Tct Teacher Licence Exemption Letter.

[chowny77]

Last year when I had to go to Nan with two other teachers from the town we all work in we had a problem at Immigration. We all had the correct documents from the schools, such as signed contracts with our correct details on them plus we all had been issued work permits from our provincial work permit office.

The Immigration officer then decided to start asking about the TCT teacher licence letter, none of us had one but again we showed the work permits to him. He basically ignored them saying that without the TCT letter they were invalid. Anyway, we all had to come back home and with in a few days we had the letter from the TCT in Bangkok. We went back and got our visa stamps. They did keep the TCT original letters and not make a copy.

Just today my girlfriend arrived in BKK to extend my TCT letter for another year. The woman in the office recognised her from last year and asked why she was back again. My gf explained that last year she was told that because I am on a volunteer visa I have to reapply each year, not every two years like people working for a salary in government schools. The officer then wrote my gf a new letter and told her to make copies and that this letter is good for as long as I wish to teach voluntary.

Has anyone else come across this recently?

[Mario2008]

nan immirgation is right abut the need for a teaching license or waiver.

A waiver is normally good for 2 years, also for volunteers. But I heard that for volunteers now there is a letter that will indeed be valid for the duration of the volunteering and they don't need a new letter every 2 years. Your story seems to confirm this. Funny thing is that if I recall correctly the rumour about not needing a new letter every two years was from Nan-immigration.

Normally you give a copy of the waiver and keep the original. I don't understand why the officier kept the original, maybe he was new to his job.

[chowny77]

Well this is good news for many people now that do not live a stones throw away from BKK to receive a simple piece of paper.

I think it is the usual case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing again or too many chiefs and not enough indians!!

[lostinisaan]

Labour also wants the original, best way to copy the waiver with a good printer and they'll all have the original...

Thailand, hub of original waivers........

Edited June 20, 2012 by Scott

[chowny77]

Well I have now looked at the documents from the TCT office in BKK and it is now confirmed that there has been a rule change regarding people working as a volunteer. No more running to BKK every 1-2yrs. The officer even printed out the rules and signed them so that we can show it to the immigration officer if they are out of the loop and try to railroad me again!

[aidenai]

The officer even printed out the rules and signed them so that we can show it to the immigration officer if they are out of the loop and try to railroad me again!

Any chance of posting a scan here?

Thank you very much.

[SlyAnimal]

So the rule change, whereby you don't require a new waiver after 2 years, just applies to volunteers? or does it apply to teachers who are getting paid as well?

[Mario2008]

This permanent waiver is only for volunteers.

[mike123ca]

This permanent waiver is only for volunteers.

This permanent waiver is only for volunteers.

If you are working, but do not receive compensation you are now considered a qualified teacher.

I wish they would just do away with the waiver and the teaching license.

[Mario2008]

You are not considered a qualified teacher. Rahter, it is recognized that requiring to become fully qualified cannot be expected of someone who volunteers.

[mike123ca]

You are not considered a qualified teacher. Rahter, it is recognized that requiring to become fully qualified cannot be expected of someone who volunteers.

You are not considered a qualified teacher. Rahter, it is recognized that requiring to become fully qualified cannot be expected of someone who volunteers.

Let's be honest, the only schools paying for "real qualified teachers" are the International schools. The teacher's compensation at these schools is far more generous when compared to the miserable wages they pay for government teachers. The government would love

to claim it has qualified teachers, but it sure doesn't want to pay for it.

[chowny77]

Well last week I went to Nan with all the relevant documents and they basically told me that my documents were correct apart from the fact I am volunteering myself rather than through a recognised organisation such as the peace corp.................so they said I was not allowed to do this. I showed pictures from different periods of last year and this year as evidence and they basically said that they did not believe I was going to the school and following my weekly schedule and I am only doing this to stay here longer in the land of LOS. However, after some talking they have agreed to extend my visa for 6 months to give me time to think about my next step. I sometimes wonder why we bother to stick to the rules set by Bangkok to only be blocked by a regional office, they even said their rules are not the same as Bangkok..........ehhh??

Well time is ticking and I guess it is time to put my thinking cap on. Maybe an education visa if the local university will allow me to study there and the teachers are not afraid to teach a native speaker my own language.

[Mario2008]

The rules don't say you have to volunteer through an organisation like the peace corps. Especially volunteering for the government is no problem

Sorry to hear about your though luck. I would advise that the school contacts the governor of your province and let him contact immigration to find out what is going on.

Where I used to volunteer the governor gave me a suporting letter and told me that if i ever had any problems to just call him and he would take care of it. (Not that I ever had problems, as immigration always appreciated what I did and were very supportive).