It seems, from a first-hand report [+], that the police thought the renters of the coworking space were <i>employees</i> of the company running the coworking space. i.e. They were looking for garden variety "immigrants working without a work-capable visa" rather than digital nomads specifically.<p>That said, I've run into a lot of folks like this over the years (something about the combination of being in software and being a white guy in Asia), and my advice is always the same: go the extra mile and get your paperwork in order. If you cannot do this in your country of choice, find a new country of choice. Business is stressful enough without having to be constantly worried whether today is the day you're going to get arrested/deported.<p>+ <a href="http://www.johnnyfd.com/2014/09/live-updates-immigration-crackdown-in.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.johnnyfd.com/2014/09/live-updates-immigration-cra...</a>
I wrote a post about people thinking of working in Thailand and South East Asia:<p><a href="http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-and-immigration-law/" rel="nofollow">http://ashleyconnor.co.uk/blog/2014/09/07/the-digital-nomad-...</a><p>The good news in this case is that everyone was let go without charge.<p>I'd still advocate caution. Thai law is flexible and sometimes what is tolerated today is not ok tomorrow.