Phuket Vice Governor Teeraphong Chuaychoo has ordered urgent action after the issue was raised during the monthly meeting of labour agencies held at the Phuket Provincial Labour Office at Phuket Provincial Hall on Wednesday (Mar 4).
The meeting brought together the five main labour-related agencies operating in the province: the Phuket Provincial Labour Office, the Phuket Provincial Employment Office, Phuket Skills Development Institute 21, the Phuket Provincial Labour Protection and Welfare Office, and the Phuket Provincial Social Security Office.
Officials reviewed the operational results for February and discussed key challenges affecting the province’s labour administration, including coordination with other agencies and obstacles affecting employment management.
However, the most pressing issue raised was the growing delay in issuing and renewing work permits for foreign workers.
Phuket Provincial Employment Office Chief Pichit Singthongkam told the meeting that the backlog stems from ongoing changes to the work permit processing system, which is currently in a transitional phase.
The Department of Employment introduced a nationwide outsourcing system on Oct 13, 2025, designed to modernise the process by allowing applications and work permit issuance through the digital e-WorkPermit platform.
The system operates through more than 40 service units across Thailand and was intended to improve efficiency, transparency and convenience for employers and workers.
In Phuket, however, the system has struggled to keep pace with demand.
The island’s large foreign workforce has created a heavy volume of applications that exceeds the processing capacity of the outsourced service provider responsible for producing and issuing the permits.
Officials warned that the delays are affecting a wide range of businesses, particularly those in the tourism industry, which relies heavily on foreign labour.
Employers have filed continuous complaints about the slow renewal process, saying it is disrupting hiring plans and delaying employment approvals for workers already in the system.
According to statistics from the Phuket Provincial Employment Office, as of October 2025 the island had a total of 138,244 foreign workers.
Of those, 121,198 workers are from the four main neighbouring nationalities commonly employed in Thailand, while 16,260 are classified as general foreign workers from other countries. Another 503 workers fall under the investment promotion category and 283 are ethnic minority workers.
Officials said the scale of the workforce reflects both Phuket’s dependence on foreign labour and the large administrative burden involved in processing work permits.
Mr Teeraphong acknowledged the seriousness of the delays and instructed the Phuket Provincial Employment Office to urgently develop solutions.
He said the province will soon convene a meeting with employers and relevant agencies to discuss practical measures to accelerate the process.
Provincial authorities stressed that they are aware of the problem and intend to address it quickly.
“We are not ignoring this issue,” officials said during the meeting, adding that the province will take concrete steps to resolve the backlog and prevent further disruption to the local economy.
Mr Pichit explained that the main bottleneck lies in the production stage of work permits through the outsourced system, which currently lacks sufficient capacity to handle the large number of applications submitted by employers in Phuket.
As a temporary measure, the Phuket Provincial Employment Office has begun coordinating closely with the outsourcing company responsible for the service.
Additional officers have been assigned to work at the Foreign Work Permit Service Center in Phuket to assist the public, monitor the process and report developments to central authorities.
The officers will also oversee the operations of the outsourcing service provider and evaluate its performance to ensure it meets the required standards.