GoonDizzy

A quick word on ETDs. I called the British Embassy for an appointment. I'm off to Blighty after getting a last minute clearing place at uni. You can only get an appointment for an ETD 5 days or less before your flight. Makes sense. However, I was told that after getting the ETD, I would need an exit visa from Thailand (?) Never heard of that one before. I still have my 'old' passport. It's probably been cancelled, but I can't check as my application is 'only' 15 days old. The payment has been taken though (funny that they do that part pretty quickly).

Another thing about ETDs. Make sure that your chosen transit location (if any) accepts them. Most do. However, make sure it's 'airside transit' and not 'landside transit'. i had to look that one up, but airside transit is when you don't pass through immigration or have access to the check in areas etc. You cannot leave the transit airport on an ETD. Also, I got some info wrong on Russia regarding ETDs. You can use an ETD without a Russian transit visa IF the transit is 'airside' and IF the stop over is under 12 hours.India too, accepts 'airside' transits. Not sure how long you can 'wait' for the next plane though.

So, make sure you check with the travel agent and/or airline that the transit is 'airside' and under 12 hours (perhaps even less for some nations) or it could be a world of pain for you. A call to the relevant Embassy may be a good idea too for transit advice. Mind you, I 've called one earlier and they couldn't really tell me. They 'think' it will be fine as long as I don't leave the airport and it's an airside transit (KL Malaysia).

goondizzy is a perfect example of know it all know nothing. You haven't even finished your degree, you don't teach at international schools and you are giving advice. That is awesome. I hope the OP an every other new teacher listens to all of your misinformation.

I love the bit about Saudi and your educational plans. Hate to break it to you but Middle East jobs don't recognize Open Universities or distance masters. Also your degree path is confusing since Master's in Education isn't desired in the Middle East for EFL positions for oil companies. Those jobs want MATESOL. The Education degrees are for International or private school positions.

There are plenty of teaching jobs at international schools in Asia Thailand specifically that pay 80-120,000 baht a month for subject teachers especially math and science. Most living a normal life can save a minimum of 15-20,000 USD a year in Asia at International schools. When I worked at public schools in the US I was earning 35,000 USD a year and was lucky to save about 5,000 dollars at the end of the year after taxes, insurance, rent, car payments etc.

Teaching EFL in some countries pays as well as International school jobs but overall working in Asia I have save more in the past 10 years than almost everyone I graduated University with. I have also had the pleasure of living and traveling the world.

How obnoxious of you! Hate to break it to you, but you're wrong. UEC. I've even been it touch with someone over in Saudi about this. Someone in charge and I know a guy that's done it, Mr Know it all.

Posts like yours remind me why I don't post very often on here. I'm glad you don't teach my kids with an attitude like that.

All depends on how you like the pay here compared to the pay at home. There are lots of posts from teachers who have stayed here until they are above 50, have no savings or pension and are in a panic about how they will survive in retirement. Suggest you avoid that scenario. Make sure that your job will pay you enough so that you can save. It's not too early to do retirement planning. Make an honest estimate of what it would cost you to live where you plan to retire, then calculate how you can save what you will need for 20-30 years of retirement. Of course, the later you retire the more money you can save and the fewer years you will spend in retirement. There are scads of retirement planners on the web which allow you to calculate the figures.

I hired teachers for many years (along with a committe) and counted good experience as a plus, especially with a good letter of recommendation from the previous school. Good luck!

Agree with this. Once I've finished my B.Ed in England my plan is to work in Thailand for a few years and do an M.Ed via an American Uni in BKK (evenings and weekends) or via the Open University in the UK. As long as I can handle it, Saudi pays crazy money for those with B.Ed/M.Eds and experience (jobs teaching English to Saudi oil executives pay the best, but an M.Ed or MA Tesol and four or five years experience is essential). 150,000-200,000 baht tax free is not unusual with free housing, travel and bills all paid. If you can handle it and are frugal, it's possible to save close to half a millon pounds in fifteen years. Not many can, but those that do have a nice retirement fund. You can get jobs teaching in Saudi without an M.Ed (but you need a B.ed/MA Tesol, BA English or similar), but the pay is usually 80,000 baht-130,000 baht generally with perks (still not bad).

