Crackdown on illegal foreign teachers: Heavy fines and deportation for those without work permits

[Youlike]

5 hours ago, JoePai said:

Anyone who is not a Thai national is a foreigner - no matter what other nationality

A chinese person is not called a farang in thailand. But a Pinoy is...

[rott]

18 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Absolutely correct. Most new teachers arrive in Thailand on a tourist visa, and on this look for jobs. The employers want them to be in the country before giving interviews and making considerations. When given the offer, they're expected to work. They may call the 3-6 month period "probation", but it's merely how long the process takes to get the WP and Non-B. During this period they're technically "illegal", though the legal path is next to impossible. Sit around without work? Expect the school to wait for you?

 

Quite often through the course of this process, the school may ask the new teacher to do a visa run and get the Non-B at a consulate, if they run into difficulties converting it in country. This has been made impossible by the Covid situation. Likewise, the automatic Covid extension many of us have been getting is unable to be converted to a Non-B. Thus, if you were either a new teacher when the Covid lockdown began, or you had just changed jobs at the beginning of this term, which are many of us, you now find yourself in this difficult situation.

 

No, not backpackers with dodgy degrees, not sexpats, not freeloaders or those taking advantage of anything, or anything else the TVF Barstool Brigade in their glass houses love to toss beer bottles at. Many of us are perfectly qualified, experienced professionals, among the many caught up by Covid, and apparently now, a witch hunt.

How many is "many"? 

 

How many or how few NES properly qualified, experienced and competent teachers come to work here for the pay and conditions on offer.?

[2530Ubon]

37 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-plural-of/farang.html

Farang is a Thai word.... Nouns in Thai have the same plural form as singular, but have the difficulty that any time a noun is quantified it must be used with its classifier. Farang, two farang, three farang is correct.

 

35 minutes ago, CM Dad said:

Get a life Grusa.  The pound is only used in a small island country in Northern Europe.

No, the GBP is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory,^[4][5] and Tristan da Cunha.

 

The UK is not in Northern Europe, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK or U.K.) or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland.

Edited October 8, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[teacherclaire]

24 minutes ago, ukrules said:

They should permanently shut down any school found to be employing them without work permits - including government schools.

 

We all know this issue is created by the schools and not the teachers themselves.

Not necessarily. Some agencies hire anybody, then create a teacher's profile for the school,  all with fancy degrees and other lies.

 

It's a vast market, and most of these guys from agencies do make big money. 

 

  Schools are often unaware that these teachers are neither holding a degree nor having any teaching experience. 

[2530Ubon]

8 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

Not necessarily. Some agencies hire anybody, then create a teacher's profile for the school,  all with fancy degrees and other lies.

 

It's a vast market, and most of these guys from agencies do make big money. 

 

  Schools are often unaware that these teachers are neither holding a degree nor having any teaching experience. 

I knew a guy who worked in a government school. He was a boxer without a degree from the UK. He told me the agency photoshopped a manchester university degree for him. He could hardly string a coherent sentence together

Edited October 8, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[ravip]

6 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Here we go again. Same each year.

It is ironic...

Every year, year after year "both sides" are playing the game well!

[LNER4472]

I was waiting for this to happen. There are not enough foreign teachers as it is, because of those that went home in April and cannot get back. I have been trying for 3 weeks now to get a Non-B visa and a work permit.

My local immigration asked me to get a letter from the British Embassy last week. I got a phone call back from the Embassy to say they are no longer issuing letters as the Amnesty has been moved to the end of this month. We were going to immigration today and it did not happen. No Non-B = No Work Permit = No Salary for last month. I do not care what they want to call me, I just want to be Legal. 

[ukrules]

40 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Expect the school to wait for you?

That's the law, if the law is wrong then they should change it......

[2530Ubon]

5 minutes ago, LNER4472 said:

I was waiting for this to happen. There are not enough foreign teachers as it is, because of those that went home in April and cannot get back. I have been trying for 3 weeks now to get a Non-B visa and a work permit.

My local immigration asked me to get a letter from the British Embassy last week. I got a phone call back from the Embassy to say they are no longer issuing letters as the Amnesty has been moved to the end of this month. We were going to immigration today and it did not happen. No Non-B = No Work Permit = No Salary for last month. I do not care what they want to call me, I just want to be Legal. 

