In a blatant defiance of legal constraints, more and more undocumented immigrants are being discovered working in jobs designated exclusively for Thai locals in the city of Pattaya. A lurking danger is surfacing in the city’s labor market where, despite an ongoing deficit of human resources, a worrying number of unregistered immigrants are discreetly filling roles meant for Thai citizens. This scenario is occurring whilst proprietors are openly demanding greater foreign manpower, exposing critical defects in Thailand’s foreign employment administration. The latest statistics shared by the Ministry of Labor demonstrate that nearly 752,000 labor examinations were undertaken from October 1, 2024, to June 20, 2025—the present fiscal year—resulting in 3,499 legal action cases.
Among those legally pursued, 1,199 were immigrants found employed in professions where foreigners are prohibited, including hairstyling, the art of Thai massaging, corner retailing, travel conducting, vehicle operating, administrative posts, and others. In accordance with cabinet resolutions issued on September 24, 2024, and February 4, 2025, Thailand hosts around 2.3 million overseas workers. But shockingly, only a paltry 46,709 of these individuals—consisting of 40,942 from Cambodia, 5,582 from Laos, and 185 from Vietnam—possess official work permits.
The vast majority, an estimated 1.98 million individuals, continue to wait for the completion of their registration process, including 1.83 million from Myanmar and approximately 155,000 Cambodians pending final authorization. Another 1.04 million immigrants, despite landing on Thai soil without the requisite paperwork initially, have been granted conditional stay, of which 900,000 are Myanmar nationals and over 110,000 are from Cambodia.
The count of seasonal and cross-border workers is in tens of thousands, while further overseas individuals numbering in the thousands arrive under international agreements; nearly 184,800 Cambodians, 258,600 Burmese, and 251,300 Laotians. It is suggested by specialists that the overpopulated and expensive permit system is a significant driver of the issue. Labor economist Dr. Phichan Lae Dilokwittayarat stated, ‘The registration process is complicated and pricy, further aggravated by rampant corruption. Thailand must implement an inexpensive One-Stop Service model to make foreign labor registration more efficient’
The labor predicament that Pattaya confronts stems directly from these national shortcomings. Particularly, small business employers navigate around the legal system to skip bureaucratic hurdles. Agents handling migrant labor thrive in this lack of transparency, assuring their clients are discretely employed in prohibited occupations without oversight. ‘Once the payment is made, they blend into the crowd,’ adds Dr. Phichan. ‘This is the modus operandi of unlawful employment.’
Dr. Phichan also sounded an alarm that secretive hiring practices and agreements beneath the radar pave the way for illegal employment, with brokers manipulating loopholes and employers sidestepping scrutiny. To tackle illegal employment, local endeavors are underway: between October 2024 and June 2025, across the nation, 58,859 employers had undergone inspection, leading to 1,724 legal cases.
Nevertheless, the enforceability remains patchy, particularly due to Pattaya’s densely packed, unofficial sectors like street vendor stalls, massage services, and markets, making it markedly challenging to effectively oversee hiring norms.
This labor disparity has palpable repercussions for Thai employees beyond the mere legal aspects. A significant portion feels replaced by the cheaper foreign workforce, and informal wages are tanking, causing more distress. Additionally, there’s a slide in employment standards as businesses give precedence to lower operational costs over qualifications and training.
For both Thailand and notably Pattaya, a well-rounded approach is necessary. The first step should be to simplify the foreign labor registration process, eliminating labyrinthine bureaucracy and reducing corruption possibilities. This should involve setting affordable registration rates and establishing a genuine one-stop service model, an approach labor experts have been advocating for some time.
Next, this should be combined with more rigorous enforcement measures to discourage employers—particularly in the service and construction industries—from employing undocumented foreign workers in roles intended for Thais. In parallel, an investment must be made in vocational training and skill enhancement programs to prepare Thai workers for sectors with an enduring shortage of qualified labor, such as caregiving, hospitality, and food service.
As the city of Pattaya is aiming for a resilient comeback from the perturbations of the pandemic, the keystone of its progress will be to rectify these deep-seated failures in the labor system. The objective should be to ensure that foreign labor complements, rather than substitutes, the local workforce, and that the city’s economic prosperity relies on fair and regulated employment norms.
The under-the-surface labor crisis of Pattaya is shedding light on the frailties in Thailand’s immigrant worker system, urging the need for substantial reforms, stricter enforcement, and public efforts to secure Thai employment opportunities.