New: Criminal background check consent for extension of stay

[swissie]

May I ask:

Who is going to have to procure the criminal record from the home country and who is going to pay for it? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay DHL to ship the original document to Thailand? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay for the translation of the document (by an embassy approved) translator? = The Farang.

I can top it. Why not repeat this circus whenever an new extension is due?

Cheers.

[ubonjoe]

May I ask:

Who is going to have to procure the criminal record from the home country and who is going to pay for it? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay DHL to ship the original document to Thailand? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay for the translation of the document (by an embassy approved) translator? = The Farang.

I can top it. Why not repeat this circus whenever an new extension is due?

Cheers.

Nonsense

Read the OP where it is stated the form said that you grant permission for immigration to to do the check.

[Briggsy]

Coming soon to an immigration office near you.....

Criminal background check administrative fee!

[MJCM]

May I ask:

Who is going to have to procure the criminal record from the home country and who is going to pay for it? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay DHL to ship the original document to Thailand? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay for the translation of the document (by an embassy approved) translator? = The Farang.

I can top it. Why not repeat this circus whenever an new extension is due?

Cheers.

Please read the OP one more time, it states

It also asked for my consent to make a criminal background check in my home country and in Thailand.

So (Samui) Immigration will do the checks themselves, so no need for "The Farang" to get a Criminal Record from the Home Country or have it translated.

[Jingthing]

May I ask:

Who is going to have to procure the criminal record from the home country and who is going to pay for it? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay DHL to ship the original document to Thailand? = The Farang.

Who is going to pay for the translation of the document (by an embassy approved) translator? = The Farang.

I can top it. Why not repeat this circus whenever an new extension is due?

Cheers.

Nonsense

Read the OP where it is stated the form said that you grant permission for immigration to to do the check.

Yes, and in that sense this is actually good news.

Requiring us to supply our own reports (especially annually) would have been EXTREMELY burdensome for many.

[FiestyFarang]

People can lie on the form especially those from countries that have strong Data Protection Laws like the UK. Therefore a better way to rid Thailand of the criminals would be to ask them for a Police Criminal Report from their home country.

[Jingthing]

People can lie on the form especially those from countries that have strong Data Protection Laws like the UK. Therefore a better way to rid Thailand of the criminals would be to ask them for a Police Criminal Report from their home country.

That would be much more burdensome for some.

How could you possibly know what that would involve for people from different countries who are ALREADY HERE?!?

Applying for extensions, many of us have been here for many years, or even decades.

Many of us have no connections back in home countries anymore.

Not recognized by any local police authority.

Don't you realize that might force people to take special trips just to get a form, if even possible?

It's very annoying when foreigners suggest policies that would be VERY unfair, impractical, and onerous to their fellow foreigners.

Kind of Stockholm Syndrome actually.

It's refreshing to hear that Thai immigration is thinking along much more REASONABLE lines about this!

Edited September 11, 2014 by Jingthing

[think_too_mut]

There should be a clarification: "criminal background" or "background" check.

From OP I did not understand that clearly, even OP said it was all in Thai script.

"Background check" would be akin of googling one's name and combing through wherever there is a match. Or using picture taken at the airport and face recognition software over whatever is available for matching.

[FiestyFarang]

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

Peanuts. HR of many companies do just that day and night. Checking candidate's name against dabases of pedofiles (which are public), whatever else there is available to check, trawl social media. When applying for a job you give them your acknowledgement.

What could be new in Thai now is just that tell you they are (or may be) doing that and you are aware. Everyone has been photographed at border crossing. Face recogition software these days can dig you out from whatever anonymous (as this one) Forum they want.

Of course, sporting a new tatoo or being a breeder of pitbulls won't stop visa extension but something else might.

In the UK only the person can get their Full Criminal Conviction Police Report, there are more crimes than pedos! This the person takes to their employers or Immigration. The only way to get a full report.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It always seemed strange to me that if you apply for a retirement visa in your home country, you have to provide a police record to the embassy.

But if you apply here in Thailand then it's not needed.

Maybe they'll also tighten up on retirement applicants/extensions if the original visa wasn't obtained at home with a police record already provided.

I did my annual retirement extension on Bangkok last month, and there was no such form or request for me at that time.

[mrfaroukh]

I appreciate what they do, we don't want criminal minded people around us. You should not be worried if innocent .

[Jingthing]

It always seemed strange to me that if you apply for a retirement visa in your home country, you have to provide a police record to the embassy.

But if you apply here in Thailand then it's not needed.

Maybe they'll also tighten up on retirement applicants/extensions if the original visa wasn't obtained at home with a police record already provided.

I did my annual retirement extension on Bangkok last month, and there was no such form or request for me at that time.

Yes, this is the first report of a form like this on this forum.

Nobody knows yet whether this is a glitch, a Samui thing, or the beginning of a new national policy.

[natway09]

Me thinks long overdue, why should Thailand look after all the "farang" crooks.

They got enough of their own to look after

[Suradit69]

^+1, but I only wonder if they have the manpower to do these checks.

Great point ... but they can certainly smoke out some people with the self confessions!

It could be used selectively. If the police suspect an individual of criminal activity here, they'd be in a position to request a background check from his home country (or can they already do that through Interpol??).

Also if someone signs the form claiming he has no record and a criminal extradition request is received, the individual could have his permission to stay immediately cancelled for supplying false information on the application and (maybe?) deportation could be expedited.

