I'm from the US and am over 50.

My company recently closed for good, and I collect unemployment benefits. From what I understand it does not matter where you are but rather that you are looking for full time work and available.

In my area manufacturing has been devastated, there simply are no jobs in my field and there are unlikely to be any before mid 2011. My house is a large, old farmhouse, which is wickedly expensive to heat, so much so that spending three months to fly to and live in Chiang mai comes out to about the same amount that I would save in fuel costs.

I'd like to visit two friends in CM for three months, take some Thai classes and get away from New England (US)'s terrible winter. I might like to return in August to CM to study for the SIT Tesol class.

If I get a tourist visa from the New York Embassy that would cover the stay but forbids me from working, even as a volunteer teaching English at a orphanage, much less as a full time—in the very unlikely case that I might find such employment.

I will continue to send resumes in America as required and could return if a good job did pop up which is unlikely.

Is there a Visa that I can get that would allow me to teach English while I am there, thus fulfilling the "look for employment rule?" (as a paid worker)

I see where the Non Immigrant O-A says in places that you cannot work and other places I read that you can apply for a work permit. I am told that a work permit is required even to teach as an unpaid volunteer.

The Non Immigrant O seems to be to visit relatives in Thailand but others say that friends will work too. Does anyone know about the New York Thai Consulate's history on that.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

I'm a bit surprised at not seeing a single response and it occurred to me that spending a winter in Thailand while collecting unemployment might be construed as slimy or even illegal.

I'm not sure how it is in other people's countries but here there are simply no jobs--not of any sort, much less one for my qualifications. This county (an area with a radius of about 20 kilometers) in New Hampshire about 20 years ago had about 40,000 industrial workers. Ten years ago it dropped to about 10,000, today I would be surprised if it was a thousand. I'm an RN in a nursing sub-specialty which is Occupational Health within Industry with very good qualifications. Going back 5 years I was nurse at a large paper company--but they filed bankruptcy. Then I was Occ Health nurse for a large hi-tech company, then they were sold to an international company and consolidated elsewhere. My last job was at a unit of GM--as of Friday that unit ceased to be-gone--never to return.

There is a company nearby that provides temporary and contract Occ Health nurses to industry. Just five years ago it had about 20 nurses, today--a few part-time. This area is full of shells of what were once multi-thousand employeed manufacturing companies--now they are gone. I'm not whining or complaining, it is a simple fact that there are no jobs for me and there are not going to be for a long time--if ever. Next year I'll return to college to become a Nurse Practitioner (Master's degree) and then I'll have good chance at one of the few jobs available (though still not in my area) for the simple reason is that a NP can bounce a medical doctor, so Occ Med NP's are in great demand. I'm not lazy, and I'm not doing anything illegal, just in case anyone might think otherwise.

I hope for other readers that there countries are doing better than this part of America.

Well your first post was at 12 midnight Thailand time ... What I would suggest IMHO is not to worry for now about the Non-IMM 'O' but to get yourself a double-entry tourist visa from NYC and then come to Thailand and speak with the many hospitals in Chiang Mai and elsewhere who might be interested in you (being an RN) as an International services representative.

BTW listening now on INTERNET radio to the Jets and the Pats.

I don't think you can legally collect UI doing what you are proposing. You are correct, generally there is no work allowed on retirement visas or extensions. Without going into much detail, and with sympathy, I think your plan is flawed. How about moving to another area in the US with better prospects, you do have skills.

Edited September 19, 201015 yr by Jingthing

I don't think you can legally collect UI doing what you are proposing.

Well, assuming we are talking about New Hampshire (and every state in USA has its own regs) this is what you can and cannot do:

http://www.nh.gov/nhes/jobseeker/rights_obligations.htm

I'm not sure about New Hampshire, but some States require you to appear in person every 2-4 weeks to give proof you are looking for work, as part of that benefits package. You might wish to check this point in detail to make sure you are not stranded half way around the world and the income stops. How else would the unemployment office know if a persons has found work? Are the benefits guaranteed for a certain time and you can collect that full time? Good luck.

