Phuket Immigration issues ‘yellow cards’ to Thai landlords

Confirmation came through the report posted by Phuket Immigration on Monday (Apr 17), where it was reported that three Thai nationals had been issued ‘yellow cards’.

The title of the report, for Apr 1-15, had been updated to “Statistics of Foreigners/Householders Committing Offenses and Receiving Warnings”.

Of note, no foreigners were issued any yellow or red cards during the period.

“It is actually a warning that we gave to the Thai householders who own the places where foreigners are found guilty of crimes,” Phuket Immigration Chief Pol Col Thanet Sukchai told The Phuket News.

“When we arrest foreigners that commit crimes, we call the householders to the Immigration Office and issue them a warning while we are proceeding with deportation of their tenant,” he said.

While the Thai landlords are at the Immigration office, officers educate them in relevant immigration laws and information, he added.

“Only receiving a warning already freaks them out because they do business and they are afraid that it will affect their business,” Col Thanet said.

The three Thai landlords that received the yellow cards had foreign tenants who overstayed their visa and were illegal migrants, he added.

“If the householders do not help to monitor and let criminals live in their place, it is like they only care about their business without thinking about Phuket.. This puts extra work on the immigration officers,” said.

Col Thanet noted that under the policy ‘Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out’, he does not want the good foreigners to be in a bad environment.

“When people come to Phuket legally, which are the ‘good guys’, and they stay in a bad environment, such as a place where drugs are sold, they can easily turn into one of the bad guys,” he said.

“When in Rome, do what Romans do. When foreigners are in Thailand, they have to respect our laws and the people who can help monitor them are the householders,” he added.

“To make the tourism industry sustainable, Phuket has to be a safe city,” Col Thanet concluded.

Of note, the report on Monday confirmed that six people had been fined for breach of Section 38 of the Immigration Act, which mandates: “House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national.”