Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggest, it appears that the new Vice-Governor of Phuket, newly appointed by the way, is heavily cracking down on foreigners working illegally. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from The Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Phuket illegal worker crackdown hits Patong. "Newly appointed Phuket Vice-Governor Pol Lt Col Khetarat Chansilp has launched an island-wide crackdown on illegal foreign workers, nominee businesses and other foreign-operated activities accused of taking jobs reserved for Thai nationals, leading a multi-agency operation just 9 days after taking up his post." So this person wasn't waiting around; he immediately got on it. Quoting further: "The operation, carried out yesterday (June 25), saw authorities inspect markets and businesses in Patong following complaints that foreigners were working illegally in occupations reserved for Thai citizens. The latest enforcement action came just two days after authorities detained 22 foreign workers during a raid on a construction project in Chalong, where investigators also launched a probe into suspected nominee business structures."

As we have discussed, these nominee structures are being heavily scrutinized by all levels of law enforcement, all the way up to the Army now; it's viewed as a national security concern. That said, quoting further: "Authorities targeted Malin Plaza, SB Night Market and Patong Beach following complaints that foreigners were illegally working as vendors and in other occupations reserved for Thai nationals. Speaking after the inspections, Vice-Governor Khetarat said the operation followed numerous complaints from residents about foreigners allegedly taking jobs away from Thai workers. District officials have been instructed to work with security agencies to inspect businesses and establishments suspected of employing foreigners illegally or operating in violation of Thai Law in order to ensure fairness, enforce the law and maintain public confidence, he said. When inspection teams arrived, several shops were already closed while many of those still operating were staffed by Thai nationals." Again, I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. 

Long story short, we have discussed this at length in many other videos, the Thais are taking restricted occupations managed very seriously. They are also taking issues associated with nominee businesses more seriously than they have ever taken them before. Now as I have discussed in other videos, the thrust of the enforcement actions against nominee businesses seem to currently be focused on land-holding corporate structures and land exploitation, which is restricted; foreign nationals are not allowed to engage in either here in Thailand. But it appears that that has been the focus of investigations thus far. Could this change? This person has only been in office nine days, or 9 days as of the 25th, so only a few more days as of the time of this video. Could this be a harbinger of more increased scrutiny regarding foreign work? I expect it probably will be. I have discussed this in other videos. I thought even before this recent grizzly murder of a 17-year-old Thai girl at the hands of a foreign man - I believe he has confessed at this point, although I think he cited self-defense - I brought this up. I think in the aftermath of that, coupled with just the fact that they were already cracking down on this, I think we are going to see even more stringent crackdowns moving forward here in the Kingdom of Thailand.