Andrew65

Up until quite a long time ago, such events were always on free-to-air TV in the UK.

After advice from UbonJoe I managed to do it without an agent.

If you pay an agent it's possible.

I know about the 'other options' without reading other posts after living there for 20 years????

Unlike in the UK, in Thailand you can't use 'uman rights laws to stay in the country, probably forever, and probably at public expense.

I remember around a month ago one of our German friends implying that it's only ever British people who do such things.

Quite a few times I've applied for an e-visa online to Cambodia, takes about 10 minutes.

Quote where I say that this should happen? I'm just speculating on different scenarios, 'what ifs'.

I'm not saying that what ever I mention should be put into practice, just discussing this generally. If you want a non-O (or O visa) visa for Thailand I believe a criminal record check is carried out anyway. We allow millions of people into the UK without a CRC, as EU members we had to, some of them are criminals.

Quite recently the House of Lords ruled that asylum seekers should be able to work in the UK, once they get here they're pretty much home & dry. News of that is like a magnet to those people.

The one thing that would have a big effect is to get rid of the ECHR, which is ultimately used to ensure these people are never deported.

I believe that in the UK if someone has received a custodial sentence of 4 years or more, that conviction will never be 'spent', it will always appear on a CRC. I think Thais have to apply for a visa to the UK before travelling anyway, so that's not really reciprocal. It is of course possible to pay 'an agent' about 20,000 Baht who will acquire a visa for your teelak that wouldn't otherwise have been granted. (I have a few falang friends who did that).

Could fall foul of immigration rules, cutting your own lawn when you could/should be employing a Thai person to do it. I had that converation with an American friend who used to prune his own fruit trees in Phuket. Also, he was 'working' without a work permit anyway.????

An extreme case, but some years ago in the UK a Lithuanian man was convicted of rape and murder in the UK, it turned out that he had been convicted or was wanted for the same thing in Lithuania. There was nothing that the UK gvt could have done to stop him travelling to the UK, I think he was living here. The benefits of freedom of movement (visa-free) in the EU?

If such checks had have been run on EU nationals coming to the UK we wouldn't have had quite so many as the 5 million or so living here that we do.

Where did I say I want excessive rules? Already lived in Thailand for 20 years. Rules - swings & roundabouts.

They have so many junkies there, they don't want to import more.

I thought you meant the UK!????

I wasn't proposing anything. Russia's a European country, and I believe we've always need a visa to go there, even for a holiday.

If you have an ordinary passport issued by one of the following countries, you can travel to Thailand without a visa for up to 30 days: Andorra Australia Austria Bahrain Belgium ...........

It's probably to do with the fact that for the 20 years I lived in Thailand it was illegal, I haven't kept up with the times. In the UK drinking and driving is quite a serious crime, is it hypocritical of the Thais to not treat it the same way?

A while ago I watched a TV programme in the UK about the immigration people at Auckland Airport NZ. A guy had flown from the east coast USA for a month or two in NZ. Anyway, the immigration people started questioning him about drugs, and he answered that he had smoked some pot 3 days or so earlier in the States. They put him straight on a plane back to the States, saying that they thought that there was a very big risk of him smoking pot in NZ.

I believe that is done if I as a Brit want an ESTA to travel to the States. The Embassy or a company contracted by it does it. I believe a drugs conviction disbars someone from visiting the USA,

"A few undesirables" I reckon it would be a lot more than a few, but as you say, it would have a big impact on tourist numbers. It would stop a lot of people with drugs convictions, probably even people who were busted for having a bit of pot *which to me isn't a big deal, but it's still a drugs conviction.

A price they pay for giving visas-on-arrival to anyone. If people had to apply for a visa before travelling, and that included a criminal record check, a very large number of people would be barred from visiting Thailand.