Immigration officials deported 22 Cambodian migrant workers, telling them they not only had the wrong visas, but the documents had already expired.
The ousted migrants on Monday blamed Cambodian recruitment firm AP TSE & C Cambodia Co for giving them the wrong paperwork after paying the equivalent of nearly 18,000 baht for jobs in a Thai fruit-canning factory, the Phnom Penh Post reported. It was the second time in four months AP TSE & C allegedly scammed Khmer workers, the paper said.
AP TSE & C executives could not be reached for comment.
Neth Sary, general consul in Thailand's Sa Kaeo province, was quoted Monday saying the group of workers were deported through the Poipet town border crossing on Sunday.
The returned migrants complained they had paid $550 for a two-year job at a pineapple factory in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. They worked for a month before being fired, told by their employer they only had tourist visas that did not allow them to work legally in the kingdom.
Immigration officials also noted the visas had expired a week ago.