Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing talking about nominees here in the Kingdom of Thailand. We are talking about nominees specifically in the context of business, doing business in Thailand. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com. I originally saw this in the print edition of Bangkok Post; we are going to go ahead and throw up its counterpart online here for folks as a point of reference. The article is titled: 'Grey' businesses facing crackdown. There is a lot of information in this article. I urge those who are watching this video, go read that article in detail because I am going to quote a small excerpt but there is a lot more going on in there. Quoting directly: "Jitakorn Wongkhatekorn, Deputy Director-general of the Business Development Department," (now for those who are unaware, Business Development Department is specifically tasked with dealing with sort of the day-to-day protocols associated with Business incorporation etc.) "said his Department is investigating 200 companies suspected of acting as nominees for foreign businesses." Again, for those who are unaware, nominees are illegal in Thailand. They are specifically prohibited under the Foreign Business Act; there is a Foreign Business Act in Thailand which prohibits foreign nationals from conducting certain types of businesses and basically restricts them to being in a 49% ownership position of corporations doing business in Thailand, most types of business activities in Thailand. As we have discussed in other videos, for Americans there may be a way around this utilizing the US-Thai Treaty of Amity. Meanwhile other types of folks who are looking to do business in Thailand are going to be constrained by the Foreign Business Act. 

So the thing to take away from this video is to understand, much like some of the shake-up we have been seeing within the Immigration apparatus, it now appears that law enforcement officials are starting to target and scrutinize companies and individuals associated with nominees in a corporate context. This could have broad-based substantial ramifications for those looking to do business in Thailand or for businesses already operating in Thailand. So for those out there who are wondering about this, it may be a good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to remain in compliance with the Foreign Business Act here in the Kingdom of Thailand.