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Thai Business Visas and the Importance of WP3

Transcript of the above video:

In this video, we are going to briefly discuss work authorization; I should say pre-authorization and Thai business visas.  There is a document known as a WP3, in bureaucratic colloquialism basically describing a certain form that pre-authorizes foreign nationals to undertake certain kinds of employment activity in the Kingdom. In certain consulates, most notably in Europe, there are certain consulates that simply will not issue even a 90 day business visa without first providing a form WP3 or pre-authorization. These documents are somewhat difficult to get, especially if the company in question is being set up by the individual seeking the business visa, creating something of a Catch 22 situation, because the investor wishing to invest in Thailand, and create a business here in Thailand, has to go and practically have the business up and running prior to a WP3 form being issuable, prior to it even being possible to issue the WP3. So there’s a certain “chick and her egg” situation going on associated with WP3 issuance.   Once WP3 is however issued, a Thai business visa will be issued in connection with that specific of business type activity, that individual can then travel to the Kingdom and pretty quickly go ahead and get their work permit booklet WP1; the actual little work permit book and that book is usually issued for 1 year although in some circumstances they even issue it for as little as 90 days or 6 months depending on the circumstances.

Once your work permit is issued, you go ahead and see either a business visa extension or depending on the circumstances that are given the individual or the company, it may be better to go ahead and apply for a multiple entry business visa from a consulate abroad. But you’re not going to be able to get the multi entry or a business visa extension without first getting WP1, the actual work permit and it’s not going to be possible to go ahead and get the work permit until you go ahead and get the business visa and in certain cases it’s not going to be possible to get that initial 90 day business visa without first being pre-authorized to work in the Kingdom. So again this becomes a sort of a “root document associated with living and working in Thailand at least at the outset of ones endeavors here so the WP3 is something of a difficult, it can be a rather difficult document to obtain because there are certain documentary requirements that make it something of a challenge. But once the WP3 is issued, it puts one on the road towards business visa issuance, later work permit issuance and then finally, either a long term 1 year multi entry business visa or a business visa extension here in the Kingdom.