In accordance with the current Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Thai and Myanmar government on June 15, 2013, Myanmar migrant workers must return to Myanmar after their 4-year visa expires. They have to fulfill a three year mandatory homeland residency before they can return to Thailand. The MWRN has sought clarifications on this policy and agreement in August.

Aung Kyaw, an official from MWRN said, “There are no clarifications on how new visas will be re-issued or its duration, after the 4-year visa expires. There are cases of touts bribing officials to procure new temporary Myanmar passports with new Thai visas. By doing so, Myanmar migrant workers lose health benefits that they are entitled to under Thai laws. They will lose health benefits after paying 5% of their wages to Thai government for health insurance policy for four years when they get new temporary passports. They have to apply for new visas for their new passports under this agreement.”

The work permits and visas of the migrant workers who underwent citizenship verification on July 15, 2009 and thousands of Myanmar migrant workers will expire soon. According to the earlier agreement and Thai laws, the Myanmar government issued temporary passports good for six years to migrant workers. The Thai government only issues 2-year visas to Myanmar migrant workers and it could be renewed only once, so the maximum visa period that the migrant workers can avail is just four years.

Aung Kyaw added, “After the Cabinet met and discussed the rule of granting new visa to migrant workers only after a mandatory three-year gap, the government realized it was inappropriate. Therefore, it was revoked. But the new rule is unclear about regulations and procedures for granting new visas to these migrant workers who have worked in Thailand for four years. The visas of some of these workers have expired in July and August.”

Thai immigration policy is facing difficulties in dealing with the Myanmar migrant workers. Some of them applied for new temporary passports with the assistance of touts and some have gone back to Myanmar.

Aung Kyaw added that Myanmar workers organizations and the Thai labor union will hold a meeting on August 20. They would appeal the Thai government to reconsider their policy and regulations, taking into consideration the 5% of wages deducted from the wages of the migrant workers for their health insurance in the past four years.

These trade unions and civil societies urged Thai government to redress the grievances of Myanmar migrant workers effectively and efficiently, since their labor could contribute to the Thai economy.

The statement of MWRN says that the current migrant workers policy and regulation are impractical for both the migrant workers who wish to remit money to their families at home from their wages and Thai employers who do not want to lose their loyal and skilled workers. The statement further says that the Myanmar economy and job market is not yet ready to provide suitable employment opportunities to the migrant workers in Thailand at the moment.

The statement of MWRN and the Human Rights and Development Foundation calls Thai and Myanmar governments to release concrete policies and future plans for the migrant workers; to publicize these policy plans through various means and to disseminate such information to the officials, employers and migrant workers for awareness.

The statement also says that the statement has been issued for fear that the workers will face exploitation, cheating and fall into the trap of bonded labor or become preys of human trafficking when their status change from legal workers to illegal immigrants in Thailand.

By exploiting a loophole in the Thai rules and regulations, touts swindled migrant workers. They demand up to 15,000 baht (US$ 500) for procuring new temporary passports and renewal of their migrant worker visa. They create fake identities for the new temporary passports.

There are over 3 million migrant workers working in Thailand and 80% of them are from Myanmar. Most of them went to Thailand in the 1980s by crossing the border illegally.

The statement reports that about 1.7 million Myanmar migrant workers have temporary passports and migrant worker residential permit. But only 750,000 workers have work permits from the Thai Labor Ministry. The statement further says that 200,000 Myanmar migrant workers pay social welfare contributions for their health benefits under Thai Labor Law.