This week I have to deal with getting my visa updated. It expires on Wednesday and I'll be getting a 10-day extension for a little less than $50. Kind of expensive for only 10 days! Today I had to get a "medical certificate" which is basically a statement saying you are alive, have a pulse, breathe and have a weight. I guess Thailand wants teachers who aren't dead or nearly so! It just seems like a really funny formality in order to be able to teach in this country.
Then I get to sign a stack of papers. They photocopied my passport 4 times! And I mean every single page on it that has a stamp. The government needs to know I've been to Egypt back in 1999, I guess. I have to sign every single page. 4 times. My original documents such as my university diploma, transcripts and teaching certificate were copied twice and I signed all those too.
Now I've done this a few times before -- those times I applied for a work permit. I've signed all this stuff before. One day, the Thai bureaucracy will discover the wonder of computers! The fact that there is this much paperwork year after year signing the same photocopied documents is ridiculous! All this data should be on a computer within the agency. Like the rest of the developed world. It's absolutely amazing. No wonder this country is called Amazing Thailand!
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