thefarangteacher

I am concerned if I resubmit everything online my application will be restarted from the beginning, adding another year to the time it’ll take to actually get everything processed. I mentioned the committee meetings in my original post: Kurusapa said those meetings (that never happened) were reserved for applications submitted in July 2023. So they have everything of mine in the system, in a queue of some kind. There is as much reason to think resubmitting everything online will reset my queue to July 2024 as there is that it’ll allow me to jump to the front of the queue, and to my mind that is not an acceptable risk.

Good point, this makes a lot of sense. To speak to the rest of your post, I was initially putting together my application together online and reached out to the Kurusapa LINE with a question, and that’s when they told me just submit everything through the mail. So that website says one thing, and Kurusapa tells me another.

On the contrary, I engaged with that advice. You originally said: Which is untrue, as I can check that status just fine having submitted the application by post. Another poster wrote about how applying online could “double your application” and “speed things up” which would potentially be good advice if my problem was that Kurusapa had not received my application. They have my application, they’ve just been sitting on it for a year. My original question was: Doing “same same but different,” which is what reapplying online after a year boils down to, does not address that question.

Very helpful advice, thank you.

At worst it would reset the clock on my application because it is already in their system. So I could lose a year of time already spent waiting.

I can do that now. There has been no progress on my application since I paid the fee last year. Hence why I have to ask on LINE for updates.

What are you and the other poster suggesting, exactly, by encouraging me to apply online, when I’ve already applied by mail? Because I don’t see how starting the entire process over by doing this will help in any way. Via LINE, Kurusapa suggested I send all my documents by mail together since some documents could only be sent by mail, according to them. Please explain your reasoning.

How would that help when they already have everything they’ve asked for?

I sent them everything through Thai Post and have been regularly communicating with them through the Kurusapa LINE account.

I work at an international school. You need a Thai teaching license for the non b visa and the work permit.

I am a NES teacher with a US teaching license and QTS. One year ago (July 2023) I applied for the "Qualification Certificate to Obtain a Professional License For Teachers In Case of Having Completed a Degree From Another Country." By applied, I mean I sent all documents Kurusapa requested and they confirmed as much. Then I paid the fee a few months later (their payment system was down for several months) and since then there has no been no further progress on my application. They told me that there would be committee meetings this past January and March where my documents would be reviewed, but that never happened for reasons they did not care to elaborate on. Since then nothing has been done, other than telling me that reviewing my documents will take a very long time and telling me I can use my proof of fee payment to get another teacher waiver. The problem is my visa and work permit expire at the end of this month and Kurusapa is dragging its feet on getting me the teaching waiver. My school is helping me and when my principal told them how urgent this is their reply was something along the lines of "we'll try our best." The principal also asked them when the "Qualification Certificate" would be issued and they said they had no idea and they were very sorry it has taken a year now. My question is: what can I do to get Kurusapa to actually do their jobs? It is unacceptable that they have not done anything with my application in one year, and that I am in a situation where I might not get my visa and work permit renewed because they cannot / will not get their acts together. I'm at my wits end here, and am even wondering if contacting an attorney would bear fruit one way or another. Please advise.

I showed my wife this comment and it helped clarify some things for her, so thank you.

That was made clear from the onset. But of course, talk of money has only continued, and now we have this situation to deal with. I did tell my wife back when this deal was arranged that this would happen, and I think as a result she’s more inclined to listen to my advice.

Very encouraging advice thank you. It’s hard for her to ignore the gossip, especially when it is repeated back to her by family members she trusts, but we are working on it. She has allies but there are less of them than ones who are happy to say nasty things.

Great comment and thank you, that’s very helpful.

Thank you for the comment. Bullying is a good word to describe what they’re doing to my wife. Nobody else in the family is subjected to this bull<deleted>. One particular aunt, the ringleader of the bullying faction, has always had it out for my wife, and will seize on whatever she can to impugn my wife in the eyes of the family and the village. Now it’s sinsod, last year it was not paying grandma, the year before it was “the farang will leave you any day now and you’ll be poor,” the year before that it was “why are you visiting the village, you chose the farang,” etc. If I paid the sinsod (which I’m not going to do), it’ll be something else before too long. You can never make toxic people happy. I’ve tried to make this clear in other comments that this is not about “Thai culture” or “assimilating” or my “refusing to accept Thai cultural practices”; all of those are just excuses used as a weapon to make my wife miserable.

What you say makes a lot of sense. However, my wife has told her family repeatedly that I take great care of her and that she wants for nothing. But apparently that’s not sufficient; the sinsod must still be paid. Which is why I think it’s just about getting more and more money.

It’s the “we don’t live in the dark ages, my wife is not property that must be bought in exchange for money” principle.

Exactly the point I’m making to my wife. Toxic people are never satisfied no matter what you do. They’ll never stop demanding more. If we do pay the sinsod then it’ll be “oh the farang didn’t pay enough” or “wow he can afford such a large sinsod he should give larger monthly payments too.” People can say “it’s just Thai culture” all they want, but my feeling is they’re using culture as a bludgeon to extract as much money as possible from my poor wife.

My attitude 100%. That’s what makes it a principle.

Thank you. It really is driving my poor wife crazy. She doesn’t deserve this.

I’m in my mid-30. I’m not a retiree; I don’t have the kind of money those guys do due to their station in life. So from me, 2,000 baht a month is generous, especially since it’s 2,000 baht more than I give my sick parents. That’s a large part of the problem here: the family’s perception that just because I am a “farang” that I’m loaded. I’m not. The kind of sinsod someone with this attitude would ask for is something I could not afford (as written previously they’re already implying 50,000 baht would be a pittance so I’m assuming they would ask for at least double that).

Very true! Worth considering.

My wife and I don’t even want this. As I said in my original post, it’s our wedding, not theirs. We don’t want a sinsod to be a part of the ceremony because it’s a concept/tradition both of us find repellent on principle, even if it’s just for show. Why should we be forced to include something neither of us wants, especially when I’m already doing the monthly payments?

I already compromised by agreeing to the monthly payments. That’s me accepting a “good part of Thai reality.” I’m not the party in this situation that has the “my way or the highway” attitude, which is my overall point.