New Guy With Lots Of Questions...

[ChrisfromTN]

Hello,

I'm beginning to see that living in Thailand can be horribly complicated - so I don't even know where to start. I'll tell a bit about myself:

-33, male, single

-B.S. (forestry) and M.B.A. holder

-self-employed (GIS/GPS Contractor/Consultant, primarily working with electric distribution utilities)

I also have an interest in a small furniture business. Among other things, we sell some Asian furniture.

I visited Thailand in 2006, stayed for 2 months (teaching ESL as a volunteer) and want to come back.

My long-term goal is to work as a missionary, but for the foreseeable future, I don't want to attempt a missionary (type R) visa, because

a.) I'm not affiliated with any of the large groups who normally get missionary visas, and

b.) I want the freedom to travel to neighboring countries where missionary work is frowned upon.

Right now, my hope is to travel to Thailand for the purpose of

a.) Making contacts for future (missionary or church-related) work

b.) Learning the language

c.) Possibly pursuing another degree (though this isn't high on the list of priorities).

I'm hoping to be able to 'move' to Thailand by the end of the year. I won't have enough cash to qualify for an 'investment' (?) visa.

Here's what I've considered thus far:

-Sign up for language classes that qualify me for a student visa

-Teach ESL. I enjoyed the 2 months of ESL teaching earlier and was told I did well at it, though I see that the world of ESL has gotten more complicated since 2006.

-Teach something else. With my background, is this possible?

-Get a business visa and come as a buyer for the furniture store, maybe spend some time prowling the markets for a marketable specialty product. Is this a realistic possibility?

Whatever I do, I want to do 'part-time'. I don't want to be tied up more than 4 days/week. One especially attractive option would be to spend 2 days/week studying and 2 days/week teaching or tutoring ESL. (I assume I'd have to come as a student, then get a work permit to teach part-time...is this possible?)

As far as teaching ESL, I'm having a hard time making sense of the changing laws for farangs. I have no criminal background, have been through background checks before (clean, except for a handful of speeding tickets), but have no formal ESL training.

As to the latter, are the highly-advertised 4-week TEFL/TESOL/whatever programs well-respected (or at least accepted)? One that caught my eye was here: http://www.teflcorp.com/loc-ban-phe-thailand.htm

(I visisted Ban Phe/Koh Samet in 2006, and could happily go back..... )

What about language schools? I'm looking at two so far:

http://www.thaiwalen.com/

and

http://ic.payap.ac.th/certificate/thai/about.php

Does anyone here have any experience with either of these?

If I decide to come as a student, would I be better off just starting with a 30-day tourist visa, so I could visit the various schools in person?

I realize I've put a lot into my first post, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[thecatman]

It's sounds like you've got some big decisions to make before you come here, i.e. teaching or not, or studying or not.

A visit to www.thaiconsul-uk.com will help you work out which visa suits your needs best. If you are in any doubt, then give them a call, I found them to be extremely helpful.

[jstumbo]

I believe if you are on a ed visa, you cannot work. So you would probably need to come on a tourist visa, get a job teaching english, and get a B visa and work permit for teaching english. Then you can enroll in Thai language lessons while staying here on a B visa and working.

[EmptyMind]

I believe if you are on a ed visa, you cannot work. So you would probably need to come on a tourist visa, get a job teaching english, and get a B visa and work permit for teaching english. Then you can enroll in Thai language lessons while staying here on a B visa and working.

I think you need to decide exactly what you want to do and then apply for the correct Visa, you are throwing too many questions into the air; Learn / Teach / Work / Missionary , All of the Visas are different and carry their own limitations. There isn't a general purpose visa unfortunately :-(

[astral]

You could become a Thai monk and get a visa that way.

[TaurusUK]

Hello,

I'm beginning to see that living in Thailand can be horribly complicated - so I don't even know where to start. I'll tell a bit about myself:

-33, male, single

-B.S. (forestry) and M.B.A. holder

-self-employed (GIS/GPS Contractor/Consultant, primarily working with electric distribution utilities)

I also have an interest in a small furniture business. Among other things, we sell some Asian furniture.

I visited Thailand in 2006, stayed for 2 months (teaching ESL as a volunteer) and want to come back.

My long-term goal is to work as a missionary, but for the foreseeable future, I don't want to attempt a missionary (type R) visa, because

a.) I'm not affiliated with any of the large groups who normally get missionary visas, and

b.) I want the freedom to travel to neighboring countries where missionary work is frowned upon.

Right now, my hope is to travel to Thailand for the purpose of

a.) Making contacts for future (missionary or church-related) work

b.) Learning the language

c.) Possibly pursuing another degree (though this isn't high on the list of priorities).

I'm hoping to be able to 'move' to Thailand by the end of the year. I won't have enough cash to qualify for an 'investment' (?) visa.

Here's what I've considered thus far:

-Sign up for language classes that qualify me for a student visa

-Teach ESL. I enjoyed the 2 months of ESL teaching earlier and was told I did well at it, though I see that the world of ESL has gotten more complicated since 2006.

-Teach something else. With my background, is this possible?

-Get a business visa and come as a buyer for the furniture store, maybe spend some time prowling the markets for a marketable specialty product. Is this a realistic possibility?

Whatever I do, I want to do 'part-time'. I don't want to be tied up more than 4 days/week. One especially attractive option would be to spend 2 days/week studying and 2 days/week teaching or tutoring ESL. (I assume I'd have to come as a student, then get a work permit to teach part-time...is this possible?)

As far as teaching ESL, I'm having a hard time making sense of the changing laws for farangs. I have no criminal background, have been through background checks before (clean, except for a handful of speeding tickets), but have no formal ESL training.

As to the latter, are the highly-advertised 4-week TEFL/TESOL/whatever programs well-respected (or at least accepted)? One that caught my eye was here: http://www.teflcorp.com/loc-ban-phe-thailand.htm

(I visisted Ban Phe/Koh Samet in 2006, and could happily go back..... )

What about language schools? I'm looking at two so far:

http://www.thaiwalen.com/

and

http://ic.payap.ac.th/certificate/thai/about.php

Does anyone here have any experience with either of these?

If I decide to come as a student, would I be better off just starting with a 30-day tourist visa, so I could visit the various schools in person?

I realize I've put a lot into my first post, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It seems to me you need time to sort yourself out and what you really want to do. If I were you I would get a 2 x 60 day tourist visa which effectively gives you 6 months as each 60 day can be xtended by a further 30 days. The you can wander at leisure, investigate all the possibilities in Thailand before you make some firm decisions and then adjust your paperwork as required based on those decisions.

[torrenova]

Get a multi entry non imm B visa which will solve your problems if you need or want to work.

[ChrisfromTN]

Thanks for the replies.

I've been reading some of the other threads in this forum, and it looks like the visa process is getting more diffcult with time.

As to sorting out what I want to do...I know what I want to do in the long term - I'm just not sure how to start short-term.

Right now, though, it looks like I'd be smart to just plan on spending a year learning the language.