Chinese women arrested at Phuket airport for working illegally

The two women were placed under arrest at about 1:30pm yesterday (June 28), reported the Phuket Airport Immigration Checkpoint.

Leading the arrest team was Pol Lt Col Akkaraphon Kaewkiat.

The names of the women were not reported, and they had their faces covered in the photo released by immigration officers.

The two women were arrested for “working without a work permit or performing duties beyond the limits of those permitted”, said the report.

There was also a violation of the conditions of stay in the country, since the women’s visas did not provide for work.

The two women were taken to Sakhu Police Station, which is responsible for Phuket International Airport. If found guilty, the women face fines and deportation, with the possibility of being banned from re-entering Thailand for a specified period.

Phuket Immigration officers regularly reports arrests of Chinese citizens for illegal work at the airport, and all such reports indicate the same location ‒ a parking lot near the international terminal, which the agency also refers to as “tourist parking”, probably referring to tourist buses.

Meanwhile, the Thailand Tourism Authority (TAT) and tourism business associations continue to highlight that the flow of organised tourist groups from China has not yet approached pre-pandemic levels.

Tourists from China now arriving on the island are mostly independent travelers, but are still enough in numbers to provide China with first place in terms of the number of tourist arrivals to Phuket.