What are the best options for shipping a laptop from Thailand back to Europe or handling employer-issued laptops after an assignment?

Ask your employer the question.

Send via DHL, did that years ago and wasn't an issue.

I just made them wait haha

maybe try posting it . somewhere else

It will cost them way more to have it shipped than customs will be a nightmare. If you like it, I’d make them a reasonable offer to keep it and when you do mention shipping and inbound customs so it doesn’t make sense. If it’s a Mac make sure they remove it from their MDM if a MDM profile is present on the machine.

Next time employers should set you up in a Microsoft 365 Cloud PC that you can login from “bring your own device” instead of sending a physical machine internationally. Data would be processed off your personal device and with two-factor authentication security would be reasonable.

Why not just hand it in to your employer?

I think this is an issue to discuss with your employer.

Exactly the same boat . I have a gig until January , and it will get extended but I fancy doing a more exciting gig for a less established client. I tried hard to get them to allow me to use my own laptop but secure access was an issue. Outsourced IT suggestion? Tell them it got stolen. No one cares .

Why can't you keep it? Used laptops are write offs