30,000 Baht To Pick Strawberries.

[kevc]

My wife was at a wedding yesterday in our village and there was this woman there telling everyone they could work in Europe picking strawberries and earn 30,000 baht a month, BUT it would cost them 70,000 baht for the visa and air ticket. We lived in the UK for 10 years so she knew it wasn't that easy or that expensive. I told her to tell everyone that she had hooked that it was more than likely a scam and that they'd go working after borrowing the money from them and be working ilegally it they ever got there spending the rest of their time paying off their debt.

Anyone else heard about these people, the villagers were told they could go for an interview and they would then find out how they could go.

[Prakanong]

Yes there are jobs but its mainly east Euro's doing it and yes its about 20-30k

I doubt a Thai would get visa to do it

I used to be a coal miner - during the strike a lot of guys went and did it - harder than the mines!

[kevc]

Yes there are jobs but its mainly east Euro's doing it and yes its about 20-30k

I doubt a Thai would get visa to do it

I used to be a coal miner - during the strike a lot of guys went and did it - harder than the mines!

Exactly hows a poor country Thai with no assets going to legally go to Europe to work, they they won't even let them in when they have got funds and how many have the 70,000 baht lying in their bank accounts.

[Prakanong]

Yes there are jobs but its mainly east Euro's doing it and yes its about 20-30k

I doubt a Thai would get visa to do it

I used to be a coal miner - during the strike a lot of guys went and did it - harder than the mines!

Exactly hows a poor country Thai with no assets going to legally go to Europe to work, they they won't even let them in when they have got funds and how many have the 70,000 baht lying in their bank accounts.

Exactly - its a scam as you rightly said

It happens quite often up there - our house boy asked to borrow 70K to do it back in 99 - the agent ran a mile when we asked questions

[kash]

30k? I used to pick strawberries in the summers, made roughly 130k a month - 6am to 1pm, nice job :-) (and I guess the salary should be higher now, I did it 15 years ago)

[Nignoy]

Strawberry farmers here pay overseas pickers 750 dollars for a 45 hour week, because they cannot get locals to do the work they have permission to bring in labour from asia, we have Korean and cambodian workers here on 6 month contracts, the flights here are assisted too, You can mamake inquiries by Centrelink :Caboolture Nignoy

[CTM]

Jobs are probably real but after being ripped off for visa and airlines tickets at B70k (covered by a high interest loan) plus high Euroland living expenses, most will be lucky not to still owe when they return. Very common practice. The money sounds huge to a villager without understanding of the costs involved. Know lots of Thais who went overseas for construction, restaurant, agriculture jobs and most never made any real money.

[jdinasia]

I remember a story last year of folks going to Canada to collect earthworms for pay

[seykota]

I was asked about a similar scam a couple of years ago.

A woman was offering jobs as fruit pickers in Australia at about 50k per month. I explained to my wife's friends that it is illegal to work in Australia unless you are an Australian, a permanent resident or have a working holiday visa or other special visa for special projects. A person needs to be under 28 years of age and only from specific countries to qualify for a working holiday visa (Thailand is not one of these specified countries).

I suggested they offer to meet this woman in our house and discuss the details. Not surprisingly, she declined the offer and no-one from our area accepted her offer. BTW she was only offering "fruit picking" jobs to women under 40 years of age??

[Thai at Heart]

My wife was at a wedding yesterday in our village and there was this woman there telling everyone they could work in Europe picking strawberries and earn 30,000 baht a month, BUT it would cost them 70,000 baht for the visa and air ticket. We lived in the UK for 10 years so she knew it wasn't that easy or that expensive. I told her to tell everyone that she had hooked that it was more than likely a scam and that they'd go working after borrowing the money from them and be working ilegally it they ever got there spending the rest of their time paying off their debt.

Anyone else heard about these people, the villagers were told they could go for an interview and they would then find out how they could go.

99% surely a SCAM

[Thaicoon]

here in the UK, there is a guy from Hereford employing East Europeand to do this, they live on site, in caravans, the workers still have to pay tax, Ni etc, and the boss and staff have regular checks off the Government etc, if anything not cosha, big fines for both parties, it,s not as good as it sounds.

[bina]

ok

first of all, that (70-80,000) is the going rate for most manpower companies that are placing thai agri. workers here in israel. it takes three years to pay the loan back, here since they get paid under minimum wage for the most part. some is strawberries, lots of cucumbers, greenhouse work, flower industry, orchards, fruit and some dairy.

the major companies send recruiters from the local area to drum up business. the problem is to know which are the 'real' companies and which are scammers. (the companies are also scammers but based on truth: they do send the thais over, and a good many thai do make money if they make it past the two/three year payback period. ) as many of u know, udon thani has a whole street lined up with these companies. 'Global agriculture' is a company that sends off to the states, with thai recruiters in issaan. in the states, i know of thai workers also thru 'Global agriculture company' that are migrated/moved around from state to state based on the produce at the season. had a friend who did strawberries and pine apples in hawaii/ apples in oregon, and a stint in maryland for veggies/lettuce stuff.

i have heard about picking blueberries in finland from a finnish friend actually; there it is a short season and the visa set up was different.

here in israel the set up is thru thai companies recruiting for the 'joint' company here: the visa is real but belongs to the employer not the worker so if the worker leaves, he becomes an illegal. the living conditions vary as u all know by now from my other related posts. and while not totally scamming the worker, there are enough problems: insurance doesnt get paid as promised, a worker getting injured/sick gets shipped off home; the companies dont help if u have a bad employer or dont get paid, they skim off a lot of bucks for being a 'go-between' , with hold money, etc.

amazingly enough, i'v run into enough thai workers that actually have managed to do the veggie /fruit/agri. thing for 10! yrs (go home, change name, start again) cause they do manage to make good money. but also enough hard luck stories to know that it isnt always worth it.

we have korat town and mini udon thani nearby! picking flowers now that this is flower season; soon to be cukes/lettuce etc.

bina

israel

forgot to say: the minimum wage here is 19.80/hr; thais get, for the most part 13/hour ; 15 for OT, 6 or seven days a week, between 8-16 hours a day depending on the season and the employer. some places give rice for free/ some charge 400 shekel /month for 'housing' (hovel/caravan/some decent housing); some more enlightened employers give the real legal minimum. some places do give insurance, some (illegally) dont. restaurant workers make at least three times as much as local workers however!!!!! with a different visa set up.

a lot of money drunk up on weekends/hi/lo'd away/

Edited March 17, 2008 by bina