work permit for new Burmese staff?

[ksamuiguy]

I have 2 Burmese staff. One has a passport and work permit (the paper) everything legal, but no work permit book so he can not get a drivers license, so as usual the BIB love to stop him.

We have applied and received permission to employ up to 6 Burmese staff.

I have a new Burmese that has the following papers.

Old expired 2 months work permit paper, no book

Pink Burmese ID card

Paper showing that he has registered with the Tessaban,.

HE has No Passport, never had one just the "Pink" Burmese ID card

That's all the papers he has.

I am told that The labor office in Surtthani will issue , fix the paper work biased on the papers he has now.

This ends at the end of the month, so we must go next week?

Something doesn't sound right, does anyone have any information on what they are doing?

Does this sound possible/probable, If i take him there will they arrest him for no passport, but he does have a original paper showing he has a work permit and he registered with the Tassaban.

Any suggestion or advice appreciated.

[samran]

As you might know, Burmese, along with Cambodians and Laotions are eligible for these work permits under thailand migranf labour programme.

The permission you received to hire 6 people under this scheme is called a 'quota' just like the English word.

You now have to get them registered via the local labour office.

I understand from the news that migrant labour registration is actually going on. It happens annually, usually sometime around this time of year. So if it is closing at the end of the month you better go to the labour office and register them now.

The process is laid out there.

For those with no paperwork, they will need to undertake 'nationality checking' which involves a trip to the border city of their country where Burmese officals will issue them with the agreed documentation under the migrsnt labour scheme which from memory includes a temporary 2 year passport. They'll cross back over the border and be issued a 2 year non immigrant visa and the the labour office will issue the work permit. A health check and registration for the migrant labour health insurance programme is part of the process.

For those with their documentation already, it may just be a transfer of work permits.

Whatever the case, it is important you go to the labour office now before the process closes otherwise the unregistered guys won't be able to come legal. The labour office will issue the correct paperwork to ride them over until the above process can be completed.

[digitalchromakey]

So you have a quota for 6 Burmese workers, this requires annual renewal.

Check the validity of the passport for the worker who has one, there should be a two year non ‘LA’ entry stamp, if there is also a two year extension stamp from Immigration, then the worker may be coming to the end of their 4 year allowed work period.

Any new WP will not be issued beyond the extended permission to stay date.

Further extensions at your local Thai Immigration dept are not possible, but if there is a further two years of validity in the temporary passport then between certain dates you can get a fresh Non LA Stamp/two year WP at one of the Burmese ‘one stop’ centre. Best you use a specialist agent for this, it’s not straight forward and involves a re-registration of undocumented labour process with forms to be filled in Burmese. Cost is around 6,000 THB.

The guy with the passport also requires a valid ‘Hospital Card’ (one year) – requires a check at a government clinic specializing in Burmese Migrant Workers.

The current pink cards have a limited validity period and name the employer/place of residence, the holder does not have free movement. These cards have a limited validity, but it will be possible to apply for a passport/One Year WP at a specific time later this year for around 8,000 THB.

Again, it's best that you use a specialist agent for this process as it’s not straightforward – cost is around 8,000 THB.

Legally employing Burmese has many problems, costs and loopholes to navigate; after you spend a deal of money sorting out the paper work, don’t be shocked if they disappear a week later leaving you with the bill.

[samran]

So you have a quota for 6 Burmese workers, this requires annual renewal.

Check the validity of the passport for the worker who has one, there should be a two year non LA entry stamp, if there is also a two year extension stamp from Immigration, then the worker may be coming to the end of their 4 year allowed work period.

Any new WP will not be issued beyond the extended permission to stay date.

Further extensions at your local Thai Immigration dept are not possible, but if there is a further two years of validity in the temporary passport then between certain dates you can get a fresh Non LA Stamp/two year WP at one of the Burmese one stop centre. Best you use a specialist agent for this, its not straight forward and involves a re-registration of undocumented labour process with forms to be filled in Burmese. Cost is around 6,000 THB.

