Thailand to get tough on foreigners working without work permits, employers also targeted

[psyvolt]

Just now, IamNoone88 said:

Just follows the rules and there is nothing to worry about.

Exactly this.

So many posters just like to piss and moan about anything the Thai Gov says, yet they seem to conveniently forget - they are in Thailands Play pen, play by their rules or bugger off.

[petedk]

Just now, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Well it shows just how big hypocrites they are!

Exactly.

 

That's what I was trying to say in my previous post. 

Government universities pay contract staff so little but if they hire an external teacher for a seminar or workshop then the pay is reasonable.

 

I go to other government universities and departments for a reasonable rate.

[alphaflight]

1 minute ago, psyvolt said:

Exactly this.

So many posters just like to piss and moan about anything the Thai Gov says, yet they seem to conveniently forget - they are in Thailands Play pen, play by their rules or bugger off.

What rules? I'd love to know how you get anything done or even stay here following the rules. Please enlighten me..... 

[taxin]

4 hours ago, marquess said:

Legitimately married foreigners ought to be given the right of residency and the right to work.

They have already been given this right, has been the case for many years now.

 

The most ridiculous part of this clampdown is the fine for engaging in work different from what is registered in the work permit, the fine being "upto" the same as not having a work permit at all.

[ben2talk]

5 minutes ago, alphaflight said:

What rules? I'd love to know how you get anything done or even stay here following the rules. Please enlighten me..... 

Which sets of rules are you referring to?

There are many. I have one book of rules I keep in the old Tea Box, there's an other that fell somewhere under the table...

[bannork]

43 minutes ago, zib said:

I have a work permit. On it it says "Manager, Supervising Chef". I was arrested by undercover police for carrying a box of potatoes to the kitchen which he said is manual labor reserved for Thais. 

It could have been worse. They could have given you the sack,.

That would have been heavy.

[Canada]

The stupidity goes on. Whatever - you can't fix stupid. 

Funny. I live in bumfartnowhere. Even the local sugarcane barons out here hire Laos workers because the Thais are such terrible workers.

[sitti]

Soo many whiners and complainers. Just deal with it or go home. Where ever your are from, every foreigner who are working legally or illegally in your country has to deal with the laws that applies to him whether he likes or not. If you think Thai immigration laws are tough, try applying H1B -> PERM -> I-485 in the U.S. Applying for visa that allows you to live and work for extended period is far easier in Thailand than the U.S.  

[bannork]

1 minute ago, Canada said:

The stupidity goes on. Whatever - you can't fix stupid. 

Funny. I live in bumfartnowhere. Even the local sugarcane barons out here hire Laos workers because the Thais are such terrible workers.

I know some Thai sugar cane workers. it's hard work I wouldn't wish on anyone. I wouldn't blame any Thai for looking for a cushier job. Laotians have less choices.

[sitti]

Just now, bannork said:

I know some Thai sugar cane workers. it's hard work I wouldn't wish on anyone. I wouldn't blame any Thai for looking for a cushier job. Laotians have less choices.

Same in the US. American don't do manual labor, Mexicans do that. Americans will take advantage of welfare until they find jobs that they want to do even though there are plenty of sweaty hard working jobs available.

[NorthernRyland]

15 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

From 30+ years of experience he is spot on. Permits and visas are nothing but a hassle. 

 

My last experience was having to pay a hefty bribe to Immigration for a visa extension and that was it for me. My paperwork was all in order and all done through an agent. This was just over six months ago.

 

I closed my company three weeks later and put a few Thais out of work. I told them to blame their Immigration department as I had enough. 

 

My advice to anyone wanting to work or do business is look elsewhere, Cambodia and Vietnam for starters are far easier and pleasant options with more opportunities. 

 

Avoid Thailand at all costs. 

My brother setup a business here, all legally, and he's basically had it after 3 years due to systemic incompetence of employees and stifling bureaucracy. It's appealing at first because of the perceived low bar to entry (compared to the US) but the country is riddled with dysfunction.

[LivinLOS]

4 hours ago, balo said:

We are not working in Thailand , we just live here as tourists. Pay taxes to home country etc. 

 

 

 

The labour department doesnt care who your clients are, or even if you have no clients. If your are in Thailand physically when you work, you need a work permit. 

 

This has been repeated by the labour department over and over, online work is work and requires exactly the same things, anyone who simply wants to believe otherwise is in denial or deluded. Why do you think there are nomad umbrella companies ?? But then nomads always say "if only there was a way to be legal" and then when they hear it costs 30% of revenue they choke. 

[Dumbastheycome]

Is  there a  Thai  word  to  define  a  " Hobby" ? Hope  so.  I  regularly  involve  myself  in  hobby activity. lol

[taxin]

25 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

From 30+ years of experience he is spot on. Permits and visas are nothing but a hassle. 

 

My last experience was having to pay a hefty bribe to Immigration for a visa extension and that was it for me. My paperwork was all in order and all done through an agent. This was just over six months ago.

 

That's because you were using an agent.

