Pattaya officials are trying again to have the hundreds of thousands of Thais who flock to the city for work actually register their residences here.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn led an Aug. 8 meeting with the National Protection Committee and Office of National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, community leaders and bureaucrats at city hall to promote the advantages to both local government and citizens of local registration.
Community leaders receive training in ways to get migrant Thai workers to register their homes here in Pattaya.
Wutisak said officials will try to lobby those without official status in Pattaya to get an identification card with a Pattaya-area address on it, investigating residences if necessary.
The registration drive was launched in 2010 and has met with little success. Police officials earlier estimated that Pattaya is home to about 600,000 Thais, but only 150,000 of them are registered here.
Wutisak said access to jobs is a major benefit to registration, but most of the migrant workers already are working and, in fact, the city is the main beneficiary of local registration, as it can demand more funding from the national budget.
