Thailand urges migrant workers to renew work permits

Employers and migrant workers wait for their turn to submit documents at the Labour Ministry in Bangkok in 2018 to register migrants and obtain work permits(Photo: Bangkok Post)

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Labour is warning Lao, Myanmar and Cambodian migrant workers to have their work permits renewed by October 31, or else they may face stiff punishment and be immediately deported back to their countries.

Thai Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin on October 8 said those migrant workers are required to submit their work permit renewal applications before the end of this month and there will still be a number of more processes to get done before their work permit renewals are actually approved.

Due to COVID-19 and Thailand’s shortage of migrant workers, these workers are being allowed to stay on in the country even though their work permits have expired, he said.

He called on them to come and apply for the work permit renewals early to allow sufficient time for all other processes so that they will be able to live and work in Thailand legally.

As of September, 61,193 migrant workers had already applied to renew work permits, said Director-General of the Department of Employment Suchat Phonchaiwisetkun./.