So Confused Please Help!

[dante187]

hello

say iam married to a thai woman currently we are living in germany but we´re thinking about moving to bangkok...iam 24

so as i know i could get based on our marriage an non immigrant visa type o with multiply entry extension...

right?

but when i would have that do i had to cross the border every 90 days? sorry when iam crossing the forums here!!

i mean when i would do an tefl certificate and would find a job as english teacher there but my income would only be about 30000 whats then??would i have to leave?and how are my chances to obtain an working permit with just a tefl certificate? and how are my chances to find a teaching job in bangkok with enough income in bkk? without degree and just a tefl certificate!!!???

how hard is it really???

are there any job opportunities for native german speakers? i did a 3years traineeship as salesman engaged in wholesale and trade business does that helps me in any way to find a job there?or is it worthless??

thx for your help!!!

[bruceboy]

if you are on a valid tourist visa then you can convert to a non immigrant B visa in bangkok.

and how are my chances to find a teaching job in bangkok with enough income in bkk? without degree and just a tefl certificate!!!???

remote.

Edited July 18, 2007 by bruceboy

[richard10365]

I use to live in Germany. I'm pretty sure they use capital letters at the beginning of their sentences. Maybe it's that new European Union English language.

My advice is to stay in Germany and get a degree. Any degree will do but I think it might be a good idea for you to get a degree in English. It appears you might need some help in that area.

[DragonQuest]

Agreed. ROFLMAO

[aussiestyle1983]

You can get a job easily with only a TEFL, work permit or no work permit (which is illegal).

I was working in BKK with a work permit only having a TEFL, my school was able to get me one without a degree. This will depend on how much a school likes you, what other sorts of doccuments you can provide and how good your schools relationship with the MOE is, but it is possible, but ver rarely done. It will be harder for you given your level of English and the fact that your not a native english speaker. Your young age will also help you get a job. I left to go home and get a degree so I would advide you to stay in Germany and get a degree. YTou will be dissapointed if you love it there and want to stay but one day find yourself un-employable because of your lack of degree, so get it now!

[mrtoad]

Can't argue with any of the advice given so far - all very sensible.

[Ijustwannateach]

You'll probably stay employed at the lowest kind of level (you'll be lucky to get 30K, really), and you'll be one of the reasons why more serious native-speaking teachers can't get better salaries.

[PattayaAddict]

I use to live in Germany. I'm pretty sure they use capital letters at the beginning of their sentences. Maybe it's that new European Union English language.

My advice is to stay in Germany and get a degree. Any degree will do but I think it might be a good idea for you to get a degree in English. It appears you might need some help in that area.

Cracker by the way Richard10365 LOL

Anway ,Tefl tens to be your best bet really

[Neeranam]

Dude, come on over and check it out.

You should get a job somewhere - Siam Computer or other places like it will hire you. Although you won't get much, if you have half a brain you should find some other way to get some income.

Do you really want to be an English teacher for more than a few years? Surely not.

[wasabi]

No one answered your question about the marriage visa. You need to have a certain amount in the bank, but I forgot the amount. After that you just have to renew every year.

[PeaceBlondie]

This part of ThaiVisa is not the best place to ask about visas. I thought the married to a Thai visa required income of 40K per month, not money in the bank.

Original poster (dante), I suggest you start a new topic in the "Thai visas..." forum and only ask about getting a visa, but still very clearly stating your situation.

A normal rule on ThaiVisa is that we cannot recommend you doing something illegal in Thailand. I think it's extremely unlikely that you would be able to teach English legally in Thailand during your first one to ten years here.

[dante187]

I dont know whats your problem is ...

I didnt got a tefl yet so whats the problem?

iam just asking for help here...

So could maybe a few of you answer my questions instead of joking around about my english skills!?

And to the thing you mentioned ``ijustwannateach`` iam taking it seriously! I dont wanna just beiing a teacher cause its an easy job to find for an farang. I never would go into a classroom and taking money from someone when i wouldnt have the qualification to teach!! Maybe iam not qualified yet but i surely will after i did the tefl!

