Migrant workers in ID struggle

• Published: 19/02/2012 at 02:18 AM  Bangkokpost    

The Lawyers Council of Thailand has urged the government to ask for leniency from Myanmar for migrant workers seeking nationality verification.

Wasant Panich, chairman of the council's committee on human rights, said many Myanmar workers in Thailand had begun verification proceedings but failed to pass while others are still waiting.

All immigrants registering to work in Thailand were initially required to verify their nationality before Feb 28. However, the Labour Ministry has extended the deadline to June 14.
Mr Wasant said steps should be taken to ensure workers who fail verification do not go underground or become illegal workers to avoid arrest or deportation.
He said the government should negotiate with Myanmar to review its policy on migrant workers and ease the procedures for establishing verification.
Migrant workers need proof of identify papers from their home government. However, many workers from Myanmar who belong to ethnic minorities, are reluctant to undertake the process for fear of political persecution.
They fear the information they give about themselves to the authorities could put them and their families back home at risk.
Prawit Khiangpol, director-general of the Employment Department, said more than one million alien workers must complete verification by June 14.
Of this number, 950,000 workers _ 600,000 from Myanmar, 250,000 from Cambodia and 100,000 from Laos _ were registered in June last year to work legally in Thailand. The remainder will see their work permits expire by the end of this month.
They will be temporarily allowed to continue working pending nationality verification, Mr Prawit said.
Once they have done so, they will be granted two-year work permits which can be renewed for another two years.
Mr Prawit said the Myanmar government will use information technology in place of paper-based procedures to accelerate nationality verification.
An employer can key in a worker's bio data to the website of Myanmar's labour ministry. When identity is verified, the information is sent back to the employer.
Then the employer can take the worker to apply for nationality verification at designated registration stations along the border. Currently, the stations are in Chiang Rai, Tak and Ranong provinces.
The Labour Ministry recently agreed to add five more registration stations in Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Surat Thani and Chiang Mai for Myanmar immigrants and one in Bangkok for Cambodian workers.

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