im looking to move to thailand for a year or so and find work there. i'm an IT professional so i will be looking to find work in that field when i am there. If this doesn't work out, i plan to teach english (i have a university degree). Im an Australian but also have Belgian citizenship. My age is currently 27.

I did some research, initially it was my understanding that to get a VISA, i first need a work permit. I looked into getting this from the Thai embassy in Sydney, however their website states i need a work permit before i get a VISA. I'm finding information that contradicts itself all the time, so preferably i would like to hear how someone recently did something similar. what exactly is the process?

my current hope, is that if i went to thailand on a 3 month tourist visa, it might be possible to switch it to a non-b visa if i find employment.

Help appreciated!

Best come here on a Tourist Visa, look for work, once you land a job then get the employer to give you the documents to get a WP, the officer will then give you a receipt WP3, this you take with some other documents to a Consulate outside of Thailand and get a Non Immigrant B Visa, you come back with it, show the visa to the people at the Work Permit place and get your Blue book.

You will not get a non-B visa, unless you have a (prospected employer). What people in your situation do is get a duble entry tourist visa, which would give you up to 180 days in Thailand.

(a tourist visa is 60 days and can be extended by 30 days for 1,900 baht, than you leave the country and re-enter for the activation of your second entry of 60 days, which you also extend by 30 days for 1,900 baht).

Once you find work you apply for a work permit, get the necesarry forms and apply for a non-B visa in a neighburing country with paperwork from the employer. Once you have the non-B, you get the actual work eprmit and then are allowed to work.

To make it as simlpe as possible without getting into the details, come to Thailand on the tourist visa, find employment and once your employment contract is finalized you can get the work permit and proper visa extension. It rerquires a lot of paperwork from your respective employer. But remember the tourist visa is only good for 60 days with the ability to extend for another 30 days. For teaching jobs in public schools the first semester starts on i May and ends at the end of September and the second starts i November(except this year) and ends at the end of March,. so timing is critical

thanks for the replies everyone, everything is much clearer now