I was an Tae Kwon do trainer for years....but cant do it anymore cause my knee was badly hurt. I love it to teach. So you should not say that Iam a reason that ``real`` Teachers didnt get a Job.Second thing is i dont want to work illegal!!! I want an wp. I have a wife. I didnt want to do it in a 08/15 way...

could maybe someone reply to my other questions?

I would be really thankfull for some real help...

and surely i thank the guys that took my questions seriously !

[richard10365]

Maybe iam not qualified yet but i surely will after i did the tefl!

Without a degree, your still not legal even if you have tefl. Without the degree, (chances are) you won't get a work permit.

In Chiang Mai at one school I know of (6000+ students [K1-M6]) , all of the foreign English teachers without degrees are being told not to come back next year. Their 2 year higher eduaction certificates (diplomas) were enough to get them a teaching license the year before. Possession of the teaching license is what got them their work permit. Their license expire at the end of this school year.

Some of them have bought houses, motorcycles and cars. One of them has a pregnant girlfriend. Now they are told they will be unemployed next year.

I asked them what they will do and most are really unsure. What would you do? I doubt you will get a teaching license and a work permit.

About your visa.....if you only get a 3 month non-immigrit O visa because of being married to Thai wife chances are you will want to extend it annually. One of the requirements to extend it will be for you and your wife to legally make 40,000 baht/month or to have a verfied (by your embassy) monthly pension.

It will be difficult for you to find work without a degree so the burden will be on your wife to find a job making 40,000 baht/month. Ask your wife if she thinks she can find a job making that much money. It is possible for a Thai woman to find a job making 40,000/month but her education credentials would have to be pretty high (masters or better normally).

Be careful when you post questions asking for help in the teaching forum when your post is full of gramatical mistakes. Many of the readers are quite unforgiving. Especially when they have the proper qualifications to teach and your asking for help from them when your not qualified at all.

I know the excitement of moving to Thailand. It is quite easy to ignore certian realities when your excited about the move. You could easily burn a lot of bridiges in your home country that would make it difficult to come back if you were forced to.

Joshing and jiveing (not sure if I spelled that correctly) aside, tough straight talk is what an overly eager person needs for them to understand the possible risk involved with their decision to move to Thailand and find a job.

Get your 4 year higher education degree before you come to Thailand.

[aussiestyle1983]

Forget any single entry 3 month visa. You are married to a Thai so you will be able to get a 1 year multiple entry Non Immigrant O visa (better to get it from your home country, trust me! don't come to asia and expect to be given a one year visa in asia unless you have a lot of money in the bank). With the one year Non O, you can stay in thailand for 90 days at a time for one year. every 90 days you just take a day trip, cross the border, turn around and come back in with a new 90 days entry stamp. The day before your visa expires, do another border crossing and you will get another 90 days, so really you can use the visa for 15 months. Every 15 months you can just go home and get a new 1 year Non O visa and repeat this process forever. Also, regardless of what other people say, you can get a work permit with a Non O visa, I did. So since you are married, forget about working on a B business visa, get the O visa based on marriage and then whether or not you work doesnt matter, but at least you have both options and the visa. To be able to stay in Thailand for good on a marriage visa, get the Non O marriage visa, then go to immigration once in Thailand, if you, your wife or a combination of the two of you earn over 40K THB PM, you can extend your stay in Thailand permanently. If you don't have the income to do that, you will just have to do border crossing every 90 days and take trips home every 15 or so months to get a new 1 year Non O visa. Good luck.

[gampaan]

Aussie,,,how about a native English speaker with an electronics degree... . ? What are my chances with a TEFL? I'm a likeable guy and can speak Thai also. My wife worked for the gov't as a Geologist and could find some good work when we go back. I thought about teaching English just to keep busy and add a bit of income. I'm 46, probably be 50 by the time we go back, maybe I'll just retire and enjoy, huh?

dave

[Scott]

Dante: If you plan on being in Bangkok, the regulations state you need to have a Bachelor's Degree. If you come from a country where English is not the native language, then you also need a English Language Proficiency Test such as TOIC.

