Job Discussion Forums

[David Campbell]

Hello there good people at Dave's,

I have been in Thailand for about a year and a half now. Currently teaching at a hotel with a work permit provided. Previously I was in Phuket teaching at a language agency that was quite nice however my application for a work permit was denied b/c I have an associate's degree and not a BA. After doing some research other schools told me they thought they could get me a work permit b/c of they're connections with immigration etc etc. I was also led to believe that my work permit could have been denied not only b/c of my degree senario but also b/c of who owned the "private" language school I was working for. After getting a work permit from my current employer I am now wondering exactly what are the legalities with getting a work permit for teaching. For the record I have an associate's degree from the states and a TEFL.

Is it 100% required to have a BA to teach and get a work permit?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[MaiPenRai]

David,

You have been in Thailand for a year and a half and you are asking a question like, "Is it 100% required.....?". Really?!

There are 70+ provinces here, most with their own Ministry of Labour, Education and Immigration Offices. Although they are all technically supposed to follow the same rules, they rarely do.

Basically anything is possible or not possible in Thailand depending on the where, when, who, how, how much, why.... get it?

Your work permit could have easily been denied for a number of reasons. Talk to 5 different teachers here and you will get 3 different answers to any work permit questions. This guy has one with only a diploma, this guy got denied because he didnt have the original... and so on.

A lot depends on the province you are in and what the boss (or his boss, etc) for that region has decided to crack down on for that week or month AND as always,... who you know.

BTW, the work permit doesn't have much of anything to do with Immigration, but instead with the Ministries of Labour and Education. Unless the Immigration connection had (they're???) THEIR connections in these areas, it wouldn't really matter as far as the work permit is concerned.

Hope everything works out for you, but dont expect to get strait answer and even if you do, dont expect Immigration or other offices to follow the rules. Oh and expect the rules to change yet again and start the whole bloody mess of confusion all over.

Have fun

[RebelGirl26]