Unless you get hired by the very top tier International schools in Thailand (Harrow etc), you can't really save for retirement. Even if you're qualified for those jobs, those working at those schools rarely leave (who can blame them)? Thailand is a great place to live and work, but for the majority of teachers it's not a place to save. Sad, but true.

There is money to be made in teaching, but sacrifices must be made (no beer, partying, speaking to females, going to shopping malls, being very careful not to upset sensitivities etc).

My advice to the younger ones is to enjoy Thailand for a while if you're teaching here. Unless you get in at the very top end of the school system, look elsewhere when you hit your forties.

Mind you, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow...

"A temporary work permit would be no problem, but you may need a M.Ed within 4 years if you want to stay beyond that."

A total crock. You do need to have a teacher's license which you can get with a Bachelor's in education, a teacher's license in your own country, Tests like Praxis 1,2, Or a M.Ed. There are many different ways to get the license.

A bachelors in any subject though will qualify you for the provisional 2 year license

Erm. I did say ''if you have a teacher's licence from your own country''. His degree isn't a B.Ed it seems. There is another route (tests/culture courses) but not many seem to pass that test. And it's not easy to get on a course at the moment.

My point is that he'll be fine for a while (temp licence if no B.Ed/PGCE/M.Ed or Russian TL) and will need to get a post grad (Education based) unless he has a licence from Russia. The culture course/test route is partly down to luck. All this is only relevant if he wants to stay more than 4 years (less if he changes schools). The two year temp licence tends to get renewed once and after that you need to prove 'progression'.

Luckily for you there is now a shortage of ESL teachers. At a school I used to work at we had a Russian with a degree in maths teaching maths. His English was decent. He also worked in the evenings at a Language centre teaching maths. Mind you, he learned to speak Thai and was almost fluent.

My guess is that you will find work fairly easily if you hunt around. it is a little more difficult for non native speakers to find work, but schools are desperate for applicants that can get a work permit easily. Chiang Mai may be tricky as many want to work there and they usually want native speakers. To be honest, the salaries in CM are very low anyway. You're probably going to find it easier to find work in Bangkok. A temporary work permit would be no problem, but you may need a M.Ed within 4 years if you want to stay beyond that. There are a few M.Ed programmes available in Bangkok that can be completed in 18 months (evening and weekend courses). Mind you, if do do have a full teaching licence from Russia, you may qualify for a full Thai teaching licence and not a temporary one.

If CM is the only place you're keen on, check the internet for jobs and travel up there and visit a few schools with your CV in hand. The new term starts in early November, so it may be difficult to get a job before then. Admin departments at many schools usually open a week or two before classes begin.

I need to fly back to the UK to start a B.Ed. The acceptance came late (as did my application). I had already applied for a new passport. It won't be ready by the time I need to fly home.

Can I use my current one (as in my old one if you get my drift) to fly home (I gave them a colour copy of the passport and they let me keep my old one)? I heard that they cancel the old one while your waiting for the new one. I contacted the pp office and was informed that they only cancel passports that are sent to them or reported lost/stolen. My passport also has less than 6 months of validity on it, but I'm pretty sure I can still use it to fly home.

Is this correct? Or will I need to get an ETD?

Has your payment yet been taken at the Liverpool end? I gather that this is an indication as to when one's old passport is electronically cancelled for travel purposes.

In any event, though, I would advise you to err on the side of caution and obtain an ETD regardless.

I also suggest that you call the helpline in the UK ASAP to see if you can get your new passport delivered to your UK address instead of to With-It Tower.

The guy I spoke to (he seemed pretty clueless to be honest) told me I could fly home on my old passport. He also said that it would cause even bigger delays if I tried to keep my passport in the UK instead of letting them send it to BKK. He said to get someone to come and sign for it in BKK and DHL it back to the UK lol. Add the ETD and how much is this thing gonnna cost in the end? Sure, partly my fault (late acceptance for B.Ed), but it could end up costing me around 300 pounds just to have the privilege of buying an airline ticket.

Will contact them, but need to avoid the helpline. Is there a number I could call with someone on the end who could actually spell 'passport'?

