Teaching English In Asia

Starseeker, on 2007-08-20 03:33:10, said:

Who in the world spends 10,000 - 12000 RMB a month to live in China?! I stayed at a five star hotel in Shanghai, cleared out the bar almost every night, had room service, ate in the restuarants and charged it to my room, even used the smokes they left in my room and it was less than that! Granted that was a couple of years ago but things couldn't have changed that much!

I spent a couple of years teaching English (privately, one on one) in Bangkok in the 80s. I didn't like it much but it paid the bills and enabled me to stay and look for other work. The problem in those days was the much-reviled Tax Clearance Certificate you had to get before leaving the country for a visa run.

This post has been edited by camerata: 09 November 2007 - 02:43 PM

Freestyle cowboy teaching on tourist visas is pretty much gone in Thailand now. In Bangkok you have to have a degree and a work permit with regular fixed employment. Privates can be added on the side, but only as a supplement to legal income. Up country it's still possible to find employment and work permit without a degree, but the pay is dismal. People who qualify for long-term visas like retirement or marriage visas can find teaching side work without any hassles.

mbk, on 2007-11-09 15:35:33, said:

Do they need work permit for tutoring? And declare income from it to revenue department?

Need? Look at it this way. If you have a proper long term visa to stay in Thailand, then you can teach privately and no one will care. It's the teachers who were working on tourist visas who are S.O.L. because of the 180 day rule. This now means they cannot do continuous visa runs year after year and work illegally. They now have to leave Thailand and can't return for 90 days. No employer could deal with an absence of 90 days from an employee. It's a strange situation that Thailand is not quite able to figure out. They want qualified teachers (minimum bachelor's degree), but many people with degrees don't want to make teaching a career.