Poll: Wasted resource -- Expats retired in Thailand, volunteer work, and work permits

[Soutpeel]

If proper checked on it would be a great benefit...just worried about Paedos....

That's what i was thinking chef.OA visa already requires police check from home country.Other volunteers would need to get a clearance.

But this doesn't stop the Paedos, all it proves is they have never been caught in their own country that's all

[Soutpeel]

If a "volunteer visa/work permit" was ever introduced, it would be massively abused. People with no intention of doing volunteer work would come in droves. There would be company after company providing volunteer visa/work permits for a fee. It would be an unmanageable mess. True NGOs who would try to do it legally would find it an administrative nightmare and probably couldn't afford it.

Having said that, I know quite a few expats already doing volunteer work. They give their free time and genuinely want to help and continue to do so. The authorities will not be going after those folks.

It's not like that problem could not be easily solved - for example by restricting such permit to volunteer non-paid work (in any form) and making it uneligible for extensions of stay.

Do you mean as a basis / justification for an extension of stay.. ? Or what ?

in the is specific case a pre-existing extension of stay needs to be in place ie by virtue that someone is retired or married etc, there should be no visa available or getting extensions on the basis of volunteering...

[chrisinth]

If this ever was to happen, then it would need to be rigidly controlled to prevent abuse.

The more controls you put on something, the less people will be prone to following the rules and stipulations of those controls. Especially with volunteers.

Sooo, IMO, you could end up with a system in place, but too complicated to get the volunteers to fill the positions.

Back to square one.....................

Being pessimistic I know................

[Soutpeel]

If this ever was to happen, then it would need to be rigidly controlled to prevent abuse.

The more controls you put on something, the less people will be prone to following the rules and stipulations of those controls. Especially with volunteers.

Sooo, IMO, you could end up with a system in place, but too complicated to get the volunteers to fill the positions.

Back to square one.....................

Being pessimistic I know................

all the control really need to be is that a person is already on an extension of stay, and cannot receive any form of "consideration" for their volunteering