To address a labor shortage, The Ministry of Labor has held a meeting to prepare guidelines for the employment of migrant workers under a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The issue will be proposed to the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) for consideration.
Labor Minister, Suchart Chomklin, chaired the sixth annual meeting of the Foreign Workers’ Management Policy Committee to consider guidelines permitting the employment of migrant workers under the MOU in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak. The committee resolved that employers and entrepreneurs who want to employ migrant workers under the MOU have to submit an application form and request work permits for the migrant workers at provincial employment offices or Bangkok Employment Offices, Area 1 – 10. The work permit fee is 1,900 baht per person.
Once migrant workers enter Thailand, they are required to provide reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results within 72 hours and undergo quarantine. They will also have to undergo another RT-PCR test. If the test result is positive, they will receive immediate treatment, with their employers paying their medical expenses. If the result is negative or if they have fully recovered from an infection, they are required to present a medical certificate before a work permit is granted.
The meeting also approved a proposal to extend the period of operation of the Temporary Data Collection Center for Myanmar Workers in Samut Sakhon province for one more year. The extension will allow Myanmar workers to prepare personal documents without having to return to their home country, to help limit the spread of COVID-19. The center can operate immediately after receiving approval from the Samut Sakhon Provincial Communicable Disease Committee.
All these measures are to be proposed to the CCSA for consideration. Some 40,000 to 50,000 migrant workers are expected to enter the kingdom in the initial period. (NNT)
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