BANGKOK, 15 May 2015 – The Minister of Labour is scheduled to discuss with his Myanmar counterpart on the reducing the return period of workers from Myanmar as specified on the Memorandum of Understanding.
The Minister of Labour Gen Surasak Karnjanarat is scheduled to visit Myanmar on 21-23 May 2015 to discuss with the Myanmar Minister of Labour on amending the existing Memorandum of Understanding in order to reduce Myanmar workers’ return duration.
The current MOU requires Myanmar workers to return to their countries after 4 years in Thailand, and to remain in Myanmar for 3 years during this return period. The new conditions sought after from the Thai side intends to reduce the return period of Myanmar workers to 3 months, in an attempt to solve labour shortages.
The Thai Minister of Labour will also ask for Myanmar’s cooperation in facilitating the issuance process of passports for Myanmar workers to Thailand to encourage more legal employment. In addition, the Thai Ministry of Labour will help reduce the processing fee and simplify the procedures of work permit registrations.
The Thai Minister of Labour will also hold discussions with the Indonesian and the Philippines counterparts, requesting them to help take care of Thai workers in both countries.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Department of Employment Sumet Mahosot has revealed that 203,129 workers’ nationality, from the total of 1.6 million workers, have been verified in the nationality verification process. So far, 16,394 have been verified as Myanmar, 160,151 are from Cambodia, and 26,584 are from Laos.
