Six employees of a Russian kindergarten detained in Phuket.

Six Russian kindergarten staff members detained in Phuket. Six foreign nationals were detained by Phuket police for working without permits during a check on the Litti Kids kindergarten. The preschool is located in Rawai and caters to Russian-speaking families. Officials visited Litti Kids as part of raids to identify commercial structures using nominal Thai shareholders to circumvent the Foreign Business Act. However, the grounds for the detentions were suspicions of violating the Royal Decree on the Employment of Foreigners, not the Foreign Business Act. Information about the officials' visit to Litti Kids is contained in the full version of the Phuket police press release on foreign business checks on nominees. A shortened version was published by the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) yesterday, mentioning the preschool but not the detentions. The police did not release the names and nationalities of the workers who failed to produce work permits to the inspectors. The official name of the juristic person employer is not mentioned in the text. However, according to the Royal Decree on the Employment of Foreigners, both the foreign worker and their employer are responsible for the lack of a work permit. According to the Royal Decree on the Employment of Foreigners, the punishment for a foreign worker working without a work permit (Article 101): a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 baht. with deportation. Penalty for the employer (Article 102): a fine of 10 to 100 thousand baht for each illegal employee, with a possible three-year ban on hiring foreigners for repeated violations, but without deportation. According to a press release from the Phuket police, "Russian" (in the broad sense of the word) businesses were the focus of the raids. Of the eight structures checked, at least half had Russian-speaking managers and were focused on the Russian-speaking market segment. In particular, investigative activities related to the alleged use of nominees were carried out at the Seven Home real estate agency in Cherng Talay, CUTANA Rental motorbike rental in Kamala, ThaiGoRent motorbike rental in Karon, and an unnamed motorbike rental in Vichit. The police did not report any arrests of foreign owners or employees in these cases. ▫️"Real Phuket" warned about a new round of the campaign against nominees planned for April in this publication. ▫️Illegal business and illegal work of foreigners have been repeatedly cited by the Thai authorities as reasons for tightening migration control (including restrictions on visa-runs) and the planned cancellation of the 60-day visa-free regime. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police For readers: Check for a valid work permit and comply with Thai immigration rules to avoid fines and deportation.