Anyway sounds like a proactive procedure and it might discourage a few people from coming here and hurry a few others to leave sooner..

Edited September 11, 2014 by Suradit69

[IAMHERE]

I almost see the logic here. If you do something in the future that requires them to be suspecious of you then they will already have a form giving them permission to do a background check on you to include your home country. I'd hate to think that any BIB in Thailand can get my FBI or Homeland Security report merely by asking, this way they can without making me aware that they are aware.

[paz]

Me thinks long overdue, why should Thailand look after all the "farang" crooks.

They got enough of their own to look after

Thailand "looks after" foreigners ? in which sense ?

[watcharacters]

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

.

In the UK a foreign government can't request a persons criminal record even with a signed consent form?

[phuketrichard]

Where did you go?

What was the form labeled?

Just gets deeper by the hour.

Samui Immigrations.

The label was in Thai script.

Most of it was in Thai script.

than how did you know what it was asking you ?

or what you were signing if u had to sign it?

no one else has mentioned this anywhere

[Jingthing]

As someone with no record, I would rather not be bothered with this at all.

However, recognizing the normal interest in screening out criminals, I welcome this possible new policy as an OK way to do this.

Again, I am pleased there is no sign they are going to demand anything ridiculous and onerous, like long term people here having to supply reports from countries they haven't lived in for years or decades.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Jingthing

[craigp]

I have just been granted an extension based on marriage. I had some minor brushes with the law along time ago for silly things in the UK as an adolescent . Makes me worry a little for the next extension if this is correct, however, I'm in the north, and only 1 month ago did the extension and there was no such questions about any criminal checks..

I wonder what the implications will be, if any.....(depending on the crime and when the crime was committed)

[think_too_mut]

Even I am sensing a trouble along the way. Let's make a caricature of it:

Year 2020:

Thai Immigration: "We could not find you on FaceBook, on LinkedIn, on...", what are you hiding? Why did you request deletion of all your records?

[sustento]

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

that should change

Why?

[sustento]

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

This a new one on me. Are you really suggesting that individual police officers need to obtain explicit permission from senior officers or even the courts before they can routinely access their own computerised rogues' gallery database?

No I'm not suggesting anything of the kind. Of course individual UK police officers can check criminal records.

I'm saying that those who aren't a part of the British justice system need specific well defined reasons to access the criminal records of those they are interested in. That would include immigration officers of foreign countries.

[sustento]

Peanuts. HR of many companies do just that day and night. Checking candidate's name against dabases of pedofiles (which are public), whatever else there is available to check, trawl social media. When applying for a job you give them your acknowledgement.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349126/DBS_guide_to_eligibility_v6.pdf

[bentarm44]

I have just been granted an extension based on marriage. I had some minor brushes with the law along time ago for silly things in the UK as an adolescent . Makes me worry a little for the next extension if this is correct, however, I'm in the north, and only 1 month ago did the extension and there was no such questions about any criminal checks..

I wonder what the implications will be, if any.....(depending on the crime and when the crime was committed)

Back in 2006 I did the request crim background thing, in the uk.

I also "experimented" with criminal activity in my youth; in 1970 smash 'n grab, plus possession of weed.

The nice blue report came back; I'm clean.

Nice, something to do with over 25, or is it 30, years apparently.

Still here now on retirement ext'ns.

[sustento]

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

Peanuts. HR of many companies do just that day and night. Checking candidate's name against dabases of pedofiles (which are public), whatever else there is available to check, trawl social media. When applying for a job you give them your acknowledgement.

What could be new in Thai now is just that tell you they are (or may be) doing that and you are aware. Everyone has been photographed at border crossing. Face recogition software these days can dig you out from whatever anonymous (as this one) Forum they want.

Of course, sporting a new tatoo or being a breeder of pitbulls won't stop visa extension but something else might.

In the UK only the person can get their Full Criminal Conviction Police Report, there are more crimes than pedos! This the person takes to their employers or Immigration. The only way to get a full report.

A person cannot get a 'full criminal conviction police report' whatever that may be. The only entity that can apply for an enhanced criminal record check is a prospective employer in specific circumstances. People can only apply for a Basic CRB themselves.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349126/DBS_guide_to_eligibility_v6.pdf

[smotherb]

It is about time they started checking, but should be done before they first the original visa. They will need a lot of luck checking in some of the worst countries that have criminals entering LOS, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan come to mind.

Always nice to see a bit of racism punctuate the day, huh?

Racism? The countries listed are known for their sporadic of record keeping

[justjoined]

Many of the expats on this forum and in LOS in general have become a really nasty bunch - advocating criminal background checks for other farang. Sad.

[think_too_mut]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349126/DBS_guide_to_eligibility_v6.pdf[/url]

I am talking about HR of companies (like IBM, Oracle, HP,...) telling in job ads they will do background checking on candidates.

Then google someone out being a participant in some sex tour in Cambodia and he is done with that job.

[sustento]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349126/DBS_guide_to_eligibility_v6.pdf[/url]

I am talking about HR of companies (like IBM, Oracle, HP,...) telling in job ads they will do background checking on candidates.

Then google someone out being a participant in some sex tour in Cambodia and he is done with that job.

And I'm talking about proper criminal record checks rather than doing a bit of fishing on Facebook.