volunteering in thailand

[Dumbo]

gleeglee,
Once again thank you very much. I appreciate any information or help but I must agree with Serendipity2 about the sending of private information. Could you please tell more about your wife's company

[gleeglee]

Originally Posted by Serendipity2

gleeglee,

I hate to throw cold water on the party and perhaps I'm wrong but surely your wife's capable assistance isn't the only way one can get a visa to teach in Thailand - is it?

People have been coming to Thailand for decades and working with rural and indigenous peoples and I would find it hard to believe they aren't doing so legally. And I suspect not all are charities. I'm also wondering about holding yourself out [or in this case, your wife] as a method to obtaining a work visa? Is this a commercial business or a private venture? If the former perhaps you could list the name of the company and offer other competing venues as well?

Again, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade but you're very new on this forum and are asking people to send their very private information to you is a bit surreal. Surely there is a ministry that handles this - it surely isn't a new issue.

Serendipity2

Yes i believe you are trying to throw cold water on the parade, there are genuine people still in the world without having any other agenda, The man wanted advice i gave it , he then asked for help i offered it. As the owner of a school we do education non b applications for fun we have 42 teachers work for us in schools in Bangkok, We are also Directors of a Foundation. The advice i gave was honest and True

You cannot do any kind of work in Thailand without a work permit go to Thaivisa .com there are hundreds of pages about the subject.

There are only 2 criteria were you can get a workpermit for teaching
1:- you must have a 4 year degree in Education.
2:- Any other 4 year degree will do if you also have a TEFL or Tofel ect

A CHARITY OR FOUNDATION must sponsor your application to be a volunteer.

So i ask you what is my hidden agenda i offered to help i am in a position to help, but now i am reluctant to help, This was a genuine offer all i asked was that he cover the postage of express mail for a 14 page document,

When teachers apply from abroad and they have the right qualifications we ask for the same documents without the passport details please inform me how i can apply for anything

[gleeglee]

Originally Posted by frogblogger

Thanks for that info gleeglee.

Just to clarify, someone already in Thailand with a non-immigrant 'O' visa who wants to do some voluntary work. What options are open to him?

I would like to offer you some sound advice, but my integrity was questioned by Serendipity2 , why does he not offer you the correct advice he is obviously an expert in this field.

[Dumbo]

gleeglee, I am not a qualified teacher. English is my language. I just want to do something for others and be useful. I am not sure about giving my back ground details on here. The only bit of information I will give at the moment is that I spent 25 years in law enforcement. Now retired. Does that help me to to teach?

[gleeglee]

Originally Posted by Dumbo

gleeglee, I am not a qualified teacher. English is my language. I just want to do something for others and be useful. I am not sure about giving my back ground details on here. The only bit of information I will give at the moment is that I spent 25 years in law enforcement. Now retired. Does that help me to to teach?

As a volunteer yes as a teacher with a work permit No. well i would not give my details on a public forum too, yesterday i gave you our school details our contact details are there.

[frogblogger]

Ok I think people are talking at cross-purposes here.

First of all, any promotion of commercial activities require premium membership, so paid courses at individual establishments cannot be discussed. However Dumbo did ask for specific advice and someone involved in running a language school in Bangkok is going to be well-placed to supply that advice - so long as it doesn't develop into a commercial thread.

gleeglee has given some useful information and without mentioning names I have seen a website for a certain language school in Bangkok that is an approved educational establishment, with links to the aforementioned charity.

Yes we should all be careful about supplying personal details by email, but it can be checked whether the organisation concerned is bona fide or not.

S2 there are all manner of dodgy outfits working with 'teachers' who have little or no qualifications, but the route gleeglee is suggesting seems to be the officially approved and legal one. I can well believe that a normal school cannot apply for a volunteer teacher visa, and that only registered charities can do this. Perhaps there are ways around this (eg applying for a normal paid teaching job, then 'donating' the money back to the school). But what gleeglee says in that respect makes sense to me.

As long as the documentation being discussed isn't related to TEFL or PhD courses (ie to acquire the qualifications to teach from a private language school), and simply relates to visa requirements, then so far I see no problem in this thread.

