Thailand Steps Up Enforcement on Illegal Foreign Teachers

[webfact]

File photo for reference only

 

In a significant move to regulate foreign employment, Thailand's Department of Employment (DoE) has intensified its inspections of language schools across Bangkok. This action follows the arrest of eight South Korean language teachers for working without the necessary permits.

 

DoE Director-General Somchai Morakotsriwan announced that these proactive inspections are part of the "Search, Arrest, Fine, Deport" initiative. This operation aims to address public concerns about foreigners working illegally in the Ratchada and Bang Na districts, particularly at well-known Korean language institutions.

 

A joint task force from the DoE’s foreign labour inspection unit and the Immigration Bureau (IB) police conducted raids to verify the employment statuses of foreign teachers. Although Sunday's inspections did not uncover further illegal employment, the operations underscore a continued commitment to enforcing work permit laws.

 

This crackdown is designed to safeguard job opportunities for Thai citizens by ensuring compliance with employment regulations. Last Thursday, IB police had already raided two language school branches along Ratchadaphisek Road, resulting in the arrests of eight South Koreans for working without valid permits.

 

Somchai emphasized the legal requirements for foreign teachers, who must enter Thailand under a non-immigrant visa and apply for work permits with appropriate teaching credentials. These applications are processed through the Bangkok Employment Office Area 1-10 or the relevant Provincial Employment Office.

 

Penalties for non-compliance are severe: foreign teachers working without a valid work permit risk fines ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 Thai Baht (approximately £110 to £1,120), alongside deportation. Schools found employing undocumented workers face fines between 10,000 and 100,000 Thai Baht (approximately £225 to £2,250) for each illegal employee.

 

Repeat offenders could incur harsher penalties, including fines of 50,000 to 200,000 Thai Baht (approximately £1,120 to £4,480) and possible imprisonment for school owners.

 

To facilitate compliance, the Labour Ministry provides assistance through a multilingual hotline. Foreign nationals seeking work permits can call 1506, pressing '2', or the DoE's 1694 hotline, with English interpreters available to guide them through legal employment procedures in Thailand, reported Bangkok Post.

 

-- 2025-02-10

 

 

[ikke1959]

The problem is to find in the MInistry of Education, Kurusapha, as many foreign teachers don't get a permission anymore to teach. That means a lot of paperwork more for schools and the labour departments refuse or reject the work permits.. All due to too strict regulations. Goal of the previous Government is to keep foreign teachers from teaching in Thailand, as they could open the eyes of the students.  On the other hand the Thai English Education is more than terrible. Happily I am retired, but the young English teachers in the school were I was teaching avoided me because they could not speak with me and a vice director was even a Master in English and could not talk to me too. Just to mention... I was wondering how she became a Master .. No wonder you don't see many foreign teachers anymore in schools. 

Besides that the always pass system make the students lazy to learn and are not willing to work or do anything. Even Thai English teachers I spoke in the past are wondering why many students after 6 years still can't count from 1 to 20 and many don't even can't answer the basic questions as How old are you, What is your name... No wonder 

 

And for fully qualified appropriate requirements nobody comes here to work for 35k a month in normal schools..Their qualifications are much more worth. Surely compared with the low education of the Thai English teachers

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The problem is to find in the MInistry of Education, Kurusapha, as many foreign teachers don't get a permission anymore to teach. That means a lot of paperwork more for schools and the labour departments refuse or reject the work permits.. All due to too strict regulations. Goal of the previous Government is to keep foreign teachers from teaching in Thailand, as they could open the eyes of the students.  On the other hand the Thai English Education is more than terrible. Happily I am retired, but the young English teachers in the school were I was teaching avoided me because they could not speak with me and a vice director was even a Master in English and could not talk to me too. Just to mention... I was wondering how she became a Master .. No wonder you don't see many foreign teachers anymore in schools. 

