Transcript of the above video: 

In yet another instance of seeing police crackdowns regarding matters we have talked about on this channel, there is 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 as part of a nationwide campaign to crackdown on foreign nominees and illegal business operations." 

As we have discussed in other videos, even setting up a company here and getting a Work Permit and all that good stuff, there are still restricted occupations that foreigners are just not allowed to engage in. Quoting directly: "At one location, a male Israeli National identified himself as the owner and manager of a business operating motorcycle rentals, tourist services and a barber shop." Yeah look, tourist services and barber shops just alone, are highly restricted occupations to Thai nationals to say nothing of the motorcycle rental which you get into inland transportation and things of that nature, that's also highly restricted. Quoting further: "Although the Thai and Myanmar employees were found to be legally employed, officers determined that the business fell under "service businesses", restricted to Thai nationals under List 3 of the Act" - and the Act being, quoting from above, "the Foreign Business Act of 2542 (1999) explained Phuket Immigration in its report." So that's what they were looking at. They are saying, 'hey, you are over here conducting illegal business.'

There have been a lot of complaints about that from my understanding; we have reported on it in prior videos. There have been a lot of complaints from that Island region down there in like Surat Thani it's my understanding, as well as down in Phuket of folks of various nationalities engaging in restricted occupations, in some cases openly flouting the rules, and just completely disregarding it. And look, this is stuff that does not make local Thai people particularly happy. The restricted occupations are there for a reason. Thailand does engage in protectionism. They protect the local labour pool and in doing so they restrict certain things to only Thai national involvement; that's just the way it is. Whether you have corporate structures or not, you have to be very careful about the possibility of engaging in restricted occupations. It's another thing to think about if you are looking to do business here or seeking to work here in Thailand because a lot of people just shrug this off, and the next thing they know, they might be detained or even deported and blacklisted in association with running this type of business.

So for those who feel a bit overwhelmed, if you're looking into researching, doing business or working in Thailand and you are again feeling sort of overwhelmed, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.