The guy with the passport also requires a valid Hospital Card (one year) requires a check at a government clinic specializing in Burmese Migrant Workers.

The current pink cards have a limited validity period and name the employer/place of residence, the holder does not have free movement. These cards have a limited validity, but it will be possible to apply for a passport/One Year WP at a specific time later this year for around 8,000 THB.

Again, it's best that you use a specialist agent for this process as its not straightforward cost is around 8,000 THB.

Legally employing Burmese has many problems, costs and loopholes to navigate; after you spend a deal of money sorting out the paper work, dont be shocked if they disappear a week later leaving you with the bill.

I've done the process myself, but having done it once Id probably outsource it next time.

Digitalchromakey raises a point about if a persona has a work permit for more than 4 years it can not be renewed.

This certainly was the original design of the scheme but as we have reached the 4 year mark of this version of the programme employer groups kicked up a stink and the last I heard the junta was looking at doing away with that rule. Best check though,

[digitalchromakey]

So you have a quota for 6 Burmese workers, this requires annual renewal.

Check the validity of the passport for the worker who has one, there should be a two year non LA entry stamp, if there is also a two year extension stamp from Immigration, then the worker may be coming to the end of their 4 year allowed work period.

Any new WP will not be issued beyond the extended permission to stay date.

Further extensions at your local Thai Immigration dept are not possible, but if there is a further two years of validity in the temporary passport then between certain dates you can get a fresh Non LA Stamp/two year WP at one of the Burmese one stop centre. Best you use a specialist agent for this, its not straight forward and involves a re-registration of undocumented labour process with forms to be filled in Burmese. Cost is around 6,000 THB.

The guy with the passport also requires a valid Hospital Card (one year) requires a check at a government clinic specializing in Burmese Migrant Workers.

The current pink cards have a limited validity period and name the employer/place of residence, the holder does not have free movement. These cards have a limited validity, but it will be possible to apply for a passport/One Year WP at a specific time later this year for around 8,000 THB.

Again, it's best that you use a specialist agent for this process as its not straightforward cost is around 8,000 THB.

Legally employing Burmese has many problems, costs and loopholes to navigate; after you spend a deal of money sorting out the paper work, dont be shocked if they disappear a week later leaving you with the bill.

I've done the process myself, but having done it once Id probably outsource it next time.

Digitalchromakey raises a point about if a persona has a work permit for more than 4 years it can not be renewed.

This certainly was the original design of the scheme but as we have reached the 4 year mark of this version of the programme employer groups kicked up a stink and the last I heard the junta was looking at doing away with that rule. Best check though,

Yes, in fact we already have two workers who reached the 4 year point, both did the 'next step' through our agent, which involved the workers filing papers plus passports (which needed approx. two years validity remaining) then going to a one stop centre to get new 2 year Non 'LA' s and Work Permits (not issued locally). We did this in June and August this year.

You really need to use a specialist agent to do this (again cost is reasonable at around 6,000 THB for the new visa and WP).

No idea what happens at the 6 year point, but the talk is of having to apply for a full Burmese Passport to follow on from the Red/Purple Temporary one.

Time will tell.

Edited October 23, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[ksamuiguy]

Thanks for the help and advice.To bad the water are still muddy!

I want my Burmese staff to get a drivers license, buy they tell me he needs his work permit book.He has the receipt and document with his photo and properly signed and stamped, but no needs WP Book. (catch22)

Checking with my bookkeeper no one knows when the WP books will be available.

Things would go a lot smoother if the rules were enforced equally at all borders, IM Offices, Police Stations. Everyone make their own rules, to bad as it could be so easy if everyone played by the same rules.

[wayned]

"Things would go a lot smoother if the rules were enforced equally at all borders, IM Offices, Police Stations."

The cure for this is as elusive as that for Ebola!

[digitalchromakey]

Thanks for the help and advice.To bad the water are still muddy!

