Group calls for action to ease Myanmar migrant workers’ legal woes

in Asean Headline | February 24, 2014 (628 views)

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The Myanmar Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN) has called for urgent action by the Thai and Myanmar governments to ease the legal plight of Burmese migrant laborers in Thailand, many of whom are facing deportation or financially ruinous overstay fees due to a system that the network says is broken.

At a press conference on Friday, the MWRN offered five steps to be implemented by the respective governments, aimed at eliminating punitive immigration policies and streamlining the reregistration of millions of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.

Among the recommendations, authorities are urged to set out a clear and convenient procedure for extending migrant workers’ stay permits and renewing their passports, without having to enlist the assistance of often exploitative brokers or agents.
The MWRN also called on the responsible authorities to make information—including on reregistration requirements and processing times for each step in the process—more widely available to the public.
Centers to extend visas and renew passports should be available not only on the border but also at locations in Thailand with dense migrant worker populations, the MWRN said. The two governments agreed last year to establish border centers to handle migrant laborer processing, including issuing documents for Thai residency and work eligibility, and handling renewal procedures. Political turmoil in Thailand for the last several months, however, has delayed the centers’ opening.
Workers whose visas have expired should not be fined for overstaying, the network said, due to processing delays—such as that caused by the domestic political upheaval in Thailand—that have been beyond the migrant laborers’ control.