I have had a retirement visa since April 2020, but I want to return to work (teaching). I have been offered a position, but getting the necessary visa to apply for a work permit seems to be a problem. The school administrators have told me that I need to leave the country in order to cancel my retirement visa, but if I do so, I cannot come back because of Covid entry restrictions.

I would welcome any constructive advice/suggestions.

Is your school's advice based on a recent consultation with your local Immigration Office, or simply on past practice ?  I am aware of a few people who have switched from "Tourist Exempt" to Non-Immigrant "B" without leaving Thailand.  Giving your location might elicit replies from those with local knowledge.

I assume you have a one year extension of stay (it is not a visa) based upon retirement issued by immigration.

The problem you have is that a work permit office of the Labour Ministry will not issue a work permit if you are on a extension based upon retirement that is required to apply for a extension based upon being a teacher. As far as I know there is no written regulation that prohibits the accepting the application. If you could do the application they could do a work permit application approval letter required to apply for the extension for teaching. If they would issue the letter the work permit could then be issued after the new extension is issued.

Another problem is getting the teaching license or waiver with the exetenion you have now that the work permit office will want.

6 hours ago, allane said:

Is your school's advice based on a recent consultation with your local Immigration Office, or simply on past practice ?  I am aware of a few people who have switched from "Tourist Exempt" to Non-Immigrant "B" without leaving Thailand.  Giving your location might elicit replies from those with local knowledge.

He is on a non immigrant visa (category O) and then a one year extension of the 90 day entry it allowed.

A non immigrant visa can only be issued by immigration if you have a visa exempt or tourist visa entry.

6 hours ago, allane said:

Is your school's advice based on a recent consultation with your local Immigration Office, or simply on past practice ?  I am aware of a few people who have switched from "Tourist Exempt" to Non-Immigrant "B" without leaving Thailand.  Giving your location might elicit replies from those with local knowledge.

I am in Bangkok.

26 minutes ago, ponder said:

I am in Bangkok.

Read post #3 again. 

 In a  similar situation, following. Offered a job but on retirement extension 0.  Can I change extension to Non-O based on marriage, in my case, am I able to get a WP ? 

 

Also, should you start the job before you have  the correct visa ? with what's going on with Sarass school

52 minutes ago, davemax49 said:

Can I change extension to Non-O based on marriage, in my case, am I able to get a WP ? 

Yes you can change and apply for a work permit and work with a extension based upon marriage.

You should never start working without a work permit.

59 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Yes you can change and apply for a work permit and work with a extension based upon marriage.

You should never start working without a work permit.

Hi. I am not disagreeing with your advice "...you should never start working without a work permit...", (you know a lot more than I do about visas and work permits), but in practice, almost all teachers begin their career without the correct visa and work permit until their employers have time to process all the paperwork. I believe that it is tacitly accepted by the authorities, but of course, strictly speaking, it is against the law.

21 hours ago, ponder said:

Hi. I am not disagreeing with your advice "...you should never start working without a work permit...", (you know a lot more than I do about visas and work permits), but in practice, almost all teachers begin their career without the correct visa and work permit until their employers have time to process all the paperwork. I believe that it is tacitly accepted by the authorities, but of course, strictly speaking, it is against the law.

If I were in your shoes I would definitely be giving a wide berth to prospective employers who were too bone idle and/or incompetent to ensure that all necessary paperwork was processed from the get-go!

 

23 hours ago, ponder said:

Hi. I am not disagreeing with your advice "...you should never start working without a work permit...", (you know a lot more than I do about visas and work permits), but in practice, almost all teachers begin their career without the correct visa and work permit until their employers have time to process all the paperwork. I believe that it is tacitly accepted by the authorities, but of course, strictly speaking, it is against the law.

Yes, most teachers start working without proper permits, but it is not accepted by Thai authorities.

 

Last year an American teacher named Rickey McDonald was killed in Immigration Detention Center by fellow inmates who did not like Americans.  None of the news stories said why he was in IDC, but most likely he did not have a work permit.

 

Thais are now encouraged to call and report foreigners working illegally.  Marc Ryan, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist cyclist from New Zealand spent four days in IDC and was deported from Thailand last year after someone reported him working as a cycling trainer without a work permit.

 

 

23 hours ago, ponder said:

Hi. I am not disagreeing with your advice "...you should never start working without a work permit...", (you know a lot more than I do about visas and work permits), but in practice, almost all teachers begin their career without the correct visa and work permit until their employers have time to process all the paperwork. I believe that it is tacitly accepted by the authorities, but of course, strictly speaking, it is against the law.

Didn't you read yesterday or was it 2 days ago about the upcoming crack down at every school in Thailand + agencies because of teachers without proper wp's. Heavy fines or/and deportation if you don't have a correct visa/extension and a genuine wp.