Decisive legal action against illegal migrant workers imposed as of early next month

BANGKOK, June 26 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Labour, will not extend the June 30-dateline for the nationality verification and other legally-required processes, and will take decisive legal action against both migrant workers and employers as of July 1, if found failing to meet the dateline. Labour Minister Police General Adul Sangsingkeo confirmed the official stance on Tuesday, stating that there are now only 28,056 migrant workers from neighboring Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar who have not yet passed the nationality verification and the background screening processes towards the official approval and issuance of their work permits, the second-round services of which have been launched since April 23 and will be definitely closed on June 30, 2018 with no more extension. The minister told journalists that most of the remaining migrant workers from the three neighboring countries who have not yet reported to official one stop service centers (OSSCs) for the legally-required processes and who mostly worked in Bangkok and its peripheral provinces are Cambodian workers, or about 18,000 of them. According to the minister, about 1.16 million migrant workers from the three neighboring countries, or about 97.64 per cent, have already gone through the legally-required processes. The minister vowed that migrant workers who are found failing to meet the June 30-dateline will be each fined 5,000-50,000 baht and will be sent back to their home countries and will be prohibited from applying for work permits in Thailand for two years even though they will legally seek to work in the Thai Kingdom under a memorandum of understanding (MOUs) their governments have signed with the Thai government, while employers who are found failing to meet the same dateline will be fined 10,000-100,000 per migrant worker and will face a jail term of the maximum of one year, or a higher fine of 50,000-200,000 baht or both, along with a three-year ban against hiring migrant workers if they are found to have been repeatedly against the regulation. (TNA)