Busted! Immigration goes after "begpackers" for working without a permit

[Ketyo]

So why aren't they going after the Nigerian drug dealing gangs who sit in the same place outside Spankey's bar and the 7/11 in Sukhumvit Soi 13 Bangkok every night selling drugs openly on the sidewalk? Have these drug dealers got work permits for that? Or do they give some profits to the police?

[milys]

3 hours ago, Eddie664 said:

Did they have a workpermit or not??

 

Anyway, just get rid of them.Not sticking to the rules makes it harder for us who stays here and do the best we can to follow the rules.....

Are you kiddin' me....

That's why they took them because they didn't have a visa allowing them to work in Thailand.

You can't do that on a tourist visa. They will probably be deported.

[Somtamnication]

I feel so much safer, now!

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, milys said:

Are you kiddin' me....

That's why they took them because they didn't have a visa allowing them to work in Thailand.

You can't do that on a tourist visa. They will probably be deported.

Just to be picky absolutely no-one has a work visa.

[Truthhurts]

I would blacklist the foreign scum that do this.

Should be ashamed of themselves but as they are invariably white shame is not an emotion they are familiar with

[Cereal]

"Many posters online have criticized the practice as being done by entitled and essentially well-off foreigners while others take a more conciliatory view suggesting that they do no real harm."

 

Both sides of this argument are valid. What separates them, in my opinion, is that the Thais who sell trinkets on the sidewalk are not financially able to <deleted> off to Europe for a couple of months to do it just cuz they can.

 

Begpackers are scum and give all foreigners a bad name. Arrest them, fine them heavily, when they pay the fine and show their plane ticket back home (a price very far beyond the reach of most Thais) deport them and blacklist them for life. If they try to sneak into the LOS again and are caught, life in prison. Done.

[thai006]

easy deportation !!!!!

[kiwikeith]

4 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

Yes, only Thais should be allowed to hog the sidewalks working/selling photographs of their world travels.

OK ,GET IT RIGHT, Cut your leg off, and one hand maybe, cover yourself in black boot polish, clothes and all then crawl through a market with a cup stretched out in you good arm and no problem.

[SuwadeeS]

The term....

"jobs reserved for Thais" is such a discrimination!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I do hope, that Thais will get the same discriminating treatment in all other countries.

[robsamui]

 3 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

So does this mean that we as foreigners who sell anything, even like a bike or car or jacket or computer monitor are breaking the immigration law of working with out a permit and taking a job from a Thai? This country is beginning to smell and we are all going to have to redefine the thin line of what not to cross.

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

No.  Selling individual single items is fine.

The trouble is that the current climate nobody is certain what's going to happen next. least of all the Thai officials who seem to have widespread powers of individual interpretation.

 

The way I imagine it is that it's fine if - for instance - you're going to move house and advertise all your stuff online. But if you take it out on the public streets and lay it all out on blankets then you're "working".

 

But who knows how officials might interpret it. Thailand has become a dreadful muddle of inconsistent aims and objectives that only gets more complex, tangled and lop-sided every time they try to plug the holes. They're losing face left right and center with trying to sort out farangs - it's not surprising that the hordes of day-tripping Chinese are being welcomed instead - stamp em in, they spend money for 6 days, then stamp em out. Next please . . . 

It's all way out of control and now a real headache for anyone wanting to stay long-term. It's the main reason I packed up and left for Vietnam, after having spent 22 years in Thailand, and I just wish I'd done it 4 or 5 years sooner.

[spiekerjozef]

What could they possibly sell?

Their 6 month old beard? their smelly clothes? their after walking 500km flip flops? their rasta-made hair?

[whaleboneman]

2 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Sorry Yinn. Technically you are making money when you sell something here and that can be classified as work no matter how much you want  to say no. And really, you actually don't see the odd things we as foreigners are put through by the people in charge. It is all their game and how they interpret their rules their way.  

I think if you sell a car, computer or any personal item here you are loosing money so definitely no permit required.

[whaleboneman]

11 minutes ago, SuwadeeS said:

The term....

"jobs reserved for Thais" is such a discrimination!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I do hope, that Thais will get the same discriminating treatment in all other countries.

I think you will find that most countries will prohibit foreigners from taking jobs that locals can perform. And I have to agree with that policy.

[CharlieH]

Flame post removed.

[whaleboneman]

17 minutes ago, Cereal said:

"Many posters online have criticized the practice as being done by entitled and essentially well-off foreigners while others take a more conciliatory view suggesting that they do no real harm."

 

Both sides of this argument are valid. What separates them, in my opinion, is that the Thais who sell trinkets on the sidewalk are not financially able to <deleted> off to Europe for a couple of months to do it just cuz they can.

 

Begpackers are scum and give all foreigners a bad name. Arrest them, fine them heavily, when they pay the fine and show their plane ticket back home (a price very far beyond the reach of most Thais) deport them and blacklist them for life. If they try to sneak into the LOS again and are caught, life in prison. Done.

Your attitude may have been improved had you done some backpacking in your youth.

 

[overherebc]

14 minutes ago, whaleboneman said:

Your attitude may have been improved had you done some backpacking in your youth.

