Thailand allows thousands of migrants to extend work permits

By Matt Blomberg, Thomson Reuters Foundation

 

 

Nov 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tens of thousands of migrant workers in Thailand whose work permits are expiring have been granted permission to stay in the country for another two years, yet campaigners said the cost of the extension could fuel debt bondage and worker exploitation.

 

The Thai labour ministry this week said a total of about 130,000 migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos who had entered the country under bilateral labour agreements and whose permits expired from this month through December 2021 would be eligible.

 

“This is in order to lower the spread of coronavirus, solve the labour shortage and also protect the rights of migrant workers who come to Thailand legally,” the country’s labour minister Suchat Chomklin said in a statement.

 

Thailand has about 2.8 million registered migrant workers, mainly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. But the United Nations estimates that 2 million more work informally across the country in sectors including fishing, construction and agriculture.

 

At least 90,000 migrant workers scrambled to leave Thailand when its land borders were closed in March to stem the spread of coronavirus. The Southeast Asian nation has so far recorded 60 deaths related to COVID-19 among at least 3,850 infections.

 

Migrants who wish to extend their permits will have to undergo health checks and pay a fee of 1,900 baht ($63), causing concern among campaigners who said the cost could be inflated by employers and labour brokers and drive workers deeper into debt.

 

Across Southeast Asia, migrants must pay a variety of fees to recruiters and bosses to secure jobs abroad, trapping many in exploitative workplaces as they struggle to clear their debts.

 

“There will be lots of profiteering ... by brokers, by employers,” said Khun Tharo, a program director at Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, a Cambodian non-profit.

 

“Thailand needs migrant workers to keep its economy running - they should make the process free,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

 

Debt bondage is one of the world's most prevalent forms of modern slavery, affecting an estimated 610,000 people in Thailand, according to the rights group Walk Free Foundation.

 

(Reporting by Matt Blomberg, Additional Reporting by Nanchanok Wongsamuth Editing by Kieran Guilbert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit news.trust.org)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-14

 

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Without migrants, wouldn't a lot of jobs go unfilled here?

1 minute ago, Andy from Kent said:

Without migrants, wouldn't a lot of jobs go unfilled here?

The construction sector would grind to a halt. 

43 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

The construction sector would grind to a halt. 

Maybe the construction sector should grind to a halt, at least when it comes to condos and apartments and hotels. Who is going to live in them for the next three years? The situation was already absurd before Covid.

Don't get me wrong, I do feel for these people. There are also the ones who are here on things like student visas but are actually working under the table. Maybe they shouldn't but everyone has to eat. I don't understand why the unnamables at the top don't help out more.

11 minutes ago, Enzian said:

Maybe the construction sector should grind to a halt, at least when it comes to condos and apartments and hotels. Who is going to live in them for the next three years? 

Amazingly, the condo market hasn't crashed although alarms are screaming it should. So I guess the bubble has to be inflated even further for it to burst, and until then, the construction madness will continue. 

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thailand allows thousands of migrants to extend work permits

Seems their vantage point is distorted a little bit.

What they actually should say is "Thailand begs on their knees that migrant workers  stay - so that economy does not crash completely"

The Government really had to do something like this in order for the Country to still function.

There was no way that the Locals would do the work that these people do

22 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Tens of thousands of migrant workers in Thailand whose work permits are expiring have been granted permission to stay in the country for another two years, yet campaigners said the cost of the extension could fuel debt bondage and worker exploitation.

Slave labourers in the industries the Thais won't touch... even though unemployment is at an all time high.

With so many Thai's out of work, it would be better to train these people in the skills needed to fill positions that migrants are used in.

1 hour ago, Barry343 said:

With so many Thai's out of work, it would be better to train these people in the skills needed to fill positions that migrants are used in.

Whats to learn.. the ratio of sand/concrete.water,

big shrimps in here small ones over there, 

how to use a sewing mahine?

17 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

The Government really had to do something like this in order for the Country to still function.

There was no way that the Locals would do the work that these people do

I know of a few local Thais in Pattaya that are now working on construction sites due to COVID-19.

 

There's a vast, silent underclass of Thais involved in the tourism trade that are now looking for work, and they're desperate. 

 

The days of refusing manual labour because it is beneath them are all over.

3 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I know of a few local Thais in Pattaya that are now working on construction sites due to COVID-19.

 

There's a vast, silent underclass of Thais involved in the tourism trade that are now looking for work, and they're desperate. 

 

The days of refusing manual labour because it is beneath them are all over.

Most of the Thai males that I know, would rather starve than work in the Fields or on Construction Sites.

Their ideal Job would be as a Car Park Attendant on Cup Final Day, with a Salary of 60K Pounds P/A, and free Bupa

I guess that most of them are waiting to be retrained as Computer Programmers Etc

Edited November 15, 20205 yr by Cake Monster

On 11/15/2020 at 8:21 AM, hotchilli said:

Whats to learn.. the ratio of sand/concrete.water,

big shrimps in here small ones over there, 

how to use a sewing mahine?

If no skill is needed why use 2 million plus migrants and not Thai's?

1 hour ago, Barry343 said:

If no skill is needed why use 2 million plus migrants and not Thai's?

4 migrants for the price of one Thai !!

On 11/18/2020 at 11:04 AM, hotchilli said:

4 migrants for the price of one Thai !!

Well it is time that the Thai Government stepped in and stopped slave labour.

 

10 hours ago, Barry343 said:

Well it is time that the Thai Government stepped in and stopped slave labour.

 

The Thai government will never step in to stop slave labour, it turns a blind eye to many of the industries that recruit cheap labour so that the economy can compete elsewhere.
Construction on any scale would stop if migrant labour was not allowed in.

To help facilitate this visa/permits are encouraged to help them remain here.

As you can see from some reports longer term visas are being thought about for migrants.