Transcript of the above video: 

Well it appears that there is no cure for the summertime blues. And you know what, with that being said, I probably am going to title my next long form video that is on our paid news service, that's Integrity News Service; we are sending out long form videos. We're now on episode 3. I started this I think about a week ago, maybe 10 days. We are doing long form content on there. I have talked about expat stuff, a little bit of politics, a little bit of my past out here, just getting deeper into this kind of stuff. Those who are interested in that, you might want to check out or send us an email at [email protected], we will put the email below; [email protected], for the paid news service where I do go deeper. That said I do like to do these alerts to keep people sort of on the lookout for issues that do pertain to expats and unfortunately, at the moment, it does look like there is a crackdown on folks working illegally in Thailand.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Crackdown on expats in jobs for Thais. Quoting directly: "Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn ordered a crackdown on expats working in occupations restricted to Thai nationals after the Ministry made more than 4,400 arrests for the offence in the past nine months." So bear in mind, they have already arrested 4,400, and he's now calling for a crackdown in light of those numbers. So it looks to me like we are seeing a crackdown moving forward. 

Sorry folks here. Coming off of this citation from Bangkok Post, I want to do a quick sort of shameless plug. I'm not going to keep doing these all the time, but we have recently opened, my better half and I have recently opened - sort of as a sideline - a restaurant here in Thailand because we feel like there has been a dearth if you will of American diner style food. As you can see, we have got Pancake Palace open here on what is sometimes called Soi Tarntawan, sometimes called Narathiwas Soi 1. Google seems to be calling it Soi Anuman Rachadhon and I will put a Google address link in the description below so you can click on that link and get a map to where we are at. But Pancake Palace, yeah, we've got all-day-breakfast. Again we have got cheeseburgers, we have got great Buffalo Wings. We would really love to see you down there and I appreciate you watching through this sort if shameless plug. I'm getting back to now the whole issue regarding the alert, regarding expats working illegally here in the Kingdom of Thailand. 

Quoting further: "Labour Ministry Spokesman Phumphat Muanchan said on Sunday Mr. Phiphat had ordered agencies," - so this is Sunday. We are sitting here on Monday, this was yesterday that another order has come down. Quoting again: "Mr. Phiphat had ordered agencies to cooperate on protecting the jobs of domestic workers while pledging not to normalize illegal employment in the country despite its prevalence." Yeah look, I can't caution folks enough. I know I am probably going to get burned by trolls and things in the comments here. People saying, "oh, this is all because you are Thai." That's not the point. As I have discussed in other videos, when we talked about fake lawyers, fake doctors over here, fake tax people - all kinds of nonsense of people coming over and operating illegally in Thailand - these folks come here, and they completely disregard Thai law. Thai law enforcement does eventually take notice. Look, the government is what it is. It moves at the pace that it moves, but after they have seen 4,400 folks, now the Labour Minister is getting pretty serious about this stuff. And we are sitting here in low season which is usually the prime time for enforcement measures against foreigners in Thailand and I think Thais, myself included, are kind of getting sick of foreigners coming here and just completely disregarding, again the Restricted Occupations, and the rules that are in effect to protect Thai labour. On top of that, as noted again in what I just quoted, there's a clear, it looks like me at this point, mandate to not allow this to become some nonchalant thing. They don't want people to think, "oh there's a rule, but you can just disregard it", okay. I think that that is part of the impetus behind this. That said, quoting further: "The order came after a large number of arrests involving illegal expat labourers, said Mr. Phumphat, who added one of the main factors contributing to the issue was employers wanting to cut corners and save on recruitment costs." I have talked about this a lot in the context of the DTV which as discussed, was created entirely by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They didn't really seem to ask any consensus from the Labour Ministry or the domestic immigration apparatus and it left this nebulous thing of, "oh well Digital Nomads, as long as they are working outside of Thailand," which whatever that meant when you are physically in Thailand, it is kind of nebulous how you can be working outside of Thailand, but okay leave that aside. I do get we are in a digital world. We have also seen problems now with banking associated with those visas, but more to the point, folks I think thought they could come in on a lot of these new type of Visas and work, when in fact they were not work authorized, and that may be driving some of this as well. That said, and again to "cut corners". Folks don't want to pay the taxes requisite on payroll and things of that nature associated with maintaining proper Work Permits and visas." That said, quoting further: "Mr. Phumphat said that Mr. Phiphat had insisted that related sectors take steps to coordinate on the suppression of illegal expat employment as more concrete results are needed." Boy that's some ominous language if you are working illegally in Thailand because it sounds to me like again there's a clear mandate to crack down on this activity." Quoting further: "People who find illegal expats being employed in prohibited jobs can notify DoE Central Employment Registration and Workers Protection Division to lodge a complaint, said Mr. Phumphat." 

So again, and the thumbnail in this video is actually the Restricted Occupations themselves. We put that up there; the photo credit will actually take you to the actual English language translation of the Restricted Occupations. And it is very specific; it is very clear what is a Restricted Occupation here in Thailand and that it is illegal to undertake those occupations if you are not a Thai national. 

Now again, I understand that this can be very frustrating for expats but it's not impossible to work here. It's just Thailand takes protecting its internal labour force very seriously. And frankly coming from the West, which I think could do a little bit better about this, I oftentimes think maybe for example the United States could take a page from Thailand when it comes to protecting its domestic labour force. That being said, again I think this is a major development. I do think it warrants an ALERT; it's the reason we made the ALERT. So those who are operating illegally in Thailand be warned. It looks to me like the Labour Ministry is not messing around. They have already arrested 4,400 folks in the past nine months. It looks like in light of that, they are basically doubling down and increasing their efforts to root out people that are working illegally in Thailand. So folks that are working illegally in Thailand, it is probably time to get your house in order, look at getting into proper Work Permit status or you are probably going to face the consequences of possible arrest, fine and probable deportation from the Kingdom of Thailand.