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Thailand: Paperwork cut for migrant workers as registration deadline looms
The authorities have reduced paperwork and introduced online document submission to help migrant workers and their employers beat the March 31 deadline for renewing work permits.
More than 1.6 million migrant workers who hold pink cards, which are identification documents issued to migrants upon their employment registration, will need to renew their work permits before they expire.
Department of Employment director-general Suchart Pornchaiwisetkul said the renewal process can be undertaken at any of the 42 One-Stop Service (OSS) labour centres nationwide which will be open seven days a week until March 31. Four are in Bangkok.
Speaking at his visit to the OSS centre in Bangkok’s Laksi district, Mr Suchart said migrant workers who fail to renew their work permits within the deadline will have to return to their home countries and reapply from there.
Few workers have visited the OSS centres for work permit renewal, he said.
Before coming to the centres, workers need to undergo a health check although the amount of paperwork to be presented for the renewal process has been substantially reduced.
He said workers were previously required to produce 16 documents, now that has been brought down to seven.
Employers also need to accompany their migrant employees to the OSS for the process. Though documents can be filed online, the renewal fees will have to be paid at the OSS centre.
Thailand’s workforce includes 1.2 million Myanmar nationals, 360,000 are Cambodians and 86,000 from Laos.
A business owner, who declined to give his name, said the renewal process should be held at district offices for the sake of convenience and to ease overcrowding.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1833609/paperwork-cut-for-migrant-workers-as-registration-deadline-looms