Like I said, I will give Volunthai the opportunity to responded to all of this before I make my next move, I think 1 week should be long enough to wait.

Thanks to all you guys for keeping my wife and I out of gaol.

OzzieBruce

To give you guys at Thaivisa an update: I’ve been in touch with Volunthai and they are happy to get us a letter from our host school to arrange the proper visa. After following this thread, I also think they’re going to start arranging visas for their volunteers in the future. I’ll let you know how it works out, and thanks again for all your great visa advice!

Cheers

OzzieBruce

Hope it works out for you.

Edited August 13, 200916 yr by thaiphoon

The problem is not the Visa it is the Work Permit issue.

This is completely NOT off-topic but germain to their ability to obtain Visas and (as per K. Lite Beer) Work Permits for their volunteers: What is VolunThai.com's legal status? Are they USA 501(c )(3) registered non-profit status as are many of the 'projects' they are '...proud to be working with' as mentioned on their website? Are they NGO status in Thailand? Registered UK Charity? I have seldom if ever seen a 'project' that solicits and accepts 'donations' that does not quite visibly display and convey their legal status.

The problem is not the Visa it is the Work Permit issue.

Volunthai are going to have to provide paperwork to support your work permit application.

Correct. Getting the right visa is nver a problem. The real issue is weather they will help you with getting a work permit or just want you to work illegaly.

I have contacted sevral volunteer organisation, most flatly deny a work permit is necesarry or just told me not to whine about as nobody had any problems before.

... or is their LEGAL STATUS that they are a travel agency majority owned by the Thai wife?

A Double Entry Non O Visa is a strange animal in that it only seems to be issued in certain Australian Consulates.

Usually it is Single or Multi entry. If you can get a double , yes that will do the job reguarding you wanting to leave and come back.

A multi Non-Imm costs AU$225 and a single is AU$90 so a double comes to AU$180. If one can use a multi it represents better value.

With a letter from the volunteer agency, Brisbane would almost certainly give you a double Non O

www.thaiconsulate.org

I have a way they could solve all their problems: Change their name to ThaiVisaSchoolStay.com

Boy, this one sure dropped off the radar screen. No response from VolunThai.com that I can see. Are they a for-profit entity in the USA and Thailand, are they a US state-registered non-profit but not 501(c )(3)? What is their legal standing in Thailand? Are their donations really just fees, as with a donation in the USA, if you receive anything of value in return, that value received component is not considered a donation... this, all work permit issues aside.

Again, I worked over the course of several years for a Thai NGO under Royal Patronage, and I am involved right now with a USA state registered non-profit that is seeking 501(c )(3) IRS tax status -- not easy. Also, on the VolunThai home page it lists several NGOs and Foundations that they are 'working with' but based on looking at those websites it appears that it is merely a cross=URL linking and if their 'working with' is anything of more substance than that, VolunThai.com it doesn't bother to say.

from the Kuhn Mario2008 post above: I have contacted several volunteer organisations, most flatly deny a work permit is necessary or just told me not to whine about as nobody (has) had any problems before.

So all it is going to take is some noise made by one or more Thai-based NGOs that see all this money flowing into the coffers of non-Thai-based NGOs and feel -- rightly or wrongly -- that this is money taken out of their pockets, and the whole house-of-cards is going to collapse.

To give you guys at Thaivisa an update: I've been in touch with Volunthai and they are happy to get us a letter from our host school to arrange the proper visa. After following this thread, I also think they're going to start arranging visas for their volunteers in the future. I'll let you know how it works out, and thanks again for all your great visa advice!

Cheers

OzzieBruce

Too bad they are not happy to get you a work permit, which almost certainly they will not do, but then, you will likely be the one that suffers from that more than them.