Labour minister orders foreign worker permit checks across Thailand

Julapun Amornvivat, Minister of Labour, spoke about a case reported in the media, saying that on Friday (May 1, 2026), military officers, administrative officials, Koh Phangan police and Koh Phangan Immigration Police jointly inspected a childcare facility in Koh Phangan district, Surat Thani province.

They found offences under laws governing the work of foreign nationals and arrested a total of nine Thai and foreign suspects.

After receiving the report, he did not delay and immediately issued instructions, assigning the director-general of the Department of Employment (DOE) to send officials from the Surat Thani Provincial Employment Office to the area to check the facts urgently.

If foreign workers are found to be working outside the scope of their permits or working without permits, legal action will be taken strictly.

DOE ordered to tighten checks on foreign nationals working in Thailand

At the same time, he assigned the director-general of the DOE to order central and regional agencies to coordinate with all sectors and carry out proactive blanket inspections nationwide, to strictly oversee the employment of foreign workers and establishments.

This is to ensure serious inspection, control and prosecution of offenders, alongside public communication to build understanding among employers, establishments and foreign workers entering Thailand to work so that they comply with the law.

Somchai Morakotsriwan, Director-General of the Department of Employment, said the department had received the labour minister’s instructions and ordered provincial employment offices nationwide and Bangkok Employment Offices Areas 1–10 to inspect foreign nationals whose work does not match what they have been permitted to do, including those without work permits.

If offences are found, the law will be enforced decisively.

The department will also increase scrutiny when considering the issuance of work permits to foreign workers in nationality groups that require security monitoring, and has assigned officials to integrate cooperation with relevant agencies to inspect, arrest and take legal action against foreign workers without permits, or those working beyond their permitted rights, more intensively in target areas.

“Foreign nationals who work without a work permit or outside their permitted rights face fines of THB5,000 to THB50,000 and will be sent back to their country of origin. They are also prohibited from applying for a work permit for two years from the date they are penalised. Employers or establishments that hire foreign nationals without work permits, or allow them to work beyond their permitted rights, face fines of THB10,000 to THB100,000 per foreign national hired. If the offence is repeated, they are liable to imprisonment for up to one year, or a fine of THB50,000 to THB200,000 per foreign national hired, and are barred from employing foreign nationals for three years,” the Department of Employment director-general said.

Anyone who sees foreign nationals working illegally is asked to report tip-offs to the Central Employment Registration and Job Seekers Protection Division, Department of Employment, on the 4th floor of the Ministry of Labour building, tel. 0 2354 1729; provincial employment offices nationwide; Bangkok Employment Offices Areas 1–10; or the Department of Employment hotline at 1506, press 2.