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Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 6 April 2007 :- Work Permits 101: a guide for foreigners ============================== By TILLEKE & GIBBINS A foreigner who wishes to work in Thailand is subject to the Alien Employment Act B.E. 2521 (AD 1978). The Act requires a foreigner to obtain a work permit from the Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour, prior to starting work in Thailand unless the foreigner or the work performed falls under an exception within the Act. For example, representatives of member countries and officials of the United Nations and specialised institutions and persons performing duties or missions under agreements between the Thai government and foreign governments or international organisations are not required to have work permits. The term "work" is broadly defined under the Act as "engaging in work by exerting energy or using knowledge, whether or not in consideration of wages or other benefit". The Act prescribes 39 occupations that are reserved exclusively for Thais and strictly prohibited to foreigners. These include labour work, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fishery, and professional occupations such as accountant, civil engineer, architect, and legal adviser/lawyer. The Act further provides that no one shall employ a foreigner without a work permit to work in his business or accept any foreigner to do work of a nature different from that specified in the work permit. An applicant for a work permit must obtain a non-immigrant "B" (Business) visa from a Thai Consulate/Embassy in his country prior to arriving in Thailand. Regardless of the length of visa granted by the Thai Consulate/Embassy, when the foreigner enters Thailand, he will be allowed to stay in Thailand for up to 90 days. Prior to the expiration of the 90 days, an application for a one-year visa may be submitted in Thailand. If the applicant is a frequent traveller, he may choose not to apply for a one-year visa but instead apply for a multiple-entry "B"-type visa from a Thai consulate or embassy. Holding a multiple-entry visa, he can leave and enter Thailand repeatedly until the expiration date of the visa. A Thai individual or legal entity registered in Thailand must act as employer or sponsor for a work permit applicant. There are various criteria put into consideration by the authority when reviewing work permit applications, among them: - The nature of the business of the company (employer). The registered capital of the company, which must be at least two million baht (fully paid-up) per work permit. If a foreigner is married to a Thai citizen, the registered capital requirement is reduced to at least one million baht (fully paid-up). - The number of local employees and foreign employees (generally a ratio of four local employees to one foreign employee is required if an applicant wishes to apply for a one-year visa in Thailand). - The qualifications (education and work experience) of the applicant, which must match the job applied for. - The required minimum monthly salary of the applicant, which depends on his nationality. Americans, Europeans, Australians, Canadians, or Japanese must have a monthly salary of at least 50,000 baht; Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan nationals at least 45,000 baht; nationals of other Asian countries, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey at least 35,000 baht; and nationals of Africa, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at least 25,000 baht. Once the work permit application is approved, the foreigner shall appear in person at the local labour office to pick up the work permit. Generally, a work permit application can be completed in about one to 10 working days depending on the qualifications of the applicants and employers. Please note that if the employee wishes to leave the country, he shall apply for a re-entry permit to preserve the visa. A multiple re-entry is recommended if he is a frequent traveller. The validity period of the re-entry permit is based on the visa. Working without a work permit or doing work other than that specified in the work permit is punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine of up to 5,000 baht, or both. A foreigner who performs work exclusively reserved for Thais shall be punished with imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of 2,000 to 100,000 baht, or both. An employer who employs a foreigner without a valid work permit shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of 60,000 baht, or both. All foreigners working in Thailand, regardless of nationality, are protected under the Thai labour law, which provides minimum protection for employees working in Thailand. Therefore, employers are required to provide to their employees, at the minimum, benefits and welfare according to the labour law. Employers who fail to comply with the provisions of the Thai labour law will be subject to punishment that includes both civil and criminal penalties. Written by Pimvimol Vipamaneerut, Partner, and Alongkorn Tongmee, Attorney, Commercial Department, Tilleke & Gibbins International Ltd. ============================== was told by a friend today, who is just now applying for a new work permit : " you are going to need to get a letter from a company you worked for for at least 2 years, or multiple companies that add up to 2 years......if in thailand they check to see if you were issued a work permit or not " This might be due to the nationality of the company he is working with, because I have never seen this requirement. This letter is to have the company stamp and signature as well. anyone else ever have to provide a letter of previous employment from your previous employer ? these work permit restrictions are so strict that I think it's about time to look for work outside of LOS it's just getting more and more difficult, and was a lot easier in the past I know a few people who have been turned down for renewals the end of the Toxin regime didn't stop the xenophobia

yeah, it's really sad that all this is open to the interpretation of the officer in charge wherever you apply for the visa

a friend of mine was offered a job at one of those international schools in Rayong, car and everything he turned it down and now works in a major telecom firm at home, in their training department, took the Thai wife and kids and is lovin' it there

