Topic: Visa Background Checks Now

[Nemesis]

I thought users in Thailand might be interested to know that Background Checks for visas has become a done deal.

http://www.teflnews.net/56/background-checks-in-thailand/

What do you think???

[los_teacher]

According to that link the Thai Consulate is Laos is requiring background checks from thai government and the applicants home gov't before issuing non-B visas.  This isn't surprising.  The Laos consulate has been asking people not to come there for non-B visas for many months.  Sounds like this is a move on their part to further discourage people from coming there.

The Penang consulate/embassy is possibly requiring background checks from thai gov't - this is more reasonable - but i haven't seen anything telling people how this is to be accomplished. 

It sounds like the Thai government had better reign in their consular/ambassadorial staff and set a firm policy that gets promulgated universally.  Then they will need to clearly inform schools of the rules or there will be big problems come May 2007.

[bomha]

ajarnforum and Thai Visa also have discussion about this.  Either Laos or Cambodia consulate or embassy seem to be requiring one kind of criminal check or the other.  I did not notice that any Thai MFA outlet is requiring two criminal checks: from Thailand and from one's home country.  Think about it: why should not the Thai embassy already have access to Thai criminal records sites?  The American embassy outlets in Thailand, for example  , checks each American's passport when they come to ask a simple question.  And they are probably checking against the FBI database.  My Yank mate said when he went to the US consulate in China, they recorded his eyeball image!

Why would only the Thai embassy in Laos ask for this, and not all the other places?  Would they even know the name of your home country's agency that issues these things?  Do they know what an RCMP certification looks like?  Do they know if an Irish cert comes from Dublin or Belfast?

How many of these rumours are confirmed?

[Nemesis]

The Laos news has been confirmed. Maybe it is time people vote with their feet? Obviously the Thai government does not trust foreign teachers.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

More good news & just in time for the holidays.   


OK already, enough is enough. John Karr scandal or not.


For the first time since I arrived here 3 years ago,

I am no longer recommending Thailand as a

destination for English teachers.


Pending clarification by Thai MOE & Bureau of Immigration

as to exactly what the hell they're trying to accomplish,

this will be my last post on Thai forums for a while.


I'm fed up with trying to explain why people need

to jump through hoops for a third world salary

in a country with an educational system

in shambles, declining IQs, etc ...


Look elsewhere, folks.

It's not worth it.

[bomha]

To who would you recomend that they teach in Thailand?  Not somebody with a B.Ed. degree.  Not somebody with no uni degree at all. Maybe to a gap year kid who just wants to go out on a lark for 9 months. 

To who would you recomend a teaching career in Thailand?  Nobody.

My Yank friend said rudely, "F--k the Thais, one way or the other, and then leave before they do it to you."

[Andy]

Comin' for the biggest and best Thailand TEFL dawg on the number 1 TEFL site on the net, ESLCafe, this statement carries a lot of weight with me. Just look at the number of neg posts on this site about teachin' in Thailand? Too many regs, too many dudes wantin' to make life crazy for teachin' dawgs, or is it dogs?

So KK, my man, are you headin' elsewhere to teach? Got any suggestions?

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Buenos Dias, Andy

Que pasa?


I'm on a brand new multi-entry Non B visa which is good for a year.

When that expires, we'll see where we are with these anal regulations

and anti-foreigner sentiment ... and then make a decision based on that.


I'm pissed off about the knee-jerk reactions of Thai MOE and Immigration

but I'm not one to jump to conclusions before all the facts are known.


So for now, I'm just pissed off.   

[Johnny Rotten]

Cambodia has been next to impossible to obtain a single-entry non-immB visa for many years.

Laos has always been very difficult with the Thai staff enjoying winding up foreigners for requests of documents not listed anywhere but there.

Penang was/is a lot more straightforward (loads of supporting docs from your school though), but still has only issued single non-immBs for a number of years as well.

Get your multi-entry non-immB in your home country if you can, otherwise single-entry is the best you'll do.

Background check
Show me a link to an official statement from a Thai consulate/embassy then I'll believe, otherwise this is just a rumour.

[Pibthong]

   I got a 90-day Non-Immi-B Visa from the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in September and last month got Thai Immi in Bangkok to OK the Visa to next Sept, 2007. During the 3 days it took the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh to process my application, I saw no other farang get a Non-Immi-B Visa. Indeed, several farang seeking the particular Visa were immediately turned away at the application window with no Visa at all. Other applicants for a 90-day Non-Immi-B Visa were given a 60-day tourist Visa instead. It is true that just about 99% of farang who seek a Non-Immi-B Visa in Cambodia are turned away. This is the norm at the Thai Embassy in Cambodia. The situation in other neighboring countries isn't much different.

