Immigration News: October, 2004 - Volume 11

Thailand: 1.3 Million Registered

Thailand had a nationwide registration program for unauthorized foreign workers in July 2004, and 1,269,074 foreign migrants registered for a fee of Bt 3,800 each- 1,300 for health insurance, 600 for a medical check, and 1,800 for a one-year work permit, plus 100 for the permit. They included 906,000 Burmese, 182,000 Laotians, and 182,000 Cambodians- 702,000 were male and 567,000 female, and the total includes the family members of migrants who are, according to some officials, to be sent home while the employed migrant remains in Thailand. Some 337,000 migrants were registered by agricultural employers, 206,000 by construction employers, 154,000 by private households for domestic helpers, and 115,000 by fisheries employers.

Some 217,000 Thai employers reported a "need" for 1.4 million migrants: one million Burmese; 190,000 Laotians; and 222,000 Cambodians.

After registration, foreign workers must pass a physical exam, and then can obtain work permits valid for two years. In July 2004, all employers in all provinces could register the migrants they employ and, for the first time, jobless migrants could register themselves and stay in Thailand for 12 months seeking jobs, a provision that reportedly encouraged smugglers and traffickers to send migrants to Thailand for registration. Migrants will be able to change Thai employers, and will be encouraged to open bank accounts.

Registered migrants are entitled to Thai labor law protection, and a new form is being prepared on which migrants can file complaints of labor law violations. To encourage their return, employers are to deduct 15 percent of migrant earnings and contribute it to a repatriation fund; migrants are to receive refunds of these withheld earnings with interest in their countries of origin if they apply personally within three months. However, the repatriation fund can also be tapped to cover the cost of returning illegal workers, and it is not clear how much will be refunded if illegal migration continues.

Registered migrants without passports and identity documents from their country of origin are to be issued documents by their countries' consular officers in Thailand. Many migrants commute daily over, for example, the Burmese-Thai border, and the Thai government is planning to provide them with three-month passes, up from the current three days, to enter Thailand and work.

The Thai Ministry of Labor (MOL) estimates 1.7 million "irregular" migrants in Thailand, including unauthorized and quasi-authorized foreigners, "hill tribe" persons born in Thailand but lacking documentation, and refugees. Foreigners in Thailand at least 20 years may obtain Thai nationality.

One purpose of registration and having future migrants arrive legally under the terms of MOUs is to combat smuggling and trafficking. There are several projects underway in the Mekong river area to combat the trafficking of women and children, primarily by reducing the supply of those who could be trafficked by warning potential victims of the dangers they face. Reducing the number of victims and punishing traffickers has not been totally effective, which has prompted calls for alternatives to trafficking, that is, legal channels in which migrants can move. Open borders would, by definition, eliminate the need for migrants to turn to smugglers and traffickers to cross national borders.

The quota for migrants in Thailand has been set at 502,000, which means that no additional migrants will be admitted until some are deported. When additional migrants are needed, they are to be registered by the sending country MOL, and then dispatched to Thailand with two years visas in response to requests for migrants from the Thai MOL. Work permits can be renewed once, for a total of four years, followed by at least three years in the migrant's country of origin.

With the decentralization of Thai migration management, the rights of migrants may vary from province to province. In what migrant advocates hailed as a major victory, a Thai court in September 2004 ordered the Thai owner of a Mae Sot garment factory to pay 1.2 million baht ($29,250) to 18 Burmese migrant workers fired from the Nut Knitting factory in October 2002. The Labor Protection Office of Tak province ordered the firm to pay the migrants, but they had to sue for back wages. A similar case is pending against Nasawat Apparel, which is accused of paying only 50 baht per day, even though the minimum wage is 133 baht ($3.50) a day, plus 25 baht ($0.70) for overtime hours after eight per day. There are at least 100,000 Burmese migrants in Mae Sot.

The Nut Knitting Partnership unlawfully fired Burmese migrants in 2000-01 after they protested their below-minimum wages. A Thai Labor Court ordered Nut Knitting to provide the migrants with back wages, and in September 2004 Nut Knitting agreed to pay 1.2 million baht to 18 of the 34 migrants who sued.

Thailand's unemployment rate, which topped four percent in 2000, has fallen to less than two percent in 2004, leading to complaints of labor shortages and encouraging contractors and other employers to turn to migrants. Some rural Thais who were willing to migrate to Bangkok and other cities are staying home because prices for commodities such as rubber have risen sharply, and the Thai government has increased funds for rural development.