omarcomin

We're now of the opinion that this online WP issue for volunteers will not be resolved until a bunch of the big Bangkok-based NGOs make a fuss to whomever might listen. And even they might be ignored. Our little foundation in the northeast won't affect any change really, I'm afraid.

Hi Brandon. Thanks for the reply. We did this and the Department of Employment was vey sympathetic to the situation but they do not oversee the new online WP system. It has seemingly been outsourced to a private company and the DoE has no influence over it's efficiency or otherwise. We did exactly as you describe in fact. The issue for us is not the DoE, but the Dept of Social Development who are the final step in the process. If the non-O visa and the WP do not match identically, they will not allow the application to proceed. (Interestingly, their oversight is a new role in the process, apparently as a result of the recent issue with volunteer visas being issued to overseas criminal organisations.)

I work at a foundation near Nong Khai. Over the last few years, our volunteers have applied for a non-O volunteer visa in their own country. Once they arrived, they applied for a work permit. The next step was a letter from the Dept of Social Development at the local Governor’s office to approve their extension from a 3-month to 12-month non-O volunteer visa. The new online work permit application process has put an end to that, as there is no option for “volunteer” in the dropdown menu, meaning that, while they will (somehow) be granted a work permit, the visa and WP do not match, and so the department will not give the go-ahead for the extension as before. We have had long and fruitless meetings with the Departments of Employment and Social Development but they, perhaps understandably, shrug and say they can do nothing about it – we’re supportive but it’s the fault of the new WP system. So, our volunteers are looking at two options. They cannot do a NK border dash to come back on tourist visas as that net has tightened. So, they either go to Vientiane and apply for another 3-month non-O volunteer visa or fly to Hanoi or KL and return 4/5 days later on 60-day tourist visas, with the possibility of extending by 30 more at the local immigration office. Or they go home. Any ideas?