Michael N

Oh, man, the intellectual level here really is impressive (but neither constructive nor helpful).

On 8/2/2018 at 2:26 PM, jgarbo said:

It's the law. "Using your knowledge, with or without compensation" is work, which needs a permit.

Volunteering is illegal in Thailand. You don't like it, go back to your own country and volunteer there. Simple.

Not any longer. Since the 2nd Amendment of the Royal Decree in March this year, working as a volunteer, ie. without compensation, is legal, and you will not get a work permit for it, even if you applied (as I did).

By now, November 6, 2018, has this issue been finally resolved? I would appreciate a response very much because, last Friday, I have encountered the same problem in Bangkok, that is, the Labor Office rejected my application for a work permit since, as a volunteer, I had no income or other benefits. When time comes to extend my non-B visa, on which I had relied on previous such occasions (rather than non-O), I expect that Immigration at Chaeng Wattana will want to see my work permit. And since I would not be able to present it to them, they will reject the extension of my visa.

I would much appreciate if anybody involved with this issue, and reliable follow-up information to the article, could respond on my post.

57 minutes ago, Michael N said:

What you are saying is that, when time comes, I should take my application for visa extension with all the documents, minus the work permit, to Immigration, and then see, whether they accept or reject it. But I would rather know beforehand what Immigration will do. Such as in the case of Chiang Mai, where ThaiVisa reported that the labor office rejected issuing work permits to volunteers, on which Immigration reacted by not issuing visa extensions. How has this "standoff," as they called it, been resolved since the problem arose sometime in July/August of this year? I have not seen any follow-up news on this issue. So, what is the situation now in Chiang Mai, or in any other province, including Bangkok? Are there any foreign volunteers with concrete experience about this issue?

The original article I variously mentioned can be found at this link: https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1050924-expat-volunteers-in-chiang-mai-denied-visas-in-work-permit-standoff/

What you are saying is that, when time comes, I should take my application for visa extension with all the documents, minus the work permit, to Immigration, and then see, whether they accept or reject it. But I would rather know beforehand what Immigration will do. Such as in the case of Chiang Mai, where ThaiVisa reported that the labor office rejected issuing work permits to volunteers, on which Immigration reacted by not issuing visa extensions. How has this "standoff," as they called it, been resolved since the problem arose sometime in July/August of this year? I have not seen any follow-up news on this issue. So, what is the situation now in Chiang Mai, or in any other province, including Bangkok? Are there any foreign volunteers with concrete experience about this issue?

11 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Who told you that? As far as I know volunteer work still needs work permit.

Immigration has not changed their requirements for extensions based upon working as a volunteer. If it was no longer required they would of changed their requirements by doing a change to the police order which has not been done.

The Bangkok Labor Office at the Ministry of Labor rejected my work permit application arguing that I did not gain any income or benefits from my work. This kind of work does not need a work permit since the second amendment to the Royal Decree governing foreign workers. This amendment came into effect this March. It changed the definition of "work". Previously, this covered both paid and non-paid (volunteer) jobs. The new definition is "kanprakopachip" (การประกอบอาชีพ), meaning that you work as a paid professional. By the way, this same amendment also exempted all short-term internships, meeting attendances, etc. from having to apply for a work permit. Thus, this amendments has a number of positive changes. Unfortunately, though, there does not seem to have been an adjustment on the Immigration side, as far as I know.

I entered Thailand on a non-B 90-days visa to work as an academic volunteer. Upon applying for the work permit, I was told that I could work right away. I did not need any work permit any longer since the law had been changed in March 2018. That's fine with me. However, the question then is how can I extend my visa if Immigration still insist on seeing the work permit (be it non-B or Non-O Volunteer). I have seen an article on this on Thai Visa, I think from about August), saying that hundreds of volunteers had encountered this problem. Is there anybody who can tell me how this issue has been resolved? Btw, I work in Bangkok, so I do not know the situation in Chiang Mai.