You shouldn't need a letter. Immigration need 15 days remaining on a visa to convert to a non-imm b visa - amnesty runs out on the 31st of this month. All the documents you need should come from the school. You only need to provide degree, passport, police check, fee and photo's.

Edited October 8, 2020 by 2530Ubon

[Older and Wiser]

4 hours ago, Mak25 said:

However, Pinoy is a person of Filipino origin or descent. A Filipino. A female is called Pinay.

Hmmm, not sure you are quite correct. Firstly Pinoy appeared in the 1920's to refer to Filipinos that had emigrated to or lived in the US, being the end of Fili(pino) with Y added as a form of endearment? Also, isn't a Filipino with foreign blood (descendent), especially Spanish, called Tisoy from Mestizo, not Pinoy?

[Arthur Mullard]

5 hours ago, transam said:

I suppose if a teacher has his/her paperwork in order then I don't see a problem with this, but if a teacher is dodgy, no paperwork or dodgy paperwork, then adios.

 

I feel a few teachers may well be having bum burps at the mo, as they cannot escape across borders.....????

When even the best ('") schools don't look at your paperwork til post-probation, before the overly-worked and highly stressed admin individual, reaches your case from the pile of ledgers, coupled with further processing time at local immigration, and the rest back home, how smug can you get - "I don't see a problem with this". The furore at the school in question which had helicopters circling above and media everywhere is a huge embarrassment as it's gone viral. Huge. Isn't it obvious what's really happening? Or are you gonna try to tell me otherwise?  

[polpott]

1 hour ago, CM Dad said:

Get a life Grusa.  The pound is only used in a small island country in Northern Europe.

Who are the only people who can claim to speak English properly.

[polpott]

40 minutes ago, Youlike said:

A chinese person is not called a farang in thailand. But a Pinoy is...

Fillipinos are not farang.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by polpott

[JGV]

Yawn Graciously retired

[2530Ubon]

4 minutes ago, polpott said:

Phillipinos are not farang.

Thai's call Filipino's - ฟิลิปปินส์, rather amusingly pronunced; 'FILL-A-BEAN'. I have heard my Filipino friends being called farang when the shop keeper realized they didn't speak Thai. Farang in the traditional sense does mean 'franc' - from France, and has been expanded over the years to include all non-asian people. Sometimes they use it for anyone non-Thai.... Thai rules eh?

[polpott]

8 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Thai's call Filipino's - ฟิลิปปินส์, rather amusingly pronunced; 'FILL-A-BEAN'. I have heard my Filipino friends being called farang when the shop keeper realized they didn't speak Thai. Farang in the traditional sense does mean 'franc' - from France, and has been expanded over the years to include all non-asian people. Sometimes they use it for anyone non-Thai.... Thai rules eh?

No one is sure that farang is a bastardisation of francais. There are other theories. As there is evidence of farang being used before the French ever arrived, it seems unlikely. My favourite explanation is that it is taken from Persian traders who were known as farangi.

 

Thais only use it to describe caucasian (white) westerners.

 

I would have thought in Ubon westerners were normally referred to as baxida.

Edited October 8, 2020 by polpott

[2530Ubon]

1 minute ago, polpott said:

My favourite explanation is that it is taken from Persian traders who were known as farangi.

HAHAHAHAHA... is that where star trek got the idea for the Farangi? Merciless traders in space!

[polpott]

1 minute ago, 2530Ubon said:

HAHAHAHAHA... is that where star trek got the idea for the Farangi? Merciless traders in space!

More likely Gene Roddenberry got the idea from a tribe of Persian traders.

[connda]

3 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

With due respect, I bet some ex-pat teachers will be "quaking in their shoes". Call 1178 and deploy these:-

 

A VIP escort? That's not scary.  ????

 

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Why are they fining the teachers and not the schools?

or both, and also the agencies?

[elliss]

7 hours ago, muratremix said:

Why they call a pinoy foreigner? Pinoy is a pinoy (filipino) and farang is a westerner. Asians are not farangs, period. 

