On 20^th January (or in just 8 working days) the end of the
“permission to stay and work in Thailand for one year, pending
deportation” for 61, 543 Burmese, Cambodian and Laotian migrants who
“illegally” entered the country will arrive. As the first migrant
work permit renewal deadline of the year it is somewhat different to
past deadlines however. For if any of these workers refuse to go
through the Royal Thai Government’s (RTG) Nationality Verification
(NV) process, policy announcements suggest they will be deported.
Whether deportation starts then or on 28^th February (the “final”
deadline to agree to NV or be deported for the other million or so
registered migrants whose work permits expire on that day) remains
unclear.

NV is the RTG’s policy to formalise the status of some of the
approximately 2 million migrants from Burma, Cambodian and Laos
currently working in Thailand. These workers contribute an estimated
5-6% of Thailand’s GDP and make up around 5% of the nation’s
workforce. For these workers who work in Thailand’s most dangerous,
dirty and demeaning jobs, NV is apparently required because they left
their countries without permission and entered Thailand “illegally”.
They are currently nationality-less labourers. As around 90% of these
workers are from Burma and in the most unenviable position of all,
urgent attention must be given to this group.

Migrants from Burma have since 2008 been given a clear choice by the
RTG. Whatever their ethnicity or personal histories, they must send
their biographical details to the Burmese government and see if it
agrees that they are “Burmese.” If “no,” no-one yet knows what
would happen to them as the RTG has yet to make any policy
announcements on this issue and it is unclear where they could be
deported to. But if “yes,” they can request permission from the
Ministry of Interior to leave their province of registration and
return for NV in Burma (N.b. Cambodian and Laotian workers have the
luxury of their officials coming to see them in Thailand, but Burma
has for years refused such a sensible step giving the RTG an
understandable headache!). If once migrants arrive in Burma they are
not arrested (rumours continue to abound they will be) and are
“approved” of as being Burmese, they will get a 3-year 100 Baht
(3, 000 kyat) “temporary” passport. These “Burmese” nationals
then return to Thailand “legally” and receive a 500 baht 2-year
visa. Total costs 600 baht.

However, the NV process is not as easy as it seems. It is 13-steps,
involving at least 3 Thai ministries, the Burmese embassy in Bangkok
and a few more Burmese ministries. Unless you like adventure,
employers and migrants are well advised to hire a broker for the
journey. According to a Ministry of Labour’s (MoL’s) statement on
22^nd December 2009 in response to a Thai PBS documentary on these
brokers, the ever increasing number of broker companies are approved
by the Burmese Embassy and have nothing to do with the MoL. This is
despite the fact they are all based in and registered in Thailand.

Costs for NV increase from around 600 Baht to 6, 000 Baht with a
broker. And that does not include the yearly fees for a work permit
(1, 800), health check up (600 baht) and health insurance (1, 300
baht). For migrants who often earn as little as 4 - 5, 000 baht per
month, it’s a small fortune most would prefer to send to their
families in Burma. Most still have not paid off debts for the last
work permit renewal. Costs are just one part of the equation however.
Security risks associated with the involvement of the Burmese
government in NV weigh heavily on migrant’s minds, as does the
suspected relationship between NV and the 2010 Burmese elections.

However there seems to be more pressing problems. The MoL has yet to
announce its policy on renewal of migrant work permits that expire on
20^th January or 28^th February 2010. The RTG has also yet to officially
announce what it will do given that as a result of high costs, lack of
transparency, perceived insecurity, multi-layered bureaucracy and a
lack of public awareness (by both migrants and employers) associated
with NV, in almost one year only around 6, 000 migrants from Burma
have completed the process. In addition, NV relates just to the 1
million plus migrants currently “registered.” There are at least a
million more workers “unregistered.”

The Alien Workers Management Committee (AWMC) apparently decided on
21^st December 2009 that it would submit the following recommendations
to the Cabinet to deal with this unfortunate mess: (1) An extension of
NV from Feb 28^th 2010 for 2 years to allow all those concerned to get
their act together and make NV a success; (2) Only migrants who are
currently registered and agree to NV should be allowed to stay in
Thailand and renew their work permits during these 2 years. For
others, mass deportation presumably starts?

The RTG seems to be making it clear that 28^th February 2010 is the end
of the era of year on year piecemeal migrant registration in Thailand
and the move to NV. Thailand will no longer allow the country to be
overrun by “illegal” migrants and all import and export of
migrants must now be formalised between governments. MoUs with
Cambodia, Laos and Burma must be made to work effectively. All eyes
are now on the Cabinet (perhaps during the meeting on 12^th January)
where the AWMC recommendations shall either be approved, modified or
rejected.

HRDF’s Migrant Justice Programme (MJP) comes into contact daily with
migrants from Burma whose work permits expire on 20^th January. Fear,
sleepless nights and stress is building in migrant communities. What
if work permits are not renewed, especially for the significant number
of migrants who have been working and living in Thailand for more than
10 years now? Migrants are considering if they shall have to go
underground within days, or even just give up with a free deportation
journey home to Burma to start a new chapter in their confusing lives.

As usual, the policy decision from the Cabinet is keenly awaited by
migrant communities from Burma and makes once again for their
precarious existence. But this year the executive decision is later
than usual in coming. If all this is formalised on 12^th January that
leaves just 5 working days for over 60, 000 migrants (if they have
agreed to NV) to renew their work permits. Migrants, employers and
officials feel a last-minute administrative headache coming on again.

But more worryingly, is 20^th January also the first round of mass
deportations of those migrants who refuse to go through NV, with the
second round coming soon after on 28^th February? At MJP, we also hear
daily what migrants who refuse to go through NV think about returning
to life in Burma. Given many refusing to go through NV are from
Burma’s ethnic minorities, we hear about their past lives in Shan,
Karen or Mon States. We also hear what they think about going
underground again and the pressures on them as being for years the
breadwinner’s for their families.

Which leaves us too eagerly awaiting the RTG’s policy regarding the
potentially mass deportations of such huge numbers of migrants,
especially after the recent international attention given to Hmong and
Rohingya incidents. We receive some comfort from Thailand’s
statement in the UN’s Human Rights Council on 2^nd June 2009 in which
it said “Thailand attaches importance to the rights of all migrant
workers, and well recognizes their valuable contribution to our labour
market.” But the recent return home of thousands of Hmong sends a
shiver up our spines. We are concerned at this time not only for our
friends and our communities, but also for employers and the Thai
economy, which continues to be heavily dependent on these workers.

Mass deportation is surely not possible, right? But if mass
deportation did go ahead, would the government ensure it was
“real” deportation and not the usual arrest and costly release
processes we have all seen for years? Would migrants return to
Thailand on the same day as they were deported to Burma and things go
on as normal?

The migrant worker issue in Thailand will in 2010 take on increased
importance. Let’s hope that the winners are migrants, their
employers and the economy, and the losers irregular migration,
bureaucracy, lack of transparency and even violence.