Based upon a cursory reading of the NH regs, you could make a good case for a 4-6 week visit to Thailand to contact hospitals for work as an RN patient representative as long as you maintained records of your hospital visits in Thailand... I do not think this would cause problems for you even if you were contacted by the NH officials for a random audit of your activities.

Want to visit your friends in Thailand? Don't have a job? Don't worry Uncle Sam can finance your visit!!

What the State of New Hampshire wants -- and what any state Employment division wants -- is for someone like the OP to get off the state unemployment subsidy roles as soon as possible. If one can make the case given one's set of skills, that future employment may be more likely in a country -- as in this case -- that has a growing industry in 'medical tourism', I would not nor does it seem the State of NH would consider a well-documented work effort to be purely a 'visit' to friends ...

After all, the reason Thailand has a growing medical tourism business is that it is a desirable location.

In California you must file paperwork that includes employers that you have submitted paperwork for employment prospects bi-weekly. Some states require your presence. It is no problem to get a benefit while traveling to another state, Cali in particular encourages it as it gets you off their payroll. You can though, stop your benefit and reapply (on your return) in California.

BUT...since you are not looking for work and looking for a six month++ holiday - I am certain that in any state you proposal is illegal.

You could in theory state you are looking for work here - but I you will have to document this potentially for the ongoing benefit and esp after assuming they might come after you. The state would have no idea about the type of visa you are here on and even if you were on a TR, you could leave and return on a business visa. non issue. Having said that - a TR is one thing, a "retirement visa" - really bad idea. I would think a business visa would be most plausible backed with paperwork - about 10 hospitals a week.

Still my question would be:

Do you have special skills Thailand wants/needs? If not, why did you go there?

Do you speak Thai? If not how can you work?

What job were you expecting to land given your standard skillset and lack of Thai?

Further, if you had feelers out to Thailand before you lost your job (email, documents, correspondence to hospitals, schools that would also show you had a real interest. This totally smacks of what it is - fraud.

If I were an auditor....I'd be thinking, theyre are PLENTY of nursing jobs in the US. If you don't like one in the USA, that will be on your dime. Hard to look at thousands of jobs out there and say with a straight face - you cant find work. Your inquiry already informs us that you are willing to move THOUSANDS of miles for work so that defense is shot down (not in my area).

Unemployment insurance is just that. Your inquiry strikes me as fraud and the fact that you whinge about the weather - well, here is the perfect opportunity to move to Florida or Cali or Az or Mid Atlantic.

See if you can stop your benefit Nov-Mar. No issues. Tell them you want to go abroad to look for work, then just take your holiday. No harm no foul. Make an anon call.

> I wish I had an RN or NP/PA. Biggest mistake of my life, going into IT and not medicine. Now at 50, that road is impossible, new nurse graduate at 55 - why bother.

Edited September 21, 201015 yr by bangkokburning

BTW: I do not think you can even get a standard NonO unless you are visiting Thai friends or relatives in the vast, vast majority of cases. I am visiting some farang friends in CM - highly doubtful. The business visa will be hugely problematic for you as well, a non starter. Real and only options are the OA and the TR. TR easiest to obtain and easiest to rationalize to a skeptical US bureaucrat...you went and had a look at job prospects. The economy is US is very sour and will remain weak IYO for years. OK.

OA is a visa with the intention to long stay and is usually used to retirees. So that would be the presumption - you went to Thailand with intention to at the very least, have a long stay. Of course, if the bureaucrat is already digging this deep into the issue - you're finished anyway. My hunch is most public employees haven't a clue that countries even have visa classifications.

Want to visit your friends in Thailand? Don't have a job? Don't worry Uncle Sam can finance your visit!!

With some quick calculations about $12,600 has been paid in into the fund over my working lifetime at about 1.5% average of base pay. It is what it is--an insurance program and this is the first time I have ever had the need for it.

