National—
On March 19th, 2024, Mr. Somchai Morakotsriwan, the Director-General of the Department of Employment, publicly revealed a case of immigrant workers allegedly illegally taking over Thai people’s jobs in tourist attractions and commercial areas in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and other locations.
Somchai stated immigrant workers included various nationalities such as Burmese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Russian, and Indian nationals. The foreign workers allegedly illegally competed with locals in commercial areas in Chinatown, Huai Khwang, Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui, and other popular tourist destinations.
According to statistics from October 1st, 2023 to March 18th, 2024, the Thai Department of Employment inspected 25,628 companies nationwide and 306,577 individuals from the aforementioned nationals. As a result, more than 1,689 individuals were facing legal action with 721 individuals allegedly directly competing with Thai locals for jobs.
Somchai further added that jobs that had the most competition among immigrant workers including street sellers, barbers, motorbike and taxi drivers, and masseuses, respectively.
Immigrants who stay to work in Thailand must respect the Thai laws, just like when Thai people seek to work abroad, they must respect the laws of that country, said Somchai.
Authorized documents and work permits were needed to work in Thailand legally, Somchai added.
The violators who held no valid documentation and work permit would be fined from 5,000 baht to 50,000 baht, extradited, and prohibited from applying for a work permit for 2 years.
Furthermore, the employers who hired illegal immigrant workers would be fined from 10,000-100,000 baht per illegal worker and prohibited from hiring foreign workers for 3 years, said Somchai.
This article originally appeared on our sister website The Pattaya News.
