Can foreign teachers switch from visa amnesty to a Non-Imm 'B' visa in Thailand during the COVID situation?

Visa Amnesty Non-Immigrant B Visa Teaching Visa Immigration Rules Teaching in Thailand COVID-19 Visa Policies

Aug 28, 2020

4 years ago

ORIGINAL POSTER

Have there been any verified cases of folks being able to switch from visa amnesty to Non-Imm 'B' visa in-country for the purpose of teaching specifically? If not, what is going to happen all the teachers who have been working for months already without the correct visa and, presumably, without a work permit? 

Richard Barrow on Twitter has reported that "On 11 Aug, the Minister of Education sent a request to the Immigration bureau to allow foreigners who want to be teachers or students to change visas without having to leave the country as other countries have COVID & this wouldn’t be safe or even possible. No answer yet. In normal circumstances, any request to change a visa must be done 14 days in advance. Which means the deadline to submit documents to Immigration would be 11th September. So, hopefully good news soon or schools across Thailand will lose thousands of teachers on 26th September."

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TLDR : Answer Summary

The conversation discusses the possibility of foreign teachers switching from a visa amnesty to a Non-Immigrant 'B' visa while remaining in Thailand. As of now, there has been no official confirmation regarding switching from amnesty to employment visas, but updates suggest that teachers may be able to apply for a short extension of their visa until September 26, allowing them time to transition to the Non-Imm 'B' visa. The Minister of Education's request to facilitate this process is pending a response, creating uncertainty for many teachers currently working without proper visas.

James ********

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4 years ago

Coline *********

The MOE has contacted some schools (at least mine in Chanthaburi has been 2 days ago) and apparently teachers currently on the amnesty can get an extension of their visa by going to immigration before the 11th of September. This extension would be valid only until the 26th of September which would be enough time (15 days ) to get it transferred to a non-B before the deadline. However, I've not seen any official confirmation, the only sources I have are a forum on Thaivisa and what my school told me and it isn't really clear what the requirements are. Also it seems it would only work for the immigration offices requiring only 15 days left on a hard stamp to get a non-B (some immigration offices require 21days). The best would be to ask your school to contact the MOE, the labour office and the immigration office.

4 years ago

Wannikea *********

Richard Barrow reports doing this for 3 teachers today.

4 years ago

Annie ****

@Coline ********

it's exactly like this in Bkk immigration now

4 years ago

Reply to

Annie ****

Benjamin ******

There has been no updates on converting amnesty to an extension of stay based on employment (teaching).

As Richard Barrow wrote on Twitter:

>No answer yet

4 years ago

Richard ********

@Benjamin *****

We had some success today. As in they paid Immigration the 2,000 Baht to change the visa to Non B and have to go back in a few weeks for the results. I’m talking to Tod at the moment before I post the news.

4 years ago

Reply to

Richard ********

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Can I switch from a COVID visa extension to a Non-B visa while in Thailand?

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