Thailand and Laos will soon forge closer cooperation in promoting trade by upgrading two border checkpoints, adopting the single-stop inspection system and implementing a single visa.

The Foreign Ministry proposed to the Cabinet yesterday the draft agreement for the Second Joint Cabinet Retreat between Thailand and Laos on Sunday in Chiang Mai.

The signing of the joint statement by the two foreign ministers will be witnessed by the prime minister.

Under the agreement, two temporary border passes will be upgraded to permanent status. The Phu-doo checkpoint between Uttaradit in Thailand and Xaignabouli in Laos will be opened permanently next year, while the Baan Sob-Rouk checkpoint connecting Chiang Rai and Bo Kaew was already opened last July.

To facilitate the movement of goods and people, Thailand will soon adopt the single-stop inspection system at the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge between Nong Khai and the Laotian side of the mekong near Vientiane. The system will reduce time for truck transportation.

Thailand and Laos have also agreed to promote the utilisation of Routes 8 and 12. Thailand will encourage more companies to invest along those roads.

The two nations have agreed to promote tourism in the region by adopting the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy’s single visa in the near future.

The two countries will tighten cooperation to survey and post boundary markers and ensure peace along the common frontier. They will also cooperate in preventing trafficking in women and children and protecting them from hazards.

Thailand aims to solve the illegal migrant workers problem by agreeing to extend the opening of the One Stop Service Centre for Laotian workers to prove their nationality by 120 days. The two nations have agreed to work closer together on drug suppression and to exchange information to reduce crime and crack down on drugs.

By Piyanart Srivalo
Published on 15 May 2013

The cabinet on Tuesday approved the Labour Ministry’s proposal to extend the verification period for the estimated 384,000 alien workers still unregistered for another 120 days.

A total of 54,702 employers earlier submitted their quotas to hire 414,820 migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) Thailand had signed with these countries.

However, there are 384,534 migrant workers still awaiting the verification process, although the April 14 deadline nears. This is because the one-stop service centres set up in major cities nationwide to verify nationality documents submitted by migrant workers and issue work permits to those who pass the process can process only 500 workers a day.

The centres need another 120 days to finish the work.

During this period, unregistered migrant workers applying for the verification process will not be arrested, a cabinet spokesman said.

By: Bangkok Post
Published on: 9 April 2013

The Burmese government will start issuing temporary passports to its illegal workers in Thailand next month.Workers can apply for temporary passports at 10 centres in Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Chiang Mai, Surat Thani, Pathum Thani, Kanchanaburi, Rayong, Khon Kaen, Songkhla and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces from Feb 15 to May 15, the Burmese embassy in Thailand said in a statement.

The decision is part of the plan by Thailand and Burma to end illegal migrant workers from Burma. The two governments have held a series of talks to solve the problem. The latest round took place last Tuesday.

The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to extend the deadline of nationality verification for foreign workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia from Dec 15 last year to April 15 in a proposal forwarded by the Labour Ministry.

Thai Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap said last week that 266,677 workers from the three countries did not verify their nationality within the December deadline.

Migrant workers from Burma have until Feb 2 to report to and register with the ministry to confirm their job status before applying for the documents from the Burmese government, the embassy added.

By Mizzima
Published on 21 January 2013

The Cabinet yesterday gave the green light to a Labour Ministry proposal that the process of verifying the nationality of foreign migrant workers be extended until April 15, according to Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap.

He said that with the relaxation of the deadline, the 266,677 workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia who failed to complete the verification before the December 15 deadline could now live and work in Thailand until the new deadline.

During this extended period, the workers and their employers are required to submit the necessary documents to complete the verification process, said the labour minister.

The relaxation was retroactive from December 15.

To ensure the move is successful, the Interior Ministry will issue a directive within 30 days to allow those workers whose nationalities have not been verified to stay in Thailand until the new deadline, according to the labour minister.

“The workers will not be arrested during this period, from now until April 15. The employers who fail to have their employees undergo the verification process will face legal action, and their migrant workers will be sent back to their home countries,” he said.

The Department of Employment will issue necessary documents to those migrant workers to allow their temporary stay during this extended period, director-general Prawit Kiengphol said. He added that five one-stop service centres would be set up at the department’s offices in Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani, Chiang Mai and Songkhla.

By The Nation
Published on 16 January 2013

The Labour Ministry will set up at least five one-stop service centres to issue legal documents to more than 500,000 Myanmar migrants working illegally in Thailand.

Pravit Khiengpol, Employment Department director-general, said the objective of the centres, to be opened in Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Pathum Thani, Chiang Mai and Songkhla, is to facilitate Myanmar migrant workers to whom the Thai government has allowed to reside in Thailand until April.

Myanmar migrants without legal work permits are urged to apply for travel and reference documents from the centres, he said after attending a meeting with Myo Aung, Myanmar labour department director general, on Tuesday.

Mr Myo Aung was informed of the Thai cabinet decision to extend the illegal migrant workers’ stay in the country for three months.

Mr Pravit said Thai entrepreneurs who want to hire foreign migrants will have to seek quotas from the Employment Department which will decide on the number of migrant employees allowed to be hired.By MCOT online news
Published on 16 January 2013