Working in Vietnam - Criminal Background Check

Hi I’m interested in coming to Vietnam to teach. I am Irish and started the TEFL course.

The only problem is I’ve 2 convictions for cannabis when I was younger.

Do you think I would still get a job if they do a background check? Any information would be appreciated...

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Reply from Travel-Budget-Asia.com

Too many things have changed lately to the code of the law for me to give you an exact answer. Then there are different codes of law for different countries.

Most countries have 3 levels of criminal categories. Level one, two and three.

Level 3 is usually any felony offenses like rape, murder, manslaughter, armed robbery etc. Level 2 is usually for people that got bumped down from a level one because they have helped or contributed to the prosecution. The rest is white collar crime like Bernard and his Ponzi scheme.

The problem is that some offenses are sneaking into felony class when before they were misdemeanors only.

If you are caught with one bag of Ganja then it is "Personal Use" and you will get a misdemeanor but if you are caught with 10 pounds of Ganja, ready to be sold in separate bags, then you are trafficking.

Either way, schools use a class 3 application for criminal information about you. This is asking for Class 1 felonies only.

The police department that will write up the level 3 report are to include information that falls under class 1 felonies and adds NO information about 2nd or 3rd class offenses.

I would go there to Vietnam first and deal with this bridge when you cross it. It could be 2 years before they ask you to do a criminal report. If they ask you to do a criminal report just make sure they want to know only that you are not a serial rapist.

I would recommend that you seek a Pardon through your own Government, though. I did. I had a small conviction and had it Pardoned by my government and it has since been wiped from my record.

Look into it and you'll never worry about this again.

Philip