I need to fly back to the UK to start a B.Ed. The acceptance came late (as did my application). I had already applied for a new passport. It won't be ready by the time I need to fly home.

Can I use my current one (as in my old one if you get my drift) to fly home (I gave them a colour copy of the passport and they let me keep my old one)? I heard that they cancel the old one while your waiting for the new one. I contacted the pp office and was informed that they only cancel passports that are sent to them or reported lost/stolen. My passport also has less than 6 months of validity on it, but I'm pretty sure I can still use it to fly home.

Is this correct? Or will I need to get an ETD?

I am not sure the PGCEI from Nottingham has much if any observation but you're correct it is not accepted for teaching in England.

One observation would not be that valuable. A semester of observation and suggestions would be great.

I think it may actually be Keele University. Not sure how many observations you get.

Maybe good for schools to give ratings to teachers and good teachers can keep getting work permits. But this could be open to corruption.

I teach high school math with a degree in math.

Will on online Pgcei from England make me a better teacher? If I believed it would make me a better teacher I would sign up tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure Thailand doesn't accept online degrees. There is a PGCEi via distance learning in which they send over assessors to watch you teach. That one will get you a licence. I think it's with Nottingham. Or it could be Sheffield! Check it out. It's not cheap. It won't give you QTS for the UK, but it is recognised by most nations for teaching in a foreign country. I've been told that Thailand does accept it, but not the online versions.

Another option would be Webster International in Bangkok. It's a Master's in Ed done over 18 months. It's about 150,000 baht. I hear you can pay monthly, although you'll need to confirm it. That will also get you a licence for as long as you wish.

Or, you could just do visa runs if you have no permit soon! Only joking...

You only need to look at the amount of teaching jobs available at the moment. This is the middle of the school year, remember. Can't see teachers doing visa runs anymore if they can't get a work permit due to the school not wanting to pay. The gent above makes a good point. A pal of mine has a degree in maths too. He's been teaching just maths for about seven years. And he's bloody good at it. Now, he's had to enrol on a PGCEi as he's been told (by pals not his school) he won't get a licence next year as he needs a post grad or degree in education. Will it make him a better maths teacher? I'm not so sure. He controls his class well and his students like him and listen to him. They get good results too. Some can't afford the PGCEi/M.Ed and will have to leave.

Is it a good idea to have them replaced with degreed folk (not in Education) with no experience? They can get 4 years (temp licence) with a third class degree in Basket Weaving.

Again, the waiver scheme hasn't been thought out well. Many teachers weren't aware it existed until the last year. If you don't look on here and your school don't tell you, how are you supposed to know that you've only got a year/six months left as your degree isn't in Education? There should be a note stapled into the work permit from the powers that be explaining the temp licence for non Ed degrees and how to get a full one. The culture/test route is difficult to get on and I hear the test is not passed by many. So, the Ed degree is the real route (or a master's in Ed/PGCE+ any degree).

In fact all governments, banks, corporations, courts etc were foreclosed last year. Legally you dont need to ask anyone for a visa. You are free to travel anywhere you want on this planet. The oppt foreclosed the UCC and therefore all laws under the UCC (where under everyone is being traded like a comodity). anyone tries to bother you just show them a courtesy notice. You are within your rights.

Well that's a whole new topic. The one in which humans can go anywhere without a passport. Madness? Meh. It will happen. It really will. Only those in suits with vested interests will continue to stop it. Your arguments against it are retarded. So don't bother. Top of the food chain eh? A worm can crawl between two nations and not get asked for its papers.

I consider myself a world citizen.

I hope this lot sort out a WP for the 'lucky' applicant without the need for visa runs. I'm not naming the school , but this is the advertisement currently on a well known jobsite for teaching in LOS.

A teaching degree is required.

The position that we are offering is grade 1-2 split. We follow an International Common core curriculum (US/Canada. ) The candidate MUST have a valid teaching licence from Canada/US/UK or NZ. School starts September 1. We are interviewing in the next few days by Skype. Interested parties should respond ASAP.

So, they want a QTS level tutor after asking for a valid teaching licence from UK/USA etc.

Fair enough. But for 30,000 baht a month?

Off their rockers.

