SirDrumsalot

I'm not sure about the visa requirements, but I have spent quite a bit of time in the airport, too much time. Really not much to do here other than grabbing a bite to eat. I highly doubt they will accept GBP or Baht, but they love American cash there. If you need to exchange money here, don't change much becuase they love to rip you off!

Has anyone arrived at Suvarnabhumi lately? I was wondering if the 10,000 baht limit is being strictly enforced or not. Any insight into RECENT events is much appreciated.

I do feel a lot of sympathy for TEFLs wihtout a degree and who have to scramble to find a solution to their situation, especially if they have family or other important ties in Thailand. However, when I was teaching in Bangkok 5 years ago, there was talk of a crackdown on teachers without work permits. At the time I was in my mid-20s, but I worked with a lot of teachers in their 30s and 40s who had been there for a while and had family there. I saw these guys doing their regular visa runs and I decided that was not the lifestyle I wanted to live. I was also afraid of the impending 'crackdown' which has now come to fruition.

So what did I do? I decided to move back to my home-country and pursue a university degree so that I would eventually be able to work legally in Thailand. It was a long 4 years, and a lot of money, but now that I have a degree I'm ready to move back to Thailand and earn a decent salary (by Thai standards that is).

What bothers me the most is how this will affect people who are not abusing the system, but who get caught up in these tighter regulations. I was planning on entering Thailand on a tourist visa, leaving after a few weeks for a short trip in Malaysia and returning 3 days later to enter Thailand on a new tourist visa. Now I'm afraid I will be scrutinized for leaving and returning so quickly although I have no intention on making this a routine. Perhaps I'm being over paranoid, but it may all boil down to the mood the immigration officer is in the day I pass through his station.

I do believe the Thai government, or military junta, is to blame for this nasty situation because they let it go on for so long and have now decided to crackdown on it without presenting viable options for TEFLs without a university degree. It would make complete sense to introduce some sort of TEFL course at colleges in Thailand which could give qualifications to teach in Thailand. This could be a 1 or 2 year course. Any longer and teachers might as well get a University degree. Introducing a course like this would allow Thailand to determine how they want their English teachers trained, allow them to incorporate Thai culture classes and also bring in significant income from tuition fees. Why this has not happened yet is baffling. It's an easy solution. Otherwise, how will Thailand attract qualified teachers if they could earn WAY more teaching in South Korea, Japan or China?

This crackdown was not well thought out at all. But to all you TEFLs without work permits, how long did you really think you could keep up this visa-run lifestyle? I imagine there are a number of loopholes to get around this crackdown, including eduction or marriage visas, but this will take time and money. All I can say is I sincerely wish you the best of luck if you are a teacher who genuinely cares about education and improving your students' English.

"I do believe the Thai government, or military junta, is to blame for this nasty situation because they let it go on for so long and have now decided to crackdown on it without presenting viable options for TEFLs without a university degree."

Why should they? What planet do you people live on?

OB

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

It's just bad governance what they're doing now. They will realise this soon enough and have to rush to make changes so that they don't lose so many English teachers. It's crazy they didn't learn from what happened recently with Cambodian workers - a mass exodus, then they had to immediately set up provisions to get them work permits. There may not be as many English teachers as Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand, but there's surely enough to massively distupt businesses who rely on these teachers.

A toad and a southern peeled something dominate this thread with their slurs and veiled insults.

One has made 13,000 posts since 2006 about 5 day and the other about 15,400 posts over 6 years or about 7 a day, day in day out.

Both claim to have a life................"ho ho ho"

Sad for Thai Visa that such people predominate.

Driving to Suphan tomorrow, won't take my passport or keep to the speed limits.

Great stuff.

What really cracks me up, both of them are probably on more per day than yer average TEFLr makes in a month.

Who needs a life, its money that matters, ho ho ho.

Personally, I dont get out of bed for less than 200k per month, the normal daily rate is 20/25 k baht per day depending on location.

