Today, I am completing the last step in a very long, tortured process to get a work permit. US citizens who come to Thailand as tourists do not need a visa and can stay for up to 30 days. But, since I am staying longer and will be working here, I need a work permit.
The process started weeks before I left for Bangkok and involved filling out forms, sending copies of my passport, passport photos, lots of documentation from LMG Thailand about the company’s capital investment in Thailand, list of company officers, etc, etc. The first milestone was getting a non-immigrant visa B, which enables me to stay for up to a year. However, even with a non-immigrant visa B I still will need to leave the country every 90 days, re-enter, and get my visa stamped for another 90 days. Since I’m only here for six months, I’ll just need to do that once.
But, to work in Thailand I also need a work permit. Liberty Mutual has hired a local company to assist with this process. So far, I have filled out more forms, had my passport reviewed by the immigration company, and had a physical. The physical was interesting. I have heard that medical care in Bangkok is very good and that people come here for “medical tourism” – eye lifts, tummy tucks, that sort of thing. The hospital was quite plush and hushed and more like a hotel than a hospital. It was the only hospital I’ve ever been in where there were coffee, tea, and little sandwiches with the crusts cut off in the waiting area. An attendant even came by and asked me if I wanted to have breakfast. Say what?
The physical was a non-event – simple and straightforward, except that the poor nurse was very short and I’m tall by Thai standards so she had a hard time measuring my height. (Not sure why that was important anyway.) When I got the medical report afterwards, it turned out the physical was to ensure that I did not have, among other things, elephantiasis or leprosy. Really?!
Anyway, back to the work permit. I met Ms. Onanong this morning at the One-stop Service Center (seriously, that’s the name) for the final step in the work permit process. Took the metro for the first time to get here. The metro is fast and efficient and easy to navigate – especially since you can choose directions in English. You click the station you want to go to and it tells you the price. You put in the money and it spits out a token, which you swipe at the turnstile. To exit, you put the token back in and the turnstile opens up. Easy-peasy. But one odd thing about the subway – it was perfectly quiet. No TV playing like on the Skytrain. No one was talking – not on a phone or to a neighbor. And there were quite a few school kids on the train – even they were silent. Very strange.
This last step will take a while. (This may be the “One-stop” center, but evidently it’s one l-o-n-g step.) It’s like going to the motor vehicle office. You show up, get a number, and then wait. Onanong is managing the process – I just need to be physically present and sign something when they give me the work permit. She had a thick packet of forms and letters and official-looking documents, which she handed over at the counter. Now, we just wait. Onanong says that it will take at least 90 minutes, possibly two hours so I am downstairs in the lobby having a coffee and waiting. And waiting.
Finally done! Three hours later, I have my work permit! And the funny part is that I don’t have to do anything with it – I don’t have to show it to anyone, or have it recorded at work, or even have it with me when I travel outside the country. I just need to keep it in a drawer at work in case “immigration officials” were to come by and ask for it. Doesn’t seem at all likely, but I guess it’s better to do everything by the book and not take a chance. “Responsibility. What’s Your Policy?”
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