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Recent Developments with Respect to Work Permit Applications in Thailand

Transcript of the above video:

In this video today we are going to be discussing work permits, as the title suggests. 

Some recent developments. This always seems to happen. Last year and the year before it seemed to be primarily occurring  in the immigration context but this year some things have changed with respect to the Labour Ministry and regulations pertaining to the Ministry of Labour and work authorization here in the Kingdom. So what am I talking about? Well, it seems like every year, as the year turns over, new regulations come into force and that's actually kind of the case in many ways. IRS for example in the US tax context, year on year things will change, they will vary, regulations will change up etc.

Well here in the Kingdom we are always sort of, I won't say on edge, but waiting with bated breath to see what changes may occur within an immigration or, in this case a Labor Department context. One thing that we were discussing previously is different migrant worker regulations come into effect. There is a new regulatory structure and scheme with respect to work permit holders here in the Kingdom and the fine structure is currently in the process of changing so we will kind of keep you updated on more with that specifically but some other things that came about that we have noticed just in the office with respect to work permit applications is things pertaining to work permits. People who have had prior work in the Kingdom seeking new work authorization unaffiliated with their prior work,  may have new documentary requirements and in fact this has come up in a couple of different cases we have been dealing with where we had folks with prior work  permits and in fact those prior work permits may have in fact been cancelled or expired and they still wanted to see, I think there has got to be some new regulatory regime, at least here in Bangkok , where the officer wanted to see documentation specifically pertaining to those prior work permits; more documentation than we have ever been, than we have ever had requested before.  In most cases just proof that the work permit itself expired was often times enough. No, these days they're asking for more documentation. This is case-specific depending on the case, it will sort of dictate what documentation they want to see, but the thing I would like folks to take away from this video is, it's looking like, moving forward into this year, this may be a year where regulatory environment with respect to work authorization gets a little bit tighter. This is strictly a documentation issue as of the time of this filming, but anytime we start to see these little tweaks with respect to request for more documents that heretofore really hadn’t been requested, it starts to sort of raise the hairs on the back of my head and wonder "well what else is coming down the pike?" because you know this may be just sort of an opening salvo with respect to a request for more things. So I don't know specifically how it's going to work but just know that those who previously have had a work permit here in the Kingdom, it may behoove you to seek professional assistance with respect to a new work permit application because having had a prior work permit may dictate longer processing times and may dictate a more, let's say cumbersome documentation requirement compared to those who are coming into the Kingdom fresh, have never had a work permit before and are applying for the first time.