Ste29

Hello guys, not even sure if I'm in the right place to ask these questions but having only travelled abroad once as a child I'm absolutely clueless to what I'm doing but I'm sick of living in the UK and decided I'm going to just go to Thailand and hopefully somehow find a job there and never have to come back but the problem is I have no idea where to start, didn't go to university or anything like that so just have basic high school education and I wouldn't even know where to even start looking in finding a job out there never mind finding somewhere to stay or finding the cheapest way of flying out but step one is just getting there and finding somewhere very very cheap as I'll be on a next to nothing budget and if I can't find work quickly then I'll be coming back which obviously I don't want to do so I'm just looking for someone who can help me with the basics and point me in the right direction on how to make it out there, looking at flying out in February with just me myself and I, thanks to anyone who can help.

old.sparkles

Is there a reason for picking Thailand?

I'm not sure about finding work, but you wouldn't be able to work on a tourist visa.

Ste29

No real reason other than the food, I've always been interested in Buddhism and the temples just look amazing but in all honesty I'd go to any part of the world, I'm just looking for a new start and looking to find a whole new way of life to better myself and Thailand seemed a place where I could do that but I'm completely clueless on where to look, getting visas and everything. At the back of my mind I think I can just move to a country get a job and start a new life but of course its not that easy hence why I've posted in here to see if anyone can point me in the right direction as my goals to be out of the country by February/March as its something I've been saying I'm going to do for at least 7 years and I'm now at the point where I'm so focused on getting out no matter what, I've looked at hotel work in Spain, ski resorts in Canada and even looked at Africa so I am looking just probably in the wrong places, thanks for the reply.

old.sparkles

Do you hold any passports other than UK?

And, how old are you?

Ste29

No other passports and I'm 29, 30 in September, turning 30 is another reason in wanting to move as there's no chance I'll be spending another 30 in the UK so I need to get out there see what there is.

old.sparkles

Thai work visa / work permit - https://visaguide.world/asia/thailan...mmigrant/work/

old.sparkles

Being under 30 would mean that you could get a Working Holiday Visa for Australia - https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...rk-holiday-417

And being under 35 means you could get a WHV for New Zealand - https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...g-holiday-visa

Or Canada - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...b-wh#selection

Obviously these are temporary for 1 to 3 years but do allow you to work in country.

What work do you normally do?

Edit - of course, with a British passport, you can legally live and work in Gibraltar too.

spouse of scouse

It's 18 -35 for Australia now too for those with a British passport.

Thairetired2016

I don't want to spoil your enthusiasm for Thailand. Great place for a holiday, great for retirement. At 30 you have no way to get a visa for an extended stay which allows you to work. To come & to find a job without any special skills or degree is nowadays near impossible. Cost of living is high. If you are financially well off you can look at Thailand Elite visa (see Google). I'd say it will be easier to find a job in an EU country. Also requires paperwork but there are job offers.
Good luck.

Thairetired2016

I don't want to spoil your enthusiasm for Thailand. Great place for a holiday, great for retirement. At 30 you have no way to get a visa for an extended stay which allows you to work. To come & to find a job without any special skills or degree is nowadays near impossible. Cost of living is high. If you are financially well off you can look at Thailand Elite visa (see Google). I'd say it will be easier to find a job in an EU country. Also requires paperwork but there are job offers.
Good luck.

Pulaski

The advice we have been giving on the US forum regarding work and residence visas now applies, with a few minor tweaks and variations, to most countries in the world, with the notable exceptions, as noted by someone else above, of the countries offering Working Holiday visas.

The general situation around the world is that the most likely (only practical) way to get a working visa is probably either through [1] a transfer by your existing employer, [2] skills/ knowledge in short supply (typically, but not confined to, science, engineering, IT, and medical qualification, or [3] "family" either you inherit another citizenship, or are sponsored by a family member (usually only parents, siblings or (adult) children, or your spouse (or occasionally long-term cohabiting partner).

