Mario2008

Haven't don it myself this way but all agencies provide this service. THe US embassy website provides a list of transaltion agencies. Just use one of them. (The price will ofcourse be more as they also need to translated the divorce papers).

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/tra...otographers.pdf

Good luck with you wedding.

Suggest you try Mae Sot crossing into Burma...

I don't think that immigration officers at border crossings deal with the 90-day address report. Is it possible that you are off topic here?

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Maestro

Mae Sod has both a border crossing and an immigraton office a few meters from there.

You need to contact your embassy and get a document from that stating that things that you are currenlty single, hwat your income is etc. Your embassy has standerd forms for that, called something like capacity to marriage form. This form you have to get translated and than legalised by the Thai foreign office, consular section. Your embassy(website) will tell you exactly what to do and wich documents to provide.

With the legalized document you go to the amphur office and be wed.

Have a look here if you can have Thai nationality.

http://www.thaiembassy.org.au/migration_info.pdf

This is from the Thai embassy in Australia, but the rules are the same everywhere. Contact the embassy or consulate in the US to see what papers they need.

Remember what happend after the tsunami. Volunteers were welcom, with a WP! That change to the assurence they wouldn't be checked and months later the announcement came that all volnteers should have a WP or would be prosecuted.

Hello Simon, I just answered your question in the visa forum. But for others who might be interested I will try to anwer it here as well.

The visa you will get depends on weather you are a volunteer or not. Paid teachers get a non-B visa, volunteers a non-O. On a Non-B you will be able to get a salary as a teacher, but there just is no minimum salary, as opposed to other jobs. As volunteer you will not get paid, simply because otherwise you woudn't be a volunteer. However you can get expenses paid, like for travel, books, lunch, coffee, etc. Some schools offer free living at the school. That part is for you to negotiate with the school.

Getting a non-o visa and yearly extensions is no problem as a volunteer teacher with a government school. So far I had dealings with 2 different labour offices. Both only required a bachelor degree.

As the teacherslicense isn't yet mandatory right now you only need a bachelor degree in any field. From the ajarn.com website you can learn that it is expected to be required starting next school year, but that the excact rules are not clear yet.

Right now the only other requiremtents lies with the paperwork the school has to give to both immigration and the labour office. Important is that you also need a letter from the director of the school district. With that letter you can get one year extensions, with only a letter from the director of the school you get 3 monthly extensions.

Other requirements are a list of the foreign workers working at the school, a map to your home, a work schedule, a volunteer contract, application forms of the labour office and immigration and a few other documents.

It appers that normaly you would get a visa under point 7.20 of the following link.

http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Police_O...er_Oct_2006.pdf

But as your organisation doesn't have a presence in Thailand yet, I wouldn't know who could sign the request for you to stay in Thailand. Follow the advice of PeaceBlondie and contact one of the forom sponsers for advice.

Don't worry. I'm here as a volunteer teacher on a non-immigrant as well, with yearly extensions. The rule class 10 rank means that you don't only need the paperwork from the director of the school but also a letter from the director of the school district of your province.

The visa you will get depends on wether you will get paid or not. The rule under 7.5 is for a paid teacher and will get you a Non-B. Under 7.20 you will get a non-O. As you said you quallify to be a teacher you can choose if you wnat to work as a volunteer or as a paid teacher. Of course if you want residency they will aso look at your social activities to determine if you are an asset to the great of the country. Volunteer work might help in that regard.

Regarding your qualifications, currently you only need a bachelor degree in any field. The teacherslicense is not yet a requirement, but is expected to be one for the next school year. However the rules are still not clear. For more information check here:

http://www.ajarn.com/Banter/rulesandregulations.htm

For the immigration part you can have a look here, under point 7.20, page 6.

http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Police_O...er_Oct_2006.pdf

I agree. Lopburi is right. But yes, you can have "special" deals. The rules however require a workpermit to be able to ship household items tax free. And you can only import a reasonable ammount of each item, so 2 tv and fridges etc will be out of the question.

For the rules look here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

A government school is fine. I work my self as a volunteer at a government school. Regarding you having to pay for the WP is a question of negotiation with the school. The schools I have worked for always have paid them for me. The fee is currently 3,100 baht.

Just make sure the school is willing to do the required paperwork and know how to do it. It isn't that difficult and I had always great cooperation by the local labour office.

Contact the airline and explain your situation. It is up to them and some are more relaxed than others. Might help if you can show an invitation from your friend in Laos. Just email so you have a reply in wrting. If they say no you will have to get a tourist visa.

For the quote of RickFalang, 90 days after arriving in the country, iam not sure, as i left the country last week, asked for a re-entry stamp at pattaya immigration, and they gave me the paper in the back of my pasport that i have to report next month (also got a new pasport, so the paper got lost with the old pasport) seems that with me they looked at the last time i reported to immigration, not when left/entered the country....

Peter

Same experience in Mae Sod, although that was 2005. They just look at the last time I reported and when I pointed out that i had left the country and returned in the meanwhile they told me I was mistaken about the rules. That wasn't a problem, as I was there for an extention and my 90 day reporting wasn't due anyway. But also the extension wasn't seem by Mae Sod as 90 day reporting.

Like already stated above by others you will have to pay taxes.

