Visa Runs Over

[waerth]

Maybe it is because to many hassles .... to low pay?

[cavanami]

Hi Cavanami, for the pay rates. We have checked it with other countries and the industry in Thailand pays it extras (foreign extras) more than in many other countries in the world. In most countries the extras seem to come for cost (transport and food) even on big projects (like Star Wars VII now filming!). So I do not think they will start paying even more. They will say .... lets go elsewhere.

 

The only alternatives are going back to the Khao San extra's which was stopped in the 90ties because they are drunk.stoned/unreliable/no shows when continuity over multiple days is needed etc. And maybe spouses of people living here, but they would not agree to 12 hours which is what is really needed.

 

Many projects require 50 to 100 foreign extras a day easily. If they are not available it is the end of many foreign productions coming here. And 1 billion dollars is the 2012 figure for the turnover of foreign productions shot in Thailand. Can you imagine how many Thais are employed in that

Agree, agree, agree...

 

Me thinks it would be a simple matter, have a Thai Immi official at the movie site, issue a temp visa for the farang so as

to work legally on the movie set...maybe a few Baht to Immi?

This way, farang working legally, Immi gets a few Baht and the movie industry does not take a hit....oppppps, to logical

[cavanami]

From what I hear, the Thai schools treat the farang teachers quite poorly. Stick oftem mentioned

that on Thai holidays, the farang teachers were required to go to the school even though it wasn't

in session....WTF...

 

Som naam nah on the Thai education system...seems they are not all the smart :neener:

[Flashermac]

Teaching pay the world over sucks. If you know what you are doing, you can make decent enough money in education here. The real international schools pay quite well. The top Thai universities pay the same as those less known, but they tend to add to the official salary from their own funds. (Chula adds 8,000 a month, the most I know of from any uni.) Also, they will have extra classes one can ask to teach for a minimum of 900 baht an hour and sometimes as much as 2,000/hour. However, newcomers to Thailand aren't likely to know that and usually opt for what looks like better pay at secondary schools that work their butt off! (Compare teaching 12 or 15 hours a week at a uni to maybe 25 hours at a secondary school. The money will probably end up being the same, plus university classes are often fun to teach. I've had university classes as small as 12 students, all English majors and very interested. Plus discipline problems simply don't exist in a good university.)

 

At a "public university" all lecturers officially have two weeks holiday and are supposed to sign in every day the rest of the time. In reality, we sign in on for the whole week on a Monday during term break and then sign in for the whole second week on a Friday. Thus we show up every two weeks. I've heard horror stories about the secondary schools, which is one reason I have avoided them. If you are qualified, go for the top.

 

Actually, the university language centres are the easiest places to go looking, since they may hire as many as a dozen foreigners. They'll have a hard fine filling all of those slots, so they start lowering the qualifications as the beginning of the term approaches. Suddenly, that required MA drops to a BA. (I've never worked in an LI, since the classes tend to be the boring English for Special Purposes type. But their pay is all right and the hours few.)

[limbo]

What is the purpose of this crack down? There mjust be other ways to deal with the issue at hand. So many surrounding countries make it soo much easier to settle.

It doesn't feel good.

[waerth]

@Cavanami. When you worked as an extra for me I pointed out the immigration officer to you, did I not, They are there as a representative off the Thai film board, and they are on every set I have ever been on! Also according to the Thai Film Board. No work permit is needed to work in movies or commercials etc as long as it is for less then 15 days on the same project! See the Thai Film Board website. Off course whether the Thai film board interprets the law correctly .... . But that still does not solve the issue of people getting a visa in the first place

 

@limbo. Your guess is as good as mine. I have heard a juicy rumour that got retold to me by different people. Basically in short a high ranking immigration official went to S Korea and got refused entry at the border and send back to Thailand. Which is what purportedly all started this with a crackdown on Koreans, for some reasons the Vietnames and Russians got added to that list.

 

This became a big scandal as the Vietnamese government openly complained (this was in all newspapers) about selective enforcement of immigration rules. It seems also several Russians threatened lawsuits against the selective enforcement (some nationalities only). And then according to that rumour some immigration people said *fuck it* we will crack down on everybody.

 

Then the coup came and all off a sudden everyone is afraid to loose their job if they do not enforce the rules (not just immigration but every civil servant in Thailand). So everyone now seems to outdo themselves on enforcing whatever rules they feel they should. Basically making the perfect shitstorm.

[waerth]

Here is the copy from the Thailand film office page:

http://thailandfilmoffice.org/index.php/en/filming/2013-10-14-02-14-10

 

Q:What kind of visa do we need ?

 

Crews intending to work in Thailand for a period not exceeding 15 days can do so under a tourist visa.

Only crews working more than 15 days must have a non-immigrant multiple type visa.

 

And then they sort of contradict themselves with this:

 

Q: Do short stay crews need work permits ?

Yes, they need to have them. Both types of crew require work permits.

Crews working within 15 days will need a form notifying the Employment Department

whereas crews staying over 15 days will need to submit more detailed documents, your local

coordinator can help you with this.

[waerth]

And then there is this page on the same site:

http://thailandfilmoffice.org/index.php/en/other-permit/visa

 

Visa

 

Foreigners entering Thailand are not permitted to work, regardless of their type of visa, unless they are granted a work permit. Those who intend to work in Thailand must hold the correct type of visa to be eligible to apply for a work permit. For some specific jobs, to work in Thailand for a period not exceeding 15 days, a tourist visa or a non-immigrant is acceptable, for more than 15 days only a non-immigrant visa will be accepted. To obtain any visas, please contact a Royal Thai Embassy or a Consulate in your country for advice and recommendation.

[waerth]

And for those of you looking for nice places to visit:

 

http://thailandfilmo...hp/en/locations

 

And a long long list of movies shot here, far from complete

 

http://thailandfilmoffice.org/index.php/en/filming/history

[cavanami]

The Thai Immi and the Thai Labor Dept seem to be on different pages...when I first got a Work Permit from the Labor

Dept, I had a retirement visa. I asked the question, but Thai Labor said, "...can do...no problem"...fast forward to when

I went to Thai Immi to renew my visa and the Immi people about shit a green brick..."no can work with retirement visa..."

 

No shit Sherlock, I well know this but TIT...