BANGKOK, May 20 – The Lao PDR has been urged to assign more to work with the Thai Labour Department in verifying legal documents of its citizens applying for jobs in Thailand, a senior Thai official said today.
Thai Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap said he informed Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong during a meeting in Chiang Mai over the weekend that 66,000 Lao people have submitted their applications for jobs in Thailand.
They were given preliminary registrations after which thorough checks of their documents were required before they were granted legal work permits.
Among the 66,000 registered Laotians, work permits were given to only 2,300 people, he said.
The Laotian government has assigned only seven officials to work with Thai labour officials in screening and checking the applicants’ documents, he said.
He asked the Lao premier to send more representatives to work in Thailand to speed up the work permit process.
The deadline for issuing work permits to migrant workers has been extended twice and the third extension which will take 120 days will end in late August.
By then, those who are not granted work permits will not be employed in Thailand, he warned.
