Charity Workers Must Get Work Permits

[RDN]

Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits

PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not.

Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly in March.

“There can be no exceptions. Work is work, even if it is for charity,” he said.

He urged relief workers to apply for work permits, adding that those working for recognized charitable organizations would find them easy to obtain.

“They can just present a document certified by the charity organization they work for and we will issue them with work permits, then they will be able to work legally,” he said.

He pointed out that any foreigner caught working with out a work permit is liable to hefty punishment.

“If our officers, police officers or immigration police learn [of foreign volunteers] who don’t have work permits, the maximum penalty is three years in jail, a 30,000 baht fine [or both],” he warned.

“We did not enforce this law too rigidly [in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami], because we knew that everyone wanted to help out.

“But now that the situation is returning to normal, we will have to start taking it more seriously,” he said, adding that a crackdown could begin as early as next month.

Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit, who is charged with overseeing work permit procedures in the province, agreed with the ESO stance and said that the law needed to be enforced both in Phuket and throughout Thailand.

“Now that the post-tsunami relief operations are slowing down, they should have work permits to continue working. Otherwise, government officials will have no idea what they are actually doing here – and this could result in trouble in the future,” he said this morning.

Brought to you by:

The Phuket Gazette

[_Echinochloa_]

                           

Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits

PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not.

Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly in March.

“There can be no exceptions. Work is work, even if it is for charity,” he said.

He urged relief workers to apply for work permits, adding that those working for recognized charitable organizations would find them easy to obtain.

“They can just present a document certified by the charity organization they work for and we will issue them with work permits, then they will be able to work legally,” he said.

He pointed out that any foreigner caught working with out a work permit is liable to hefty punishment.

“If our officers, police officers or immigration police learn [of foreign volunteers] who don’t have work permits, the maximum penalty is three years in jail, a 30,000 baht fine [or both],” he warned.

“We did not enforce this law too rigidly [in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami], because we knew that everyone wanted to help out.

“But now that the situation is returning to normal, we will have to start taking it more seriously,” he said, adding that a crackdown could begin as early as next month.

Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit, who is charged with overseeing work permit procedures in the province, agreed with the ESO stance and said that the law needed to be enforced both in Phuket and throughout Thailand.

“Now that the post-tsunami relief operations are slowing down, they should have work permits to continue working. Otherwise, government officials will have no idea what they are actually doing here – and this could result in trouble in the future,” he said this morning.

Brought to you by:

The Phuket Gazette

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Welcome to Thailand.

[Erwin1011]

I cannot agree with all they angry smilies in this post.

Laws are laws. if they have been applied "considerately" because of the emergency, that is fine. Now that the immediate emergency is over, we need to go back to the full application of the law.

[Ijustwannateach]

I cannot agree with all they angry smilies in this post.

Laws are laws. if they have been applied "considerately" because of the emergency, that is fine. Now that the immediate emergency is over, we need to go back to the full application of the law.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is there any law in Thailand which has "full application?"

[tuky]

I cannot agree with all they angry smilies in this post.

Laws are laws. if they have been applied "considerately" because of the emergency, that is fine. Now that the immediate emergency is over, we need to go back to the full application of the law.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is there any law in Thailand which has "full application?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yep, Murpheys Law...

[ayakiawe]

i really dont like this gov in thailand. they told me at the border when i was sick and one day late that even if i was dead i would still have to pay over stay!

/edit

/edit out comment

see forum rules

You will not use thaivisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy

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[bazmlb]

i think it sounds fair, has anyone actually tried to get a permit to help and being knocked back or had problems applying? i think that would be more of a problem than grumbling about the laws that are fairly well known

[davethailand]

I cannot agree with all they angry smilies in this post.

Laws are laws. if they have been applied "considerately" because of the emergency, that is fine. Now that the immediate emergency is over, we need to go back to the full application of the law.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh right So does that mean that the so called law are going to make the tourist police volunteers get work permits??

I don't think so

Its a complete outrage that charity workers doing this are being made to get work permits.

Sorry about the angry smiley.

:D

[Phil Conners]

They deserve all volunteers walk out. Som nam nah!

[corkscrew]

                                 

Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits

PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not.

Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly in March.

“There can be no exceptions. Work is work, even if it is for charity,” he said.

He urged relief workers to apply for work permits, adding that those working for recognized charitable organizations would find them easy to obtain.

