The Thai Ministry of Labor announced 12 types of jobs migrant workers are allowed to take and 28 restricted jobs in Thailand and will enforce them starting on July 1.
The Thai News Agency (TNA) announced on June 22 that migrant workers are only allowed to work in 12 types of jobs including general laboring, livestock breeding, agriculture, fishing, construction, pottery making, steel-making, shoe making, and garment factory.
The 28 types of jobs the migrant workers are restricted from working include wood carving, handmade textile, woven mat, handmade paper, making gold, silver, or diamond, Thai dolls, handmade products, making tableware and Monk’s alms bowls, making Buddha image, driver, hawking, salesclerk, barber or beauty salon, and tour guide.
“Migrant workers can only wash the dishes at the restaurants. They can work as waiters. They can work as cleaning staff in beauty salons. They can wash the [customers'] feet in nail salons. They can't work as beauticians,” the Thai Minister of Labour General Adul Sangsingkeo told the TNA.
The Thai government announced that they will start taking legal actions against migrant workers who do restricted jobs in August.
“You can say it’s better than before since ten more jobs have been added. In the past, workers were only allowed to do two types of jobs, general laboring and housekeeping,” said Sai Pai, a legal affairs official from the Human Rights Foundation.
The Thai government has allowed employers and migrant workers to apply for proper documents until the end of June and announced that it will start its crackdown against illegal migrant workers on July 1.
Migrant workers without work permits will be fined between 5,000 and 50,000 baht and deported after paying the fines and banned from working inside Thailand for two years. Employers who hire migrant workers without work permits will be fined between 10,000 and 100,000 baht. If the employer violates the law several times, he or she will receive one-year prison sentence and have to pay between 50,000 and 200,000 baht. The employer will also be banned from hiring migrant workers for three years.
House owners need to submit guest list for workers who rent their homes and apartments and the house owners will be fined 800 baht and workers will be fined 1,600 baht if they fail to submit the guest list.
