As part of my changing employers in Thailand, it also means that I have to cancel my work permit and visa from my previous employer so I can apply a new one.
This is how I did mine as of this date. However, be reminded that every so often the laws and regulations change regarding work permit and visa in Thailand. The process may also differ from each province. I did mine in Samut Sakhon since my agency is located there. It is about 1- 1.5 hours travel from Bangkok by bus. So to be certain, I advise you to ask your HR or your agency about the steps first.
- Set the last date of employment
The first step is for you to agree with your employer the last date of working with them. This date should be the same on the cancellation forms that you will be presented to the Labour and Immigration. You can also try talking with your employer to extend the date if you need more time applying for another job or time to get yourself ready because the last date also means the date you can only stay in Thailand.
- Request for Letter of Cancellation of Work Permit and Visa
These are the forms that you need to prepare. You can ask these from your previous employer. My experience was not that easy because my agency has a new staff who doesn’t know about this forms so I had to do it myself. I downloaded the cancellation form online. You can click here.
Let your previous employer sign or put the school’s stamp on it.
For the cancellation letter of visa, you should mention the date you started working with the company and when your last day will be.
- Go to the Labour and Immigration Office.
Once you’ve got it all ready, you need to go to these offices before or on the same date as your “final working day”. There is a new rule about the cancellation of work permit in which it’s only the employer who can cancel the work permit. Before, the employee can do it by himself. One staff from my agency went with me to the Dept. of Labour. I handed them my work permit together with the form and they put a red stamp on the form and told me to present it to the Immigration.
Next, go to the Immigration Office with your passport. Give them the form stamped from the Labour and the cancellation letter of your visa from your company. They’ll check the dates and maybe ask you to photocopy your passport and then stamp your passport the date that was stated in the letter.
The date is important because if the day you come to the immigration is the same date as your last day in your work, they will give you an extension of 7 days for 1,900 Baht. That means you have 7 days to process your new visa or exit the country.
For overstay, you must pay 500 Baht/day and that is something we don’t want.
- Wait for your next work permit from new employer
From this point onwards, you must keep in touch with your new employer for the processing of your visa and new work permit. Send all the requirements they will need so you will have your work permit as early as possible. However, in most cases, you might need to exit Thailand and return with a tourist visa valid for 30 days to have more time of processing your documents.
My Story of Unfortunate Event
The way I did all of the steps was not as smooth as I wanted. As I mentioned, my agency has a new staff who handles visa for foreign employees and she has no idea about the cancellation. When I asked for the forms, they never replied or made any indications to help me. So I did research on my own. I asked some of my friends and colleagues and wrote the cancellation letter with the help of a Thai friend and only went to the agency for their signature and stamp. We made several mistakes with the letter as it was written in Thai and the staff can’t speak English. It took me about a week of coming back and forth to the agency, have them sign it, go to immigration, back to agency again and so on.
I mentioned that the last day of employment on the letter is important because I had that mistake on my letter and the officer told me to pay for my overstay and 7-day extension. I said it was just a mistake and I went back to the agency to change the date.
So, you should understand how relieved I was when it was all done. It was like a thorn was removed in my chest.
LESSON OF THE STORY: The lesson I have learned from this experience is to accept the reality that there are individuals or entities that will take advantage of your skills and hard work. I do think my agency is one of those. They got a part of my salary every month but every time I asked for help, they would tell me they don’t know. I have to keep bugging them until I get the help.
We have different opinions about agencies and your experience may be totally different from mine but if you’re planning on working with an agency, do a background check first. Ask people around who have worked for them and if you’re happy with it, then go for it.
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Hi Ira! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m changing employers soon and my current one will be cutting my WP on my last day. Were you able to get a new non-b and wp without going out of the country?
Hi Val,
It depends when your last day will be. If say, your last day will give your new employer enough time to prepare your documents for Non-B, then that will allow you to remain in the county. However, for many cases like mine that my documents weren’t ready yet at the time they cut my work permit, I had to do a visa run to Cambodia for 30 days.
