I heard from a teacher that a certain, very well known, language school based in the centre of town was visited by uniformed and/or plain clothes chaps on Friday last week and removed six teachers from their classrooms for working on Non-B or toursist visas. Is there any truth in this?

Nah I've not heard that, although I did hear the same rumour a couple of months ago. I'd be very, very, very surprised if it happened though as it's not in any way mentioned on Ajarn, I also know a lot of people that work there (if I'm guessing right) and they've not said anything.

If Imm wanted to they could pretty much raid/shut down EVERY private language school (from the top to the bottom) here in Bkk 'cos of their stupid classroom to WP rule! It's hard to be 100% legit!

Only hard Ken ? I'd have thought bloody impossible. Might this school have offended another school with closer ties to Immigration ?

Maybe! I am connected with them, indirectly, and they/we appear to have a good relationship with the uniforms. I heard it from a teacher of another branch who was in a negative mood about everything that night. There seems to be a lot of them around and the moment, doesn't there?

Maybe! I am connected with them, indirectly, and they/we appear to have a good relationship with the uniforms. I heard it from a teacher of another branch who was in a negative mood about everything that night. There seems to be a lot of them around and the moment, doesn't there?

It always seemed to me to be a tendency in your professional associates working in Thailand

It did happend last Friday. I am not quite sure what the reason was? I think it might have come about as a result of a tip off from a disgruntled individual. Non of the teachers in question were arrested, or questioned; but simply taken away and released later

Well, the story I have is that no one was arrested, no one was deported - no one even got fined. The immigration did visit one of the school's branches but it was purely a routine thing (and they probably wanted to see what tea money could possibly be earned now that many other lucrative avenues have been closed down)

Realizing that everything was in order, they went on their way.

The story got embellished in the usual fashion by a disgruntled employee who resigned after six years service (but was facing the sack anyway), and who decided to frighten the teachers left behind with stories of men in brown uniforms chasing teachers around the photocopier rather like something from a Benny Hill sketch. All very sad.

I'm sure quite a few people will get a bit of mileage from it as the beers start to go down.

Well, the story I have is that no one was arrested, no one was deported - no one even got fined. The immigration did visit one of the school's branches but it was purely a routine thing (and they probably wanted to see what tea money could possibly be earned now that many other lucrative avenues have been closed down)

Realizing that everything was in order, they went on their way.

The story got embellished in the usual fashion by a disgruntled employee who resigned after six years service (but was facing the sack anyway), and who decided to frighten the teachers left behind with stories of men in brown uniforms chasing teachers around the photocopier rather like something from a Benny Hill sketch. All very sad.

I'm sure quite a few people will get a bit of mileage from it as the beers start to go down.

The tales get better with each telling, and fever pitch is reached after lots of sociable lubrication.