Migrant passport deadline extended

Thailand’s labour ministry has extended the deadline for Burmese migrant workers to apply for temporary passports that grant them legal status in the country, the ministry website said.

The news was announced after it emerged that the Burmese government were taking longer than expected to process identification for the nearly one million registered migrants in Thailand. Is it thought that Thailand hosts up to three million Burmese migrants, although it was predicted that the majority would not return to their home country to go through the application process. Moe Swe, general secretary of migrant group Yaung Ni Oo, based in Thailand’s Mae Sot, said that only around 10,000 migrant workers applied for passports within the first eight months of the programme, adding that it was impossible for Burma to process one million people within eight months. “The Burmese government previously said officially that they could only process about 600 people in one year,” said Moe Swe. “A lot of migrants tend to not go back to their regions in Burma to get the passports due to fear of being extorted, blackmailed by the authorities.” He added that the low number of migrants applying for passports could also be related to the cost of the process. “The official fee for passport processing with the Burmese government is only 3000 kyat [$US3], and then 500 baht [$US15] to Thailand for a two-year visa. So it’s only about 600 Baht in total [$US6],” he said. “But because the process is very slow and difficult to go through, the migrants have to go through broker agents and via companies linked with the Burmese government who charge around 5000 baht [$US150] for each migrant. “Also the migrants are to go for [annual] medical check-ups [in Thailand] when their migrant identification cards expire in February and pay for new health insurance which costs them around 1900 baht [$US58]. And they have to renew their work permits for 1800 baht [$US54].” According to the Thai Labour ministry website, the Burmese embassy in Bangkok has said that Burmese nationals of any ethnicity, except from the Rohingya, are welcome to return to Burma for the passport processing. The ethnic Rohingya population in Burma is denied any legal status by the ruling junta.

Appeal to Thai PM to Extend Work Permits

Thirty-six human rights organizations in Thailand have sent an open letter to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressing concern about the possible mass deportation of migrant workers  if the government fails to renew work permits scheduled to expire soon.
In an open letter on Monday, the groups asked the prime minister if his government will deport or renew work permit to migrants workers.
“We would be most concerned if your government decides to adopt a policy to not renew work permits and deport migrants,” said the letter.
Andy Hall, the director of the Migrant Justice Programme based in Bangkok, said “The Thai government should extend the policy because of the need within the Thai economy and also for the security of migrant workers based on fundamentally human rights.”
According to the rights groups, there are more than 2 million registered migrant workers in Thailand and 90 percent are Burmese workers.
One group of 61,543 Burmese migrant workers have permits that will expire on Jan 20. A second group of 1.4 million workers have permits that will expire on Feb. 28.
The Thai government has not announced whether it will deport or renew work permits to the Burmese migrant workers.
The right groups said that migrants must wait to see if a cabinet resolution is issued to formally extend the permits.
The Thai government announced in December 2008 that migrants who have not yet completed the nationality verification process by Feb. 28 would be deported.
Rights groups said that would lead to a mass deportation of migrants because many Burmese migrants did not take part in the national verification process. There are only 10,000 Burmese migrant workers in Thailand who have qualified for the new work permit passports, according to reports.
The rights groups have urged the Thai government to allow two more years for migrant workers to go through the nationality verification process, which involves a complex process of returning to Burma and other difficult steps
To verify their Burmese nationality, migrant workers have to submit detailed biographical information to the Burmese military. Many fear for their safety and repercussions against family members in Burma if they turn up at military government offices for nationality verification registration.
Many of the Burmese migrants are from ethnic minority groups such as the Mon, the Karen and the Shan, and have fled from Burmese army oppression and human right abuses.
The right groups say the Burmese migrant community has little public information about the national verification process and its benefit, both for migrant workers and employers.
The right groups have called on the Burmese government to send officials to Thailand to verify migrants' nationalities in order to encourage migrant workers to register. Due to a lack of information and awareness about the national verification process, many migrant workers have chosen to stay away from the process.
Cambodian and Lao governments officials have come to Thailand to complete the process in previous years. However, the Burmese government has refused such requests and wants all migrant workers to go to one of three border points—Myawaddy, Tachilek or Kawthaung—nationality verification registration.