Q: “Why is the only exception to the minimum salary levels for newspapers?”

A: “Thailand generally benefits from foreign journalists here and many are not well paid.”

I am not a teacher but this reasoning defies logic. Doesn’t Thailand also benefit from lowly-paid English teachers? And, aren’t newspapers in a better financial position than schools to increase the salaries of their employees to an “acceptable” level?

The only inference that I can draw from this is that the Education department believes there enough Thai teachers to teach English, therefore native English-speaking teachers are not required. Is this really the case?

Marty, You might be correct,My wife is a Thai school teacher and her main subject is English, she learned it in school and now teaches and is a good speaker ,for a Thai but pronunciation is not her strong point, But they do not seem to care to much about the quality of edu. in Thailand,according to what I see and what info I have gleaned from the web,Thailand has the lowest edu. rating in Asia

the other curious thing about these new wp regs is the descrepincy between salaries required for europeans and north americans to obtain wps.  can anyone explain why the minimum salary for a euro to be elibible for a wp is B40k and for a north american (canadian/usa) B60k???  

Johnnie, I noticed the same thing and reacted the same way as you.

I have been employed in a few counrtrys and the american was always at the top of the pay scale,always got top dollar on the world labor market. But that was offered wage,not government law.

Americans were supposed to be better qualified to act as supt. personal. and better trained and was required on some foreign contracts by the governments involved.

But here to require such a thing by the government, is only one more indication that the Thai want the american out of their country.

Maybe it is because they do not need the people of the USA,because the US Govt. is so free to hand out money, they get all the US dollars they want and do not have the people here eating all the pineapples.

???

Reading more of the issues regarding a tightening of the rules for Westerners, and trying to look ahead as a novice here.  Could someone please tell me if you have 400000 baht in the bank that you will be able to remain in Thailand pretty much with just a visa renewal application?

I am just wondering if I will be able to take private students on an hourly basis to tick over so to speak and I also have approx 24,000 baht per month investment that I can use if necessary, even if not desirable I'd rather teach and leave it at home. I guess the main point I am driving at is if one deposits 400000 baht leaves it in their Thai account, that as long as you have your head down you will just have to apply for a b class Visa once a year?

I'm just looking ahead at worst case scenario, that pretty much all native English teachers have to leave if the schools will not pay or be able to afford the enforced minimum wage hike?

If I have this wrong apologies but these Visa/residence matters are only approx 4 days from birth for me! Any comments greatly appreciated.

M.