i am a canadian age 60+ retired in thailand with pension amount exceeding retirement visa minimum requirement. i am being offered part time employment by a large corporation in thailand. i am on a non-immigrant "o" visa. it is my understanding that employment is prohibited in this visa category. the employer says "mai pen rai" and "dai" and "we will take care" things like that. is this legit? i want to stay squeaky clean. grateful for all informed advice received. merci beaucoup.

Short answer, if you or your company can get the labor department to issue you a work permit then you can legally work. Do you have a 1 year extension of stay based on retirement?

Edited June 22, 201016 yr by InterestedObserver

thank you observer

The "O" visa category in itself is not a reason to deny you a work permit. But if you are on an extension of stay based on retirement, as a rule you will not get a work permit and must get a non-B visa. Immigration might allow you to change your reason of stay to working, but that is not sure. Worse case scenario would be that you need to travele to a neighboring country to get a non-B their. You should decide if that would be worth the trouble considering what you would make with your job.

But do note that for extensions of stay based on work you would need to have a salary of 50,000 a month for most nationalities. 9It depends on your nationality and job, teachers for example don't have a minimum income requirement).

Working without a work permit would be illegal and could mean deportation.

thank you for your very detailed response, mario. it is a teaching job involving one lecture per week 20 weeks per year. money yet not discussed. i just called them and they said that they will get me a work permit without changing my visa status. mai pen rai is the operative phrase. i believe them but just want to make sure.

There is no minimum income requirement for a teacher, so that would be OK. But I think you should work for a minimum of 4 hours a week (on average per year). Depending on the salary consider if this is worth the trouble.

You would have to apply for the work permit first, so you can check if they are serious with helping you with all the papers before you change your immigration status.

thank you again, mario. i am off to see meet with them this afternoon. your advice much appreciated.