How Long Did It Take You To Be A Legal Teacher Here?

[PeaceBlondie]

This set of two polls is about your experience as a teacher in Thailand. Please read the explanation before voting. You can vote twice: once about how long it took you to get a proper working VISA, and once more about how long it took you to get a proper WORK PERMIT for the location where you worked. Before clicking on "Vote," tick a box in one or both polls.

I got lazy and used longer time periods on the second poll, so they're not identical.

For example: I entered Thailand with a B visa and always had one. I worked at two schools full time, long time; and another school part time, briefly; never had a work permit issued to me (or even applied for).

If I've made a mistake, send me a PM and I'll try to fix it. Only vote once in each category. Thank you.

[wangsuda]

Once I found the right job (which I am still at), the visa and work permit process was easy. Gotta say, the first four months doing border runs was not fun.

[kayo]

PB,

For the second, is that how much time after obtaining the non imm.

For example. It took me (my school) a good 6 months to sort out the paper work for my non imm, but then my work permit came within days.

So I want to vote 4-6 fot the first, but then I guess within 5 days for the second?

Or ...

[PeaceBlondie]

PB,

For the second, is that how much time after obtaining the non imm.

For example. It took me (my school) a good 6 months to sort out the paper work for my non imm, but then my work permit came within days.

So I want to vote 4-6 fot the first, but then I guess within 5 days for the second?

Or ...

No, the second poll is also, from the date you started working. In your example, you'd vote 6 months for the legal visa, and at least 4-6 months for the work permit, because you (apparently) worked illegally without a work permit all those months.

[otherstuff1957]

I voted for a longer period, but I was initially turned down for a teaching license because I hadn't completed a TEFL course. (Although I was told that if my degree had been a BA instead of a BS they would have given me a Teacher's License anyway!).

So, if I were to just count the months from when I had completed my online TEFL course, I would have voted for 2-3 months!

[Loaded]

Never had a problem in Chiang Mai. Only did visa runs when I was intentionally between jobs taking a long break.

[kenkannif]

9 months to get a WP and around 6 months or so to get the correct Visa.

[frogmo1]

I worked for American University Alumni (AUA) for over two years before they finally applied for and obtained a work permit for me. The administration there did not take seriously the Thai immigration and labor laws. As a consequence, teachers (all of whom were part-time) spent a lot of their below-market-rate pay on expensive visa runs.

After teachers performed two years "service," it was AUA's stated policy to reimburse them for the visa fees they had paid during their first two years of "service." In my case, they renigged on this promise, contending that the two years ran from the date that my work permit was issued, and not from the date my "service" began. They shamelessly used this subterfuge to benefit from their lawless conduct.

I subsequently obtained another job where my new employer promptly obtained the requisite work permit and visa within less than two months of my starting date at no expense to me.

Actions often speak for themselves. AUA's certainly did.

Edited September 27, 2006 by frogmo1

[Ijustwannateach]

Another good poll that deserves revisiting.

[Scott]

When I started teaching here in Thailand, 10 years ago, the process was very slow. I got the visa, but the TL and Work Permit took a very long time. The school processed the papers immediately, but the relevant gov't agencies just took forever to get it done. At that time there was no hurry because as long as there was an application for a WP, immigration kept extending your visa until it was done.

Some of the people in the poll might have been here a while and been caught in the same snail-paced bureaucracy.

[mopenyang]

Arrived in country with a Non-Imm B. Had my work permit within a week of beginning work. That's a fact. It very much depends upon the employer, reputation and standing of said employer and whether or not the employer is motivated and knowledgeable in getting done what needs to get done.

[page449]

Only 3 months, but in 1999 they were very lax; all I had was a 30 hour TESOL certificate and a BA.

Edited August 17, 2007 by page449

[Ijustwannateach]

I'm bumping this thread for convenience in discussion with the current poll and thread, but I'm closing it because it is an obsolete poll.