Brazil is nice this time of year, North Sea too cold.

Enjoy your stay.

Lol. Are you really bragging about your salary? How shallow can you be? Sad you don't realise how much you're degrading yourself with comments like that.

English teachers are obviously not moving to Thailand for a high-salary. Believe it or not, you can live a very happy life without being paid ten times more than your neighbours.

Tell that to the Thais, its one of the first qustions they ask, how much do you earn.

To the Thais, it defines the pecking order, eg, who should wai who first.

My nickname is Shallow Hal, I can go as low as a ducks ass at 30 fathoms, you?

Degrading myself, yes been there done that, prostitutued myself for the arab oil dollar

So because Thais place too much value on money, it's ok for you to do the same? That's like saying, "Thais judge people by the tone of their skin, so that's fine by me". Try setting an example of good values instead of spreading hate.

I know this is way of topic and my apologies to people who are actually concerned. But someone needs to help this sad man.

A toad and a southern peeled something dominate this thread with their slurs and veiled insults.

One has made 13,000 posts since 2006 about 5 day and the other about 15,400 posts over 6 years or about 7 a day, day in day out.

Both claim to have a life................"ho ho ho"

Sad for Thai Visa that such people predominate.

Driving to Suphan tomorrow, won't take my passport or keep to the speed limits.

Great stuff.

What really cracks me up, both of them are probably on more per day than yer average TEFLr makes in a month.

Who needs a life, its money that matters, ho ho ho.

Personally, I dont get out of bed for less than 200k per month, the normal daily rate is 20/25 k baht per day depending on location.

Brazil is nice this time of year, North Sea too cold.

Enjoy your stay.

Lol. Are you really bragging about your salary? How shallow can you be? Sad you don't realise how much you're degrading yourself with comments like that.

English teachers are obviously not moving to Thailand for a high-salary. Believe it or not, you can live a very happy life without being paid ten times more than your neighbours.

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I do believe the Thai government, or military junta, is to blame for this nasty situation because they let it go on for so long and have now decided to crackdown on it without presenting viable options for TEFLs without a university degree.

Why should they provide options to people who are not even citizens or PR of Thailand ?

When I took my job in Thailand I had to be qualifed for the position by virtue of education and experience in that postion, if there was any apsect of the job I wasnt qualifed for, I couldnt stamp my feet and say it not fair and then demand they must change the requirements to suit me, I would have been laughed out the door..

so once again we are back to this self entitlement thing some people have.

I'm just saying they should find a better way to address these problems other than cracking down on hundreds, possibly thousands of teachers working illegally. What they are doing now will either cause teachers to leave Thailand in droves or lead to other loopholes being used, including massive corruption from being able to pay an agent to obtain the proper documentation for you. Sure, these teachers may have been taking advantage of a weak system in Thailand, but they are being taken advantage of as well by schools who are eager to hire unqualified teachers so they can pay them low wages while they get rich from charging high tuition fees.

I'm a 29 year old Canadian male moving back to Bangkok in early August this year. I'm looking for a shared accomodation with expats for a couple months. I'm relatively quiet and very clean.

I'd prefer a location near the BTS, but I'm flexible. The maximum I'm willing to pay is 10,000 a month (including bills).

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Btw, I'm not a creepy sex tourist or anything like that. I will be starting a new teaching job in September and consider myself to be a proper gentleman

Has anyone here had any expereinces bringing new jewelry into Thailand? I'm bringing an engagement ring for my Canadian girlfriend living in Bangkok. I have all the documentation and receipts for it.

I don't want to pack it in my checked luggage and it doesn't seem worth the risk trying to get away without declaring it. The value definitely exceeds 10,000 baht, but not the 80,000 limit.

I was wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how much duty I'll have to pay on this. I've read it's up to 30% which would be a huge fee! But others say only 7%...

Any insight you can provide is much appreciated. Thanks!