CNI News
13 Jan 2023
Expired passports for job of Myanmar workers will be renewed at their factories in Thailand, according to the Myanmar embassy Bangkok.
Two teams will be sent to factories with 1,000 Myanmar workers and above whose PJs have expired.
The program is very convenient for Myanmar migrant workers, Consultant U Aung Kyaw of the Migrant Workers Rights Network told the CNI.
He said, "The embassy should have done so for a long time. I think it is too late because they have wasted many months. There are hundreds of thousands of migrant workers whose passports have expired. Authorities should have taken such measures a long time ago in cooperation with the labour ministry of Thailand. I don't want to talk about all 77 provinces in Thailand. Mahachai, where most Myanmar migrants work, there are 7000 factories. How can the teams go to factories in the entire country? I think it is too late."
A large crowd queued to renew their passports.
Renewals of passports for jobs are processed with four kiosks in the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok and one kiosk at the Consulate General at Chiang Mai.
As the embassy has received two new kiosks, two teams will be sent to factories to renew passports of workers, according to the statement of the embassy.
Factories and workshops with 1,000 Myanmar workers whose passports expired in 2022 and are expiring in 2023 are required to submit lists of workers to the counselor officer by 20th January.
As authorities will draw lots to decide the factories to be served first, it is important that they are free from bias, Labour Activist Ko Thar Gyi for Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand told the CNI.
A fishery product processing site in Thailand.
He said, "It is important to be fair and correct. Serving factories that pay bribe first must be prevented. There are advantages as well as disadvantages in any system. Workers don't have to hire agents and pay agent fees as they are renewing their passports at factories. They don't have to spend a long time renewing their passports. They will have to pay fees that are set by authorities. However, we are not sure what will actually happen on the ground."
Plans are underway to renew passports for workers in factories with less than 1,000 workers in the future, according to the announcement of the embassy.
Labour activists said that they welcomed the move by the embassy but it is necessary for authorities to adopt a precise policy without frequently changing one policy after another.
