafter. Regarding cancelling the work permit, they seemed to advise me to not do that at that time (but unfortunately, without detailing why). As I plan to apply for marriage ext the next day in Korat and not return to Bangkok, where I assume I would have to later cancel the work permit anyway, I thought it best (more convenient) to cancel work permit in Bangkok the same day I cancel the work extension/visa at CW, as I can't see why I would NOT cancel the work permit at that time. Plus I wouldn't need to return to Bkk to cancel work permit. Make sense? So it's CW first, then work permit place. Anything wrong with that plan? Am I missing something? Cheers.

My understanding is that you must cancel the work permit at the Labour office first and then take some sort of receipt/proof of this cancellation to Immigration, who will then cancel your extension of stay based on your employment. That was the case in Chonburi 2 years ago and it seems to be the case in Udon at the moment, too. Maybe BKK is different? Also, the Labour office in Udon insist on going to cancel the work permit with them on the day that the employment ceases. Not a few days before or after. On the exact day, which then necessitates a visit to Immigration straight after one gets finished in the Labour Office, either to cancel the extension of stay and then go to Laos (luckily Udon is so close to the border at Nongkhai), or to apply for the 7-day extension. I don't know if you can cancel an extension of stay based on work and then, at the same time, or the next day as you mentioned, apply for a marriage visa. Much wiser members than I could possibly tell you that.

 

By the way, does anyone know how much this 7-day extension costs these days?

[Toolong]

allane, thanks for the pointers and yes, I agree that the advice from Chaengwattana about going to them first and not cancelling wp first is, as you say, sound. Will jump through whatever hoops they want.

 

ubonjoe, thanks for confirming that point about being able to apply in province of residence. (Certainly hoping that whole thing will somehow be less hassle doing it in Korat than CW, but then again, could be totally wrong about that!)

 

MagnumForce, thanks for your helpful comments. Much of what you say fits with what I too have read about cancelling work permits so I understand what you're saying, but what has caused me much confusion in recent weeks is being told stuff by CW immigration (ie, cancelling work ext first and NOT cancelling wp at the same time) that doesn't match with that at all. In hindsight I should have been a bit more assertive about asking why this, and why that, so it was clearer to me, but they seemed so super-confident about what they are saying anyway that I just assumed, still assume, that they know what they're talking about so don't question it. 

Regarding the one day cancel, the next day apply for marriage ext thing, I shall be cancelling ext 2 weeks before it actually expires and according to 'ubonjoe', it's then post-dated to that original expiry date giving me time to get my application in etc. (Apparently you can do this anytime within 21 days of work ext expiring.) So as far as I understand it, I don't need to get a one week extension. (Which I believe is 1,900 baht currently.)   

[MagnumForce]

4 minutes ago, Toolong said:

Regarding the one day cancel, the next day apply for marriage ext thing, I shall be cancelling ext 2 weeks before it actually expires and according to 'ubonjoe', it's then post-dated to that original expiry date giving me time to get my application in etc. (Apparently you can do this anytime within 21 days of work ext expiring.) So as far as I understand it, I don't need to get a one week extension. (Which I believe is 1,900 baht currently.)   

This is where our experiences seem to differ. Udon Immigration need to see a receipt/proof of work permit cancellation before they will cancel any extension of stay. The Labour Office have refused to cancel my work permit in advance to be post-dated to the actual day. They told me that it must be cancelled on the actual day employment ceases. I don't know why, or whether this is different from other provinces, but it's a pain in the butt and would prevent me from doing what you are planning to do. 

[Toolong]

I get what you're saying, MagnumForce. I don't doubt for a second that your experience is as you say. Like I said, the immigration folk made a point of saying "Come here (CW) first!" to the point where they actually seemed to get pretty annoyed with me for asking them 2/3 times to assure me that I go there (CW) first! And curiously they seemed most definite about not even thinking about work permit cancellation at that time. 

I appreciate your, and everyone else's, advice & comments and have decided that 2 weeks before work ext expires I shall take the letters from the school I work at, one for immigration, one for Labour Dept, go to immigration first as they told me to and.....just see what happens. If immigration ask me why I haven't cancelled the wp first, I shall surpress the urge to scream, calmly walk out and go off to the Labour dept to cancel the wp. Assuming that was possible and i didn't have to cancel on the exact expiry date stamped in the wp book (maybe THAT'S why they said don't go to the Labour Dept??), I'd then go back to CW and maybe start making progress. Who knows? Right now I'm pretty confused and fairly certain that none of this will be as straight-forward as I once hoped it might be!

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Toolong