Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

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werner99
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Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by werner99 »

I was recently looking through the Thai Embassy. com website; it provides a detailed list of the kinds of jobs that non-Thais are prohibited from doing in Thailand.

Interestingly, go-go dancers and bar staff were NOT listed among the prohibited jobs for non-Thais.

Nevertheless, most of the gay go-go bars and massage parlors in Bangkok seem to hire guys from neighboring Southeast Asian countries. (Dream Boys, which is foreign owned, would be the major exception.) In some bars, the hottest/cutest guys often tend to be from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, or Myanmar. Some bars also have handsome waiters or coyote dancers from these countries, and they are obviously available to off.

I assume that the foreign guys can NOT legally work in the bars or provide sexual services. Perhaps the owners bribe the police and immigration authorities to avoid problems
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Undaunted »

werner99 wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 4:28 pm I assume that the foreign guys can NOT legally work in the bars or provide sexual services. Perhaps the owners bribe the police and immigration authorities to avoid problems
Not sure if this is meant as a question, a statement of fact or an answer but the latter will suffice.
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Gaybutton »

werner99 wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 4:28 pm I assume that the foreign guys can NOT legally work in the bars or provide sexual services.
Both are true, but that doesn't seem to stop the bars or the boys. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, but you wouldn't know it. It is rarely enforced.

It is much easier to see what happens with non-Thai boys working in the bars. If they get a tip that the police are going to raid, they very quickly disappear before the police arrive. Even when they're caught, many are right back in the bars by the next night.

Fortunately for the non-Thai boys, police raids have become as rare as enforcement of the Sunee Plaza area motorbike maniacs.
fountainhall

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by fountainhall »

I have not heard of raids in Bangkok since the closure of Soi Twilight. But there were a few in the couple of years before then. As GB points out, the bars seemed to have advance notice (no doubt, their regular padded brown envelopes full of baht were sufficient to ensure a warning would be provided) and just beforehand all the non-Thais would quickly vanish into thin air. Naturally this pissed off many customers since the foreign boys were often the most popular ones.

I have heard many stories from boys who would enter Thailand on tourist visas, work in the sex business until the visas were about to expire and then return home until they would be able to get a new visa. So a customer who had a particular fancy for one boy might find he had suddenly disappeared. I can understand why far fewer Thais now wish to work in the gogo bars and massage spas. But times change . . .
Montree

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Montree »

I’m in regular FaceTime contact with a Boyztown Go Go Boy from Laos. He does a Visa Run every month from Pattaya. He’s actually on his way back to Pattaya at the moment. He delayed his return from Laos this time as he said there had been increased police activity checking in the bars recently. He also reports having to make a rapid escape out the back of his bar as police came in the front.
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Undaunted »

The Cambodian Boys now can only get 2 week visas.
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Jun

Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Jun »

Undaunted wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:02 pm The Cambodian Boys now can only get 2 week visas.
1 That should thin out the numbers in Jomtien. A long bus trip every couple of weeks, followed by 2~3 hours going through the maliciously slow Thai immigration at Poipet.

2 I thought ASEAN was supposed to be moving somewhat in the EU direction of allowing free movement of labour, but this isn't really in line with that.
Obviously the policy has caused some tension in the EU and totally free movement would cause a hell of a lot more trouble in ASEAN, since the wealth differences between countries would cause large scale labour flows if unchecked. But I still thought they were supposed to be moving towards that direction slightly.

Nevertheless, I think it would make total sense for Thailand to permit controlled immigration from Cambodia. Thailand has a low birth rate and an ageing population. They follow the same religion, so with some sensible policies, any Khmer immigrants could be fully integrated within a generation.
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Trongpai »

fountainhall wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 8:26 pm I have not heard of raids in Bangkok since the closure of Soi Twilight. But there were a few in the couple of years before then.
15 Vietnamese, Myanmar, Lao and Cambodians arrested at Prince Massage on 26 June 2019 by the Immigration police. I guess they did not tell the local police in advance.
http://news.ch3thailand.com/local/98249

Nothing in any English or Thai news papers. Only a live (on tape) TV story on ch 3 only. There were a few minor immigration inspections on Twilight a few months before it closed and again ignored by both the Thai and English language press. The police have to invite the press otherwise no one hears about it. Pretty much the same in USA too.

At soi Twilight it was easy for the police to just block off the entrance and exit. Patpong 2 is going to take more police if they want to stage a raid. There's also some secret escape routes via Patpong Parking. After the Price raid some the bars got nervous and did send the foreign boys home for a few nights but the anticipated raid never came.

It's best not to know too much or ask questions but most of the Bangkok gay gogo bars are either fully owned or partly owned (acquired) by the police, so I'm told but my official line is, I know nothing.
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by jimnbkk »

As part owner of a beer bar in Bangkok, I know that our bar has had a big problem lately attracting Thai boys as employees. We get inquiries from boys of the other nearby Asian countries, but unfortunately not enough from Thailand. Would be nice if it was ok to have non-thai bar boys!!!
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Re: Foreign Labor in Thailand, including at Go-Go Bars

Post by Asia Traveler »

Gay beer bars in Bangkok? I did not know there were any left open after Soi Twlight closed. Where are they located and what time do they open?
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