17th December 1957 to 1st March 2010 ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE FOR THE EXPAT IN ALL OF US What’s happening, and might be happening, in and around Hua Hin
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Relief!
Foreign business clampdown over?
hua hin, thailand As the first rains of the year came to town, offering relief to a drought hit area, foreigners operating businesses here were also breathing tentative sighs of relief as the apparent clampdown by the authorities on minor and unheard of transgressions of Thai laws appears to have halted. Since the turn of the year the AWOL offices have been flooded with information and reports concerning foreigners being fined large sums for seemingly minor, and apparently unproven accusations. Some of the reported incidents have included a Thai woman, married to a foreigner, being threatened with time in jail unless a large sum was paid because her husband was ‘seen talking to customers’ at her bar; another establishment is also said to have coughed up around
A Thai Tourist police car 300,000 baht when tourist police arrested a customer and the foreign husband of the owner for moving their chairs out of the way when a delivery arrived: both of these incidents based on the law about foreigners not being allowed to work in Thailand without the proper paperwork. Yet another business which had all the necessary paperwork reported being fined a large sum, as the foreigner had left the original documents at home,
a few minutes away but was not allowed to retrieve them. However in the last couple of weeks these reports have diminished almost entirely, suggesting that either there has been a shift in emphasis, or a change of personnel, or a combination of both. While it is important for laws to be obeyed, if the reports we have received are Continued on page 2
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