I taught for 2 years with a college degree and a TEFL certificate. I found a company here in Bangkok that paid for the TEFL and I worked for them at a discounted rate for a semester. After the first semester my salary went up to market (45,000 - seven years ago). TEFL or maybe TESOL I don't recall.

Being a foreign teacher in a government school sucks but its pay and it's kind of nice experience. After a couple of years I went back to IT work, remotely. I have managed to stay in Thailand for 9 years.

Hence, you may be able to do something similar. Once you've been here for a bit you can meet people and maybe find other employment opportunities. You would be able to be a welder, you simply couldn't compete in the local labor market, it's illegal for you to work in a position that a Thai person can fill, also they'll do it much cheaper than you will ($15/day). But your know-how and English skills gives you a unique advantage to help negotiate building contracts.. Quite possibly you could open a contracting business.

There is no way to know why they haven't approved your application. We can all speculate but that isn't fact, not even in Thailand.

I would recommend you provide bus tickets showing you will be exiting Thailand at some point in the next 2-3 weeks (give them time to approve).

In the past when they asked me to provide additional documents they instructed me to send a an email with my name in the subject line. In that email I provide them the documentation and an explanation of my plans. In your case, I would say something like I plan to spend the next 6 to 9 months visiting the region with Thailand being home base...

They understand English pretty well but its still their second language, keep it simple, concise, and most importantly, polite. Explain you're here now but will be doing some back and forth with neighboring countries because you like Thailand so much (no harm in a little brown nosing).

When you do eventually get your METV, you can just do a border bounce and come back on the METV.

I once ask a agent how much for retirement visa and how much for a marriage visa

Retirement Visa

Marriage Visa

Both, of course, cost 1900 at the immigration office but it should give you idea of the complications. Marriage visas are worth while if you are actually happily married and you have an abundance of time. I found it easier just to do back-to-back tourist visa runs.

The twice a year rule is for land crossings.. As indicated above, the Thai government is trying to keep out low-rent long term stayers, you are clearly not that.

If you company's local office has Aussies working there, legally, then that office will need to do the same paperwork for you. It's been a long time but I think the process goes, you get a non-b visa, file some paperwork with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they provide the work permit, you convert the visa to a long term visa. The process could take longer than you intend to stay.

I have working remotely while living in Thailand and not once has a government employee asked me about my work. If your work is something you can do from home (not out in the public) then no one will ask/care, especially if it's only 60 days.

You may find it easier to convince the company to soften their requirements that it is to get a work permit/visa.

Does the job require you to be in office sometimes? Do they check the location where you are (IP back tracking as an example). If they don't know, maybe just come and play dumb if/when you get caught.... Your employer will likely be more strict that the Thai government.

@Mark ********

Yeah - I googled it.. Thank you thought

@Glenn ****

Perhaps read your original post... You're making yourself sound stupider than you really are, I hope.. Or maybe you need to put down the bottle.

I guess I misunderstand "Same dates as LOS?" to mean Laos (Sometimes Lao). Perhaps you meant League of Shitheads?

My mistake for trying to help... I guess if you can't figure-out google you are beyond my help.

Maybe there is a "we can spell" fb group or "we can google" fb group. I guess I never thought about it.

" if there is a way that I can teach martial arts in Thailand" - probably not legally. You may be able to find some place that will hire you to teach and they may provided you the proper work permit and visa, but I speculate there are not many places, if any.

You can offer private classes but you run a risk of getting caught.

I am not saying don't do, just that there are risks involved.

The Lao people celebrate their New Year, Pi Mai (pronounced Pii-My) every year from April 13 or 14 to April 15 or 16. The celebration is considered to be the most important and biggest traditional festival in the country.

You will need to google, spelling Laos correctly, Also it will help to recognize that Songkran - is Thai... So places like Cambodia, Laos (notice the spelling), Vietnam won't participate (Only Canadians observe Canada day).

Songkran is Thai version of Buddha new year. If you google Buddha New Year (country name spelled correctly) google works much better.

Google is good for helping you find what you are looking for, but if you don't know what you are looking for, not google nor this group will be much help

As mentioned previously METV is probably the easiest but it requires border bounces (go to neighboring country, and return 10 minutes later). You would have to do that every 60-90 days. Each trip if done through an agent can cost about 4000baht a piece.

You may want to consider a 6 month plan. When you are here you will talk to other people and discover what/how they do. It could be you find a like minded parent that you trust and you can leave your kids with for a day, then only you have to do a border bounce. You could find a job that does the work permit for you... any thing is possible but whatever you do it will be easier from here.