An open letter Subject: An opinion and recommendations for the management of foreign workers pursuant to the cabinet resolution of 5 July 2022

 

16 August 2022

An open letter

Subject: An opinion and recommendations for the management of foreign workers pursuant to the cabinet resolution of 5 July 2022

Dear The Prime Minister

CC: 1. Minister of Labour

2. Director General of the Department of Employment (DoE)
3. The Business and Human Rights Committee, Ministry of Justice
4. Director of the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
5. Resident Representative – UNDP
6. President of the House Committee on Labor, the House of Representatives

 

On 5 July 2022, the cabinet has made a resolution on the management of foreign workers by dividing the foreign workers into two groups including foreign workers whose processing has started due to the cabinet resolutions of 13 July 2021, 29 December 2020 and 28 September 2021. They are required to obtain a visa stamp according to the procedure with the deadline having been extended to 13 February 2022. In the second group, they are foreign workers who are yet to have work permits. The cabinet requires that an employer or an agent recruiting aliens to work with employers (AREE) which have been registered to the Department of Employment have to file an application online in order to seek the employment of foreign workers. The online registration is available for 15 days from 1-15 August 2022.

 

The revision of policy concerning the registration of foreign workers without work permits will lead to the reregistration of over 500,000 foreign workers who had become undocumented due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the Migrant Working Group (MWG) and the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) which have been monitoring labour registration system have found that employers, or entrepreneurs and the AREE are encountering problems concerning the registration procedure. Complaints have been raised by various employers and their agents regarding the unstable registration system and the risk that they may not be able to submit the name list to get registered and approved before the deadline set by the government and the Ministry of Labour as follows;

 

1. Transparency regarding the policy to manage foreign workers without work permits While the Ministry of Labour was proposing to the meetings of the cabinet to approve the new round of registration of foreign workers without work permits, it appears that some agents have prepared the name lists of alien workers for the employers claiming that such name list is necessary for the new round of registration. The name lists also include reference to the Department of Employment and feature DoE’s seal stamp. Such document has given rise to doubts if it may offer privilege to some people involved with the procedure or not. Initially, DoE claims that it was simply an opinion survey, although it has stirred confusion among the employers and the employees fearing that they may miss out on the official registration system.

2. Centralization of power of the center for management of foreign workers As part of the labour registration procedure, DoE reiterates that only online filing of name list and application for work permit shall be allowed. The filing of name list is required to complete within 15 days composing of two major steps. First, the employers or the AREE are required to get registered and approved by DoE in order to have access to the online system. Then, they are required to add names to the name list and further file the list. Since such procedure requires exclusive approval from DoE in Bangkok, it has caused delay. It also requires the revision of data in the DoE’s depository system only. This has led to many problems encountered by the employers including the requirement that the application photos have to be taken with a white backdrop. If no approval at this stage can be obtained, the employers shall be unable to revise the data by themselves. They are required to refile the applications again with the DoE. As a result, some employers who have already submitted their applications five days ago have yet received the approval. This has caused worries and confusion regarding the fulfillment of the requirements.

3. The registration system not compatible with the timeframe To gain access to the online registration system, it requires one to first seek an approval, the process of which can take one to three days or even more than one week. For some employers who have successfully filed the name lists during the first week, but were later told the lists were not approved, it was unclear for them as far as DoE’s procedure is concerned, as to how they can further proceed to rectify their filing. Then from 9 to 10 August 2022, the DoE’s online registration system was shut down temporarily for maintenance while no extension of the registration deadline has been offered when the DoE was fixing the registration system. Such problems have caused concern among the employers who are preparing to file their information or awaiting the approval. Although a registration manual is provided in the DoE’s website, but it fails to answer the questions stemming from the registration system.

4. The complicated registration system by design costing more expenses The limited timeframe coupled with the design of the registration system of work permits or revision of personal documents which makes it too complicated and unstable have hampered an attempt to exercise rights among the employers and the foreign workers themselves. They are compelled to tap into help from labour recruiters or agents, the act of which may cost them around 12,000 – 18,000 baht at present even though the reasonable expense should be around 3,000 baht or so. The designing of a complicated system and procedure, the limited timeframe, and a lack of measures to monitor the levying of service fees have not only impacted the employers, but have also made foreign workers vulnerable to a cycle of debt bondage due to the incurring debt caused by the unregulated levying of fee.

5. Paving the way for illegal exploitation Following the cabinet resolution of 5 July 2022, until 9 August 2022, there was yet to be the issuance of the Notification of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Interior to allow foreign workers to stay in the Kingdom temporarily during the implementation of the procedure. Also, the extension of the deadline for foreign workers who were allowed to continue working until 13 February 2022 but have yet been able to acquire the visas stamp within 1 August 2022 as required by the previous Notification, has as a result made foreign workers of the two groups become illegal for over two weeks now. They are vulnerable to legal actions. Such delay has directly affected hundreds of thousand of employers and foreign workers and it may pave the way for the illegal exploitation by certain officials.

6. The state failed 100% regarding the implementation of the foreign worker management policy All the arising impacts attest to a lack of the state’s preparation for the management, a lack of public relations to disseminate information and clarification by the DoE. According to social media posts, it appears that only a few recruitment agencies could disseminate information from the DoE. This has led to doubts over the transparency of the implementation and has prompted some employers to solve the problems by themselves on a daily basis. Eventually, the DoE had to organize an online meeting to explain about the problems and solutions of the registration system among the employers and the AREE again.

 

Given the above problems, the Migrant Working Group (MWG) and its allies which have been working to help and enhance quality of life of foreign workers and to listen regularly to the opinions of local employers would like to submit the recommendations to the government and the Ministry of Labour. We ask for;

• A review of timeframe for registration acknowledging the existing problems concerning the management system and the complication of social problems exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and political instability in the neighboring country

• A review of the registration system by changing from the centralized system to the dual-track registration, both online and offline through various Offices of Employment available throughout the country. The state must ensure increased transparency of the procurement process concerning the development of the online labour management system

• DoE should develop IEC materials to disseminate information to the employers through various channels available to them to engender the understanding and confidence in the implementation among the employers. In addition, more channels should be made available including to receive complaints and feedback from the employers, the workers, and all concerned people. This can help to forge collaboration to revise the system.

• With collaboration from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Ministry of Labour should prepare a report of lessons learned from the policies under the enforcement of the Royal Ordinance Concerning the Management of Foreign Workers’ Employment B.E. 2560 in comparison with the General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fee and related costs. This should help to develop the management of foreign workers system in compliance with international standards set out by the ILO and compatible with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 on decent work. It will also help to encourage respect of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as Thailand is preparing the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) in Phase Two.

 

Please help to revise the policy on the management of foreign workers to ensure it helps to promote safe migration and no one shall be left behind.

 

Yours sincerely.

(Adisorn Kerdmongkhol)

Migrant Working Group’s Coordinator

 

For more information, please contact Mr. Adisorn Kerdmongkhol, Migrant Working Group’s Coordinator, phone 089 788 7138 or email: [email protected]