“I was wondering if anybody had information or personal experience of living and working in Thailand with a serious criminal record ?” Why?

Isn’t this the same as another recent thread? Why are you asking about serious offences Q3? Yours is of a petty nature and yes IanC obviously wouldn’t be my real name. There will be no fishing for references as to who I am or shortcuts as to how I did it, believe me. I’ll give anybody the basics, but I won’t give information that you couldn’t find out for yourself.  

OK, specifically Thailand. DON’T believe that any agency or legal office can get you a visa; they can’t but will gladly put a nice copy one in your passport, (for a price), as you will discover on your way to jail as you try to leave the country, or try to renew it.

There are various types of visas, the most common are retirement or marriage. The retirement one you can get at 50 years old and can change your 12 month tourist ‘O’ into a retirement one (which you get in the UK), whilst in Thailand. You can only do this at the Immigration office – agencies will do this for you, but don’t believe you can bypass Immigration with adverts that companies can ‘fix’ things for you. This is why I often don’t use the internet for info, much of it is misleading at best. You have to have a retirement pension or show proof of income or savings on a yearly basis, currently I believe it’s 800k Baht (16,500 GBP).

No country wants ex-offenders, which is the bottom line anywhere. Some are more strict than others, but if you start declaring anywhere you leave yourself at the mercy of officialdom. Remember that you are a guest in Thailand, there are no human rights laws at every turn and you can be deported on a whim. No courts and no appeal. People in these places will leave you alone as long as you behave yourself and as such it’s like a new start. It’s the opportunity we’d all wish for in the UK. There’s nothing magic about it, you keep quiet, work, behave yourself . . . and that’s it. I believe that if you apply in the UK for a retirement visa you are asked to declare, but not if you apply in Thailand. Not too sure as I'm not on that visa.   

The law is that on the day of application you must have that money in your account confirmed by a letter from your bank. There are companies that will put the money into your account and withhold your card/bank book for their security. After it’s been sorted, you go back, they transfer the money back into their account and you pay them a commission before you get your card/book back. Perfectly legal. The reason they want long stay foreigners to have some means of support is because you can’t go running to the government to finance you. Hence it’s got rid of the backpackers, beach bums and other ‘undesirables’. Border runs have also been reduced to 14 days by land entry. It’s happening in most countries now; no one wants chancers or the destitute wandering around expecting the local population to keep them.

As for living costs, it’s as expensive as you want to make it. Live like the locals and it’s cheap, live like the big white foreigner and you’ll eat up money. Average salary for teachers is now dropping at 25 - 30k a month and they manage. What you have to remember is there is no safety net there and you have to get used to the idea of making it without the help of others. For cheap, cheap try Cambodia, but it’s not a place I ever felt safe in. The bottom line is that if you’re unable to work or have no fixed income, it’s pointless coming; only the west is prepared to feed, clothe and house you for free.    

List 1 - Thailand, Korea, France, Sweden, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Iceland, Singapore and so on, and so on.

List 2 - USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland.)

List 1 should be no problem to those with a UK record. List 2... not a chance. Do you notice the common denominator in list 2?

You can edit all you like Q3, the fact remains is that you believed my name was 'Paul', so decided to plaster this name all over your posts, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate. A serious breach, no doubt. No-one on here has their name as their screen name (IanC's name is not really Ian Charley), so 'exposing' what you believe to be a member's real name is a truly nasty tactic, and I hope Unlock take the appropriate action. Fortunately I 'quoted' one of your posts showing this breach. Pity I didn't multi-quote.

Going back to my question, the common denominator of those countries is that are English speaking. This similarity also seems to lead to eternal beating around the head of someone with a record. Other countries, of which my list was a small, random selection, do not. So whether one wishes to emigrate to Thailand, India, South Africa, Argentina, Denmark or wherever, you will have a vastly better chance to progress and develop without irrational obstacles than moving to those in list 2.

It's Like shooting fish in a Barrel

Post Edited (Q3) : 11/08/2013 15:32:28 (GMT+1)

Post Edited (Q3) : 11/08/2013 15:31:06 (GMT+1)