Reminder Of Minimum Expat Wages From July 10, 2004

[DaveYo]

Dutchy I have been moaning and groaning about that issue for a long time here. Yes we get 1 year multi entry visas, but heck the way the Thai Immigration looks at it, it is good for only 90 days and you got to make a border run. I have been one of the people complaining about the catch 22 or two face visa system. It is stupid and I agree with you without a doubt.

Daveyo

[Artisi]

"Employees with lower monthly salaries in other professions, such as teachers, can apply for non-immigrant visa extensions and work permits for employment in Thailand provided that they are able to provide an official letter of confirmation from a relevant government agency."

The new proposed wage levels raise an interesting point now with regard to marriage visa's etc and the income required. As a teacher we can get by on a lower salary as sanctioned by the Goverment. Does this mean they are also willing to lower the minimum wage level and amount held in the bank which is being proposed for all new marriage visa's.

An interesting conundrum which has probably escaped the great thinkers putting all this together. But this is Thailand - can we except anything to be clear-cut, simple and workable.

[mbkudu]

• Burmese, Laotians, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Africans: 25,000 baht (20,000 baht).

25,000 for the brothas , does that mean employers will want me because i'm cheap

From my perspective 25,000 seems like a really low wage that would afford you a really basic existence, I have not spent much time in Thailand so i can't really know. But the few weeks I spent there this year 25k didnt go very far. I will be probably coming to work for a large auto group next year, i hope they dont give me the minimum.

This man here is thinking smart. He knows he has the potential of getting jacked by the system with low wages because he's a 'Brotha'. This scale they have come up with is the pinacle of racial descrimination.

[surfercaesar]

The bottom line is that the Thai Internal Reveue Ministry will have more money to collect on our expense and will surely make it harder for us to find jobs that will pay us and whoa I forgot the jealosy part that the Thai's will be more jealous cause we are making more than they are!!!!

[mbkudu]

Is it perhaps some Thai convoluted version of inverted reverse affirmative action?

[Foggy Bottom]

Nah - it's just good old fashioned xenophobic racism from a Nationalist government that likes to introduce socialist policies for its own people at the expense of others

Edited / Admin

Edited June 7, 2004 by dr_Pat_Pong

[Guest fj2003]

that's great

on come eilleen we go samsonite away

let them clear up the country

but he MR THOXIN should think first if can play in champions league before he is anouncing his team player

frank

[DaveYo]

Well if that is the case, I would think first Tox has to know how to play soccer at least play a whole game from start to finish, and score 3 goals. If he can do that much, then they might have a chance to play in champions league and run the team. As of the salary structure, I don't think it had anything to do with Tox playing the major role, that came from the parliament and of course Immigrations etc.

Daveyo

[penzman]

So the privately owned school (profit making business) where I worked was paying me 35 000/month (5000 short back then!) and now should have been paying 60 000... Looks like they learned about it before I did and may be the reason why I got canned?

All their contradicting excuses for giving me the boot really make me wonder.

Good effin riddance anyway.

[mbkudu]

English teachers are getting the special, 'We give you the shaft' regulation from

immigration. So schools can pay you whatever they want and still be within the

immigration law. The government knows teachers don't make diddly squat in most cases and don't want to chase them away. Maybe you got canned because you sucked.

[DaveYo]

Well you folks forgot they now have a way to double check on your income!!!!!!!!! Paper from the past does not cut it anymore. If you don't believe me read up on it. And also they are checking on your legitimacy as a Teacher and assigning you an ID number to keep track of you and your wages etc. They are wising up to the sneekers and the peekers that abound thruout Thailand. They are using a tier system which will be difficult even for a school to cover their tracks. The schools are being monitored also to comply.

The only ones getting the real break is News reporters.

The Government is chasing away the BS Teachers and the fakers and ending their so called status here in Thailand. This now makes the schools have to re=think their budgets cause the paper and tea money deal is of the past and now invalid soon.

So think all you want to think and hope your hopes. Many have not a clue of what is about to come down starting next month. Pity.

Daveyo

[penzman]

Maybe you got canned because you sucked.

You know nothing about what went on in that school and how crooked the owners are. Just another business disguised as a school where grade 6 kids stared at me blankly when I asked "Who are you?" What a great English program they got during the 5 previous years!

I sucked so much they hired 2 Philippinos and an Indian before I left. More for the same money, that's all.

[mbkudu]

I wasn't serious man. I know how the game works. I taught English in Bangkok for 9 straight years. The first 3 I diddled around with worthless language schools.

The last 6 I worked only privates, Taiwanese, Japanese, Koreans and some Thais.

That's where the money is. Schools are a joke really. The unfortunate thing is that

the way the government is tightening down on visa rules, it's going to get harder and harder for teachers to go outside the 'language school' trap because it's impossible to teach solely privates WITH a work permit. I had one language school

job in Siam Square, 2 hours a week, and the rest privates at the time I stopped teaching altogether. It's been 4 years since I've done it and frankly if I went back to it, I'm sure it would be different. I think the freedom that teachers in Thailand once had might be over with.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Dutchy I have been moaning and groaning about that issue for a long time here. Yes we get 1 year multi entry visas, but heck the way the Thai Immigration looks at it, it is good for only 90 days and you got to make a border run. I have been one of the people complaining about the catch 22 or two face visa system. It is stupid and I agree with you without a doubt.

