Other costs
Here are some of the costs you will need to think about:
Food for 7 weeks or so - remember that 7 weeks will pass before you get paid your first salary. Fortunately Thailand is a very cheap place to live. We have estimated that you will need around £50-70 GBP a week for the first weeks before you get paid. You may actually need more or less than this, depending on how well you can budget your cash and whether you are a "big spender".
Many teachers see Thailand's first few months as a holiday and this can be a temptation to travel a little and spend more money on partying etc. We ask you to take into account that you will need more cash if you want to drink a lot or go on trips to islands for parties.
The working visa - this costs £55 GBP for a single entry (3 months) or £100 for a multiple entry (15 months) from any UK Thai Consulate. We do provide the job offer letter in order that you can get the visa, but the visa costs are yours.
A police check - this costs £23 GBP from Disclosure Scotland, which is the fastest system you can use in the UK and it takes around 2 weeks for them to post your police check to you. You can also get a Subject Access Request from your local police station for £10 but it can take up to 6 weeks to get back to you.
Travel or medical insurance - we advise you to apply for travel insurance from the UK before you leave. Costs for this vary but you should be able to get some for the £150 GBP mark for 6 months.
Thai Language and Culture Course - it is a mandatory requirement for all new TEFL teachers in Thailand to do a Thai Language and Culture course to be able to apply for the teacher's licence for the work permit application. This is a 3 - 4 day course which costs approximately £90 GBP (4500 THB). Our Thai partner sets this up for you but takes no profit from the course.
Thai bank accounts - it costs £10 GBP to open for a bank account in Thailand (500 THB).
Flights - you will have to cover the costs of your flights out to Thailand. You can get very cheap flights through www.skyscanner.com. For example, return flights from London Heathrow to Bangkok can be as low as £380 GBP, and cheaper if you are buying a single flight at around £350 GBP.
You also might want to get a flight to the training area, depending on where it is, which may cost around £50 GBP but many get sleeper trains as they only cost £8 GBP and they enjoy travelling as a group.
We can beat or match any flight quote you find on the internet, so it's always better to go through us and our travel agency contacts.
Accommodation deposit - you will normally need to put down one month's rent as a rental deposit or bond for your accommodation. This will normally be around 4,000 THB (80 GBP). You will also need to pay for your first month's rent upfront, which will be another 4,000 THB (80 GBP).