In your case you likely have very few options in the short term, but I see a few possibilities, perhaps combining a WHV with one of the other possibilities, that would likely get my post censored by a moderator if I spelled it out in the public forum, but suffice to say, is how several BE regulars have ended up in the US.

All that said, I would caution you about getting your hopes up if you don't have marketable skills and qualifications as unskilled work in most countries, including countries like the US, Canada, and Australia, may leave you worse off than you think you are in UK.

Longer term, you should seriously consider working to get some qualifications or marketable skills as that will improve your income and/or job stability whether or not you leave the UK.

DownUnder69

A lot of good advice for you in this thread. The best I reckon is from old.sparkles and Pulaski, also good input from others.

I second Pulaski's excellent advice to factor in training for new job skills and/or more education in your Future Life Plan. Century 21 has changed almost everything in the job markets and the current global expansion of AI will destroy even more jobs. Already many call centers even in Asia are using AI in place of human staff. In the Philippines, many call center staff have university degrees. So the common denominator for jobs is pulling up, not pushing down. Education and training is the way.

You haven't told us where in the UK you live, but - are there not other places in your own country where you would feel happier/more at home?

Sometimes just leaving where you are now works wonders to change your attitude to most things you dislike about your life. I did this in the 1970s, first from Canada to New Mexico (USA) and then to Australia via Vietnam (before the fall of Saigon,) then Malaysia. Settled in Oz since 1976, first in Sydney, then in Melbourne, now retired, happily settled and as happy as a 'too in the bush, as the locals say here. (Actually it's more about a pig in something else, but let's not go there, okay?)

I'm older than you are, and in my time (stop me if you've heard this before, ha!) it was much easier to do. But the thing to remember is that it can still be done, if you plan carefully, get all the relevant information and do it all by the rules. As for budget travel and living, an important factor even for Asia is you'll need a fair amount of money to do it, for your airfare (almost all Asian countries now insist on seeing a return air ticket from all new arrivals) and for hotel/room/guesthouse accommodation and living costs at least for a few months. So you need to plan accordingly for this and prepare for it.

Thailand no longer seems to be the happy little haven it once was for disaffected Westerners. I know several Aussies who went there just before Covid, to escape their humdrum lives here. None found work, all ended up in tourist resorts (Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Chiangmai) and fell into the clutches of bar baby dolls who made their day-to-day lives happier short term but ultimately took them all to the cleaners, financially. All are now back in Australia, rebuilding their lives and trying to repair the emotional damage they suffered. So not really recommended for most would-be expats without sufficient money and good long-term life plans.

Canada I cannot comment on, it has been too long for me. I enjoyed the culture and liked the people, but the horrible winters were killing me.

Someone mentioned Gibraltar. Is this a serious possibility for you? A few plusses there, closer to your home country and offers more possibilities for travel in Europe. May be worth looking into.

Having said all this, I wish you success in your future plans and in finding a new life for yourself. But it will mean motivating yourself, planning sensibly, and making quite an effort to change your situation for the better. Good luck with all that.

tdrinker

The days of living under the radar in Thailand, working without the correct paperwork (work permit and medical insurance), doing visa runs, etc. are probably over, so you'd need to do everything above board. Start by exploring what visa you'd be eligible for using the link provided. Further, living in Thailand to a reasonable standard may be cheaper than the UK, but it isn't dirt cheap. And like the UK, most jobs will be in the more expensive locations, whilst the cheapest locations to live (e.g. rural Thailand) will have limited, if any, work opportunities.

You haven't said what skills and work experience you have. This is the starting point, because to live comfortably anywhere you need a reasonable income so you either need to be able to work in another country, or live there and work remotely. But if you do have transferrable skills, or can work remotely, many countries will have visa options. If you don't have the necessary skills or qualifications, you could make a plan to acquire them and move later. You can also live in Ireland without requiring a visa.

Further, you should consider what it is about life in the UK you don't like and what you're looking for. Could change things where you are, or move to another location in the UK? And research what life will be like in your chosen overseas location to minimise the risk of disappointment.