Daveyo

The marriage or retirement extension options ( subject to eligibility ) are open to you Dave.

[mai_ra_bu_cheu]

• Burmese, Laotians, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Africans: 25,000 baht (20,000 baht).

25,000 for the brothas , does that mean employers will want me because i'm cheap 

From my perspective 25,000 seems like a really low wage that would afford you a really basic existence, I have not spent much time in Thailand so i can't really know. But the few weeks I spent there this year 25k didnt go very far. I will be probably coming to work for a large auto group next year, i hope they dont give me the minimum.

I am very surpried they have put ALL Africans in the same bracket. We all know that they just don't want the black ones. Why don't they just say All black people -200,000 baht?? Or could they be hassled for discrimination?As for Cambodians,Laos and Vietnamese, I guesstimate about 0.5 % of those workers her earn that amount - virtually none.

[mbkudu]

This whole thing seems completely bizzare. Are there any other countries in the world that follow a scale similar to this?

[Dickie]

I'm coming to Thailand soon. Just to confirm: I can get a non-imm B visa for 9 months before I have to prove I have work, or have I missed something?

[mexxx]

if youre in the red cross, surely they will take care of everything.

[Foggy Bottom]

Pratt - that's the English flag - cross of St George

[Davidcharles]

I shall soon be coming to LOS with a Non-Immigrant B Visa.

While I am there I intend getting Married to a Thai lady, and to get a job Teaching English again......

I was going to have my State UK Pension paid into a Nationwide Bank Account so that I could draw from ATMs without cost.

But now I am wondering if that would be a good idea?

I hear that monies drawn from ATM Machines will not count when income is assessed for Extension purposes?

So, am I advised to have my Pension paid into a Thai bank?

Bit garbled I know but you know what I mean gents.....

[lopburi3]

I hear that monies drawn from ATM Machines will not count when income is assessed for Extension purposes?

Correct.

So, am I advised to have my Pension paid into a Thai bank?

Unless you are sure about a tax treaty exempting your pension I would not advise that. You should only remit savings as policy is not to tax that type of money. Transfers should be by wire transfer when required.

[Davidcharles]

The new minimum monthly wage rates, which vary according to nationality, will be:

• Europeans and Australians: 50,000 baht (35,000 baht).

• Journalists working for newspapers: 20,000 baht (12,000 baht). Wages of journalists working for magazines and other media are categorized by nationalities.

I will be doing some research for a TV Documentary Company in UK on a NIB.

If I apply for an extension will I be classified as a Journalist?

[phastmike]

That is against all rules of equality!

[20yearsinthai]

Another example of just how stupid and unprofessional thai beaurocrats can be. Who is making these decisions?

What is the purpose?

Only impact I see is more expats having to make their 90 visa runs.

Anyone know when the minimums were last changed?

Is this a case of the beaurocrats justifying their existance with some new brilliant policy initiatives? or are they honestly trying to flush out out some of the lower paid local hired expats?

[Donno]

As you said "justifying there existence".

[Foggy Bottom]

Judging by this week's condemning of Thaksin & his government (as authoritarian and ignoring human rights) by the THAI civil rights watchers - I'd say it's all an extension of that ..... trampling the dignity, rights, and equalities that this country fought so hard to establish and implement in previous decades.

[Limbo]

While I am there I intend getting Married to a Thai lady......

But now I am wondering if that would be a good idea?

It depends of course. Some would say yes, others no.

[cutter007]

I don't really know what all the complaints, about discrimination are about.

If discrimination is a hideous flaw that you are unwilling to look upon, this is definitely the wrong country for you.

Do Thai's discriminate on just about every physical, materialistic, or ethnical attribute an individual can possesses, of course they do, will they continue to do so in the future, of course they will.

This way of thinking is as Thai as tom yam gung.

I perfect example is the governor election.

I knew who would win before the votes came in, Apirak was going to win, and it is because he was the best looking.

When I asked people why they voted for him, 99% of the answers were, because he was the best looking, very few could even name the one thing about his political career.

As for increases in required salaries, this should be good for most people.

If your boss fires you because he has to pay you a lousy 10 or 15 thousand baht more, maybe it is time to start thinking of a new profession.

In the end this is a pretty superficial law at best, all the it basically does is take away your right to apply for the 1 year extension if you make under the minimum salary level.

It in no way, affects whether you can work or not in Thailand, or how much your employer has to pay you.

It is basically just a law to inconvenence foreigners, and for a couple Thais to make a couple of baht in the process.

Kinda like raiding Q-bar and asking for passports, will it have an affect on how many foreigners carry passports, of course not.

But it will affect Q-bar's business, thus contributing to greasing of the payments to the boys in brown.

Inconvenence foreigners + collect a couple of baht = business as usual in Thailand

[RDN]

...99% of the answers were, because he was the best looking, very few could even name the one thing about his political career...

Same same Tony Blair, 1997, UK General Election

[skycop51]

I am and my wife over 50 years old. She is Thai and an American citizen. We are just about ready to take our money and come build a small home on her land. Now it appears the new requirements are going to keep us out. I am very saddened about this very.

Bill