Besides that the always pass system make the students lazy to learn and are not willing to work or do anything. Even Thai English teachers I spoke in the past are wondering why many students after 6 years still can't count from 1 to 20 and many don't even can't answer the basic questions as How old are you, What is your name... No wonder 

 

And for fully qualified appropriate requirements nobody comes here to work for 35k a month in normal schools..Their qualifications are much more worth. Surely compared with the low education of the Thai English teachers

The problem is that there are too many unqualified foreign teachers.

[ikke1959]

51 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

The problem is that there are too many unqualified foreign teachers.

An unqualified teacher can sometimes better than a qualified teacher... All Thai teachers are qualified, but their teachings are terrible. How can you learn to speak English if the teacher even can't.. That will motivate students...

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

This crackdown is designed to safeguard job opportunities for Thai citizens by ensuring compliance with employment regulations.

Archaic laws

[Liverpool Lou]

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The problem is to find in the MInistry of Education, Kurusapha, as many foreign teachers don't get a permission anymore to teach. That means a lot of paperwork more for schools and the labour departments refuse or reject the work permits.. All due to too strict regulations. Goal of the previous Government is to keep foreign teachers from teaching in Thailand, as they could open the eyes of the students.  On the other hand the Thai English Education is more than terrible. Happily I am retired, but the young English teachers in the school were I was teaching avoided me because they could not speak with me and a vice director was even a Master in English and could not talk to me too. Just to mention... I was wondering how she became a Master .. No wonder you don't see many foreign teachers anymore in schools. 

Besides that the always pass system make the students lazy to learn and are not willing to work or do anything. Even Thai English teachers I spoke in the past are wondering why many students after 6 years still can't count from 1 to 20 and many don't even can't answer the basic questions as How old are you, What is your name... No wonder 

 

And for fully qualified appropriate requirements nobody comes here to work for 35k a month in normal schools..Their qualifications are much more worth. Surely compared with the low education of the Thai English teachers

You were an English language teacher?

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

An unqualified teacher can sometimes better than a qualified teacher...

That would be something that a qualified teacher would never say.

[digger70]

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

An unqualified teacher can sometimes better than a qualified teacher... All Thai teachers are qualified, but their teachings are terrible. How can you learn to speak English if the teacher even can't.. That will motivate students...

That goes the Other way as well .

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

[fredwiggy]

4 minutes ago, digger70 said:

That goes the Other way as well .

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

I have a Thai friend who runs an English school near me. He was taught in the US and came back and opened the school. He asked me to talk to some of his students because I'm a native English speaker with no accent, which is the easiest way for the students to learn proper English. He hires other English speakers from a few countries to teach his students, but he wants them to only speak English while they are there, which is a good idea as the students need to work harder to learn, and it has shown in his students as many speak English very well.

 

Thai students are supposed to have English taught in their schools but it's very poor. My daughter who is 8 speaks better English than her English teacher and I'm the only one she learns from as her mom is too dense and non caring to try and help her with her English so she has it easier when we move to the US.

 

The school owner knows all about other schools as he visits many of them throughout the calendar year all over this area, and sometimes to other provinces to give 2-3 day seminars, where his teachers go and have classes throughout the time they are there to help them in a kind of crash course. I went with them a number of times and in all ages and you can see that some children can speak pretty well and some almost nothing, which shows some children want to learn and some couldn't give a dam.

 

Thailand should push for easier ways for English teachers to teach so they could help the children, which gives them a better chance for a higher paying job. The Thai teachers here, at least the ones I've seen or heard about, aren't too swift as English teachers, sometimes just handing out papers for the children to copy. They can write many words but don't know what they mean so it's useless.

[ikke1959]

5 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

I have a Thai friend who runs an English school near me. He was taught in the US and came back and opened the school. He asked me to talk to some of his students because I'm a native English speaker with no accent, which is the easiest way for the students to learn proper English. He hires other English speakers from a few countries to teach his students, but he wants them to only speak English while they are there, which is a good idea as the students need to work harder to learn, and it has shown in his students as many speak English very well.

 

Thai students are supposed to have English taught in their schools but it's very poor. My daughter who is 8 speaks better English than her English teacher and I'm the only one she learns from as her mom is too dense and non caring to try and help her with her English so she has it easier when we move to the US.