You can find the rules here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

Congratulations on your wedding and I hpe you can register the marriage soon.

For registering a mariage in Thailand you need to have the capacity to mariage form signed by the German embassy. It is up to them to decide the rules under wich they will certify that you are currently not maried (deforced). I'm surprised that the German government would like to see the documents translated into German. I would think legalisation would be enough as it is in English. As far as I know the Thai governent doesn't need to see a translation of all the paperwork. Only of the certificate to get married.

You can also apply for a non-immigrant visa based on your marriage, like Little Beer said. On that base you can come to Thailand and in Thailand apply for a one year extension of your non-immigrant visa and do that every year. For that you will need a family income of 40,000 baht a month.

Look here for the rules regarding the extension of a non-immigrant based on mariage, under point 7.17, page 6.

http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Police_O...er_Oct_2006.pdf

Indeed you will need a workpermit. Volunteer work in itself can even be a reason to get a non-immigrant visa. However you will need a letter from a registered charity or something, like a government school or the local tesabaan stating you do volunteer work. There are also some other requirements, like a workschedule, etc. Best is to contact the local labour office for what documents they will need. I volunteer myself and my local labour office has always been very cooperative.

Main thing is that you can not start a project on your own and get a WP. Make use of an organization or the local school, hospital or teesabaan, who is wiiling to support you.

Check different airlines and their ticket rules, wich states the rules regarding canceling the ticket, changing the flight date etc. Some tickets can not be refunded, but many tickets can (for a certain price, mentioned in he ticket rules). If you have trouble understanding just explain to a travel agent and make sure they book a refundable ticket or a ticket that can be refundable for a low price.

http://travel.thaivisa.com/ seems so far to be ok and booking in Thailand is cheaper than in the UK.

You can exspect to pay duties.

However, there are 2 exceptions:

1. thai person living abroad and returning to thailand to live there again.

2. person setteling in thailand with a Work Permit.

You can have one duty free shipping to thailand of your household goods within the first 6 month of your workpermit.

Sorry to sneak into this 3d.. I assume reading it that in case of marriage the future thai wife is not forced to change surname on ID card and passport? She can choose to keep her's thai surname instead of aquiring mine? We're looking to marry soon and is one point she don't like: she would keep her name, for me it's ok, but my question is: she can with no problem?

Thanks for the answer.

Bye

Max

She can keep her own name, with no problem.

As the poster of a topic on an approach from the Tourist Police, here is what I learned this week. We went to re register the wife's Burmese labourer at the Ministry of Employment office in Ranong and I asked her to ask about volunteer unpaid work. Your "employers", she tells me, are supposed to go to immigration to guarantee you are not being paid.

Requiring a visa and WP based on volunteer work It isn't that simple. Both immigration and labour department want to see some paperwork and not only a statement that you don't get paid. (The organization can give you some money for you expenses, like for coffee, lunch, and travelexpenses).

What you will need is a volunteer contract, a map showing where you live, work schedule etc. As I my self teach as a volunteer I also need a degree, but I'm not sure if that realy is a requirement for a volunteer teacher or the labour office just think it is right because teachers need one so a volunteer teacher also. It might not be a formal requirement.

Another option is to vind volunteer work with a recognised charity or a (government) school. With their help you can apply for a visa and the workpermit they will need. However make sure that they ar willing to help you with a visa and workpermit. It requires some paperwork and not every organisation is willing to do that, as they don't know how to.

I would say it's part of their study and therefore not considered work.

Thanks for the "well done" Sriracha John.

I agree that one shouldn't do volunteer work without a workpermit, especially for the government. It is mostly that schools look up to the paperwork and don't how to do it. But the school and I have always had good cooperation from the labour office. (Headmaster out of town and can't sign, no problem. Send the document next week. Here is the WP). Immigration is also very helpful and thnaks me for my volunteer work.

People wanting to do volunteer work, just insist on the WP and do it legal. It isn't that difficult to arrange. Let them make the effort!

As for the offer of Chiang Mai. It doesn't sound as it is legitemate. More that the labour office promised not to raid the place to check if everyone has a WP. That makes it safe, but not legit.

My first school I found it as an individual. Now many schools in my area want a volunteer teacher to help teach English.

The second school I went I asked some foundations if they knew of a school with no money but which could realy need a volunteer teacher, as I don't want to teach as volunteer on a school which has the money to pay for a teacher.

The teaching is nice and I'm used to working with children. The experiences I have with schools vary greatly. Every where they make me welcome and try to take good care of me. But sometimes they don't know how to give you the right support in teaching. Sometimes they presume you are the expert because you know English better than them and let you all do it by your self. So you should always be active in making clear what you can do and what you expect of them. (The Thai teacher in the classroom with you to help you translate and keep order or not, for instance). That isn't different from what one can experience as a paid teacher in Thailand.

A nice thing of being a volunteer is that the local government is always very appreciative of what you do and any problems I can always go directly to the neigh ampur or even the governor. And when I travel and Thai people ask me what i do I often get thanks from the bottom of their hearts.

The nice thing about volunteering is of course that you can get a visa (and workpermit) without having to show an income. But I'm married to a Thai national and have enough family income, so I don't need to volunteer.