Thailand
Myanmar workers with pink cards advised to get ‘ticket of leave’
Myanmar workers holding temporary work permits are being advised to seek approval from labour authorities before leaving their designated areas for nationality verification.
Waranon Pitiwan, chief of the Department of Employment, said migrant workers who hold temporary work permits, also known as pink cards, need to get a “ticket of leave” to travel to one of six One Stop Service Centres (OSSC) to undergo the nationality verification process.
The centres are located in five provinces: two in Samut Sakhon and one each in Tak, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Nakhon Sawan. Myanmar workers do not need to return to their country as Myanmar has agreed to send officials along with equipment to process their nationality verification in Thailand.
Mr Waranon said Cambodian and Lao workers with temporary work permits are also advised to obtain a ticket of leave before they return to their countries to complete their verification process.
Migrant workers who complete the process will obtain Certificate of Identity (CI) papers necessary for the application of visas and work permits.
According to Mr Waranon, migrant workers without papers are allowed to seek registration when their employers apply for a Letter of Demand at one of the migrant worker recruitment centres. The centres will open from July 24 to Aug 7.
Once the letter is applied for, unregistered Myanmar workers will be issued a document to be used for the nationality verification process in Thailand.
Migrant workers from Cambodia and Laos will have to return to their countries to complete the process and come back to apply for visas and work permits, which will be valid until March 31 next year.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities in Sa Kaeo’s Aranyaprathet district are bracing themselves for an influx of Cambodian workers using border passes to re-enter and apply for jobs.
Several hundred yesterday used passes to cross the border from Cambodia’s Poi Pet at the Aranyaprathet checkpoint after Cambodia last week closed 43 temporary border crossings into three districts of Sa Kaeo province to prevent unregistered Cambodian workers from illegally entering Thailand.
The closure of the border crossing has triggered an immediate shortage of labour in Sa Kaeo. According to Sa Kaeo immigration chief Col Benjapol Rodsawat, the influx was expected because Thai authorities have advised them to use the border passes to cross the border and seek jobs legally.
Cambodian workers with border passes are allowed to stay for seven days in Sa Kaeo and Prachin Buri.
However, job seekers have been advised to ask their employers to apply for registration and work permits at the provincial labour office.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1284687/myanmar-workers-with-pink-cards-advised-to-get-ticket-of-leave