In Thailand, any form of work, including voluntary work, generally requires a work permit. Although some casual or informal volunteer activities may go unchecked, officially, you need an appropriate visa, such as a Non-O Volunteer visa, and a work permit to legally engage in volunteer work. Many expats engage in volunteer work while holding other long-term visas, but strictly speaking, unpaid work is still considered work under Thai law.
NON-O RETIREMENT VISA RESOURCES / SERVICES
Go to the Retirement Visa Section for information on requirements, including age restrictions, financial requirements, and necessary documentation.
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I may be way off but was told that even expats that own a business aren’t allowed to work in their business. Sweeping the floors etc. I know it happens every day without consequence but they are supposed to hire locals
Non O Visa based on volunteering. Check your own countries eVisa system. And do not ask on FB ... use google. Basically every answer you got here is wrong or misleading.
Technically, no. In practice, it depends what you're talking about. While most types of official volunteering does require a work permit, helping out with serving dinner at an orphanage for half an hour once shouldn't cause any issues
Nope. You need a Work Permit and after previous abuse very hard to obtain. However, having said that many people do help out with animal care and community help. They generally have other long stay visas and are not using charity work to obtain the visa.
Toni *******
Last time i checked, you have to pay them to work voluntarily?
It's not about abuse as such (why would Thai authorities care if you're not making any money anyway) but how labor regulations and "work" is defined. A secondary reason and probably a principal reason why they're fairly strict about ensuring farang don't volunteer in situations such as natural disasters is face.
Thais don't want to be seen needing help from farang (or any other foreigners). They want to do things themselves.
They do seem like they've got a hang on the flooding situation up in Chiang Rai and Nong Khai. Doesn't seem like they're even talking about farang volunteering there; in fact, they'd probably do everything to sabotage and threaten foreigners who help, especially those without work permits, which is nearly everyone since a work permit is tied to a particular job and you'd need a work permit specifically for volunteering to be allowed to help out.