   It took Thai Immi in Bangkok about 50 minutes to process my application for the Non-Immi-B Visa up to next September. So, unless someone right now can relate a specific experience of a background check, I'm with Johnny Rotten--that is, show me an official statement right now so I can believe the background check stuff. Granted, our names can be brought up on the screen by Thai Immi in moments, as happens when we enter the country and are processed by Thai Immi. If there's a problem, we'd know it then, would we not? Regardless, then there would be the matter of the mechanics of a background check or double check (by two governments).

   I have friends at the U.S. Department of State in Washington DC, former colleagues (altho I never worked at DEPSTATE), who advise that, given the present anti-farang attitudes, policies and practices of the Thaksin bureaucracy that continues to dominate the Thai government in its day-in, day-out operations, Hanoi is the best place to seek a Non-Immi-B Visa, at least for the time being--that is, until the political situation becomes settled. But, as to the political situation, the advice was given to me before the New Year's Bangkok bombings. (By the by, has anyone tried Hanoi? I don't know of a single person.)

   Now that the ousted political party is shamelessly resorting to ruthless violence, I'd say all bets are off. It appears that the political opposition is only beginning what can be expected to be a relentlessly brutal campaign to regain power. Consequently, farang teachers remain in Thailand at our own risk. Beyond the matter of farang teachers from the U.S, however, the U.S. Dept of State is now greatly concerned about the stability of Thailand itself. Thailand may not again see democracy or internal peace and stability for some time to come.

   As with KFK, I'd been patiently considering my options. After the Bangkok New Year's bombings, however, I'm seriously considering looking elsewhere, to include a return to the U.S. (It actually seems safer there!)

   

[Mods-Rockers]

Point of order here Pibthong, although I suspect that you will accuse me of barroom brawling again as I contradict you, but the readership deserves accurate information and not what you have stated below:

Other applicants for a 90-day Non-Immi-B Visa were given a 30-day tourist Visa instead. It is true that 99% of farang who seek a Non-Immi-B Visa in Cambodia are turned away. This is normal at the Thai Embassy in Cambodia.   

Whilst I fully agree that in recent times both the Khmer and Loation embassies have been reticent with the issuing of non-imm visas. They do not issue 30 day tourist visas, the tourist visa id 60 day with the ability to extend by another 30 days at an immigration office. The 30 visa is known as a TRANSIT  visa and its also a visa on entry thus no need to visit a consulate or embassy to obtain one, hense the border runs to get them.

With both embeassies if you have he correct paperwork according to their interpretation of the rules they will normally give you the visa, the trick is knowing how they interpret the rules on the week you go. Before I got married (now on non-imm O)and thus out of that loop, I found it best to get a sensible member of the Thai admin to phone the embassy before departure to ascertain the exact correct paperwork needed it also helps to know a fax facility near the embassy as they both used to accept faxed paperwork if you found you were missing something.

[Pibthong]

Mods-Rockers,
   Thanks for pointing out the typo (60 days, not 30 days). Fortunately I still had time enuff to modify the post both to correct the typo and also to revise and extend my points.

   The Non-Immi-B Visa of a colleague at school expires in April, which is convenient for him. He's returning to his native country, NZ, in April during our school's break between school years and will get a new Visa at the Thai Embassy there. He doesn't expect any difficulty (but who knows?).

   And who knows what kind of Thailand he'd return to in May?!?

[Nemesis]

If this hadn't been verified, I wouldn't have been posted over on TEFL News or even here for that matter. Want an official statement? Has there been any "official statement" for any of the BS they have put out in the past?

[Mods-Rockers]

You have a fair point there Nemesis! very rarely does a "official statement" appear, with the two embassies in question, loas and cambodia, its often more an interpretation, or should that be misinterpretation of some letter or memo that causes grief. As I stated before it really is good prudence to check with the embassy as to exactly what they require before setting out on the journey, that and a good plan Z!!!!

[bomha]

ThaiVisa now has two discussions going, with a direct link to the Thai Embassy in London, requiring police checks for teachers going to Thailand.  The discussion is linked on ajarn forum net also.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=99451

http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/police_clearance.html


http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/

also, from the Los Angeles Thai immi website:  http://www.thai-la.net/visa/visa-non-im.htm