@Renee ************

Universities can be an option, but they’re not automatically “better.” Pay is often lower than bilingual schools, and many universities require instructors to have a degree higher than the students they teach — meaning a completed master’s is often needed for undergraduate classes. At my bilingual school, contracts and visas cover the entire year. We’re paid year-round, and during off-term periods we stay employed doing things like English camps, planning, or school activities rather than being unpaid or forced to leave Thailand.

Lucky me.

@Luc ********

I think every bank is doing this. TTB tried to trick me into getting insurance and I declined so they wouldn't open the account. Later I got an account at UOB and they slipped the insurance in as one of the papers I "needed to sign" before I opened the account. So now I have it.

I've had 'savings' accounts with SCB (purple), Krungthai (light blue), and Kasikorn (K-Bank, dark green). I also have credit cards from TTB, Krungsri, and K-Bank. Best experience so far has been with K-Bank. Good app, easy to pay by scanning, easy transfer, not much need to visit a branch in-person.

@James *************

The problem is that CELTA and Trinity TESOL are virtually unknown to many schools in Thailand. The schools, recruiters, and agents only know "TEFL" and bachelor's degree. Plus, from what I've heard CELTA techniques are more geared towards adult learning. Better for aspiring teachers to get a bachelor's in Education and get licensed or qualified in their home county first. Then do a TEFL, if needed.

These comments are a mess.

@Catherine **********

Top International schools recruit from overseas. Bi-lingual schools, private schools, and government schools (or god forbid, agents for those) require you to be here, but the pay is much lower. I've been in Thailand for eight years, and only the first studio apartment we stayed in for 1 year didn't have a kitchen or a washing machine inside. Most condo rentals do. But of course it depends on where you're going to live. Big city or rural? Ovens are a much more uncommon thing. Upscale condos and houses might have them, but that's all.

Try to clean them up a bit first. Then go to the Superrich in Silom. I had good luck exching bills there that had been rejected at another exchange.

@Robert *********

Outdated policy. Not everyone wants to move to the USA permanently these days.

@Frank *********

A lot of the policies are from that era, and although the region has changed, the policies have stayed the same.