“They can just present a document certified by the charity organization they work for and we will issue them with work permits, then they will be able to work legally,” he said.

He pointed out that any foreigner caught working with out a work permit is liable to hefty punishment.

“If our officers, police officers or immigration police learn [of foreign volunteers] who don’t have work permits, the maximum penalty is three years in jail, a 30,000 baht fine [or both],” he warned.

“We did not enforce this law too rigidly [in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami], because we knew that everyone wanted to help out.

“But now that the situation is returning to normal, we will have to start taking it more seriously,” he said, adding that a crackdown could begin as early as next month.

Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit, who is charged with overseeing work permit procedures in the province, agreed with the ESO stance and said that the law needed to be enforced both in Phuket and throughout Thailand.

“Now that the post-tsunami relief operations are slowing down, they should have work permits to continue working. Otherwise, government officials will have no idea what they are actually doing here – and this could result in trouble in the future,” he said this morning.

Brought to you by:

The Phuket Gazette

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Welcome to Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmmm...do I need a work permit?

“There can be no exceptions. Work is work, even if it is for charity,” he said.

Once I donated a half day to handing out food trays at a Bangkok orphanage. Frequently I gratuitously help Thais with their English composition. Yikes, can I 'to time' for this?

Shifting to a less facetious note, I think the Thai government position is reasonable. They wisely did not enforce the work permit rules right after the disaster...but by the time March rolls around it will have been 3 months since the tsunami struck, and the effort has now largely shifted from rescue to reconstruction. The spokesperson also said that the work permits for these 'workers' would be easy to get.

[fourbaht]

Oh right  So does that mean that the so called law are going to make the tourist police volunteers get work permits??

I don't think so

Its a complete outrage that charity workers doing this are being made to get work permits. 

Sorry about the angry smiley

Exactly.. lets see them enforce this on the tourist police voulunteer pimps..

Where else in the world would an employee of an acredited aid agency be asked to get a work permit whilst a wannabee cop gets to work for free if he squeals on his mates.

[cutter007]

It is pretty sad that with all the work to be done, whether or not charity workers having work permits is a priority.

I don't know about work permits (for charity work), but I know that work permits for normal business are not a hand one document, done in twenty minutes process. They required countless documents, and someone going to the labor department at least 4 or 5 times.

If I was volunteering and I heard this announcement, I would be on the first plane out of Thailand, and to some other country where relief work is appreciated.

It is pathetic that not only do the politically elite of Thailand, rob the lower class every chance they can get, now they are trying to hassle outside parties for helping them also.

You know what would be a great cartoon for the Post, is a boy in brown,

asking a US Marine, for his work permit - followed by a clip of the Marine clubbing him on the head with his M-16.

[Humphrey Bear]

i really dont like this gov in thailand. they told me at the border when i was sick and one day late that even if i was dead i would still have to pay over stay!

rats is more like it in my mind! sick minds run this place!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's not the Government, that's some jumped-up little nobody in a uniform interpreting the law. (And actually applying it correctly in this case, even if a trifle harshly).

The Government makes the law, the forces of law and order apply the laws as they understand them, then the courts and judiciary interpret the law.

Eventually things fall into place. there is a law which requires all foreigners who are working (i.e. possibly taking the opportunity of work away from a Thai national) to obtain a work permit. This shows that the authorities have been notified that the person is working, have considered the work he / she is doing and deemed that it has not taken an opportunity away from an indigent Thai. There the person is allowed to carry out that particular activity.

It is a reasonable law for an emerging economy, where the country is trying to bring it's citizens up to a standard comparable to some developed countries by taking them away from rice / chicken farming and putting them into non-traditional employment.

Whether Thailand is at this stage yet - they think they are - is the only problem.

[puipuitom]

I agree completely with the Thai government:

Whatever work, get a workpermit.

Here for charity? Prove it and we give you a work permit immediately.

Ever tried to get one for the USA ?

Two Thai ladies, one even with a permanent resident visa to EU, had to go back to Bangkok, US Immigration for a visa application.

Both, travelling together, to see the same man ( business contact for years), were refused as "they would see their fiancee in the US, so was not sure they would leave the USA again ( mr Charles Wintheiser, head of Immigration dept USA Embassy BKK)

Happy country: an US Citizen even cannot get the woman of his dreams to the country where all dreams are possible.