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by gleeglee

Yes i believe you are trying to throw cold water on the parade, there are genuine people still in the world without having any other agenda, The man wanted advice i gave it , he then asked for help i offered it. As the owner of a school we do education non b applications for fun we have 42 teachers work for us in schools in Bangkok, We are also Directors of a Foundation. The advice i gave was honest and True

You cannot do any kind of work in Thailand without a work permit go to Thaivisa .com there are hundreds of pages about the subject.

There are only 2 criteria were you can get a workpermit for teaching
1:- you must have a 4 year degree in Education.
2:- Any other 4 year degree will do if you also have a TEFL or Tofel ect

A CHARITY OR FOUNDATION must sponsor your application to be a volunteer.

So i ask you what is my hidden agenda i offered to help i am in a position to help, but now i am reluctant to help, This was a genuine offer all i asked was that he cover the postage of express mail for a 14 page document,

When teachers apply from abroad and they have the right qualifications we ask for the same documents without the passport details please inform me how i can apply for anything

gleeglee,

You protest too much. Surely you [or wife] are not the ONLY person who can assist in getting a visa yet you have no credentials, no business name listed and only offer your assistance while requesting that people who do not know you or your wife copies of their passport? Surely there are others who've been doing this one heck of a lot longer than you and your wife - yet you mention none of them. What is your business name, what are your [her] qualifications, are you licensed with the government to engage in this activity?

If your offer IS genuine provide some information about your company or organization and you [or your wife] and what official credentials you have. Keep in mind that you are very new to this forum and you're not a known quantity yet you are asking others to trust you. Why would anyone trust someone with as little information provided as you. If you are legitimate kindly provide something that makes you a bit more legitimate than what we've seen so far. That is your responsibility to provide and kindly advise as to the existence of others who also offer assistance - you've been totally silent in that regard. OR are you the ONLY venue in all of Thailand that assists people in getting visas to work for free? If so, I'll be amazed. And if your service IS legitimate, register here as a commercial 'vendor' and provide your bona fides. TIA

Serendipity2

[frogblogger]

S2 think you must have missed my post just above, trying to defuse this? As I said it seems to be genuine - I did check.

Personally I don't consider this to be a promotional exercise by a business as yet, and the person concerned was in my opinion offering some useful information about the Thai law on working for charities - it certainly made sense to me.

I'm really not sure what you are saying, unless I've missed something, he has not tried to sell anything, hasn't provided a link, and has made general statements about the legalities of working as a volunteer and the visas required - as he said the same advice can be read on the Thaivisa forum.

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by frogblogger

S2 think you must have missed my post just above, trying to defuse this? As I said it seems to be genuine - I did check.

Personally I don't consider this to be a promotional exercise by a business as yet, and the person concerned was in my opinion offering some useful information about the Thai law on working for charities - it certainly made sense to me.

I'm really not sure what you are saying, unless I've missed something, he has not tried to sell anything, hasn't provided a link, and has made general statements about the legalities of working as a volunteer and the visas required - as he said the same advice can be read on the Thaivisa forum.

Hi frogblogger,

Sorry, I guess I did miss your post. :/ That said is sure seemed like he was trying to solicit by offering his [his wife's] assistance and expected something in return. But if you've vetted him/her it's fine with me. Personally, I still would contact the school that was going to hire me for guidance before I sent someone I didn't know or know anything about my personal info.

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by gleeglee

I would like to offer you some sound advice, but my integrity was questioned by Serendipity2 , why does he not offer you the correct advice he is obviously an expert in this field.

gleeglee,

You've offered to help someone with a visa and that's great.

One of the benefits of having a forum is to share information. I know absolutely nothing about getting a visa to do volunteer work or even regular work in Thailand should someone need help. That said, there are many others who can help someone get a visa to do volunteer work besides your organization. That was my point.

I trust you're not saying that your charity is the only one and that there are NO other groups or other organizations in all of Thailand that can also provide Dumbo [or me] with guidance? I've read the mission statement of your charity and, with all due respect, you're very new to the charity business. To offer assistance IS commendable but perhaps just providing guidance to organizations that can help Dumbo would be better.

I'm not here questioning your integrity but suggesting you offer generalized guidance would be another approach.