Thai Police Clearance International School?

[Tyrellius]

Hello, I have been checking out this place for the last 6 months. There has been a lot of good advice about international teaching on this site.

I have a question that some of you may be able to answer.

Basically, do International schools do Thai police clearances for all the teachers that they employ if those teachers have been working in Thailand before.

I ask because I have a minor conviction from the last time i lived in Thailand around 6 years ago. Would this be a problem?

Thanks for any help,

[Scott]

I actually don't know. I would guess that they do. If it is a Thai operated international school and you have to get a teacher's license, you will need a police clearance.

My experience has been that misdemeanor offenses are not a problem. We once had a teacher who had a drink-driving offense in his home country. As I recall, it did not cause a problem.

[Tyrellius]

I actually don't know. I would guess that they do. If it is a Thai operated international school and you have to get a teacher's license, you will need a police clearance..

A Police Clearance from Thailand?

[Scott]

The police clearance can be obtained from the Royal Thai police force. I don't remember the exact criteria, but it has to do with the country or countries you have lived in during the past 6 months and I would assume your home country. It is an international police clearance, covering more than just Thailand, but it can be obtained from the Thai police.

[Tyrellius]

Would they need this if i was out of Thailand for 4 - 5 years and came back to teach?

[Scott]

Yes, you will need a police clearance.

[Loaded]

This was cut and pasted from a post on TV a few years ago:

Thai Police Clearance Instructions:

Police Clearance Service Center (Sub-Division 2, General Staff

Division, Special Branch Bureau)

Monday to Friday (Except Public Holidays), from 08.30 am . – 04.30 pm.

without lunch break.

Location

The Police Clearance Service Center is located at Building 24, Royal

Thai Police Headquarters, Rama I, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Phone number: 0-2205-2168-9

Directions

The best way to get to the Royal Thai Police Headquarters is by taking

BTS to Siam Square station. The entrance is located on Rama I Rd,

halfway between Henry Dunant and Ratchadamri Rds.

Documents required (foreign applicant)

1) Passport with two photocopies of first page and two of the current visa page

2) Document(s) certify that the applicant is working, used to work, or

is residing in Thailand (Non-Imm B or job offer should be enough)

Notes

No charge for the police certificate itself. They will fingerprint you

and take your picture while there. If you want the certificate mailed

to you, you’ll have to pay a fee for postage. Otherwise, you can pick

up the certificate in about 2 weeks.

[Tyrellius]

^ Thanks, but I know how to get it. I just don't know if i need it or not.

I want to work in an International school in Bangkok. I want to know if they require a Thai police clearance if I was living in Thailand prior to starting work with them. I am in the UK now, but lived in Thailand for 4 years previously.

[paully]

I want to work in an International school in Bangkok. I want to know if they require a Thai police clearance if I was living in Thailand prior to starting work with them.

I think it depends what sort of 'International School' it is you are trying to get work at. If it's a top-notch one, I would assume so in addition to home-country police clearance. If it's a 'lower-end' int school, I wouldn't think they'd be bothered about this.

[Scott]

Teachers who are going for the non-immigrant B are routinely turned down if they do not either have the police clearance or the receipt that an application has been made.

[Tyrellius]

Teachers who are going for the non-immigrant B are routinely turned down if they do not either have the police clearance or the receipt that an application has been made.

Is that a Thai Police clearance you are talking about?

[Loaded]

Teachers who are going for the non-immigrant B are routinely turned down if they do not either have the police clearance or the receipt that an application has been made.

Is that a Thai Police clearance you are talking about?

Quite a few consulates (especially in home countries) do not require. Embassies are always stricter though. Our experience of the Thai embassy in Laos is that they list a police clearance as one of the requirements on their website but do not insist when the application is made. I know quite a few teachers who obtained non-imm Bs there and they didn't show one.

[Tyrellius]

I still don't know what the requirements are. Are there no qualified teachers on this board?

Scott, I still don't know if you are a qualified (PGCE + QTS) teacher or not. If you are then you can make a sure comment. If not, then... Everything seems very vague...

Edited May 26, 2012 by Tyrellius

[Scott]

It is required. If you go to get a non-immigrant B without one, you may or you may not. It depends on the embassy/consulate. I know plenty of people that have not gotten the visa without the police clearance. As Loaded said, it is listed on the board as a required document.

I don't know how the Police Clearance is done, but I presume that the police contact the home country and possibly any other country you have lived in for a computer check of criminal activity. Minor offenses don't show up. An arrest warrant will.

[Tyrellius]

Thank you Scott. So, my time in Thailand will be included in the Police clearance check. Cheers.

[markg]

I don't know how the Police Clearance is done, but I presume that the police contact the home country and possibly any other country you have lived in for a computer check of criminal activity. Minor offenses don't show up. An arrest warrant will.

Not true. The Thai police cannot do a 'police check' in your home country for mundane matters like this. They do not have access to any other countries' police computers. I know of no country that lets another have access to its computers. For sure, police depts from one country can request information when it's part of a major international criminal investigation but not mundane stuff like this.

The 'police check' will turn up some skeletons, but lets be clear about this, it should not be regarded in anyway as a guarantee of the person having absolutely no criminal record.

When this nonsensical law was brought in, I got a police check myself from the UK as it's my home country. I didn't have to get one from Thailand - a country I've lived in for a number of years, nor did I have to get one from any country I'd visited (and how would anyone know which countries I've visited anyway ! )

Point is, a criminal who has a record in (say) Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India (insert any number of countries here) but has NO record in his home country, will come up clean.