I want my Burmese staff to get a drivers license, buy they tell me he needs his work permit book.He has the receipt and document with his photo and properly signed and stamped, but no needs WP Book. (catch22)

Checking with my bookkeeper no one knows when the WP books will be available.

Things would go a lot smoother if the rules were enforced equally at all borders, IM Offices, Police Stations. Everyone make their own rules, to bad as it could be so easy if everyone played by the same rules.

In my area (HKT) the A5 sized receipt slips with photos are accepted as being the actual WP since they show the Company/Address of that person (Blue WP12 Books are rarely issued for one year WPs), these are accepted for a driving license application.

Can confirm this; our company has had 3 employees who managed to get Thai bike licenses (one recently did the new test 12 times before pasting - which is fair enough as there is are no Burmese version of the Thai road regulations that I know of).

[Just Destiny]

As you might know, Burmese, along with Cambodians and Laotions are eligible for these work permits under thailand migranf labour programme.

The permission you received to hire 6 people under this scheme is called a 'quota' just like the English word.

You now have to get them registered via the local labour office.

I understand from the news that migrant labour registration is actually going on. It happens annually, usually sometime around this time of year. So if it is closing at the end of the month you better go to the labour office and register them now.

The process is laid out there.

For those with no paperwork, they will need to undertake 'nationality checking' which involves a trip to the border city of their country where Burmese officals will issue them with the agreed documentation under the migrsnt labour scheme which from memory includes a temporary 2 year passport. They'll cross back over the border and be issued a 2 year non immigrant visa and the the labour office will issue the work permit. A health check and registration for the migrant labour health insurance programme is part of the process.

For those with their documentation already, it may just be a transfer of work permits.

Whatever the case, it is important you go to the labour office now before the process closes otherwise the unregistered guys won't be able to come legal. The labour office will issue the correct paperwork to ride them over until the above process can be completed.

[Just Destiny]

Hi I just found out this topic in my search. I just bought a business and made a new rent contract on my name. I do not have partnership or company yet but I will form a partnership with my Thai friend. Now I have two Burmese workers. Previous owner had 2 quotas before but after they sold business to me they opened another shop in another city. Business is in his Thai wife's name.I didn't even made a sale contract it is small shop at food court with two workers (both Burmese). One has just got passport and WP after she paid 6000 Baht while business was still controlled by previous owner until two months before. While I have been out of Thailand my friend told me other new Burese worker told him he lost his passport but has paper to work. I haven't seen it yet.Can someone analyse the situation and interpret to me what is current statue and what I need to do, how can quota I can get and where to apply, do I need to set up a company to be employer?

[madhav]

Bumping this thread with the hope to get some clarity on an overall confusing situation. Hope that someone has been through this process recently and can shine some light onto it.

 

We have 2 Burmese staff, both have been previously registered in our quota, however we just discovered:

 

A: Their 90 day reporting hasn't been completed on the scheduled date (Feb 2017) 

B: Their MOU/Visa stamp expired Feb 2017

 

Both of them have: 

 

A: Pink coloured Non Thai ID card (expired),

B: Burmese overseas worker ID card (still valid) and

C: Pink coloured temporary passport (valid until june 2017)

 

My questions are:

 

1: What is the process to apply for a new MOU/Visa work permit thing?

2: Is it necessary to go to Burma for this or can it be done via an agent?

3: What documents do they need and how long will it approximately take?

4: What is the process for their temporary passport? Will they need to update to a proper one, or will they just renew the temporary style one?

5: Anyone knows an agent they can recommend?

 

We have been using an agent to gather information, but the information and plan they have suggested to us seems a rather drawn out process. It involves them having to go back to Burma for at least a month and costs 16,000 baht per person! (This will include a 5 year passport, 2 year visa and 2 year work permit)

 

Can an agent act on their behalf (ie take all the needed documents to Burma and apply for them?) and then all the staff needs to do is to pick up the all documents up once ready and then enter Thailand.

 

Alternatively can the application actually be sent by mail?

 

Thanks for the input.