Thailand's employers given green light to hire all types of legal migrant workers

BANGKOK, November 19 (TNA) - The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), under the Ministry of Industry, has given its green light for employers in the country to hire all types of legally-registered migrant workers as of January 1, 2019. BOI Secretary General Duangjai Asawachintachit told journalists of the update on Monday, after the latest BOI meeting chaired by Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha, stating that the new decision is in line with the Ministry of Labour's management policy on migrant workers. Duangjai said earlier, BOI had allowed employers in Thailand to hire only legal migrant workers who entered the Kingdom under separate memoranda of understanding (MOUs) the Thai government concluded with the governments of neighboring countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar. According to the BOI chief, Monday's meeting also approved her office's promotional plans on the investment of "smart city" projects, with at least one of such required "smart" conditions as smart mobility, smart people, smart Living, smart economy, smart governance and smart energy, in targeted Thai areas and with tax incentives to be in line with the government's Thailand 4.0 Policy. Besides, the BOI's latest meeting resolved to promote FDI projects on the co-Working space business with their investment funds of at least 10 million baht each, as well as FDI projects on maker space or fabrication laboratory and innovative digital projects, while agreeing, on the other hand, to support approved FDI projects to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), through tax incentives, from November 19, 2018 to December 30, 2020. (TNA)