CNI News
21 July 2022
Although more than one million migrant workers in Thailand including Myanmar will be permitted to work there until 13th February 2025, illegal workers will not be able to enjoy the same right, labour activists for Myanmar workers told the CNI.
Migrant workers who have been permitted to officially stay and work in Thailand until 13 February 2025 are those who have temporary work permits ( pink certificates), work permits (blue certificates) and the CI and MOU documents.
Thailand announced that temporary work permits (pink certificates) would be issued for illegal workers, the plan has not been approved by the government so far.
Labour affairs in charge U Min Oo told the CNI, “ They ( Thai government) already have had plans for illegal workers. I think they issued the announcement on 5th July to force all eligible workers to register with the government. It meant that they would renew the terms for workers who had work permits. However, those who have work permits fall into various classifications, according to the decisions made by the cabinet and the terms of their work permits are different. So, they wanted to set the same target for all in 2025. They aimed to set the same terms for all migrant workers.”
However, Ko Thargyi told the CNI that temporary work permits were not issued for all illegal workers in the past.
“Whenever it was announced that official work permits would be issued for illegal workers, a lot of people enter Thailand illegally but they had to pay money for illegal immigration and were cheated. I have not found any official documents issued to illegal workers,” he said.
In renewing the official work permits to stay and work in Thailand, migrant workers who have been permitted to do so in Thailand until 1st August, 2022 are required to renew their permits that are valid until 13th February 2025 before the expiry of their current permits.
The second group, whose permits expire on 1st August, 2022, are required to renew their permits once a year until 13th February, 2025.
Although it was good for more than one million immigrant workers to be allowed to stay and work in Thailand until 2025, they would not be staying in Thailand free of charge, according to U Min Oo, the in charge of labour from the FED.
“Anyway, there are consequences for workers, who have to satisfy the needs of agencies and employers in terms of costs and pay as much as required in accordance with the statements. However, it is good for workers to have more job opportunities for the workforce,” he said.
The Thai government has to extend the terms of migrant workers due to the shortage of labour in Thailand for the first time, according to U Min Oo.
