akaika

There is an hourly van for a little more than 100 baht run by Siracha Transport.  The counter is ground floor near the magic food court, door 8.  Nobody seems to be at the counter most times they are usually at the other counter at the transportation center.  You can call the counter staff at  zero-nine-zero one-nine-seven sixty-seven eighty-two.

The van may or may not go to the terminal and they might tell you to take the free shuttle to the transport center.

This van does not have the space in back for baggage so if it does not fit on your lap and the van gets full, you have to buy a seat for your bag.  If it is nearly empty they generally don't care.

Ahh, wondered when the Koh Chang story would get mentioned in this thread.  Probably a lot of differences.  Read in-depth about the Koh Chang case and it just gets more and more interesting.  In the end, TripAdvisor covered all of his legal costs (not saying I think they should have) but they were rather incensed about what transpired and said so publicly,  Apparently they may also have felt they might be somehow responsible because while they didn't post Mr. Barnes' review, they did share it with the hotel.  Maybe that explains it?

And while I never met Mr. Barnes and a short time after this transpired on Koh Chang, I had not even seen or heard the story.  Probably too busy with the early stages of the pandemic.  But I received his resume and was a little 'shocked' when I did the obligatory internet search of the applicant.  Almost more shocking than the Koh Chang event was that he had fired a gun inside a nightclub in America claiming to be a federal agent or something like that.

First thought is for those of us that are foreigners with children in Thailand, we will likely use our experiences to steer them.  Probably most are either pensioners or working (or both).  Many foreigners I meet are living comfortably of a wage that would be rather minimal in their home country. A lot get by on as low as 25K a month.  So it seems that 25K might be considered a 'good wage' especially if you get it soon after graduating. 

That said, the prospects for university graduates to get 25K++ exist, even as soon as graduating but there are some caveats.  The jobs are usually divided with one category being government and prestigious jobs that pay little in the beginning but offer guaranteed salary increases for life and often many perks such as free housing, medical coverage etc.  Starting pay for a lecturer with a PhD in a government university can be as low as 18K.  Government schools in rural areas are offering a 'retainer' of 5K a month until a government teacher position opens.  People sometimes stay in this role for 3 or more years after they have graduated, usually because they want to or need to stay in that specific location.

The other category are jobs with higher initial salary from 25K to 50K.  These are by definition some type of niche job that often has an associated license or at least a qualification that is more difficult to get.  


 

Since nobody so far has said they got refused entry, I would be surprised if you had any problems.  Many years ago (10++), I went in and out once a month for almost two years, at least 19 times and they never said a thing except once. This was around the time when the immigration was first starting to get serious about visa runs overland as it was the normal way many people stayed and stayed and they wanted to change that. They changed 30 days to 15 days and made many announcements and you could read on thaivisa many reports of which border crossing was the most lenient that week and how/why people were being denied entry.  But basically no comments at all about returning by air.  This included a few trips to Singapore out on first flight back by 5pm.  It was almost clear that the policy was officially to let people in at the airport and one reason may be that it is relatively easy to deny entry at a border crossing where a person can walk back where they came from, which is a country that has a Thai Embassy that could 'fix' the person's problem or at least give them a tourist visa. At the airport that becomes a hassle.  And one last thing, you can offer a very honest reason which, in your case might be that you are waiting for the retirement money to be in the bank for 3 months...

I would like to buy one of these if you are still making them

A lot of people are quoting Thai Labor Protection Act which actually does not apply to most schools.  If the school is technically licensed as a school, not a business, then the law that applies is called the Labor Protection Act for Principles and Teachers (referred to as TLL for 'teacher's labor law' henceforth).  The TLL has some interesting things that are worth investigating.  30 days of paid sick leave is included in the Labor Protection Act but not in the TLL.  The rules about working during lunch, being assigned extra work periods and rules about working while the school is not in session are also included.

As for the question relating to covid specifically, All schools since May of 2020 were required to complete a 44 item covid action plan in order to reopen.  This plan included details about how the school would respond in the event they had staff, teaching or support that got covid specifically requiring them to establish policies for pay.  Mainly this was for government schools to create contingency accounting plans that usually do not have foreigners working unless through an agency.  So here is what can be said...

If a school employee (teacher or support) has social security it is legal for the school to reduce pay 50% and the employee can obtain the other 50% from their social security.  One thing is that the social security can make a determination if they will pay or not for this claim.  In other words, no guarantee and it is very likely that they might deny a claim if the school/employee has not exhausted the paid sick leave for that employee.  But this is not likely to remain as a policy because the reason was that this means all other sick leave afterwards would be without pay and there is no chance for social security to pay more after the covid situation.  

It is also possible for a school to obtain on behalf of the employee or require the employee to obtain covid insurance that will pay 100,000 baht in the event of getting covid and having lost wages.  This was initially inexpensive around 5000 baht for this type of policy.