Many are getting the Ed degree or Master's they need. Malaysia has a decent system in place for workers. Two year visa to start and quite quickly you can get five or even ten year visas. However, it's just as difficult to get started out there. Perhaps even more so, but they are looking at their laws too to make things a little easier (atm you enter on a 3 month visitor visa and need to do a visa run to get a WP/Visa). I only know this from a mate out there atm, but he says they are trying do do away with the need for teachers (or any skilled foreign employee in Malaysia) to do the visa run part.

If Malaysia pull that off, then expect those thinking of returning to SE Asia to bypass LOS for KL or Penang. Oh, and in KL Bangkok's 30k becomes 90-120k with a degree in Education.

Phuket for 30k or Penang for 100k? Hmmmm

Register with the bureau? For what, exactly? A visa runner visa? A tefl runner visa? To get deported? Hopefully, some clarification will be on its way.

If you haven't got a stick just pretend to pick up a rock and throw thin air at them. They always run away.

Not everyone ......

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Hope you've got a work permit for that...

As Kenny Everett once said ''Round 'em up. Put 'em in a field. And bomb the bas....s!''

Yep. The law breakers do make things more difficult for others. I'm no fan, but it's really not my place. Or yours. These numpties make life harder for themselves than anyone else.  However, as a human I find it difficult to be angry with a bloke on hard times with a wife and family. I knew a guy whose roof fell in during the flood (he was staying in a hotel when it happened). Cost him a fortune to fix. So much so, he had problems renewing a visa (he had to sell his car). He did get it sorted but had a short overstay of a few days.

Been in Thailand for over 20 years. Peaceful chap. Wife and three kids all went to Uni at his expense. Would you 'grass' him up? If 'yes', have a word with yourself. Somebody needs to follow plants like this or any other 'Bounty Hunter' around with a video camera and see if he goes over the speed limit or changes lanes without indicating. Or if he has any copied software on his computer or copied CD's/movies. Video the evidence and send it to the appropriate authorities. Also, see if he picks up a lady of the night. That's illegal too.

Methinks some of the old timers are losing it a bit. In the words of Monty Python ''Stop it. It's silly.'' Currying favour will not save your bottoms if they want all the foreigners out. Relax. I really don't think that's the case. I think the authorities can do the job in weeding the unwanted out themselves somehow.

It is ridiculous to overstay, i don't see why. Lazyness? Well, the consequences await you.

I liked by accident. I have an overstay in my pp (now sorted out). Caused by a lawyer. The lawyer had a breakdown. Despite this, he told me that I had a visa and that he was on holiday and I would get my pp back in a few days. Then, he said he crashed his car on the way to my house. Then his mum was ill. Obvously, I didn't beleive him. My options were this:

1) Call the firm (again) and hope.

2) Turn myself in to the police and say that I had no pasport and was almost certainly overstaying. I would be take to IDC if I did that.

I have a wife and a home.

What would you do? Hope or get deported? I hoped.

Things did get sorted out in the end, but it cost A LOT of money (for the firm, not me) and stress. Perhaps I was foolish in getting a lawyer to handle stuff, but many have and I was advised by a few to do it. Very good firm. Never a problem, but the dude lost it. I've used them since believe it or not. A breakdown is a breakdown. Felt sorry for the chap to be honest.

Like the bumper says...S... happens.

You're asking Thailand to adhere to Human Rights. I hope you get what's right. I'm not an old timer basher like some. One can only begin to imagine the thought of being told to leave a the age of 70 after 30+ years here with a home, kids and grandkids. That's horrific. I've only been here 6 years and I'm iffy about leaving (even though I might).

How about extended visas for those that have helped Thais in need? So far, I've paid for a 2m baht home for my wife's family and paid for schooling for children that aren't mine or my wife's (nephew/niece). I also paid for medical care for my wife's sister after a very serious illness (she had a paid nurse 24/7 at home and a hospital bed I paid for...sadly she passed away). I give a monthly allowance to my elderly Thai Father and Mother in law. Many others do this too. Wouldn't it be fair to make life easier for those that do such things?

I'll probably be interested. Would prefer it to be done via an American Uni. Ok, it will cost more, but if payments could be made monthly it would appeal to me.