Visa to any Eng countries for thai teacher [governments school]

[AndrewHRoman]

Hello

 

Maybe someone will give advice about this situation:

 

My thai wife is working as a teacher (governments school) and she'd like to know about special requirements for government people for traveling to English countries. For example, AU, NZ, UK, CA. She wants to go to any of those countries to study English and after 1 year come back to Thailand to continue work. We heard that thai teacher can take some paper form from government/directors for traveling and coming back. Have someone knowledge about this or source where we can read about this information? Thank you.

 

[7by7]

I can only speak for the UK.

 

Her first option is a Short-term study visa which is usually valid for up to 6 months, but for English courses is valid for up to 11 months.

 

If she wishes to study in the UK for longer than this then she will need a General student visa (Tier 4)

 

To be eligible for either of these she must, amongst other requirements, have an unconditional offer of a place at an educational establishment on the Tier 4 register of sponsors or for the short term study visa one of the alternatives listed in the guidance linked to above.

 

I have not heard of any concessions or exemptions to the UK's immigration rules for teachers or other government employees.

 

[AndrewHRoman]

Thank for your responding. Probably, I wrote not correct above. I know all the requirements of visas in English countries. I mean a special requirement to leave the country ( Thailand) for government workers (Example, teacher). She tells me every time that she needs permission from the government and probably needs to pass test TOEFL.

[7by7]

4 hours ago, AndrewHRoman said:

I mean a special requirement to leave the country ( Thailand) for government workers (Example, teacher). She tells me every time that she needs permission from the government and probably needs to pass test TOEFL.

Why would she need to pass a TOEFL test to leave the country? She may need it to enrol on an English course at a university or college in an Anglophone country, maybe even to get the appropriate student visa for that county; but surely not to leave Thailand. 

 

As for whether or not she needs permission from the Thai government to leave Thailand at all, (even for a holiday?), surely the best people to ask are her employers?

[simon43]

She tells me every time that she needs permission...

 

I think that is the case where the person has previously borrowed money to pay for college fees, and hasn't paid them back yet.

[AndrewHRoman]

7by7, sorry, but I don't need suggestions. If you don't know about reliable information just don't need to write. Thank you.

 

I think a lot of people don't know the situation like this because a lot of foreign have wife/gf  without work or just not in government

 

2simon43, yes, she got money from the government but anyway under debt only her parents.

 

Probably, need to ask a local visa advisor. Anyway, thank you for the try.

 

 

[BobbyL]

I have never heard of this scheme. TOEFL is more used in places like the US, whereas IELTS is what the UK use.

 

My only experience is with my wife who went to university in England. You can get short term study visas or longer term Tier 4 visas. These can only be obtained if you've been fully accepted and met the requirements (English level, fees etc) to enrol on the course. 

 

I am assuming she should be able to find this info out if she is a teacher and this scheme is offered to teachers in government schools. I can guarantee you it certainly won't be as easy as obtaining a form from a government office here and then being able to go to a country such as the UK or US just to study for 1 year. 

[digbeth]

Official government employee can get blue 'diplomatic/official' passport which lets them enter visa-free to 72 countries, compared to the normal 31 for Thai passport,

 

normally they get them when going on official trips, while the passport can be valid for a couple of years, they're only supposed to use it for the official trips only and surrender the passport back at the end of the trip, but in practice they keep them for years after, and use them for personal travel providing that the immigration at the country they are travelling to accept them, technically it is a form of corruption

 

To get the passport, they'd need to get their office to make a letter signed by the department head and bring it to the passport office, the fact that your wife doesn't even know about the existence of this passport means the likelihood that she can get the letter signed by the appropriate people is slim.  

 

But for your situation, the Thai officials passport doesn't grant entry to 'English' countries, the juicy ones are Germany and France.

 

So enrolling in a Language course and getting a visa is a better, more honest option, most countries like UK and Australia allow short study on tourists visa.

[AndrewHRoman]

Wow, see, thx, now I got some ideas