Second: the US Gov implicitly recognizes the possibility of bigamy, as BOTH ladies seeing the same fiancee.

Third: how to be sure for the full 100 % a visitor will leave the USA ?

I prefer the Thai way !

[steve9145]

I dont see the problem..........Of course they should have work permits and it sounds like a formality for registered charities............I would imagine it would be the same in the western world.

Knowing thailand I think more than one person (falang) would try to use the tsunami as an opportunity / excuse to stay in thailand illegally.

[francois]

hi'

sad to see that such people can get in this just to make problems to anyone who is there to help, they don't even said thanks for help ...sob!

and they want to oblige people to have papers to help, if those people belong to any organization, this should be enough, grant the papers as a fair "give back" to all who helped there, what would have they done without help? clean alone and say "stay away" like in north Korea?

if I were someone overthere working to help and some hassle come down on my shoulder like this, I would leave and never ever come back,

and make sure that all the world will know how they treat helping people overthere.

this is not Thailand

only sh1t politicians and regulators ... small chiefs

francois

[chuchok]

I agree completely with the Thai government:

Whatever work, get a workpermit.

Here for charity? Prove it and we give you a work permit immediately.

Ever tried to get one for the USA ?

Two Thai ladies, one even with a permanent resident visa to EU, had to go back to Bangkok, US Immigration for a visa application.

Both, travelling together, to see the same man ( business contact for years), were refused as "they would see their fiancee in the US, so was not sure they would leave the USA again ( mr Charles Wintheiser, head of Immigration dept USA Embassy BKK)

Happy country: an US Citizen even cannot get the woman of his dreams to the country where all dreams are possible.

Second: the US Gov implicitly recognizes the possibility of bigamy, as BOTH ladies seeing the same fiancee.

Third: how to be sure for the full 100 % a visitor will leave the USA ?

I prefer the Thai way !

Well this is not the USA.The Thai PM said that he wants help to build schools etc.If they were serious about this they would organise a fast track system for helpers rather than blurting out what they have.

jumped up officials give me the wilt!

[-jr-]

i really dont like this gov in thailand. they told me at the border when i was sick and one day late that even if i was dead i would still have to pay over stay!

/edit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try that in Germany. It could be much worse. At least in LOS, you can talk nicely (or let your money talk) and sometimes they just let it go.

IMO, it's practical to get a work permit if they don't charge those who are there to do the volunteer work. I believe even if you do volunteer works here in Europe, you also need work permit, too. So why made a fuss when they do the same in Thailand? And they also mentioned that it'd be easy to get and they said that one month in advance. So what's the problem?

[chuchok]

i really dont like this gov in thailand. they told me at the border when i was sick and one day late that even if i was dead i would still have to pay over stay!

/edit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try that in Germany. It could be much worse. At least in LOS, you can talk nicely (or let your money talk) and sometimes they just let it go.

IMO, it's practical to get a work permit if they don't charge those who are there to do the volunteer work. I believe even if you do volunteer works here in Europe, you also need work permit, too. So why made a fuss when they do the same in Thailand? And they also mentioned that it'd be easy to get and they said that one month in advance. So what's the problem?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hang on, The Thai government ASKED for help and they recieved it.Now a month or so down the track, an official says "you must get wp or you will be in trouble"

If the Govt. now requires WP's, why do they not try to set up a fast track system etc to HELP these people get a permit. They are biting the hand that feeds them, after they asked for help. Bunch of ######s!

[corkscrew]

I agree completely with the Thai government:

Whatever work, get a workpermit.

Here for charity? Prove it and we give you a work permit immediately.

Ever tried to get one for the USA ?

Two Thai ladies, one even with a permanent resident visa to EU, had to go back to Bangkok, US Immigration for a visa application.

Both, travelling together, to see the same man ( business contact for years), were refused as "they would see their fiancee in the US, so was not sure they would leave the USA again ( mr Charles Wintheiser, head of Immigration dept USA Embassy BKK)

Happy country: an US Citizen even cannot get the woman of his dreams to the country where all dreams are possible.

Second: the US Gov implicitly recognizes the possibility of bigamy, as BOTH ladies seeing the same fiancee.

Third: how to be sure for the full 100 % a visitor will leave the USA ?