Maximum benefit is $360/week, assuming a sort of worst case scenario of 7 months since in my area the average time for a worker to return to full time employment is about 7 months. 7x4x360 = $10080 which will leave a surplus. And besides, Uncle Sam (Federal Government) does not collect unemployment insurance, the state does.

In actuality the amount that is likely to be paid out is 0.00003% of what Uncle Sam just gave to the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for yet another bailout, this time for Harrisburg's ill planned "trash to energy" plant. But let's consider it as a fraction of America's latest war machine spending in Afganistan--oh my, my calculator doesn't have enough space to divide $10000 into 2,000,000,000 (2 trillion) and guess who will pay for that? (But if you care to guess, remember, not one penny has ever been paid off for the debt on the war in Iraq nor the entire Vietnam War. America's dollar is toast--the only unit of the dollar that has real value is the nickel because it has 1.25 grams of nickel and 3.75 grams of copper. The rest of America's currency is, as so many are sadly about to find out rapidly decaying. IMHO Uncle Sam is dead, we now have Uncle Goldman Sachs. Americans no longer run America, special interests do.

I predict that in five years the US $ will only buy 10 baht. And if you think that is ludicrous consider this: When I was fourteen, four quarter's (a coin worth 1/4 dollar) from my pocket today can be readily exchanged for $17.36 (because they were real money = 90% silver). Since 1964 our dollar has been debased by 94%. And we are still debasing our currency though at a rate that is exponential. But I digress...

Let's look at the facts:

My benefit is less than 1/3 of what I last earned per week.

I have paid into the unemployment fund without using it for 42 years.

A trip to Thailand will cost about the same as what I will pay in fuel costs to heat my home for those three months, even wearing heavy sweaters and using adjunct wood heat with wood that I have cut myself. (It is a very big farmhouse, huge by modern standards, but normal when it was built which was 1840, and though worth a lot 4 years ago, it is now virtually unsaleable making moving permanently at this time impossible.

Finding a job there, legitimately, and changing the tourist to a company sponsored Visa with work permit is a possibility. Finding a job where I live is an impossibility at least until next May or later. There are perhaps not many opportunities for an American to work in Thailand but there are American/Canadian/English corporations where I could fit in nicely. Also I have been told that I might be able to get a job teaching English to Med students (which I would enjoy greatly) plus as one poster pointed out with the immense increase in medical tourism can use English speaking medical people.

Finally, I will make no effort to hide from the Division of Unemployment. I will inform them of my location and will fulfill the reporting requirement. If they are satisfied, fine, if not, then I am ruled as "unavailable" and benefits will stop for those weeks. I can live with that. Upon return, let's say that they find 8 weeks unacceptable, then benefits stop for those weeks, but the full 26 weeks of unemployment is still available, these weeks are simply added on to be used later. (note: benefits have been extended but nobody knows if it will return to 26 weeks--I think it likely.

So, after saying all this, BillR, I will only say that you are entitled to your opinion, but I think that your opinion is not based upon facts,

ใจเย็น

BUT...since you are not looking for work and looking for a six month++ holiday - I am certain that in any state you proposal is illegal.

> I wish I had an RN or NP/PA. Biggest mistake of my life, going into IT and not medicine. Now at 50, that road is impossible, new nurse graduate at 55 - why bother.

Thank you for your suggestions

My post indicates 3 months, not six. And though I lost my job Friday, I have already contacted three people who hire nurses--so, that is incorrect, I am and will continue to search for work.

I graduated with my Nursing Degree at the age of 54--Since you are 50 there are plenty of colleges that you can graduate in three years, which would make you a year younger than I was. Go for it, though I would not suggest RN, as there is a huge glut of them. The media states otherwise because so many schools have added programs. What will be needed acutely in four years will be medical imaging technology people: Radtechs, Ultrasound, CAT scans, etc.

A glut of RNs why do they hire them from Philippines. Have your friends send you a email asking you to come for a visit with address. Look up the address and phone number of Dallas Consulate get info what he wants fill out paper work enclose 65 dollars and get a single entry non-o visa or a multi- entry he seems very interested in helping people out good luck.