Although these regulations aren't being followed in all places--and you can check the forum on "Teaching in Thailand", it may be only a matter of time. Since you specifically mentioned BKK, you will probably have problems finding legal work with less than a Bachelors.

Where I work, we employ a number of non-native speakers (with degrees) that are subject teachers, such as Mathematics, social studies, Physical Education, etc. These are all taught in English.

An option being done by a few people is getting a student visa and completing their course work here in Thailand in an international program. Some of them then also teach (technically illegal), but probably won't get caught up with and probably won't be pursued.

Best of luck to you.

[PeaceBlondie]

dante, you say that you're 24 years old, married to a Thai, living in your native country of Germany, don't speak or write English well, you once taught martial arts, and....let me guess that you don't have much money in the bank. Not enough to make annual trips around the world, as I did in my first three years in Thailand.

I have to discourage you from coming here. You and your wife may be better off in Germany, but perhaps that's a whole 'nother story. Trust us, please, when we say that taking a TEFL course will not prepare you to teach English to 49 distracted Thai students in a hot classroom, even if your accent doesn't resemble Dracula's.

I'll pop over now to the visa forum and see if anybody's been helping you there. Good luck, but .... don't come to Thailand!

[aussiestyle1983]

Aussie,,,how about a native English speaker with an electronics degree... . ? What are my chances with a TEFL? I'm a likeable guy and can speak Thai also. My wife worked for the gov't as a Geologist and could find some good work when we go back. I thought about teaching English just to keep busy and add a bit of income. I'm 46, probably be 50 by the time we go back, maybe I'll just retire and enjoy, huh?

dave

A native speaker with at least a bachelor's degree will always find work (after the age of 65 it might get harder thoguh) and in a lot of cases a native speaker without any qualifications or just a tefl will find work. The degree and the fact that you're native will make it easier for you to get a work permit, work legally and have some sort of stability in you life there. If you add a TEFL to your qualifications (personally, if you don't you would be wasting possible oportunities since you don't plan to come back to teach in thailand for a few years). If you do your TEFL in your home country (do a CELTA cause its the most recognised worldwide) before you get to thailand you will be set. Now you will be a native speaker, with a degree in any field and a good TEFL. I doubt you would have trouble finding work and getting a work permit, unless you are missing a few too many teeth and limbs.

Edited July 19, 2007 by aussiestyle1983

[Maestro]

...Maybe iam not qualified yet but i surely will after i did the tefl!

Dante, I think you may be misunderstanding what a TEFL course is. In this course, you will not learn the English language. You will learn how to teach, the mechanics of teaching, how to use teaching aids effectively, etc. You must learn the language before you do the TEFL, otherwise the money you pay for the TEFL will be wasted.

And, as others have mentioned, a bachelor degree is one of the minimum requirements to find employment and get a work permit as a teacher in Thailand.

--

Maestro

[Loaded]

And, as others have mentioned, a bachelor degree is one of the minimum requirements to find employment and get a work permit as a teacher in Thailand.

--

Maestro

In private schools yes (15/1) but there are ways around this if they like you.

Government & language schools (15/2) and free/merit/temple/foundation (15/3) are exempt. Government schools and unis decide their own employment requirements. They are able to do this because to work for a Thai government organisation (school and uni included) you must be a Thai national. So they get around this by creating a special employment contract between the institution and the teacher (อัตราจ้างพิเศษ). Language school wp applications are treated on a case-by-case basis. Experience, TEFL and other academic qualifications are taken into account

Edited July 20, 2007 by Loaded

[richard10365]

And, as others have mentioned, a bachelor degree is one of the minimum requirements to find employment and get a work permit as a teacher in Thailand.

--

Maestro

In private schools yes (15/1) but there are ways around this if they like you.

Experience, TEFL and other academic qualifications are taken into account

Based on the OPs orginal post (comical), considering his expierence (none), academic qualification (none), and mastery of English (as a second language) what do you think his chances of getting a job as an English teacher would be?

[PeaceBlondie]

Well, dante has several other opening posts and threads on other ThaiVisa forums, and I think we've answered his questions about teaching qualifications quite frankly by stating that he doesn't have qualifications to teach English in Thailand. Topic closed.