Non-immigrant-O visa

Non-immigrant-O visa

The Non-Immigrant-O visa is a special visa for volunteers in Thailand. In order to obtain this visa you will need specific paper work from a charity or volunteer organisation. Once you have this paper work you can go to a Thai embassy and apply for you Non-O visa.

The Visa is essentially a 60 day visa that can be extended another 30 days the same way that the tourist visa can be. However, with the visa you can apply for a work permit that allows you to stay in the so long as you are volunteering for the organisation that is listed on the work permit.

With the Non-O visa and work permit obtained through it you are NOT allowed to undertake paid work of any type! If you do and you are caught this is fraud, as you have signed official government documents saying you wont be receiving payment for any work that you do with-in the kingdom of Thailand. You will most likely be fined, deported and blacklisted from the country.

I have heard of some schools that like to put their teachers on Non-O visa instead of the Non-B visa. I can not see the benefit in them doing this and I would strongly advise anyone to be sure that the company employing them is doing so under the legally correct visa as ignorance is not going to be an accepted excuse. Normally if they are trying to place employees on a Non-O visa instead of the correct Non-B visa it is because they have been banned or restricted in the amount of Non-B visa that can issue.