Thailand approves process to bring in migrant workers
Bangkok (VNA) – The
Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) of Thailand on November 12 approved a
process to bring migrant workers into the country to solve the ongoing labour
shortage, with rules to ensure the workers are free of infectious diseases.
CCSA
spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said the Labour Ministry has proposed eight
steps to ensure people from other countries can be safely hired without importing
any fresh cases of COVID-19, and the CCSA has given its official consent. The
new rules are due to take effect next month.
Workers
must carry their approval forms with them as well as COVID-19 test results,
vaccination documents, visas and information showing where they will be
quarantined and what transport they are taking.
Fully
vaccinated migrant workers must be quarantined for at least seven days and
tested twice, while the unvaccinated have to spend two weeks in quarantine and
carry out the same number of tests. Their employers will be responsible for all
medical charges.
A survey of the Thai Employment Department in May this year showed Thai enterprises needed 256,029 workers from Myanmar, 130,138 from Cambodia and 38,536 from Laos, mostly for jobs in agriculture, animal husbandry, construction, hotel and garment./.