Labor minister Suchart Chomklin who took over at the helm in a reshuffle last year is determined to stop foreigners teaching without a work permit in Thailand. - Thai Visa

Crackdown looming on foreign teachers without work permits as new labor minister flexes muscles

 

Picture: Bangkok Business News

 

Labor minister Suchart Chomklin who took over at the helm in a reshuffle last year is determined to stop foreigners teaching without a work permit in Thailand.

 

And stop the practice of teachers turning to teaching after arriving on tourist visas. 

 

Suchart instructed the Department of Employment to check all private and state schools employing foreigners both in the provinces and in Bangkok, reported Bangkok Business News. 

 

A PR drive has been taking place to inform schools and institutions about the regulations of hiring foreigners - and the penalties for breaking the law. 

 

Suchart Pornchaiwisetkul of the Department of Employment said that a survey showed that of 922 schools checked there were 6,129 foreign teachers.

 

The top five nations' hired were teachers from:

 

1. The Philippines (2,667)

2. Britain (558)

3. The USA(465)

4. China (237)

5. South Africa (160).

 

The remaining 2,042 were from other nations.

 

In the survey eight teachers were found without work permits. A handful more were not following the regulations properly.

 

One school was found to be flouting the law hiring teachers without work permits and twenty others were not properly following the regulations .

 

These were not giving names and nationalities correctly within 15 days of employment and were not properly reporting those who left employment. 

 

BBN reported that teachers can only be hired on non-immigrant visas and can't convert tourist or transit visas into a work opportunity. 

 

Source: Bangkok Business News