bkkcanuck8

This is a society that values face over free speech... this is not the west... Criminal Code: For those that do not like it because free speech is not as high a priority as the west, you may return to a country that values free speech.

Not to mention he effectively confessed in a way (IMHO). In response to the charge that he kicked her, he said he slipped (i.e. it was caused by a slip)... but the video shows no indication of a 'slip'. I have slipped often enough to know that you do not maintain a normal stride, your body automatically does a quick corrective movement - your arms go out... etc.

The phrase you would use would be something like 'as well as [Thais who act in a similar manner]'. However, since this is a 'first offence' (officially) -- and if he confessed to it... jail/prison would not be warranted for a minor assault charge. I think the deportation is more than enough punishment in this case.

Wow, well said!

That is not the way it is in this new world.... he might have started being Scottish... but now he might 'identify as' Thai 🤣

Thanks for the correction, it does seem that Thailand excludes the ability to get a work permit on a retirement visa. I had made the assumption there was not an exclusion from another post on IO saying you could work in Thailand on a retirement visa.

I would disagree, you can (if not precluded by contract or law) be retired in one jurisdiction but work in another. (of course you would be ineligible to collect any pension nationally). This is similar to the military as well, you retire at age 50 with a military pension but you can make money in other endeavours. This is sort of similar to how it works when you get a retirement visa here, you could be working outside of the country part time, but for the purposes of the retirement visa you cannot work in Thailand.

No, the section you quoted was in response to working after retirement (not specific to Thailand). There were two parts to it -- two different things... The first part of that that you did not quote talks about retirement visa not conferring onto you the right to work. In fact I don't think any Thai visa does that. A visa confers a right to reside in Thailand for the term of the visa... and a work permit confers onto you the right to work... you need both to work in Thailand. I believe they are issued by different ministries.

To be clear, for the retirement visa all they require is that you will not be working in Thailand... it does not prevent you from getting a work permit though which would allow you to work in Thailand, but the retirement visa does not... People retire and work at the same time... in fact my father did... he retired from head of a public Technical College in one province - and was able to collect his pension and start working at another collect in another Province (colleges are provincial so outside of their domain). Others start businesses after they retire. BTW, every time I go to extend the retirement visa (or the 90 day report - but it is one of them) they give me another form that says - you are not allowed to work in Thailand etc. to make sure you understand it - and you must sign it.

The only thing Thailand needs for retirement visa - is are you old enough to retire -- and you will not be working in Thailand (and you can support yourself without working). Adding a lot more rules only ends up with more red-tape and often you get into exclusions that were not intended because they did not think of everything. The age being 50 makes sense since if you are a police officer or military, you can retire at the age of 50 at full pension (assuming a certain length of service). They could add other classifications, but that is up to Thailand to determine if they want to (hopefully after an investigation on whether it is beneficial to Thailand).

And that right there is why they say in the legal profession... self-help is fraught with peril...

No, but first he has to have the record magically disappear since while he is a danger to society -- no immigration officer is going to let you in since you can not say how or when he is no longer a danger to society (that will cost a significant amount of money if he can find the right people). The incident has to be out of people's mind as well (might have to have authorities going around requesting the incident to be forgotten - i.e. deleted news stories from the web)... at least that is how I see it.

I would fathom to guess it is a combination of: status, visuals, and loss of face by the dummy being so arrogant that he did not take the opportunity to apologize and move on when he had the chance. Also there were no Thais involved in your incident... (the 20K fine would be a bonus for the police fund).

Especially when it is not really 'racist' but a matter of the odds, which leads to making assumptions based on those odds. English is still at this time considered an international language - one that is often taught to people as a second language because it is used as a common denominator in international communication (eg. Airline communications). The odds that any person seen as a foreigner speaks Thai at a minimum conversational level.... is still rather long odds...

She was wrong for sitting on public property? (the steps were on public property).

Wow, funny... I have never been chased by 'Eastern Europeans'.... hmmm...

My Uncle (former US Airforce) use to have a flag flying on his property and everyday he would get up early and raise the flag and at night lower the flag and fold it properly and put it to bed. I am not for any special protections from people that want to use a flag to protest (though I don't understand it personally) -- in my home country, but each country has their own priorities... That said, it is absolutely moronic to visit another country and basically treat their national symbols disrespectful. At least he was not so stupid as to steal the other flag -- that would likely have landed him a very long stay in 'the Hilton'. Just another quality visitor to this country showing the lack of class and respect for the locals.

If I were in the same situation and given the option of going the option of ... if found guilty going to prison for lets say 6 months (up to 2 years I believe) then being deported... or... being deported and avoiding a trial... I think I would take the deportation. The video seems to indicate he kicked them, he says he slipped as an excuse (pretty sure that would be taken as an admission)... I am pretty sure what a court would find. The fact the location where he allegedly assaulted them was actually not his property -- also bad news for him (stairs where they were sitting were demolished because it was built on public land -- not private). As they say, self-help is fraught with peril.

Oh, you can call it home, but many are delusional when it comes to Non-Imm Visas where they think for some reason it is a different visa that is more than just a long (annual) tourist visa equivalent. Non-Immigrant visas are all temporary, but vary in length the visa is for... that is it. It is not permanent residency, it is not citizenship... nothing really special about it. This is one of many reasons you should be on your best behaviour as you are only a guest... and guests that act up... can be shown the door (exit). This was not a minor incident... period... It might be a minor criminal incident... but not a minor incident... Kicking someone, or punching someone -- can be charged as a criminal offence ... (and use of feet is much worse than hand when it comes to assaulting someone in Thailand because of the culture of the feet being the dirtiest part of your body). As foreigners here we can get away with some stuff that would not be acceptable if we were Thai as the locals make allowances for us... however there are some lines that you cross at your own peril. (Doctor = someone who has a higher class status in Thailand than average; criminal offence directed at someone with a higher class status; and use of feet being the dirties part of the body culturally (the reason why you are not suppose to point your feet at someone)).

I suspect you and the police have the same opinion... transparency is bad because if the public knows what goes on then there is less room to 'negotiate' / 'plea down' etc. I am sure there are plenty of foreigners here that have gotten away with far worse because the public was not aware of what was going on... What the public does not know -- won't hurt them...

All things he should have thought about beforehand I would think...

Yes, there are a lot of criminals here... but it does not mean you need to add more foreigners to the mix as well 🤣

How about just make sure to behave... and be respectful as best you can... (i.e. act with some class). If you do that, you won't have to worry about some arbitrary line on social media.

(lots of assumptions on this one) And she might not want to if the property has been put in her name... last thing she would want is the place to be sold and money taken out of Thailand... if the property is in Thailand and in her name.... she loses the power she has over it if it leaves and she decides her love of Thailand is more important to her than her love of him 🤣

In Thailand's class hierarchy, does the wife have any status worth anything? IMHO, This would require a lot of smoothing over (i.e. multiple levels of bureaucracy will need to be 'convinced')... something I don't think just any Thai would be able to navigate the maze of connections.