Over 200 migrant workers, who attended a seminar at the Chiangmai University yesterday, said they deeply distrusted the ongoing ‘Nationality Verification Process’ after which temporary passports are being issued to qualified applicants. Only four expressed confidence.

Till now about 2,000 have received their passports, including 72 from Chiangmai province, according to a Thai official from the Labour Ministry.

Andy Hall, Director of the Migrant Justice Program, said there were two reasons why the process has been progressing at a snail’s pace: the exorbitant expenses involved and poverty of information.

According to Sai Lao, who had traveled to Tachilek in September to obtain his passport, he spent a total of 8,000 baht ($240), including B 2,000 ($60) for visa fee. The fee has been reduced to B 500 ($15) since October.

Altogether, a passport applicant has to spend around B 8,000 ($240) excluding other expenses, such as food and transportation:
Payment on the Thai side of the border             B 3,000
Payment on the Burmese side of the border     B 700
Visa fee (as of October)                                         B 500
Work permit                                                             B 3,800
Total                                                                          B 8,000

“If you are using a middleman, the amount may double,” said Somsak Plaiyoowong, Director, Thai Center for Labor Rights (TCLR). “The government should get rid of middlemen and do the job itself.”

In addition, very few migrants are being less informed about what affects them, according to the presenters. “For example, Rangoon has issued a pamphlet regarding the National Verification Process since July,” said Hsein Htay, Migrant Justice Program from Samut Sakhon. “But very few people have seen it.”

The flyer informs the migrants what documents he/she would need to apply for a temporary passport and detailed information on the three offices in Kawsawng, Myawaddy and Tachilek where it is issued. (See attachment)

As for the workers, most of them voiced their deep-seated distrust of the Burmese military rulers:
•    “They speak one thing and do another. Forced relocations are still going on even though they deny the fact”
•    “They make plenty of laws but even they don’t follow them”
•    “Only townspeople can benefit from the process, because they have been issued all necessary documents. For people in the countryside who are in the majority, most of them don’t even have household registers let alone ID cards.”

The participants have urged the authorities to set up passport issue offices in Thailand instead. “The regime is like a chair and we a stove,” said one burly worker from Laikha who claimed his family had already been forcibly relocated twice in the past 12 years. “It is not proper to ask the stove to move towards the chair. On the contrary, it should be the other way round.”

Good news welcomed by the participants, who reportedly represent a sixth of Chiangmai’s population, were also announced by the officials:
•    For applicants, who are yet to obtain their work permit, the Thai cabinet has extended the period to 2 January 2010
•    Children who are born of registered workers will also be allowed to stay legally in Thailand

The Thai officials on the other hand had urged the workers to respond to their survey sheets asking them how they felt about the ‘Nationality Verification Process.’ The deadline for their responses is 20 November 2009.