In another thread, many people were also commenting about sick leave in general.  It seems clear the community is not well informed of the actual policies even in the more general Labor Protection Act.  Even thought this law is translated and the many addendums are too, it is frequently misread, misrepresented.  Even by law firms.  

I went through  similar but different situation and the details may still be relevant.  In my case, I bought foreclosed property from the bank but was willing to allow the previous owners to remain until such time that I needed to commence remodeling.  They had actually been squatting in the property for more than 5 years after the bank foreclosed.  The bank said they 'have to allow this' until such time as they sell the property or the previous owner commits some act that damages the property.

Anyway, they were nice and I didn't want to upset them because they actually owned the neighboring land as well.  However, the bank lawyer informed me that if they later refused to move out, I could have some difficulty.  They explained the legal system that I might need to go to court  on my own or with my own lawyer.

The bank legal department said it was much better to allow the bank to remove them first.  Then if I wanted to rent the property I could do so.  Even starting the same day.  And so I did exactly that.  This required going first to the provincial court in Chonburi.  The bank lawyer talked, the judges talked, I singed what seemed like 100 papers and we went back to the land office and I singed about 50 more papers and then back to the court again for a single form which I understand was an eviction order.  Then we went to see the previous owners and they had to move everything out but after doing so, they decided not to rent after all nd stayed in their other property.
 

I'm both retired navy and employed in Thailand.  Talked to the Tricare overseas 3 times starting 2 weeks ago and have 2 answers.  "Reimbursable' is in the lead.  Meanwhile, Thai social security called and inquired about all employees if they wanted the vaccine for them to plan.  This included foreigners.  So I decided to wait a little longer before paying first.

For reference, there are a few more navy in country than just the naval attache.  But not anything like 15 years ago.

And, not a well known about unit but the US navy has a not-so-secret-anymore organization called NAMRU-TWO.  (Naval Medical Research Unit-2)  They do on-again-off-again research on tropical diseases including in Thailand.  They used ot be based here but the main office is now in Singapore.  The Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda also collaborates with Mahidol University's tropical medicine faculty which has included a few in country researchers that were active duty Navy and Air Force.

Hello Travis,

Hopefully one of the places you are looking at is mine ???? With more than a decade teaching hundreds of students in both PC and natural building here in Thailand, the other responses are exactly correct. As our project is also a licensed learning center, we can obtain visas for longer duration stays if required and we always register our students with immigration according to the regulations.

Wherever you decide to go, you should not have a problem.

Lots of good comments and even the ones with the Titanic picture are entertaining.  But the facts seem that this could be an accurate statement.  High speed trains in other countries in Asia have had initial costs in this range.  Japan is the only country that engineered high speed rails independently.  Korea included engineering assistance from French companies and some German companies.  Taiwan uses Japanese technology.
 

A German company provides much of the rail engineering work already in Thailand.  They have always been eager to move faster.  The least expensive high speed rail in Asia is Taiwan.  The cost for a similar length/duration trip is about 900 baht - 1200 baht depending on the express nature of the train.  This is after they have had many price increases over the 15 years of operation.  In Japan,  prices are very competitive when you consider the time aspect.  In other words, airport check-in time and boarding time.  And when time is money, this matters.  Same can be said for Korea.

In Thailand however, the industrial nature does not seem to support the need for this much travel at high speed.  So I would still say I am skeptical as to how well this might work initially.  It will be interesting to watch it develop though...

Round-the-world touring cyclists are quite common in Thailand.  There is a website called warm showers.org that allows cyclists to find places to stay around the world.  Anyone interested in meeting some adventurous people and helping by providing a place to camp or a room should check the site.  I have hosted more than 60 in several years and it has become more and more popular.  Last November, 11 came in one week and so far this month, 5 with 2 more arriving tomorrow.

I had no contact with the Chilean cyclist that was killed however, about a year before another couple that were on the way to stay with me were also killed.(Peter Root and Mary Thompson).  Another from China was hit by a truck and suffered a very badly fractured leg only 20 minutes after assembling his bike at Suvarnabhumi.   I always warn cyclists I host and often recommend they use the train while inside Thailand as much as possible for a safer option.  Most are already aware of the risks...

It IS an international airport with flights to Malaysia for sure. 500 per day for 7 days is 3500 per person and it was 3 people = 10,500 No problems with these facts...

Does Surat Thani airport even have immigration, i dont think it does, why would they be fined there anyway, they were departing Thailand BKK, either badly reported or some BS being written

And 7 × 500 doesnt equal THB10500 BTW if it was genuine fine they overstayed 21 days

1 If 7 days = THB 3500
2 overstayed 21 days
3 scammed by someone
4 someone is writing BS

A few factual things wrong with this story

You could possibly get a multiple entry Non Immigrant B visa. This would be valid for 1 year, but you would be obliged to leave the country every 90 days and then return.

What about the online reporting they have now? Wouldn't this satisfy the 90 day reporting?

There is a lot of good information here. At least good questions. It is always difficult when 2 posters seem to have such strong affirmations that the same thing will 'work' and be 'impossible' and it is too bad that the details of these are not made more clear for others.

