Working as instructor or DM in Thailand

[stevenl]

There is a major difference in the officila rules and they way the rules are actually handled.
Officially 2 mio Baht is required, in practice 20,000 Baht is sufficient. Until they start checking this out, and require all instructors to have a 2 mio Baht company. May sound strange now, but with all the cracking down I would not be at all surprised if this starts in the future, maybe even next year.

 

[Batfish]

To answer the last 2 points in one.....I don't think there will be many instructors here with 2 million Baht to declare!

 

[Louie]

This may be a bit of an obscure question but how much would a PADI instructor expect to earn in Thailand? Could someone even suggest a price range?

In the Gulf of Th, the common rate for freelancers is 25% of course cost. Going rate for OW is around 8300 to 8500 baht per person so 25% of that minus pic card cost is 2000 per student. Some places hire instructors on wages or employ a system of pooled rates.

However, if you do something that a DM is able to do (such as guided dives or Scuba Reviews), you may get a DM rate which is lower (around 500 - 600 baht/per day).

 

[Zippsy]

FYI, 2,000 baht = US$48.50. 600 baht = US$14.50.

I wonder if they provide a 401k?

 

[stevenl]

I don't think there will be many instructors here with 2 million Baht to declare!

No, so I would be not surprised at all if somewhere in the not too far away future all the 20,000 Baht companies with 1 work permit will be 'shut down' by immigration.

 

[Blox]

No, so I would be not surprised at all if somewhere in the not too far away future all the 20,000 Baht companies with 1 work permit will be 'shut down' by immigration.

Neither would I.
Down here in Pattaya there seems to be an increasing number of checks at the local dive shops for work permits and checking "one-man-enterprises" is just the next logical step.

 

[Ringo]

No, so I would be not surprised at all if somewhere in the not too far away future all the 20,000 Baht companies with 1 work permit will be 'shut down' by immigration.

Yes, we never know what will change or when it will happen next. Just heard this morning that a newcomer (Instr) to Phuket has just opened up his company and he is paying 5000 baht a month for as long as he works here on Phuket!

 

[Batfish]

Yes, we never know what will change or when it will happen next. Just heard this morning that a newcomer (Instr) to Phuket has just opened up his company and he is paying 5000 baht a month for as long as he works here on Phuket!

5,000 Baht is about right - tax 3,500 Baht plus social 1,500 baht. Or do you mean an EXTRA 5,000 Baht a month. With all that, he won't have much left to live on.

 

[Batfish]

No, so I would be not surprised at all if somewhere in the not too far away future all the 20,000 Baht companies with 1 work permit will be 'shut down' by immigration.

I'd be very surprised. All that tax money would be lost. Average 5000 Baht a month in tax and social = 60,000 Baht per year per person. How many of these paper companies you think there are? Hundreds. Not just for diving, for all kinds of things, even a hundred of them makes six million baht income for the local government each year. Enough for a few new cars for the governor and his friends.

 

[BikerManiac]

When I was diving in Thailand, I heard from some DMs, that they can get from U$1000-1500 a month working as a DM. This was on Phi Phi..maybe they included the tips as well. Which brings another question.

Do all divemaster expect tips? How often do you tip?