Thailand, the sick man of ASEAN
Postbox letter from Russell
I relocated to Vietnam to see if the grass was any greener over there. Whilst I was in Vietnam at the beginning I wrote an article saying what a breath of fresh air it was from the idiocy of Thailand. But after one year I came to realize the grass was not that green after all.
Work permit and visa costs
Postbox letter from Kelly
My present employer made the mistake of reading the legal requirements in Thai and translating them for me. They state that all costs of employment should be borne by the employer. But of course that part of the document was not translated into English.
So many hurdles
Postbox letter from Fozzie
I am a non-native English speaker from Europe but I've been teaching here in Thailand for five years now and never had a problem with documents and being employed as a legal teacher. But now my school have told me that according to The Ministry of Education website (which I cannot check because the info in question is only available in Thai apparently) - I need to satisfy all of the following requirements.
Seven months to do it yourself!
Postbox letter from Mr Grumpy
One thing I learnt a long time back, providing you are not uneducated and meet the minimum requirements, is that one must do everything oneself! It is your passport, it is your work permit and it is your life!
Seven months and still illegal
Postbox letter from Mel
My school failed to convert the work permit and the non immigrant B visa into a "work visa". Now, I'm back on a tourist visa and they won't even pretend to feel any urgency
The chalkies need a real change
Postbox letter from Mr Grumpy
Nothing can prepare the foreign teacher for the employee-to-management-to-admin staff life. Dealing with these matters can drive the most experienced teachers up the wall and can turn a normally friendly teacher into a paranoid wreck!
The system is in one big mess
Things that seemed like a good idea at the time
It's about time there was an update on the much-criticized teacher licencing laws. Please try not to laugh too loud.
My life as a farang teacher
Postbox letter from Larry Gellar
I probably should have seen the writing on the wall when I was asked to sign a contract in a foreign language, without a translation. I should have just slowly backed away.
