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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Work Permits and Business Visas. Somebody asked me the other day they said this is a person in person that was here on a Tourist Visa, they said "well can I go ahead and get my Work Permit before I leave and then I will come back on a Business Visa?" The answer that is NO. Unfortunately there are only certain types of visas which can act as a platform for Thai Work Permits and Tourist Visas are not one of them. 

The two main ones, although I have heard and I have seen in one exceptional case an Education Visa getting a Work Permit for somebody who worked at the university at which they were studying. That is very, very rare; I have never seen it before since. The other types of Work Permits we see are issued generally speaking, in fact in the vast majority of cases, are issued after a Business Visa has been issued, so you are issued a Business Visa and then you get your Work Permit. Then there is also the O Marriage Visa which can also act as a platform for a Work Permit as well.

Now in a sense, you actually kind of do get a Work Permit before you get a Business Visa when you apply for a Business Visa abroad because generally speaking now, in virtually every country I know of, before they will issue a Business Visa they want to see what is called the WP3 Work pre-authorization document which is essentially an approved Work Permit in all but actuality. It's not actually a permit to work but it's all the preliminaries up to that moment to get it issued. So in a sense, the WP3 is kind of like a Work Permit. Then you arrive in Thailand on your Business Visa and generally speaking at least for our clients, we usually see their Work Permit issued about a week after they arrive. So again, you are not getting a Work Permit before the Business Visa but you are getting sort of pre-vetted for the work permit before arriving in Thailand on a Business Visa and then going ahead and getting the Work Permit actually issued.