It's a safety net which could weed out some people, but it sure as hell ain't the guarantee some people think it is.

[Grendel]

You need the check for the teacher's licence but you don't need a teacher's licence to teach, for the first year your school will get you temporary licence which only needs to be signed by the school director. This allows time for you to take a teacher's licence course and get certification which takes around 3-4 months after the course to be processed. Secondly most likely no-one at your school will be aware the process takes 6 months and will arrange a course for you two weeks before your temporary license expires, realise their cock up at the last minute and arrange a second year's temporary licence for you. In two year time when you really need one the whole regulations will have changed, so don't even bother planning for then.

[Tyrellius]

]

When this nonsensical law was brought in, I got a police check myself from the UK as it's my home country. I didn't have to get one from Thailand - a country I've lived in for a number of years, nor did I have to get one from any country I'd visited (and how would anyone know which countries I've visited anyway ! )

.

Do you work at an international school?

[Scott]

The police clearance involves a check of other countries. It is not confined to a check of your criminal record in Thailand. The mechanism of how and with whom the police check is probably determined by the police. They do take your fingerprints and the check takes time.

We have sent people for a Police Clearance who have only been in Thailand a short time. A check of the Thai computer system would be rather worthless with most of these individuals. I know of one person who went for one and did not get a clean Clearance because of an outstanding warrant in another country.

As Loaded mentioned, the police clearance is mentioned as one of the documents needed in Laos. Another person went tor a non-immigrant B visa in Hong Kong and was denied because he did not have a Police Clearance.

[quandow]

I am a peripatetic teacher (part time, traveling to each school for work) at both The Regent's and St. Andrews. I was required to get the police background check. It was free, painless except for the time spent going to and from Bangkok twice.

[Tyrellius]

I am a peripatetic teacher (part time, traveling to each school for work) at both The Regent's and St. Andrews. I was required to get the police background check. It was free, painless except for the time spent going to and from Bangkok twice.

Thank you.

[bangkokgabe]

I am a full-time teacher at a tier 2 school in BKK (with ISB and pattana at tier 1, and TCIS or Wells at tier 2.) I have been teaching here for 5 years with full teacher's license from the USA, (VA, LA, NY) and ive never even been asked for a police clearance.

[markg]

I am a peripatetic teacher (part time, traveling to each school for work) at both The Regent's and St. Andrews. I was required to get the police background check. It was free, painless except for the time spent going to and from Bangkok twice.

And herein is why it's a bit rubbish. How does someone who lives in, say. Had Yai, manage to 'nip' up to the police station in Bangkok during working hours............twice?

I got my own police check from my own country about 5 years ago and have never been asked to produce one since, and I've changed schools twice in that time. One hurdle we never found out how to jump over was this; in the USA a 'police check' could consist of one done at County level or by the FBI. The latter takes about 6 weeks minimum I was told. South Africans could only do it in their home country by submitting finger prints, in person, at the South African Embassy in Bangkok - again, very inconvenient for anyone who doesn't live near BKK.

I find it extrememly unlikely that the Police in Bkk have the time or resources to submit a check request to every police department in every country in the world.

Are they really relying on you to submit to them every country you've visited? Rather trusting isn't it? I suspect someone convicted of something in, say, Sierra Leone, might forget to admit they'd ever been there. Their 'police check' would then come up clear.

I've worked at schools who routinely send teachers for Non B visas to Penang or Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Vientienne. None have been asked for a police check in the last 4 or 5 years. All got their visas.

[Scott]

A police clearance is listed as being needed. If you want to be a teacher, then get the police clearance. We do not get the letter requesting the non-immigrant B visa from the MOE without either the clearance or proof that it is in process. They have gotten it with the receipt from the Thai police.

And as I previously stated, I know a teacher who tried to get a visa from Hong Kong and was turned down because he did not have a police clearance. A rather expensive trip for him, I might add.

[markg]

Never heard of it being needed in the last 5 years in Phuket Scott.

[Tyrellius]

So, it seems that like many things, it may or may not be needed. Depending on border crossings, mood of the officials etc.

Can i get a Thai Police check if I was on tourist visas and not had a work permit?

[Scott]

Yes. Many, if not all, of our prospective employees get the police clearance while on a tourist visa. Many of the embassy/consulates will not issue a non-B visa without the police clearance.

Best of luck.

[Loaded]

For anyone who is interested, these home country checks seem to be accepted.

USA - http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/background-checks

UK - https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q87.htm

If you are no longer resident in your home country and you need a police check, I don't know any alternative to the Bangkok one I described in an earlier post.

[Tyrellius]

I can easily get a crb from the UK. If that is enough.

[markg]

I can easily get a crb from the UK. If that is enough.

I don't think you can 'easily' get a CRB check from the UK. The CRB check is done by a UK based employer to find out about a prospective employee. You cannot apply for one yourself.

As an individual, you can get a 'subject access check' which states clearly is NOT a police check, but it kinda is and that is what I used in 2006 when they were asking for them.

There is some recent information here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/554416-recent-experience-non-b-visa-run-penang/ from 11th May 2012. No mention is made of a police check.

Nor here either http://www.phuketvisa.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=538608332

As I've said before, I've never heard a Police check being part of getting a non-B for a Phuket school in the last 5 years. They did have a bit of a strop on immediately after the John Mark Karr incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Reich but as is the Thai way, it quickly blew over and was all forgotten about.

The most important document from the Phuket labour office is the 'WP3' form. Once that has been signed and paid for, you're good to go.

Different labour offices use different rules.

I think they maybe realised that it's inconvenient for many people to get to BKK in person to do a Thai police check.