Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin expects about 500,000 illegal migrant workers will be registered by the middle of next month.
The minister said on Tuesday that registration started on Jan 15, and since then 190,000 illegal migrants had applied. The special registration period for illegal Cambodian, Lao and Myanmar migrants is set to continue until Feb 13. The minister expected about 500,000 of them would seize the opportunity to become eligible to work in Thailand until Feb 13, 2023. The minister insisted that those who come forward to register won't face any penalties for being here illegally.
Mr Suchart said the scheme would not only help the government limit the spread of Covid-19 in the country, it will also help shore up labour shortages across several sectors brought on by border closures. To encourage migrant workers to be tested for Covid-19, the cabinet earlier this month granted amnesty registration following the rapid spread of Covid-19 among migrant workers over the last month.
Many illegal migrant workers were forced to leave their workplaces as employers feared prosecution, while at the same time health workers were trying to reach them at factories to conduct Covid-19 tests to control the disease. Mr Suchart said that special registration also benefited 500 illegal migrant workers in custody at immigration police facilities. They would be registered and have the right to work and then repatriated after the term ends in Feb 13, 2023.
The minister also said the cabinet extended by six months the deadline for registered migrant workers to extend their expired visas. Legal workers, becoming illegal due to layoffs, can register with the ministry by Feb 13. There are four steps to register as a migrant worker under the amnesty.
First, employers should submit the names of the employees they wish to register on the ministry's e-work permit website. Then employers must bring the workers in to be tested for Covid-19 and six other serious diseases. The third step requires employers to pay a work permit application fee of 1,900 baht for each worker by June 16. After completing this step, workers will be issued with a "pink card", allowing them to stay in the country pending the completion of the registration process.
For migrant workers with no employers, the registration process follows mostly the same steps, except that the migrant must submit the necessary documents and pay the required fees themselves.