Too many suggestions to go to another country though... Doesn't anyone consider that if a person wanted to open a business in Cambodia they might post in the 'opening a business in Cambodia' forum? and after getting all the answers in this forum they could make up their own mind if they wanted to stay or go themselves?

I would have kept the leg and made a lamp out of it.

A major award just in time for Christmas you mean?

I'm currently on a visa run to Hong Kong where I'm trying to apply for a nonB visa in preparation for a work permit. All my paperwork is in order except that I have been asked, by the embassy, for a copy of my CRB check ... Is this something I should be getting from the UK? The staff member couldn't seem to explain where I should get it! Can I apply for my own CRB check? What do others do? I'm only planning to work for a language school but they've offered me work teaching students from age 7 - adults.

From what I know that is you can get a non-b without a degree for a Language School but the Work Permit will be rejected due to the non degree.

Different labour offices, different interpretations of labour law.

Also, interpretations can be influenced by the connections/status of the school owner.

Nothing is black and white.

I

I was informed that Hong Kong would only service residents of HK and not anyone else so I am curious if you are successful getting the visa if you are not a HK resident. Please update this post when you succeed... (hopefully)

No degree or teacher license/ provisional teaching permit is needed when being employed by language schools/ teacher agencies.

Why do you not need a teacher licence?

Language schools aren't legally schools, which is why they're usually called things such as "language centres". Hence no need for the licence.

Language Schools are sometimes 'schools' licensed under the min of education and sometimes businesses (such as some after school programs). If they are schools, they need to have 'teachers' that work there meet the requirements for the visa and the WP. At the meeting in Pattaya last month, the ministry of education said that foreigners could also be hired as marketing and administrative workers and a couple other positions in language schools (which was surprising).

My current understanding is 5 countries (UK, AU, NZ, CN, US) have some special rules for teaching English in language (non-formal) education schools. They do not require the same certification as applicants from other countries. Agencies might represent both formal education institutions or language schools so could likely place anyone if they have many 'clients' looking for teachers. Many formal schools are still using the 'education specialist' loophole to secure teachers without accredited teaching licensure.

A minimum of 2 pilots but long flights have up to 6. Longer flights have 1 full crew on rest at destination sometimes 2 or 3. At least one crew on rest in home country. Training, called sick and vacation... Actually this is not over the top at all. Pilots paid salary plus per diem so even extra pilots are not as expensive as might be considered as they are really compensated only for the days they fly.

It seems they are actually short rather than over staffed since Thai still gets pilots on 'loan' from the air force too.

1,350 pilots for a fleet of currently 93 aircraft flying to just 78 international destinations (plus a handful of domestic ones)?

Seems the entire pilot roster is just as hopelessly over-staffed as top management.

1,350 pilots / 93 aircraft. That's just over 14 pilots per plane. Seems a bit "over the top" if you ask me.

at least 2 but up to 5 pilots in a single flight. A crew on rest at each destinations and sometimes 2 crews. And a crew at home on rest. Sick calls and vacations. This is a normal amount of crew...

Let see western governments do the same to Thai nationals with investments abroad, make these rules reciprocal.

These rules are already reciprocal. Foreign owned companies in the USA is harder than you might imagine. Recently had a friend that had already started to set up a company. Left USA to obtain the business visa and received the temporary business visa but upon returning, she was detained for investigation of the business by the immigration agents in the airport in Hawaii. After they reviewed the website, it was determined this business would allow revenue to leave the US so she was refused entry. After more than 48 hours in detention in the airport, with a toddler, she had to immediately return to Thailand.

"...i wonder how they even got the visas to get across the pond in the first place."

1. I don't think they actually flew in via an open international like LAX or Oahu and

2. There are no corrupt officials in US immigration or embassies around the world?

Greasing palms in many areas helps a lot of people get what they want - it's just that those who grease 'always' do so for illegal means.

The comment about they travelled there of their own free will so they were not forced labour, is ridiculous. They were conned into promise of lucrative jobs and travelled by their own free will only to have their passports confiscated, any chance of monies coming in being deducted (at exorbitant interest), for their travel costs and being made to sign over property as security thus they become slave labour. What is not clear about the methodology here?

You obviously have not seen the agency groups travel into LAX. And there is nothing ridiculous about traveling on their own free will. Living in a "modified container" is better than living in a tin shack especially when you can get 10 times the daily salary for easier work in many cases. In America, any legitimate company can easily sponsor special needs visas good for up to 3 years. Casinos arrange work/study for any "college" student. The farm working program is only applicable for Hawaii because Hawaii has no seasonal migrant workers. I know plenty that want to move to London to work in their friend's cousin's sister-in-law's restaurant and KNOW FULL WELL that it will be 15-18 hour days and they will sleep in the kitchen pantry on the floor but they want to earn 50,000 baht a month.

Slavery and forced labor is one thing but so many of these are clearly on the side of free will.