 

Perhaps there's a difference between back-packers and those who turn up wherever with no cash behind them and try to beg their way daily into a bowl of fried rice and a bottle of water to survive.

Sleeping on the street in Thailand seems easier to them than sleeping on the street in their own country.

[Bartman1369]

4 hours ago, Eddie664 said:

Did they have a workpermit or not??

 

Anyway, just get rid of them.Not sticking to the rules makes it harder for us who stays here and do the best we can to follow the rules.....

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a work permit in Thailand??? I am a degree qualified mobile Automation Engineer working in China and Asia. I looked into supplementing my income during the quiet times by teaching or working as an engineer. If you do not work at a static site or have your own company (another pain in the ass to setup - but don't get me started on that one - Off topic) then it is almost impossible, unless you go through the brown envelope route (5000 per month). Typically the bureaucracy in Thailand is designed to supplement the brown envelope brigade. I know this because I have just setup a business for my wife. It's made as difficult as possible so that when you get a random phone offering the easy service for a fee you gladly accept. Luckily my wife and I were extremely stubborn and denied them of this pleasure. As the goal posts kept changing after every one of the 8 or 9 visits to the ampur office.

 

I get offered emergency breakdown work regularly in Thailand but have to turn it down because I can't get a work permit fast enough, and can't risk the immigration money collection system.

 

I am married to a Thai national and have a multi entry married visa.

[globalspark]

Just spent 7 days in CM and there seems to be a blitz on unlicensed motor bike riders now illegals workers on the street.Country seems to be more heavy handed on activities not so legal.Foreigners with money welcome rest can please themselves

 

 

[RandG]

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Shame immigration don't have better things to do, like work on the promised remedy for TM30.

Somehow don't think the guy on the street arresting a so-called begpacker is the same guy who will be rehashing TM30's.

[sambum]

4 hours ago, Vacuum said:

"world travels" 

 

You mean domestic travels, as most/very many Thais don't ha ve a passport?

 Danger! Sarcasm alert!

[overherebc]

5 minutes ago, RandG said:

Somehow don't think the guy on the street arresting a so-called begpacker is the same guy who will be rehashing TM30's.

????

What address does a beg-packer use ?

Shop front ( various )

Soi something

Amphur not sure.

Post code something

????

????????

[fred110]

Good. Deport them too.

[Nik spacey]

What about the non Thai watch sellers in Nana plaza..Look more Indian than thai.wonder if they have work permits?

[maddox41]

Easy targets  like the school teachers  in Chang mai working illegally on  tourist visas. 

But the hard core Mafia the Internet scams and the dodgy black lottery operators all left alone to work their trade... 

Good old Thailand  

[mikecha]

Beware new year is coming people want money i mean the fuzz   be wary  

 

i do agree that Thai goverment officials do have much better things to do, but rules are rules for the long staying as others say we trY to live and abide by them not always easy 

 

i also was stopped last week check my visa 10 minuits bla bla bla and all ok cost u s box of cookies my gf gave him 

smile please walk away no comment ,

 

[SupermarineS6B]

What a shame for Thailand and it's people being governed by a bunch of tin pot action men, the same lot i saw last time running down Suk taking their uniforms off before the mob turned up. Indeed the surrounding countrys must be rubbing their hands watching the small minded mentality that goes berserk over a few hippies but hides when real action turns up......... Very sad, it used to be the land of smiles and fun, now it's just becoming a joke, and not a funny one....... When the cat's away the mice will play...........

[NightSky]

Scaremongering 

[SupermarineS6B]

I  can't say i'm surprised with this latest petty garbage coming from the BIB, but it's reminding me of what somebody said to me thirty years ago in a bar in Sukhumvit. This old bloke who was hanging onto the bar leaned towards me and asked if he could give me some advice ?  Fire away old fellah was my reply expecting some drunken drivvle, but oh no, what he came out with was pure gold and it's banging on all our doors right now. He said, " Don't have anything in this country that you can't pick up and run with,  because that day will come "........

Sit down and watch the show, and have your bags ready......

[emptypockets]

2 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

I support this enforcement action.  I believe in the “Broken Windows, Cigarette Butts and people sleeping on sidewalks” type of enforcement action.  A small problem can morph very quickly into a large and unmanageable problem.  Also, some in these “begpacker” countries might get the bright idea “hey if these people can go to Thailand with little money and beg then so can i”. 

Your support is noted.

[emptypockets]

1 hour ago, Cereal said:

"Many posters online have criticized the practice as being done by entitled and essentially well-off foreigners while others take a more conciliatory view suggesting that they do no real harm."

 

Both sides of this argument are valid. What separates them, in my opinion, is that the Thais who sell trinkets on the sidewalk are not financially able to <deleted> off to Europe for a couple of months to do it just cuz they can.

 

Begpackers are scum and give all foreigners a bad name. Arrest them, fine them heavily, when they pay the fine and show their plane ticket back home (a price very far beyond the reach of most Thais) deport them and blacklist them for life. If they try to sneak into the LOS again and are caught, life in prison. Done.

Crucifixion...first offence?