Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing illegal operations being investigated by Thai Immigration and the Royal Thai Police. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from The Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Patong businesses raided in nominee crackdown. Quoting directly: "Officers from Phuket Immigration led a coordinated task force in a series of raids at five business locations in Patong on Thursday (October 23) as part of a nationwide campaign" - that's important. This isn't just Phuket, this is Nationwide policy - "to crack down on foreign nominees and illegal business operations." Quoting further: "Investigations produced sufficient evidence to secure a search warrant from the Phuket Provincial Court, No.242/68, dated October 22."

So the thing first of all to note is Thai Immigration - as I've noted in other videos - and the Royal Thai Police generally here are seriously concerned about these type of nominee structure setups and they are even more concerned about people flouting Thai law regarding foreigners working in Thailand or flouting Thai law regarding foreign work restrictions on the type of work that foreigners can conduct in Thailand. I urge those who are watching this video go check out that article in The Phuket News; you'll get more context. 

That said quoting further: "Phuket Immigration reiterated that the operation forms part of ongoing national efforts to prevent illegal foreign business operations and ensure that tourism-related enterprises in Phuket comply fully with Thai Law." 

Yeah look, as I have discussed in other videos, Thailand is increasingly taking not only a law enforcement stance on immigration matters but now even more, it's viewed through the paradigm or the rubric or prism if you will of National Security; increasingly this is being viewed very seriously by relevant authorities. This isn't something to just shirk; this isn't something to just sort oh, whatever, 'mai pen rai', the Thais will never come after me. No. As noted in this, they raided five different locations; they went through the process of getting a search warrant. It's a coordinated task force. Thai authorities are very concerned about foreigners working illegally in Thailand. I think that's what needs to be taken away from this video and other videos I have made contemporaneously with this one discussing this is again, there's a lot of foreigners out there that just sort of, 'oh whatever, don't worry about it.' Again, this sort of 'mai pen rai' attitude and while I get it under certain circumstances and there are certain things where people may overreact, restricted occupations, especially the blatant flouting of the rules against restricted occupations are going to lead to foreigners having some problems here in Thailand, again as discussed at length in that article. 

Now the thing to take away from this video, if you are somebody who is looking to come to Thailand to set up a company to do business over here, it is possible to do that, and frankly notwithstanding a lot of the things you may see online, for the most part it is pretty straightforward to set up a business and do business in Thailand but there are restrictions and for that reason, it is probably a good idea to a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.