[Redline]

Thailand 4.0 with no workforce, just alternative reality spreading

[JAG]

They do appear to target chefs / restaurant managers from what I've seen. If you do one thing outside the very specific and narrow definition of your job they want the money.
 

I should imagine that they see restaurants, rather like bars, as cash generators, and they want some...

[DavisH]

4 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

could try teaching

They wouldn't see out the probation in my school....and many others. 

[nss70]

5 hours ago, marquess said:

Legitimately married foreigners ought to be given the right of residency and the right to work.

Absolutely agree! Even if only to the extent of doing helping-out work like DIY on the house or the wife's business. It frustrates me watching Thai "professionals" making the worst bodge of a job that you know you can do 100 times better in a fraction of the time.

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, alphaflight said:

What rules? I'd love to know how you get anything done or even stay here following the rules. Please enlighten me..... 

Get qualified, get a teacher's licence (if you are a school teacher), and get a work permit for the position. Never had a problem in 16 years. never had to do a border run. It's not difficult. Many are skirting the edges of the law and working illegally or not in the job assigned for the visa/wp. They can bugger off for all I care. 

[DavisH]

2 minutes ago, nss70 said:

Absolutely agree! Even if only to the extent of doing helping-out work like DIY on the house or the wife's business. It frustrates me watching Thai "professionals" making the worst bodge of a job that you know you can do 100 times better in a fraction of the time.

Who said you can't paint your own house/condo? 

[ericthai]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

 

If you work in Thailand as foreigner and you will be surveilled by under cover police and they will pounce if you so much as make one tiny 'mistake' - this is with a work permit.

 

I've worked in Thailand almost 25 years. Always legal with work permit.  Never had a problem the Labor department. They have only come to our factory a few times over the years. I have several other friends that have work permits and nobody is watching.

[khunPer]

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, marquess said:

Wrong they do, I have known quite a few who are in genuine marriages and who are now citizens and have as much rights in the UK as any native. Yet here even if one has been married for 30 years one still has to jump through the annual hoops and endure the various bureaucratic hassles when it comes to getting a WP. Xenophobic nationalism! 

But they aren't citizens, and often not even permanent residents, are they? The government does not count how long you have been married of how much you have put into the local economy. 

[ukrules]

11 minutes ago, ericthai said:

I've worked in Thailand almost 25 years. Always legal with work permit.  Never had a problem the Labor department. They have only come to our factory a few times over the years. I have several other friends that have work permits and nobody is watching.

 

I think it depends on how visible you are, the poeple who had problems that I know of work in publicly visible areas. They're chefs, restaurant managers, shop owners. People who can be easily watched.

 

There is no doubt that they are watching, the incidents I've heard about are all in response to some tiny infraction and the police turned up either instantly instantly (within seconds) or they were already there as they pretend to be customers and sit in the restaurant waiting to catch someone out. There was one incident I know of where they waited for staff to leave the room then asked a foreign manager for the check (not his job) and promptly fined him.

 

There's a lot more of this kind of thing going on lately - it's escalating and increasing in frequency and this is before the new rules.

 

 

 

[thairookie]

I suggest they start with Chinese estate agencies in Pattaya.  The developers who allowed Chinese agents to sell their projects should now be fined.

[charmonman]

4 hours ago, jspill said:

Nope. When the article doesn't even mention us this seems more definitive proof to me that we aren't classed as working here (common sense to many but apparently not some thaivisa poster). 

Since when did common sense apply to the actions of the Thai authorities? It's not the Thaivisa posters who are lacking common sense, they are simply recognizing it does not usually apply here.

[david555]

41 minutes ago, DavisH said:

Who said you can't paint your own house/condo? 

look here ....

Legallities performing work in own home on a OA retirement visa.pdf

[balo]

2 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

If your are in Thailand physically when you work, you need a work permit. 

 

No I don't , this has been discussed to death. 

 

Anyone in Thailand , on holiday or just retired people living here can still use internet for answering emails , doing Skype calls etc ,  if it's private calls or business calls , doesn't matter , it got nothing to do with Thailand, you just happen to be here and enjoying life.  Internet is a part of life.  

 

My money are spent in Thailand, but my foreign credit card belongs to my company in Europe. 

 

 

 

 

[Rc2702]

4 minutes ago, balo said:

 

No I don't , this has been discussed to death. 

 

Anyone in Thailand , on holiday or just retired people living here can still use internet for answering emails , doing Skype calls etc ,  if it's private calls or business calls , doesn't matter , it got nothing to do with Thailand, you just happen to be here and enjoying life.  Internet is a part of life.  

 

My money are spent in Thailand, but my foreign credit card belongs to my company in Europe. 

 

 

 

 

So your earning air miles for every purchase you make with a CC. Aargh we can't have that that's working that is.

[realenglish1]

While other countries welcome well educated experienced people to come and work Thailand discourages it Foreign Corps will look long and hard and then decide to go elsewhere before investing in Thailand Lots of  venues that are more friendly 

 

This is what Thailand gets for not having an elected government