 

The school owner knows all about other schools as he visits many of them throughout the calendar year all over this area, and sometimes to other provinces to give 2-3 day seminars, where his teachers go and have classes throughout the time they are there to help them in a kind of crash course. I went with them a number of times and in all ages and you can see that some children can speak pretty well and some almost nothing, which shows some children want to learn and some couldn't give a dam.

 

Thailand should push for easier ways for English teachers to teach so they could help the children, which gives them a better chance for a higher paying job. The Thai teachers here, at least the ones I've seen or heard about, aren't too swift as English teachers, sometimes just handing out papers for the children to copy. They can write many words but don't know what they mean so it's useless.

Indeed... English camps are all in Thai except the papers..

[connda]

Nothing new under the sun here.

[fredwiggy]

2 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Indeed... English camps are all in Thai except the papers..

Another funny but sad thing is that there was a student that sometimes came to his school and lived with his English speaking UK dad along with his Thai mom. He was 19 and couldn't speak English, which means his regular school failed him and his dad probably rarely talked to him, leaving his education up to his mom and a Thai school.

[ikke1959]

22 minutes ago, digger70 said:

That goes the Other way as well .

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

My partner came to my country and had to learn Dutch.. However my partner only could speak Thai, not English or another language.. But after a few months he could speak read and write Dutch, much more even than Thai students know about English after 6 years in primary school. But my partner was motivated to learn and in my country there is no "no way to fail law".. If you don't learn or something you fail. How can a Thai teacher teach English if she/he is not able to speak with me in English??? The best way to learn a language is only use that language...Even Thai teachers could improve...

[ikke1959]

3 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Another funny but sad thing is that there was a student that sometimes came to his school and lived with his English speaking UK dad along with his Thai mom. He was 19 and couldn't speak English, which means his regular school failed him and his dad probably rarely talked to him, leaving his education up to his mom and a Thai school.

It is just an example that Thai kids are being learned to be lazy... The non fail policy is not stimulating the student to take efforts in their study, exceptions are there too of course as there are kids who like to learn and study.. In Thai society it is often that a foreigner is not allowed to be a part of the education of the kids that are not his.. I know several cases that there were big problems between mother and stepfather because stepfather wanted to be involved in the education, but mommy did not allow it..A friend of mine as example had a very high score in Toeic 9,8, but his stepdaughter did not wanted to learn with him and her mother did not encourage her to let her husband help her, but said she should better look for a Thai tutor... just to say

[Liverpool Lou]

7 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

in my country there is no "no way to fail law".

There is no such law in Thailand, either.

[fredwiggy]

5 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

It is just an example that Thai kids are being learned to be lazy... The non fail policy is not stimulating the student to take efforts in their study, exceptions are there too of course as there are kids who like to learn and study.. In Thai society it is often that a foreigner is not allowed to be a part of the education of the kids that are not his.. I know several cases that there were big problems between mother and stepfather because stepfather wanted to be involved in the education, but mommy did not allow it..A friend of mine as example had a very high score in Toeic 9,8, but his stepdaughter did not wanted to learn with him and her mother did not encourage her to let her husband help her, but said she should better look for a Thai tutor... just to say

My friend said the same thing. Children here aren't left behind so go into the next year with some way behind in their studies. This means they'll never catch up and go into the world with very little options besides working on a farm or 7-11. Destined to make 200--500 baht a day for the rest of their lives.

[BritScot]

2 hours ago, digger70 said:

That goes the Other way as well .

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

I was a qualified English teacher, I taught English literature, language,  computer science, science and even PE. I would totally disagree, an English teacher should only speak English to their students and have the ability to xplain in English (I had 3 autistic children in one of my classes). I saw far to often English teachers using their students to learn and practice their Thai and that is not what the children's parents were paying for. I also use the same ethos with my children, I only speak English to them and their mother speaks Thai to them. I now have bilingual children. I was only paid 40,000baht but I wasn't teaching for money to live on just for the pleasure. However, when it became to much of a hassle, I stopped which was after the Mr T. coup.  I noticed a change in attitude of schools to native English teachers who were replaced with cheaper Philippine T ing glish teachers. Thailand went from rising English proficiency to the state it is in now. Note: not once did I ever get a work permit from the schools I worked in, it was always "we applying, you get soon"...

