Hi
Kendo,
Hmm, interesting. If it can be sorted out by your company then it would be a great move for you, as long as the position is permanent or say for 3 years and then back to Blighty to continue working etc. It is true that there are many things/positions that we as westerners or forbidden to do/occupy for the reasons you have explained.
The only thing that comes to my mind is that it might, along with other things, depend upon how the company describes your position. What I mean is that if they described you as a "manager" then it might not fly, so to speak, but if your job was described as "Consultant" or "Company liaison officer" or something equally vague then it might fly.
Ambiguity in a job title seems to get a certain positive response here, what I mean by that is, even myself in the education field have been described as some strange things but never a "Teacher". I have been described in my work permit, at different colleges/schools/universities, as "Instructor", "Alien Instructor", "Consultant", "Educational Resourse Proffessional" amongst other titles but never just "Teacher".
This situation reminds me of the car manufacturing companies or household goods companies where I am, such as Mitsubishi/Panasonic etc, totally Thai workforce apart from a handfull of Japanese guys that are there for "quality control" or more likely "efficiency control".
Another one is Seagate, completely Thai workforce apart from a westerner that just knocks around giving advice and making the place look good, don't think he does a lot of decision making, more like trouble shooting and preserving standards.
As you said, it can be done, it will probably just need to be looked into properly a bit by you and the company. If you're really up for it and the company you work for are cool about it aswell then try to help/direct them to create a position for you, you might have to do some work/research yourself. You could get the reqiurements easily enough from the net/embassy in London that the Thai government want to before you can initiate something like this, might be a good place to start.
Getting a work permit in that situation would be reletively easy, large companies don't usually get too many dramas with it, it's just navigating the "officialdom", "red tape", "bureaucratic bollocks" and your company probably has no experience about how to do it. They will probably need your or someone else's input/help.
Have a real good think about what you could do over here at such a workplace, it would be a great experience to work here like that, much would be learnt and you salary would go much further.
My insight into this situation is very limited and you would really need someone who has been posted by a large company at some point or another to comment, but they may be thin on the ground.
