Can You Stay in Thailand After Your Work Permit or Work Visa Is Cancelled?

First, it is important to understand one key point:

Once a Work Permit is cancelled, a foreign national is no longer allowed to work in Thailand. However, whether they can continue staying in the country depends on the validity of their visa or permission to stay.

A Work Permit is the primary legal document that authorizes a foreign national to work in Thailand. When an employment relationship ends—whether due to resignation, termination, or the expiration of an employment contract—the employer is required to cancel the employee's Work Permit.

According to the Thai government's public service guidelines, employers must apply to cancel the Work Permit within 15 days after the foreign employee stops working. Failure to do so may result in a fine of up to THB 20,000.

Therefore, if only the Work Permit has been cancelled, but the employee's visa or permission to stay has not yet been revoked by the Immigration Bureau, it does not automatically mean that the employee is staying in Thailand illegally.

In other words, the cancellation of a Work Permit does not automatically invalidate the stay permission shown in the passport. Whether a foreign national may continue to remain in Thailand depends on their current visa status or immigration permission to stay.

If only the Work Permit has been cancelled, the individual must stop working immediately. However, whether they may continue staying in Thailand depends on whether their visa or permission to stay remains valid.

If your passport contains a stamp stating "Extension of Stay Permitted Until...", you should pay special attention.

This usually means that you are staying in Thailand under a Non-B Extension of Stay, rather than the original period of stay granted upon entry with a Non-B Visa.

A work-based Non-B Extension of Stay is not a job-seeking visa, nor is it a visa for staying in Thailand for leisure or residence.

If you resign, are dismissed, or your company's Work Permit is cancelled, the original reason for your permission to stay has changed.

Therefore, you should not simply assume:

"The expiry date in my passport hasn't arrived yet, so I can stay until that date."

For example:

"My Non-B Extension of Stay is valid until December, but my company cancelled my Work Permit in August. I am not working anymore and only want to stay in Thailand to rest, live here, or look for a new job. Can I continue staying?"

If your passport contains the stamp:

Extension of Stay Permitted Until

it usually indicates that you are staying under a Non-B Extension of Stay, rather than the original Non-B entry permission. A work-based Non-B Extension of Stay is not a job-seeking visa, nor is it intended for staying in Thailand for leisure or residence.

If you have already left your job or your former company's Work Permit has been cancelled, the original reason for your permission to stay has changed.

Therefore, it is not recommended to continue staying in Thailand under the employment-based Extension of Stay sponsored by your former employer until its original expiry date without taking any further action.

This may affect future applications for:

• A new Work Permit

• A new Non-B Extension of Stay

• A change to another visa category

Recommendation

If you plan to change jobs, after your Work Permit has been cancelled, you should visit the Immigration Bureau as soon as possible to cancel your current permission to stay and submit a new work visa application through your new employer.

If you do not intend to continue working in Thailand, and you do not have a valid Re-Entry Permit, you may leave Thailand directly. To be more prudent, it is recommended to cancel your existing Non-B Extension of Stay at the Immigration Bureau before departing Thailand.

In general, before cancelling the Work Permit and Extension of Stay with the current employer, you should first confirm whether the new employer is eligible to sponsor the foreign employee and whether all required documents are ready, so that the new Work Permit and Extension of Stay can be applied for in time.

If the old company completes the cancellation first and the employee takes too long to join the new company, the following issues may arise:

1. Interruption of visa status;

2. Failure to renew the visa in time;

3. The employee may need to leave Thailand and apply for a new visa;

4. Risk of overstaying.

Therefore, if both companies are willing to cooperate, a better approach is to coordinate in advance the employee's last working day, the Work Permit cancellation date, the Immigration appointment date, and the timing for the new company's application.

Recommended Process

1. Confirm that the new company is qualified to apply for a Work Permit and Non-B Extension of Stay for the foreign employee.

2. The new company prepares all required application documents.

3. The current employer cancels the existing Work Permit and issues the employee's resignation certificate and other required cancellation documents.

4. The employee brings the documents from the former employer, together with the new company's documents or new Work Permit application, to the Immigration Bureau to apply for a Non-B Extension of Stay.

5. The new company applies for the new visa and Work Permit.

• If the Immigration Bureau allows the transfer to continue within Thailand, the new Work Permit and Non-B Extension of Stay can be processed according to the requirements of the Immigration Bureau and the Department of Employment.

• If the Immigration Bureau does not allow the transfer within Thailand, the employee may need to leave the country, and the new company must prepare the documents again and submit a new Non-B Visa application before re-entering Thailand.

6. The employee obtains a new Non-B Extension of Stay sponsored by the new employer.