[newnative]

Let's change the headline to "Thailand steps up recruitment of good foreign teachers, especially to teach English."

[brewsterbudgen]

20 hours ago, digger70 said:

That goes the Other way as well .

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

That's where good TEFL training comes in.  Properly trained TEFL teachers should be able to teach multi-language classes. No knowledge of the learners' L1 is necessary.

[spidermike007]

Thailand should be encouraging as many foreign teachers as possible, especially when it comes to teaching English. Most Thai English teachers are grossly incompetent, and it's one of the reasons why Thailand has the lowest English proficiency scores on the planet. 

 

It's time for this nation to man up, it's time for the adults in the room to realize that there are certain things that foreigners are better at than the locals, and to stop the extreme paranoia about a few hundred or a few thousand foreigners occupying specific positions that are needed and required. 

[Aussie999]

On 2/10/2025 at 9:39 AM, FritsSikkink said:

The problem is that there are too many unqualified foreign teachers.

Can you proved some stats.

[brewsterbudgen]

3 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

Can you proved some stats.

Difficult to do unless you can define "non-qualified", especially when Thailand requires a university degree (in any subject) to teach English but not a proper TEFL certificate!

 

In the UK and Europe a degree is also required, but also a CELTA or Trinity TESOL. 

[Denim]

And the result is :

 

 

 

[Ben Zioner]

On 2/10/2025 at 1:21 PM, digger70 said:

How can a  English Teacher communicate with Thai students if that Teacher Can't Speak Thai to Explain things .

Ok he can speak proper English But that is it.

That  is  My biggest argument  

 

You should ask the great Aussie teachers who run English classes for immigrants.

 

Here one of those heroes. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-larbalestier-48893430/

 

 

 

 

[Kasset Tak]

39 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Difficult to do unless you can define "non-qualified", especially when Thailand requires a university degree (in any subject) to teach English but not a proper TEFL certificate!

 

In the UK and Europe a degree is also required, but also a CELTA or Trinity TESOL. 

Not anymore... I have a BA, I have taken and passed Krusapha's exams, and then after 10 years working legally with a teachers license and everything, I was denied to renew my license as I don't have a degree in Education... the laws keep on changing and changing, and it's getting harder and harder to pass. And still the Thai English teachers where I used to work can't even get past "How are you?" without struggling?!

[hotchilli]

On 2/10/2025 at 4:52 AM, webfact said:

In a significant move to regulate foreign employment, Thailand's Department of Employment (DoE) has intensified its inspections of language schools across Bangkok. This action follows the arrest of eight South Korean language teachers for working without the necessary permits.

Jail the employers... don't blame just the teachers

[babylonbrothers]

For one thing it's not clear what language the Koreans were teaching. Likely to be Korean rather than English I guess. I've been an English teacher in this country for 25 years and found Thai teachers of English  to be hardworking and dedicated. Modern theory on teaching English says that it actually ok to use L1 to explain the language point you are teaching; ( See Penny Ur). Often, schools don't have the funds to hire native speaker teachers  and pay for work permits etc. Lastly, I haven't seen any job descriptions that do not require  candidates to have a degree and a TEFL qualification.

[hkblademan]

On 2/10/2025 at 2:16 PM, hotchilli said:

Archaic laws

Archaic comment. These rules are the same as almost any other country.

[Aussie999]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Difficult to do unless you can define "non-qualified", especially when Thailand requires a university degree (in any subject) to teach English but not a proper TEFL certificate!

 

In the UK and Europe a degree is also required, but also a CELTA or Trinity TESOL. 

I know... that's why I asked him for proof... I don't think he can.

[fredwiggy]

On 2/10/2025 at 1:59 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

There is no such law in Thailand, either.

I don't think he inferred it was an actual law but how things are here, which is pretty much right on.