Pattaya —
Chonburi Immigration authorities raided a large Indian restaurant in Pattaya and arrested several foreign workers without valid work permits.
On August 26th, 2024, Pol. Col. Naphasapong Khositsuriyamanee, the head of Chonburi Immigration, led a team of immigration officers to inspect an Indian restaurant located in the Nongprue sub-district, Banglamung district, Chonburi province. The name of the restaurant was withheld by authorities pending a further investigation.
The inspection revealed that the restaurant, a three-story commercial building, allegedly employed 10 Indian cooks and 11 Myanmar servers. The employees were visibly shaken by the officials’ presence, as some of them even trembled. The authorities requested and checked the employees’ documents and found that nine of them did not have valid work permits.
The restaurant manager (name withheld by authorities) explained that he was allegedly only responsible for overseeing the basic restaurant operations and not hiring. The 10 Indian cooks were paid 15,000 baht per month each, and the 11 Myanmar servers earned around 10,000 baht per month each.
Authorities imposed 10,000-baht fines on 9 employees for working without work permits under Section 37(1) of the Immigration Act. Additionally, authorities also issued a fine of 1,600 baht per person on the rest of the workers for failing to report their current residential addresses properly. The officials also provided information on basic immigration laws to the unidentified restaurant owner.
It did not appear, however, that deportation would take place with officials choosing to fine the offenders on their first offense instead. The names of the offenders were not released to the press by Chonburi Immigration.
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