Setha Sess (Den), was born in Cambodia’s Kho Kong province 32 years ago, and moved to Thailand in 2016 to enhance his skills as well as his prospects. Initially working as a Pattaya guest house receptionist and then as a pharmacy salesperson, he quickly enhanced his knowledge of English and Thai and, in 2018, became an assistant at the busy international law office located adjacent to Jomtien immigration bureau.
Den now heads up a team for the registration and visa welfare of thousands of Myanmar, Cambodian and Laos nationals registered with the Foreign Workers Employment Agency, based in the law office, where they are registered in Thailand’s Department of Labour bureaucracy. The team also ensures that these guest workers from neighboring countries do their 90 days report and obtain re-entry permits for their work visas. Den says, “These workers are found all over Pattaya on condo sites, in restaurants and in the many road improvement programs. Our basic function is to ensure they keep to Thailand’s immigration procedures.”
But Den’s contributions don’t stop there as his knowledge of languages now extends to basic, self-taught Russian and Chinese. “Lots of foreigners come to our office and are confused by the documentary requirements for a driving licence or to open a bank account,” says Den. “Not to mention the rules about the registration of address on the TM30 form.” The law office also owns its own driving school for both cars and motorbikes and can arrange Ministry of Transport authorized tests.
“It’s a diversified work life, but an interesting one,” says Den. “One minute you might be processing the documents of a recently-arrived Myanmar national and the next telling an American how many photos he needs to apply for a visa extension.” He says that his longer term future is to run his own business here in Thailand. But, for the moment, he is gaining mega-experience in dealing with foreigners and their immigration issues across the board. It’s an impressive biography for a Cambodian immigrant whose early career experience was working on a farm and being a casino dealer at the Vietnamese border.