yeah, I was laughing inside when he said it, but didnt' want to try and explain to him like he's a 3 year old how the system works, 555

my ISP both at work and at home have been brilliant the last few weeks however, a fellow told me yesterday that he couldn't send eMails to any residents of Pattaya seems kinda funny actually, since eMail is global and it shouldn't matter if they are in Pattaya or Timbuktu

guess you had to be there to enjoy it I was high and dry in a little town just 40 minutes away been there done that, and not ready for a repeat any time soon

ok, now I get it , this party was in February I might be slow, but not as slow as Hammer is at posting the pix, 555

they know from your IP address, the address you use to connect to the internet it's just like a postal code each country has a diff. subset of numbers/addresses they use and from there the different ISPs/providers have subsets of numbers/addresses as well

well, glad I left before the photo-taking took place but... damnit, totally missed out on this babe, wonder where she was at 20:00 can someone please ask this gal since when does LT consist of fuckin' off for home at 03:00 ? this was last night ?, and this big bugger is in town , fuck and this mad hatter on the left is in town too ?, damn

maybe they'll be more careful next time they recruit for some new talent

ah, finally a fellow monger with some taste

oh no, there she is again, I'm going to have nightmares miss tattoo-to-cover-stretchmark ,,, argh ! ! !

hmm, we must have nearly bumped into one another today then I was the handsum dude that checked out at noon and went straight to TG bar next door

sounds to me like you need a good travel agent hassle free ?, unlikely I was there about 9 months ago, and it's a long haul from Pattaya to Koh Chang the last bit of the trip is by ferry to the island, so you can get the door to door service, since a vehicle can be taken on the island I would recommend : http://www.seaviewkohchang.com you could have all the rooms in the same section, as there are many set up as 4 rooms to a raised area, but I don't think they are adjoining, just back to back, so you could hear any mischeif your sons are up to, or your Mother if she's so inclined, 555 you'll have a devil of a time getting to the beach however, as most of the rooms have long stone staircases to get to the beach from another option would be to get bungalows that are right ON the beach and whatever you do, make sure and get reservations early, because they get booked up a month in advance

met a few TGs on Skype it's nice how you can search their profiles by location

maybe I am just too impatient, but I was in there about three weeks ago to check on the availability of rooms the young lady I asked couldn't answer me and said I'd need to check with another lady who was on the phone (mobile) she indicated to the other lady that I was inquiring about rooms she grabbed a ledger that apparently was being used to record the room usage and checkouts or whatever she kept on rambling with her girlie mate on the phone about nothing while I stood there waiting for an answer as to the availability of their rooms a cute young gal came downstairs and went outside, so I followed her unfortunately she must have been knackered, cause she said she was heading straight home, cute as hell though I didn't even think about going back into QV to see about the availability, as I figured miss customer service would still be yackin' away on her fuckin' mobile edited out the talk about what I discussed with the TG, 555

not sure where the decent lookin' women were in Cherry Bar on Sunday evening the one decent looker I was told is psycho there was some older, ugly, overweight, stupid woman out front name Noi man was she dumb she was just repeating all the cliché things that TBGs say, like asking me where was my wife after she realized I was speaking Thai to her and not some foreign language I must have passed the place 100s of times, but never even knew it was there, now I know why, nothing to attract my attention

looks like just another TG with a funny hairdo to me

if your TG can't find a market, you should dump her, 555

not sure about penpal sites, but there are plenty of dating sites unfortunately the best ones (and free) are in Thai PM me if you want one free one in English...

yeah, the transliteration method that is considered official really sucks bad like spelling putt "pat" or Wahn "Van" Booa Kao = white lotus some might spell it Bua Kao in Thai Booa is spelled with a B and U sound (as in cum) and a W I never could understand why almost all Thais insist on spelling Eesahn, Isaan in Thai it is clearly a Sara E that starts to word, and it's a long AH sound at the end I won't even talk about them calling album alabum or Sultan Soolatahn or sauna saawnah and Chonburi and Cholburi would be the same if you pronounce it Thai style since a L as an initial consonant is still an L, but as a final consanant it's an N Pattaya BTW, should be spelled Puttaya, like Putt-Putt golf, and since it's been spelled wrong for so long, most non-Thais pronounce it wrong, oh well

I always fold up a 100b note, to make it look like more and make sure to get your driver's license back as you give him the money

has living dolls become a charity bar now ?

Honey Hotel is near and Asoke Place, a ST hotel, is right on the corner to the entrance to SC I think it's 600/night, and with a 100b tip, you can check out late afternoon

I'd pick PineWood, but maybe it's cause that's where I am sitting right now I would be interested in a comparison BTW, LK, SunShine, and Nova...