Volunteer Visa

[user555]

 

Hi,

I’m currently living in Thailand. I’m on a tourist visa. There is a humanitarian buddhist charity/NGO I’m connected to and have helped with Internet stuff. The monk in charge offered to write a letter in order to help me with my visa. The NGO never provided volunteer visa before. If I will get such a visa, I will have defined tasks and responsibilities.

Can you please share with me links and information about volunteer visa in Thailand?

Thanks in advance!

[Merylhighground]

As I understand it, volunteers require a Work Permit which is obtained through having the correct visa type.

I've not heard of a volunteer visa before but usually a Work Permit is obtained from the Min of Labour via a nonimmigrant visa and the required official paperwork/documentation from the organisation or company.  

It is on the Work Permit where your tasks, responsibilities will be defined via the paperwork provided by the organisation, or the Min of Labour officials may even ask you about your role when you collect your Work Permit if they are unfamiliar with such a role.

Have a care to read through this section carefully as there are cases of people thinking simply having a Work Permit permits them carte blanche to do anything while at work, however it does not.

You are supposed to remain firmly in the boundaries set out in the Work Permit.

As this part is usually hand written by the issuing official, when you collect your WP, if you feel there has been an omission you can point that out, or if you are lucky like me, and deal with a good, efficient, friendly office they may even ask you to read through the whole thing and make any amendments you suggest. 

For example if your Work Permit does not have 'translation' as one of your permitted tasks and you go and do a load of translation work, technically you could wind up in the soup.....

I hope that is clear though I am certain that others will be along with more 'hands on' experience than I can provide. 

[ubonjoe]

Thai embassies and consulates issue non immigrant O visas ( non-o ) for volunteer work. 

Quote

To visit as a volunteer for an NGO (Non-government organization) – No multipleentry visas.

Singed letter on the organization’s letterhead stating duration of stay, duties, etc. along with a copy of the organization’s registration. Single-entry Non-Immigrant “O” visa will be issued for the purpose of volunteering only

Source: http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/upload/pdf/Visa/Non- ED & O.pdf

You need a work permit to work as a volunteer and it requires the non-o visa to apply for it. NGO will have to provide supporting documents to get it.

Prior to the end of the 90 day entry from the non-o visa you will need to apply for an extension of stay at immigration. Requirements for the extension can be found in clause 2.27 of  Immigration Bureau Order 327/2557  basis for extension of stay.

 

 

[BritTim]

If neither you nor the NGO knows the correct procedure, and you can afford it, this seems like one of those occasions where it is worth using the services of a good immigration lawyer. One who knows his stuff, but has limited English, can probably navigate you through the process for 20,000 baht or so. In Thailand, a good lawyer with fluent English will cost a lot more.

[user555]

 

Thank you.

unfortunately neither the NGO neither I have much extra to spend. I hope I can hear from some NGOs and volunteers, understand all the details of the procedure, and then simply do the same.

[JackThompson]

3 hours ago, user555 said:

 

Thank you.

unfortunately neither the NGO neither I have much extra to spend. I hope I can hear from some NGOs and volunteers, understand all the details of the procedure, and then simply do the same.

 

Based on conversations with a few people, and some reading here, It is not uncommon for the volunteer to be asked to cover the costs of an agent/lawyer to arrange your visa and work-permit documentation. 

[ubonjoe]

3 hours ago, user555 said:

 

Thank you.

unfortunately neither the NGO neither I have much extra to spend. I hope I can hear from some NGOs and volunteers, understand all the details of the procedure, and then simply do the same.

A good way to find out what you need would be to go to the local work permit and immigration offices to find out their requirements. What works at one location will not always work at another work at other offices.

The first thing you should do is to get the non-o visa that will allow a 90 day entry. The requirements I posted from the Vientiane embassy website appear to be easy to meet.