Illegal worker registration tops 600,000

By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Thai employers have since July 24 arranged for more than 600,000 illegal migrant workers to register at 100 temporary Labour Ministry centres across the country. 

The 15-day grace period during which workers from Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia could legalise their status in Thailand ended on Monday (August 7).

 

Hundreds of employers appeared in the registration centres along with their workers in the last few days before the deadline.

 

Waranon Pitiwan, director-general of the Labour Ministry’s Department of Employment, said the centres would be closed later on Monday.

 

Officials would next interview applicants on their appointed dates within 30 days and issue identification documents for the labourers, he said. 

 

Employers must then submit the documents for further processing at “one-stop service centres” being set up in Thailand by the countries of origin. 

 

Myanmar has centres in Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Chiang Rai, Tak and Ranong and will open others in Chiang Mai, Nakhon Sawan and Songkhla. 

 

Cambodia’s centres are in Rayong, Songkhla and Bangkok. Lao migrants must contact their country’s embassy in Bangkok.

 

Waranon urged employers of more than 10 migrant workers to have the pertinent documents ready for their interviews – pay records, contracts and conditions of employment. 

 

He said each province’s labour office has Cambodian and Myanmar interpreters to assist in the interviews. Waranon expected 300-500 applicants to be processed each day.

 

The temporary centres – Bangkok alone has 11 of them – were established to ease the impact of the Royal Decree on Managing the Work of Aliens 2017 issued on June 23, which set out hefty fines for violators, though the scale of the fines is being reviewed. 

 

The decree would have imposed a fine of Bt400,000 to Bt800,000 for employing unregistered foreign workers. The threatened amounts prompted Thai employers to dismiss thousands of foreign workers, triggering an exodus out of the country and fears of labour shortages in some industries.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30323043

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-07

Bangkok Post - Migrant labour registration low, 'worrying'

 

Quote

Between July 24 and Aug 3, employers have filed 113,374 registrations for their migrant workers nationwide.

Now that's efficiency, considering supposedly only 113,374 registrations on 3rd August and 600,000 registered on 7th August.

 

Impressive.

Edited August 7, 20178 yr by BasalBanality

So a tiny percentage of people have registered.

 

It's just a matter of time before there's another mass exodus, I suspect around Christmas / New Year just before the penalties under the new law come back into force.

 

 

Explains the bureaucracy of this medieval country - the Thais at least understood how to circumvent the time wasting by just illegally hiring hundred thousands of them. 

If the 600'000 figures is correct then I wonder what happened with the other 2.4 million - still under process? 

600.000 people who cant be in Thailand as they have no visa. And they WORK !! You cant have a job in Thailand  which is in the listing of non jobs for foreigners. Thai can do themselves ! so not many jobs left to do as foreigener.

They cant be there as they dont have visa. I leave 1 day late and i have fine of 500 bath !!

2 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

600.000 people who cant be in Thailand as they have no visa. And they WORK !! You cant have a job in Thailand  which is in the listing of non jobs for foreigners. Thai can do themselves ! so not many jobs left to do as foreigener.

They cant be there as they dont have visa. I leave 1 day late and i have fine of 500 bath !!

They almost certainly have visas, just not work permits.

 

20 hours ago, ukrules said:

They almost certainly have visas, just not work permits.

 

Ofcourse they are very rich and come for a holiday in Thailand and then they think hey cmon lets work here.

why you would do so? You are already so rich you can come on holiday!?

You want another visa? you know what the rules are in Thailand.

3 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Ofcourse they are very rich and come for a holiday in Thailand and then they think hey cmon lets work here.

why you would do so? You are already so rich you can come on holiday!?

You want another visa? you know what the rules are in Thailand.

You obviously don't realise it but this issue is 99.9% about people from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia

 

They're not rich, these people are willing to work for less than the minimum wage and there's a whole country full of Thai people willing to exploit them.

 

Because they come from neighbouring countries they can come and go as much as they want, or at least they could as there are special arrangements between the governments.

Edited August 9, 20178 yr by ukrules

Why not just make it legal, for all citizens of other ASEAN nations to live & work here, isn't that one of the supposed-benefits of the economic-union ? 

 

Then they'd all be legal, and the police could chase other real-crimina  ...  oh, I now see the problem  ... 

20 hours ago, ukrules said:

You obviously don't realise it but this issue is 99.9% about people from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia

 

They're not rich, these people are willing to work for less than the minimum wage and there's a whole country full of Thai people willing to exploit them.

 

Because they come from neighbouring countries they can come and go as much as they want, or at least they could as there are special arrangements between the governments.

Obviously you dont see the sarcasme in my lines. Ofcourse i know its about Laos and other countries. Ofcourse i know they do less then 3-or 200 bath/day. Ofcourse i know they dont have any food and try to get some better by working in Thailand. Why you otherwise go away? Yha if your rich then you have a holiday , but mostly of them are not.

same happening in USA, GB, EU.

And as Thailand make it so easy for them to get in (border patrouilles dont do their job), you have lots of illegal workers

As a permit cost money/effort for Thai employer and then Thai employers cant exploit them anymore coz they can have minimum wages 2-300 bath, same as Thai. Profit gone. Better 1 bath in the pocket of a employer then a sentang in the pocket of a worker

And no matter where you come from , in Thailand you need work permit as  in many countries.

But as foreigner you cant do the job a thai can do. Read the list 

ANd still if you are laos or what ever and they catch you, you get out. But, its easily to get back again, as probably border patrouilles let them in again. Pay some money and then hoppa. Maybe built a Trumpwall aswell