Foreigners working in Thailand often assume a visa is enough. It isn't. Your immigration status and your permission to work are handled separately, and they must stay consistent throughout your employment.
A visa is not permission to work
Your visa or extension of stay (for employment, usually a Non-Immigrant B) is permission to be in Thailand. Your work permit, issued separately by the Ministry of Labour, is permission to work — and only for the employer, role, duties, and work location approved in it. A visa alone does not authorise work, and even unpaid "helping out" can create risk if it looks like performing work for a business.
The work permit is also not portable. Change employer, role, duties, or workplace and it may need to be amended or re-issued first.
The company side matters too
A Thai company can't hire foreigners freely. As a general benchmark for an ordinary Thai limited company, the authorities commonly look for about 2 million baht of registered capital and four Thai employees per foreign work permit. Reduced or different rules may apply — for example where the foreigner is married to a Thai national, for a branch or representative office, or for a BOI-promoted company. If you're relying on a job offer, it's worth confirming your employer actually qualifies before you commit.
Three deadlines that quietly cause trouble
- Extension of stay — your long-term right to remain usually comes from the extension applied for inside Thailand, not the short visa stamped abroad. Renew it before it expires.
- Re-entry permit — leaving Thailand without one can cause your current permission or extension of stay to lapse, even with months left on the stamp.
- 90-day reporting — if you stay more than 90 consecutive days, report your address to Immigration every 90 days. It's a notification, not a renewal, but missing it brings fines and practical problems later.
If something has already gone wrong
Overstay carries daily fines and, once it passes certain lengths, a re-entry ban. Voluntary surrender is treated very differently from being arrested or caught while overstaying — being caught usually makes the consequences much worse, with longer bans. Don't head to the airport and hope — get advice first, because a managed exit and an enforcement situation at the border are very different outcomes.
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