The constant requests for instructor (or want to be instructors) to come to work with you in resort is a daily / weekly request and you need to be aware of local rules / laws regarding working to give adequate and correct advice so that you may potentially benefit from Instructors coming to work with and for you as a dive centre owner. See this example exchange that is common between Instructors and Dive Centres.
[Dive Instructor] Hello to you, Im Bethany a Dutch diving instructor PADI (OWSI), CMAS (3 stars), EFR instructor with a passion for underwater photography with work published in 2 dive magazines. I have been diving a long time and think I have a good experience in diving and teaching. I am 43 years old nearly. Languages – I speak very good English, Dutch and German and have a good knowledge of other languages. Relatively I’m a very active, serious, responsible, funny and hard working person that works well as part of a team. I would like to come for about 3-4 months and work with you. Do you like the sound of me? Can you give me an idea of work I could expect with you, pay details may be nice also, but please dont worry too much about this as I know you must get lots of requests to give Instructors advice and jobs so be willing to work for free for a month to see if you like me.
So what about me. I have had many years experience in a variety of water sports including snorkelling, driving boats, sailing and underwater photography. What would it take for me to join your team where I could introduce new diving activites which could attract the attention of new customers like underwater yoga, underwater treatment, underwater meditation and others
If you are intrested to know more about these activities and make me part of your team please contact me when you get out the water.
[Dive Centre] To work legally in places like Thailand (Phuket and Phi Phi) you will need a work permit. They are fairly easy to get but depending on the lawyer you get it could end up being hard work / complicated / drawn out. The lawyer will advise you to set up your own Thai limited company and then apply for your work permit. This sounds quite quick and easy, but in practise it takes time and can be expensive. It will cost around 85000 THB to set up, it takes around 8 weeks, and you will require two flights to Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur or somewhere with a Royal Thai embassy when you will need to obtain the required visas.
As you can see already, if you only plan to come here for a few months it’s a lot of expense and hard work as well as being expensive to do this. If you have intentions on being here longer then it becomes worthwhile. It should be noted that if or when you decide to leave and if you get lucky it could be possible to sell the company to someone else that needs a work permit. There are always new divers arriving in resort who will buy these companies from you (in theory) as it saves them a lot of the headache involved with starting from scratch. You indeed could get lucky and find one to buy a company from yourself if you decide to work here. Once you have your own company and Work Permit, you are able to freelance. The company with the work (existing dive centres) will employ your company to carry out the Diving.
[Dive Instructor] You dont know how refreshing it is to receive a prompt and helpful email with the great advice you have given me. I would like to inform you that I already did that last time I was in Thailand as I was previously in Bangkok as I ran a travel agency there in 2002 and had got a work permit when I was here last time. It seems like the way to get them hasnt changed so will take your advice.