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Foreigner "Arrested For Illegally Running Daycare" In Thailand?
Transcript of the above video:
As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing a foreigner who has apparently been arrested for illegally running a daycare here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Foreigners arrested for illegally running daycare, wakeboarding centre. Quoting directly: "The Russian woman admitted to police that she had worked at the facility for 3 months and was staying in the country on a Tourist Visa." This is the person arrested. Also, "The Myanmar woman said she had been working there as a helper for over a year. Both women said they were employed by a Belarusian woman, whom the police are currently tracking down."
Yeah, a lot going on here. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article to get the details of what's going on down there. But long story short, one thing to take away from this video is understand a) you cannot come to Thailand and do these types of things on a Tourist Visa most assuredly. On top of that, and let's be real clear here, daycare centers. We're talking about children. Thailand takes children very, very seriously. Having unlicensed centres that cater to people and that are taking care of children, yeah it is going to be beyond heavy scrutiny. They're going to target that kind of activity because again here in Thailand, we take our children really super seriously and anything - and again I'm not suggesting even that this is akin to human trafficking - but anything that smells of it, the Thai Police especially are very, very sensitive to and they are very, very keen to want to enforce relevant laws. You need special permits and things to run certain daycare facilities. That's one of the reasons why we see a lot of those facilities are run by Foundations here in Thailand; those generally are targeting Thais. Now I understand when foreigners come to Thailand, they may have children that they may want somebody to help babysit as well. That can become a bit of a murky proposition, but long story short, an actual centre that does not have its proper documentation, that's going to be a problem and as you can see from this article, Thai Law Enforcement does take it seriously and are enforcing the laws on it.
So, the thing to take away from this video is one, you want to make sure you get your ducks in a row with regard to both your visa and your Work Authorization status. Then on top of that, if you are working in areas especially where it involves children, especially where it involves children, but any area where there is any kind of sensitive human element if you will, you are going to want to be really careful with doing that without making sure you have all the proper licenses here in the Kingdom of Thailand.