The order was delivered at a meeting with the the Phuket Employment Office (PEO), employers, business operators and community leaders at the Phuket Merlin Hotel yesterday (Nov19).
“We currently suffer worker shortages in the labour force, therefore we need a lot of migrant workers.
Migrant workers are crucial to any labour force, but especially so in Phuket, where migrant workers are in high demand,” said V/Gov Chokdee.
“All of these workers must have the nationality confirmed before they can register and get work permits,” he said.
“All migrant workers must be registered according to immigration law to avoid human trafficking and to ease international tension, because Thailand is still categorized as Tier 3.”
In July, the United States kept Thailand on the bottom Tier 3 in its new report on human trafficking, placing it among the worst human-trafficking locales in the world and at risk of US sanctions. (See story here.)
At the meeting, PEO acting chief Phutarat Maneerat reported, “We have 10,196 employers and a total of 75,873 registered migrant workers – 74,321 Myanmar nationals, 842 Laotians and 710 Cambodians – currently legally working with work permits – and whose family members staying here have also been registered.
“The Phuket Employment Office recently held a meeting between employers, business operators, community leaders and other departments so they all can learned the process of registration for migrants workers and other immigration law involve Myanmar, Lao and Cambodian workers.”
Already employed with nationality checks done, details registered and work permits issued were 22,520 workers who registered through the PEO’s One Stop Service, and 33,392 who registered at the PEO office, Mr Phutarat said.
A further 19,961 Laos, Myanmar and Cambodian workers had been imported by agencies under co-ordination by the PEO and were currently working in Phuket, he added.