Work visa and work permit in Thailand: who applies and what documents you need

We put this page together from official documents of the Department of Employment (doe.go.th), the BOI, the government’s Public Relations Department and the Royal Thai Embassy in Moscow. Checked on 19 October 2026. Working as an employee of a Thai company is the most regulated route: two papers, two agencies and liability for the employer.

What you need to work: two documents

A visa alone is not enough. The embassy in Moscow says plainly that a Non-B holder may work in Thailand once a work permit has been granted.

The permit is tied to the employer, the job and the workplace. A change in any of them is processed separately and for a fee.

Who applies: the employer and the employee

The employer takes part in both stages. According to the embassy in Moscow’s page, it requests the Ministry of Labour’s approval on Form WP3 from the Office of Foreign Workers Administration of the Department of Employment, and this letter goes into the visa package. If the company is in a province, the request goes to the provincial employment office.

After entry the employee or a representative files the work permit application. Since October 2025 this is done on the Department of Employment’s e-WorkPermit platform. The portal accepts applications from employers and from foreign workers, including new permits, renewals and replacements.

Requirements for the worker, per the BOI overview: qualifications and competence for the position, sound mind, no prohibited diseases (leprosy, active tuberculosis, advanced elephantiasis, severe drug addiction, chronic alcoholism, third-stage syphilis) and no imprisonment in the year before the application for violating immigration or foreign worker laws.

How it works, step by step

1. The employer requests the Ministry of Labour’s approval. Form WP3, as described by the embassy in Moscow
2. You apply for the Non-B visa. The embassy in Moscow takes documents against its own list, below. Russians apply for visas online, as described in the visa guide for Russians
3. You enter on the Non-B. The visa is valid for 3 months, according to the embassy in Moscow
4. You file the work permit application on e-WorkPermit. You register, enter the job details and pay the application fee online
5. After approval you pay the permit fee. You book an appointment at one of the centres, 54 across the country according to the PRD. At the centre you complete identity verification: face, iris and fingerprints
6. You start work only after the permit is issued

The PRD says the platform was launched as a 24-hour online service, available nationwide from 13 October 2025. Ministry of Labour support lines: 1506 (press 2) and 1694.

Which documents you need

For the Non-B visa, per the embassy in Moscow’s list

The embassy’s page was last updated on 30 November 2022, so check the list before you apply.

• a completed application form
• a passport valid for at least 6 months, and a copy
• a 4 x 6 cm photo taken within the last 6 months
• evidence of educational qualifications
• the Ministry of Labour approval letter, requested by the Thai employer
• corporate documents of the hiring company: registration, list of shareholders, VAT registration (form Por Por 20)
• if you have worked in Thailand before: a copy of the previous work permit and the alien income tax return P.N.D. 91
• for non-Russian citizens: a residence permit or a valid Russian visa and registration
• a notarised English translation of every document not in English

The consul may ask for more documents or invite you for an interview.

For the work permit itself

We found no full checklist for the application on the e-WorkPermit page or in the sections of the Department of Employment site that opened for us: the portal shows only service names and form numbers. The employer prepares the package, so ask them and the provincial employment office.

What it costs

The permit fees come from the Ministerial Regulation of B.E. 2558 (2015), published on the Department of Employment’s site. These are the rates for all occupations except domestic work and unskilled labour, for which the same regulation lists THB 225, 450 and 900. Each period beyond a year is charged at the same rates, so a two-year permit comes to THB 6,000 (our calculation). In its LTR description the BOI gives THB 3,000 a year for a digital work permit, which matches the schedule.

Translation, a notary and certificates are paid separately.

How long a permit lasts

For skilled workers under Section 59 of the Foreigners’ Working Management Emergency Decree the scheme is: entry on a Non-B, stay under Non-B status, a permit of up to 2 years per term (BOI overview). Your stay is extended at the Immigration Bureau and the permit itself at the Department of Employment: renewal is in the Ministry of Labour’s fee schedule.

Other grounds for working

What working without a permit leads to

According to the BOI overview, an employer who hires a foreigner without a valid permit, or lets them work beyond the authorised scope, is fined THB 10,000-100,000 per foreigner. For a repeat offence the penalties are imprisonment of up to a year, a fine of THB 50,000-200,000 per foreigner, or both, and a ban on employing foreigners for 3 years.

The embassy in Moscow reminds that a foreigner working without a permit faces prosecution, imprisonment or a fine under the Immigration Act of 1979. There is also a list of occupations closed to foreigners: the Department of Employment publishes the Royal Decrees of 1979 (B.E. 2522) with amendments, and we did not go through the list.

Who this route is not for

People working remotely for a foreign client: for them there is the DTV, covered in the answer can you work remotely on a tourist visa or a DTV. People aged 50 or over who do not plan to work: look at the retirement visa. People with a high income working in priority industries: compare the LTR, where the digital work permit goes through the BOI. For tax on a Thai salary see taxes for foreigners in Thailand.

What we did not find in official sources

• A full list of documents for the work permit application on the Department of Employment pages that opened for us
• A current update date for the embassy in Moscow’s page: it is marked 30 November 2022, and e-WorkPermit has since replaced paper filing, so the procedure may have changed
• Requirements for a company’s registered capital and for the number of Thai staff per foreigner: retellings mention “THB 2 million and 4 Thais”, but we found no primary source, so we give no figures
• The current 2017 Emergency Decree in a form we could open on an official site. The fees are taken from the 2015 regulation

We re-check this page every 30 days. If you want a specialist to look at your documents, write to us: we will pass your request to a visa partner we have vetted.

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.