ESL Jobs Forum

[burg]

I have a complicated situation.
I am interested in teaching English in Thailand.
I am a college grad with youth counseling/teaching experience.
The unfortunate thing is that I have a criminal record from almost 10 years ago.
Here is the story, I guess it's a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The police kicked in my parents door when I was just 19. They were looking to arrest my father for selling an eighth of marijuana to one of his loser buddies who turned out to be a rat.
What happened was the police charged everyone in the house above 18 years of age with every charge in the book.
Being 19 years of age I was arrested, basicly being penalized for still living at home.
The worst thing about this was, that my younger brother who was only 13 at the time also lived in the house.
The police found it necessary to charge everyone with the same charges as my father. Because my younger brother was in living in the house I was charged with reckless endangerment to a minor along with a list of other things.
Ofcourse when I went to court all of these charges were dropped/nollied.

The worst part of this story is that when I became interested in teaching not only in Thailand but here in the states I decided to do a back ground check. When I did sadly I found that records of that arrest still came up, even though I had not been in any trouble in the last 10 years.They did not show up as convictions but as arrests.
So I guess what I am now wondering is if it will be impossible for me to find a decent job in Thailand?If a background check is conducted will my full arrest record be viewable or will it only show a list of convictions?
Any information would be great.

[sigmoid]

As far as I know criminal background checks are still not required of teachers in Thailand. See what you can find out here:
http://www.moe.go.th/English/
and
http://www.thaivisa.com/

[burg]

Thanks Sigmoid.
In the meantime I am looking into having my record expunged.The whole thing is a real bummer.
Life goes on.
But yeah as far as the decnt job thing. I know working conditions are not the best in Thailand, especially the more I read into it.
As a freelance illustrator I plan to continue to seek work back in the states to make some extra money while in Thailand.
I figure the teaching thing will just ensure that I can pay rent. Which as a freelancer is tough to do here in Ct..
We'll see what happens ,as I have a ticket to LOS for feb 1st.
So thanks a ton for the reponse.
Be well
Dan

[sigmoid]

Hi Dan -

Another important consideration is whether or not you have a university degree. It will be difficult, but apparently not impossible, to find legal work without one in Thailand. If you do have a degree you can get university work, which if you are employed by a decent uni will give you a fair amount of free time

Also, Feb. is not the very best time to show up, but it depends on what type of work you will be looking for.

[sigmoid]

hi Dan -

New info in regard to background checks is coming out:

http://www.teflnews.net/56/background-checks-in-thailand

http://www.teflwatch.org/forum/index.php/topic,828.msg5879.html#msg5879

[LeslieW]

Not all schools are asking for background checks in Thailand but that doesn't mean the govt., won't ask for one before granting a visa. With all that has happened with a handful of foreign teachers in S. Korea and most recently in Thailand there is a good chance the govt., will ask. The Thai govt., is cracking down hard because of the recent past. So don't assume it's a cake walk. Just because the school may not ask, never assume the govt., of any country won't.

If they do you will probably be out of luck, at least in Thailand. Tough drug laws and if they see your record they wont be jumping on the bandwagon to grant you a visa. Some countries may not ask but more ads for Thai jobs are letting prospective teachers know a police check is a necessity.

The open door of the past is no longer there. Perhaps Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei may not ask but for Thailand, it's probably more than likely you will be asked.

You need to get that off your record if possible and have it wiped clean.
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http://www.esl-international.net/resumes

[boldadventurer]

I had a misdemeanor conviction for prostitution in 1983, and it still loses me jobs in the 21st century in public schools. It is a long story, and yes, I was wrongly accused during an election year...but beyond that the 'moral tupitude' part is what gets to be a problem...not the fact I haven't ever had but two speeding tickets in my 61 years on this planet--so figure how long ago the 'offense' was and it still hurting me....

BUT THE MAIN POINT : This is directed to THE PERSON in the forum WHO HAS THE ARREST, AND IS NOW CONSIDERING EXPUNGMENT--PAY CLOSE ATTENTION.

Expunging a record does not make it go away on a background check. YOU MUST HAVE THE GOVERNOR of the STATE where the record is give you a pardon. Google pardons in your state to find the procedures. Attorneys are LYING or ignorant of the facts about expungment--I and another person I know that tried for a fire department job found out the hard way. It was worse for him since he did not put it on his application thinking it was 'gone' --then it looked like he was lying and trying to hide it--when he thought expungment made it go away.

YOU can get rid of it in some areas, but expungement won't do for a real background check--read up on it before you pay for it. Good luck.
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BoldAdventurer

[charliechaplin1984]

Hmm.. This is really confusing, I just read on this site that background checks won't show any convictions or criminal records done more than 7 to 10 years ago. I had a possession charge about 5 years ago, and it does still show on background checks i ran on myself. Despite this i still got hired for a job, i just basically told them the truth.. and they understood and hired me..

[charliechaplin1984]

I guess my point is, i also want my records to be clean, and from what i've read on this free background check info site, i thought my record would be wiped clean a couple of years from now, but now after reading this forum, i'm not sure anymore.. can anyone clear this up? dont criminal records "roll over" after a certain amount of time?

[ADKINS009]

I think I would find an employment Attorney and talk to him since I think 'negligence' and 'incompetence' on the part of HR may play a role in your firing.
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