 

 _{Westerner , called Farang .}  

_{Actually , Alien { not of this world  ] . Is our official  Thai status  title .}

 _{However that said ,, i have bought house , pick up etc .}

  _{In summary means , Sweet FA ..}

_{Sleep well ..} 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by elliss

[scorecard]

14 minutes ago, polpott said:

No one is sure that farang is a bastardisation of francais. There are other theories. As there is evidence of farang being used before the French ever arrived, it seems unlikely. My favourite explanation is that it is taken from Persian traders who were known as farangi.

 

Thais only use it to describe caucasian (white) westerners.

 

I would have thought in Ubon westerners were normally referred to as baxida.

My understanding of older Thai history is that the quite a few Greeks were here quite early in the history as guests of a revered Thai king. 

[elliss]

28 minutes ago, polpott said:

 

 

I would have thought in Ubon westerners were normally referred to as baxida.

 

In Udon , we are known as White Buffaloes .

  Sounds rather quaint .

  How is your buffalo , today ?. 

 Grumpy as usual, thx for asking ...

 Teaching without a  work permit ,  what ever next ..

  

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by elliss

[overherebc]

45 minutes ago, polpott said:

Who are the only people who can claim to speak English properly.

Geordies and Gutterblids nd sum reet big buggas fae yorksheer lad ??

Edited October 8, 2020 by overherebc

[Credo]

There are a lot of foreign teachers who are not working legally.  There are a lot on tourist visas and a fair number on retirement/marriage visas.   Many of these are people who do not have a degree and are not eligible for a Teacher's License or a waiver.  

 

What some schools have done is to apply for a work permit as an assistant.   Depending on the province, they may be successful, but in the Greater Bangkok area, immigration has put limits on the number at any given school.  The larger the school, the more assistants they can have.   Immigration is quite well aware that this is nothing more that a work-around to the Teacher's License.  However, these people are not supposed to be in a classroom teaching.   

 

For those on other visas but working as a teacher, some schools have gone to a different sign in system, so they don't appear on the regular sign in book.  Illegal teachers and assistants are simply pulled from the classroom and remain out of sight as long as either Immigration or officials from the Ministry of Education are on the grounds.   

Of course, there are numerous ways that immigration could figure out who is working there, including asking for the previous month's payroll records, checking the sign-in books or finger scanning, but they will have to go back to before some of this started.   Some schools now have a separate sign in method.   Also, checking the names on the teachers' offices.   Some schools haven't been smart enough to remove the names from the door.   

 

Because of the generally low pay, Thai schools will not be able to attract qualified teachers.   

[Krikkiz]

They do this every year. 
No new news.

they gonna find Some paedophile Only and some farangs who overstay 100 years. 
after that they need to do a new tm30, But tm30.1 and keep the old one. 

[elliss]

23 minutes ago, Credo said:

There are a lot of foreign teachers who are not working legally.  There are a lot on tourist visas and a fair number on retirement/marriage visas.   Many of these are people who do not have a degree and are not eligible for a Teacher's

Because of the generally low pay, Thai schools will not be able to attract qualified teachers.   

 

  So , what/where,  are the other options to attract qualified teachers .?

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by elliss

[ujayujay]

7 hours ago, eisfeld said:

Pi Noi translates to small ghost. It's a term used for people who illegally work and hide in another country. Any foreigner working in Thailand without work permit could be a Pi Noi and a Thai working illegally say in South Korea could be a Pi Noi. A Pi Noi by definition is a foreigner in the respective country.

BS????????????

[elliss]

2 hours ago, KhaoNiaw said:

I've met many Thais taught by teachers from the Philippines but yet to meet one who has a Filipino accent. Considering how many Filipino teachers have been teaching here for many years, if there was actually anything in this then half the Thai population would be speaking with Filipino accents. Equally, I've met many Thais taught by native speakers and of course they don't pick up a native English accent either. Nothing wrong with that at all - which native English accent would you like them to use anyway?   

 

 Actually that said .

 A previous colleague of mine , from Nigeria , teaching English language ..

 I cant really say he had a native English accent ..

 

[Tony125]

4 hours ago, mogandave said:

I imagine most Thais have their work permit and visa requirements in order.

 

 

Thai don't need a work permit or visa !