Burmese Migrants to Get ‘Passport Documents’

By LAWI WENG

Burma is preparing to offer new nationality identification papers to Burmese migrant workers, which would allow them to work legally in Thailand, according to a source within the Burmese immigration department.

“We are preparing to open these three offices,” said the immigration officer in Myawaddy, a border town opposite Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border. “We’re just waiting for the order from Naypyidaw.”

The three passport registration offices where migrants could apply for the documents are due to be opened along the Thai-Burmese border at Myawaddy, Tachilek and Ranong townships, according to the source.

The officer added that the new passport documents would be cheaper than applying for a Thai work permit; however, it would mean that workers would be subjected to tax.

The new nationality identification paper, which is called a “passport document,” will effectively grant successful applicants a one-year work permit in Thailand. To receive the passport document, a Burmese migrant worker will need a recommendation letter from a Thai factory or business, the officer said.

Sompong Srakawe, a director with the Labor Rights Promotion Network in Thailand, said the Thai Ministry of Labor already told Burmese migrants working in Mahachai in Samut Sakhon Province about the development last month.

However, a Burmese worker in Mahachai told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that to date only a few Thai factory owners have told their Burmese workers about the new permits.

“Many workers are unclear what kind of benefits they will get from a new passport document. They will also worry about being cheated by passport agents,” she said.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, a member of a Bangkok-based migrant workers’ support group, the Migrant Working Group, said, “I think very few people will go to the registration centres to apply for passport documents, because they are afraid they will be sent back to Burma. This process might take a long time.

“Also, most of the migrants are ethnic people and they are afraid the military authorities will use the information to persecute their families back home.”

Burmese migrants who are working in Thailand and who want to apply for these new passport documents have to bring all their information, including their ID cards, to these centres, he said.

Thailand and Burma agreed to set up nationality identification centers for Burmese migrant workers in 2006, however the two countries couldn’t reach an agreement on where the registration centres would be situated. Originally, the Burmese authorities wanted to situate the registration centers in Pa-an and Moulmein, both towns in eastern Burma. However, their Thai counterparts objected as these towns were too far for the workers to travel to and from.

The Thai government has said it hopes that the new passport registration process would help stop the influx of illegal Burmese migrants into Thailand by offering the opportunity to work in the country legally.

According to official estimates in 2006, Thailand hosts more than 1.2 million migrant workers—some legal, but most illegal—from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. However, the country still faces a severe labor shortage and is unable to meet growing industrial demands, prompting officials to frequently revise registration procedures.

The governments of Laos and Cambodia operate nationality identification centers in Thailand in cooperation with the Thai government. The centers have so far processed some 70,000 Lao and Cambodia workers and registered them with the Thai Labor Department. They are eligible to work in Thailand and have access to the same social welfare benefits as Thai workers, including legal support and medical services for their children.