I have a Chinese friend in his early 30"s who is here with his wife and child.

 

The child is in school on education visa and the mother apparently gets the dependent visa. The father is currently on his own ed visa but looking for something more appropriate before it expires.

He has 3 friends who have obtained "work permits" from a local lawyer at THB 50,000 a year but no work so it's some sort of scam .Another friend who has taken a 5 year year Elite.

 

He cannot afford the Elite and is considering the dodgy "work permit" route which I have advised against. 

 

What's his best legal option?

 

 

Unless he has run out of languages, he could keep taking more and getting ED visas.  Cost, even with the "tea-money" to the school for no-hassle extensions, should not exceed the dodgy illegal route.  That's what I would do.

 

Assuming he cannot get a "real job" with work-permit - which would be ideal, given a family to support and not rich enough for the Elite route.

14 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Unless he has run out of languages, he could keep taking more and getting ED visas.  Cost, even with the "tea-money" to the school for no-hassle extensions, should not exceed the dodgy illegal route.  That's what I would do.

 

Assuming he cannot get a "real job" with work-permit - which would be ideal, given a family to support and not rich enough for the Elite route.

Interesting, no problems with immigration if he kept changing subject/ language every 2 years ( max time for ed visa he says, I do not know)?

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

Interesting, no problems with immigration if he kept changing subject/ language every 2 years ( max time for ed visa he says, I do not know)?

By the law/rules - no problem changing languages.  But, of course, that's only part of the story.  What is "applied as law" would depend on the office and agent at the office, and could also depend on the school's connections to that office.