Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Association urges easing visa restrictions for foreign teachers

Published

Thursday, July 23, 2020 15:11

PHOTO: Daily News

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is being urged to relax stringent visa restrictions for foreign teachers and students. The Association of Private School and Non-Formal Education delivered a letter to the government with the request, as many schools, colleges and universities find themselves without foreign teachers due to the burden of paperwork.

If the move is successful foreign teachers and students already in Thailand won’t need to leave the country to upgrade their visas. The association’s chief has asked that foreign teachers and students already in the kingdom be permitted to stay legally until the end of the month so universities can prepare work permits and student visas.

Under the proposal, foreign teachers with expired work permits would also be given 30 extra days to enable them to apply for a new permit. Foreign nationals on tourist visas would also not be forced to leave the country before upgrading to non-immigration education visas, as they would normally be required to.

The same would go for foreign students in Thailand on other types of visas.

A spokesman said the education sector is facing a shortage of foreign teachers.

“Many have left due to the pandemic and they need to be encouraged to come back with easier visa requirements.”

SOURCES: thaivisa | Daily News

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Jack Burton

Jack Burton is an American writer, broadcaster, linguist and journalist who has lived in Asia since 1987. A native of the state of Georgia, he attended the The University of Georgia's Henry Grady School of Journalism, which hands out journalism's prestigious Peabody Awards. His works have appeared in The China Post, The South China Morning Post, The International Herald Tribune and many magazines throughout Asia and the world. He is fluent in Mandarin and has appeared on television and radio for decades in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

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