Thank you for this information, it was 100% what I needed to know.
Hi Ira! I would like to connect with you regarding how you did your process for cancellation of work permit and Non-B Visa. May I ask for your email if that is okay with you? I am from Philippines, currently working and living in Thailand too. I have a couple of questions in which for sure you are the one who holds the answers. Thank you so much for your response!
Hi Ruth,
My email is on my contact page. Send me a private message and I’ll answer your questions.
Hi Ira. Im happy to get a downloadable copy of Cancellation form. This is all I want now. However, I have a question.
My visa and work permit will expire this March 31, 2019. Same with my school contract.
March 31 is Sunday so the best thing to do is to go there on March 29, friday. Can I request the immigration officer to make me stay until march 31?
Because I heard you need to exit the same day when you cancel your visa and wp. Im not sure though.
If you ask me why I chose March 31st. Its because I got a flight promo on that day to Taiwan.
And after a week, I will come back to Thailand to look for another job. I hope you can enlighten me. Thanks
Hi Sarah,
Wow, your case is complicated. =)
In my opinion, it’s better to go before the last day on your visa to avoid paying overstay fees (if ever).
In my case before, I came 5 days earlier and the officer stamped my passport with the date stated on the visa, not the date when I came to the Immigration.
But maybe, it varies from different immigration offices.
I’m sure everything will turn out fine.
Enjoy your trip to Taiwan and good luck looking for a new job!
Ira
Hi Ira,
My case is the same with Sarah. I am planning to cancel my WP then proceed to the Immigration this Friday. I will state in my letter that my work permit and VISA will end this coming 31st of March. I am bit enlightened after I read your response that , they will not base on the day we go to their office but, on the day that was stated in our VISA.
Hope that I am understanding it correctly.
Donald
Hi Donald,
Yes, you’re correct, just as long as you indicate that the visa and work permit will end on 31 March.
Hello Iria,good morning.
Thanks for writing such an interesting post and experience.
I would like for your suggestion in the following case:
1- I have sent my termination email to my employer with a month in advance as requested by contract. Also I left a written company at HR.
2- The employer seems to have lost all employees even the HR so I think nobody will cancel anything for me as it is about the close the company.
3. The employer is not sending to me my termination letter not even the letter of employment after few emails insisting.
If arrived the date I got anything from my employer as he left the country,( not sure if company would be officially close. How I should react to cancel my WP and visa, any clue?
Thanks in advance for any comment.
I had a similar problem with you before when I was processing for the cancellation of my visa and work permit. My agency was not very helpful at all. So, what I did was prepare the documents myself such as the cancellation letters to be submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Immigration. I went back to the agency because I need them to sign my documents. One staff then accompany me to the Labours office. Finally, I was on my on to the Immigration office to cancel the visa.
In your case, I would advise you to do the same if they won’t help you. If they’re not responding at all as if gone in the wind, maybe report them to the Ministry of Labour.
hello Ira,
Good day thank you for sharing your experience. I have something to ask My visa expires today Jan 23, 2020 and my working permit (blue book) expires on May 2020. I want to leave the school should i really need to cut it again(non b visa) even it is already expires? or only the (blue book) Can you please give me any advice. Thanks in advance.:)
Hi Ira,
Thank you so much for your blog. You have a clear picture of what I was looking for.
By the way, I am planning to move to a new school on July 29, 2020. My new school has already prepared all the necessary documents for me to get my visa on the same day.
For this purpose, I need to go to my current Labor office on July 29 in the morning and cancel my work permit and get the cancellation paper and go to the current immigration and cancel the visa, too. After that, with both the cancellation documents I need to go to the new immigration office for the new visa.
But, when my current liaison officer checked that with the Labor officer he said the proof of cancellation will be given only 2-3 days. This is something puzzling to me and to the HR of my new school. So, that means I can cancel my visa only after that and I won’t be able to change my visa on the same day.
Or in other words, I can have my new visa only on July 31. So, I’m losing 2 days without a visa. How this can be solved? Please help.