I prefer the Thai way !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree. It took my Thai wife 18 months to get her 'green card'. It took me a few hours to get my Thai visa to stay.

[onethailand]

What a dumb idea.

It would be much simpler for a volunteer working for a charity to simply register with the charity, with the normal immigration form number, state what his/her role is in the relief effort, and where he/she can be found.

Then the immigration authorities would simply check with the charity in case they have any questions - just like a hotel is required to register foreigners in the same manner.

Work permits are meant for those who are seeking gainful employ. If you work for a charity and you get paid, then you require a work permit - but if you are a volunteer...

Imagine this - I am going to require a work permit to run my website - you know what my answer to that will be (three words).

[lecter]

good god, moan and complain.

The endless pile of dickheads the Thai Authorities let stay here, yet in "Civilised" Countries Thai Citizens are Criminal liars first, people a distant last.

Be thankful they let you stay in "their" country. Because for sure, they're typically not welcome in yours.

Sheesh!

[Oleg_Rus]

i think there's problem with definitions of "work" and "job employment"

if charity activity paid - it's a job, so charity oranisation should apply for easier procedures of some kind of temp permits.

if person does charity activities on his/her own, and there're no any wedges, salaries bonuses etc., even he/she provided with basic accomodation, transportation and other provisions - than such activity has nothing to do with jobs as emplyment and work permit is not required.

now, say a person coming to Thailand to meet thai businesses and even sign contract as rep. of overseas company - it is "work", right?

but why should businessman spend time collecting all redic. papers just to get Non-B visa for one trip here? TR-visa is enough, although makes it illegal activity, according to imm dept.

I think raids should start at every trade show and fair. Lots of farangs are working without w.p. !!!

My point - guys from charities has no reason to fear, as long as they receive no cash.

[chuchok]

good god, moan and complain.

The endless pile of dickheads the Thai Authorities let stay here, yet in "Civilised" Countries Thai Citizens are Criminal liars first, people a distant last.

Be thankful they let you stay in "their" country. Because for sure, they're typically not welcome in yours.

Sheesh!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Christ, it must just be me.We are not talking about normal immigration here,but the responce to a major disaster in a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY and help that the Thais asked for.

I couldn't care less if a Thai needed 50 million baht to reside in any/your country.When you ask for help and receive it, you don't then punch your guest in the mouth.

[onethailand]

good god, moan and complain.

The endless pile of dickheads the Thai Authorities let stay here, yet in "Civilised" Countries Thai Citizens are Criminal liars first, people a distant last.

Be thankful they let you stay in "their" country. Because for sure, they're typically not welcome in yours.

Sheesh!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are a lot of dickheads who do nothing but moan and complain - like you, for example.

What we're talking about are people who are actively working to help the tsunami effort - those that donate time, effort, money. Do you honestly think that if Thais went to the US to donate time, effort and money to an earthquake relief effort that the US government would make them get a work permit? I don't think so.

[Erwin1011]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are a lot of dickheads who do nothing but moan and complain - like you, for example.

What we're talking about are people who are actively working to help the tsunami effort - those that donate time, effort, money. Do you honestly think that if Thais went to the US to donate time, effort and money to an earthquake relief effort that the US government would make them get a work permit? I don't think so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You would not get into the US in the second place! you would not get on aplane to the US in the first place!

[onethailand]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are a lot of dickheads who do nothing but moan and complain - like you, for example.

What we're talking about are people who are actively working to help the tsunami effort - those that donate time, effort, money. Do you honestly think that if Thais went to the US to donate time, effort and money to an earthquake relief effort that the US government would make them get a work permit? I don't think so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You would not get into the US in the second place! you would not get on aplane to the US in the first place!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very funny, especially considering I am American.

[mr_lob]

if i volunteer my bedroom services to a BG, do i need a work permit?

[Gallowspole]

I think you are all looking at this a bit too deeply.

You have to PAY for a work permit, right?

Falang Ruay. TIT.

[ThaiPauly]

I agree that relief workers should have work permits, but if they are working for charities surely they should not have to pay for them! Those that have said we are lucky to be here and if you were Thai you would have nearly no chance of getting into any western country on your own in my humble opinion are right, yet here we all are 90% of us here because we prefer it to our own country of origin moaning because we have to get WP's and go through hoops to stay here. well I think every hoop is worth it