Working in Chiang Mai

Shauz2012 wrote:

Hey everyone, myself and my boyfriend (both 21) will be moving to Chiang Mai in October I will be doing paid teaching, however my boyfriend does not have a degree and so I presume he will find it hard to get work. He has saved enough money to live comfortably there for 1 year anyway. However I am just wondering with regard to visa's if I am in employment and he is not does this mean we will have to do different visa runs etc. it is just the two of us travelling and it is our first time. So it would be nice to be able to do the visa runs together etc... Is there any jobs he could get even voluntary in a bar/shop even so that he could get a work visa rather than tourist visa?
Any info would be appreciated so much, thanks

If you are here on a working visa with work permit you will not need to do visa runs. As for the boyfriend, well it might be difficult since he may not get back to back tourist visa's since subsequent visa's would need to be obtained in a neighbouring Asian county.

If he can get a double or even triple entry TV from Ireland he can extend it for 30 days(for each entry) at the local Thai Immigration post in CM. Cost 1900 Baht an extension. That could give 6-9 months here in theory.

One way he might get a Non-Immigrant O visa(with no need for visa runs) is if he volunteers with an NGO that is registered in Thailand, working for them as an unpaid volunteer in the CM area.

Forget any other shop/bar type work because without the paperwork it will be illegal.

Thats great, thanks. With the volunteering can he set something up when he gets to Chiang mai or will he need to have set it up already before we go? Looked into a few volunteering programmes as it was something we considered but its pretty expensive...and most of them state that you have to stay in shared houses provided by them which really doesnt suit us, thanks again your post is really helpful

Shauz2012 wrote:

Thats great, thanks. With the volunteering can he set something up when he gets to Chiang mai or will he need to have set it up already before we go? Looked into a few volunteering programmes as it was something we considered but its pretty expensive...and most of them state that you have to stay in shared houses provided by them which really doesnt suit us, thanks again your post is really helpful

If possible set up before travelling. Guenuine NGO's looking for volunteers KNOW the visa rules and they do NOT charge you to volunteer. They will facilitate the visa/WP.

Beware of anyone saying its ok to volunteer on a tourist visa.

Good luck

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Possible to apply 1 year student visa?

Your boyfriend can "upgrade" himself since he don't have a degree.

Just my 5 cent idea

If he's interested in teaching, he can do his degree out here and get a 1-year Ed Visa.