BANGKOK - Thailand opened e-WorkPermit renewals on Sept. 8 for eligible Lao, Myanmar and Vietnamese workers.
The filing window covers eligible workers authorized to work through Dec. 11, 2026 under the Nov. 11, 2025 Cabinet measure. That measure’s initial work-permit application window ran Dec. 12-26, while a July 14 Cabinet decision approved a further one-year work-permit extension through Dec. 11, 2027.
Applications must be submitted through the Department of Employment’s e-WorkPermit system by Dec. 11. On the final day, applications will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. and payments until 8 p.m. Government fees total 1,000 baht, comprising a 100-baht application fee and a 900-baht work permit fee.
Applicants must provide the documents required for their circumstances, including a passport or equivalent travel document, qualifying health-check results and proof of Section 33 social security coverage or health insurance where applicable.
Myanmar workers who do not yet have passports may attach the document later. Workers can apply themselves or authorize an employer or labour-import company to act for them, with a stamped power of attorney required for representatives.
Once a renewal is approved, workers awaiting their physical Smart Card can receive a temporary work permit, Form BT.62, as evidence of their right to work. The temporary permit is valid until the scheduled appointment for biometric processing and production of the work permit.
Separately, workers who still need to complete passport and immigration procedures must obtain the required visa or permission to stay by June 30, 2027, or within 90 days of receiving a passport issued after Aug. 1, 2026, without exceeding the June 30 deadline.
The July 14 Cabinet paper identified 562,068 workers — 551,198 from Myanmar, 10,105 from Laos and 765 from Vietnam — who the government said would be unable to complete passport or equivalent-document and immigration procedures by the July 31 deadline.
The department directed people with questions to Bangkok Employment Offices areas 1-10, provincial employment offices or its 1506 hotline, pressing 2.
“Employers, businesses and foreign workers should prepare the required documents and submit their applications within the specified period,” Department of Employment Director-General Samat Pattamasukon said in the Sept. 7 announcement.