Here is a story from a teacher working in Thailand:
“I am a qualified educator from the State of California but since I have been working in Thailand as a teacher I have been asked to apply for a teaching waiver due to the simple reason that my California teaching permit was not “beautiful” enough and thus will not be accepted by the Teachers’ Council of Thailand – คุรุสภา (AND indeed, my California teaching permit needs to be printed directly from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing website -CTC, which is a .gov website. My teaching permit is thus printed on a regular paper… Nothing fancy, no pretty drawings, no high quality paper, no gold, nothing.)
This said, I waited for over a year and a half to get the opportunity to apply for a Thai Culture Course/Teacher Training in order to be eligible for a Thai Teaching License. In September 2015, I was notified that the government had at last decided to offer this course again. I searched through the internet, contacted the right persons and got all the necessary information and documents.
I applied in October 2015 in order to attend the first course available at this Thai University. I then paid the 4,000 baht fee. By the time they figured out when the first class will be held, my work permit was about to expire (from the time I applied to the time a date was set up, 5 months had gone!) With only one month left on my legal immigration documents, I was then no longer qualified to attend the Thai culture course. And without any prior notification that it will not be refunded in case such event would to happen, my 4,000 baht had just disappeared…”
So let’s see the summary of the events here:
_1 year and a half to wait for the announcement of the new Thai Culture Course/Teacher Training in order to obtain a Thai Teaching License
_5 months wait before getting the first course
_Rule number 6 of the Kurusapha’s Council (Teacher’s Council of Thailand) states that one shall “have a copy of passport or other documents showing legal immigration and is still valid to stay in Thailand not less than 6 months from the day of the training application”
_5 months later, I have only one month left on my “legal immigration documents”
_Cannot attend the Thai Culture Course
_Loss of the 4,000 Baht tuition fee
_Will never be refunded
This is just ridiculous! A 12 month visa is the longest legal immigration document that will ever be provided to an immigrant and an organization time of 5 months to be able to plan ahead is simply of utmost awkwardness and a nonsense. The best solution for teachers to avoid frustration might be to avoid planning and to apply for a Thai Culture Course/”Teacher Training Course” at a random time: hit or miss!