CNI News
11 Jan 2023
The Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, Thailand has been accused of mismanagement of appointment tokens for passport renewals of Myanmar migrant workers, labour activists in Thailand pointed out.
On 7th January, when the embassy issued appointment tokens for passport renewals, thousands of migrant workers were forced to queue for a long time and some of them fainted.
As a result, the embassy has been accused of poor management of passport renewals for migrant workers, Labour Activist Ko Thar Gyi in Thailand told the CNI.
He said, "The process of passport renewals is completely inefficient. It causes delays and wastes the time of migrant workers, resulting in a lot of troubles for them. If embassy authorities are doing what they want, they will not be helping migrant workers and will be creating burdens for them. They need to think about it properly. Even if workers can make appointments successfully, it is not certain whether they will get their passports renewed because embassies frequently run out of passport documents. Embassy authorities are required to issue renewed passport smoothly to workers. Recently, thousands of migrant workers had to queue for a long time in front of the embassy. Something has been wrong. Frankly speaking, the passport renewal process of the embassy is completely wrong."
A Myanmar migrant worker who fainted while waiting in a queue to renew passports.
Following the chaos in arranging appointment tokens for renewals of passports that expired in 2022, the embassy announced that it would issue appointment tokens for each expiry month every Saturday.
Migrant workers are likely to face more difficulties as issuing appointment tokens only one day a week will cause further delays and some factories and workshops do not permit leaves for their workers on Saturdays, labour activists based in Thailand said.
Labour Activist U Ba Yi of the Migrant Workers Rights Network told the CNI, "As there are millions of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, it is impossible for them to get their passports renewed in a timely manner. The situation will be going from bad to worse. We can see that their management is very poor. As border gates have been closed, it is impossible for migrant workers to return to Myanmar and renew their passports. We don't want to blame the embassy for collecting money from migrant workers. However, it would be convenient for migrant workers if the embassy issued their renewed passports within a few days."
Appointment tokens for passport renewals have been issued only at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.
It is convenient for Myanmar migrant workers who live and work near Bangkok and embassy authorities are required to take those who live and work in small towns away from Bangkok into consideration, Labour Activist U Min Oo of the Foundation for Education and Development told the CNI.
Migrant workers waiting in a queue to renew their passports.
He said, "Embassy authorities have failed to take Myanmar migrant workers who live and work in small towns away from Bangkok. We have already pointed out this again and again. How can a worker from a small town come and line in a queue in Bangkok. If they manage to get appointment tokens, they will have to come to Bangkok again to renew their passports. Costs for the travels pose difficulty for them. In renewing passports, authorities need to take both governments into consideration. Thai authorities will allow Myanmar workers to renew work permits and visas only when their passports are valid for at least one more year. If their passports are valid less than six-month, it is impossible for Thai authorities to allow workers to renew their work permits and visas in accordance with the law."
Therefore, authorities in the Myanmar embassy should set up temporary centres in other places to issue appointment tokens and renew the passports of Myanmar migrant workers, labour activists based in Thailand said.
More, they urged the embassy to make some request to Thai authorities over the issue of migrant workers whose passports expired in 2022.
The embassy issued appointment tokens to a total of 6142 migrant workers as of 7th January, according to a press release of the embassy.
