Cambodians take advantage of new fast-track
visa centres set up by Thailand’s military government at border crossings
Souy
Heang waited patiently in line to get his job back. The 20-year-old from Svay
Rieng province was hoping to obtain a fast-track work visa with the help of his
employer so he can return to Thailand as a fisherman.
Since
he is paid $280 a month, Heang was keen to start working again.
“I do
not know where to start,” he said at the the newly opened centre in
Aranyaprathet on Friday. “My employer is helping me to obtain a border pass,
work permit and other legal documents. Without my employer I could not do it by
myself.”
Heang
was just one of hundreds of Cambodians at the checkpoint, waiting to get their
official papers to return to Thailand.
During
the past three weeks, nearly a quarter of a million migrant workers have poured
across the Thai-Cambodian border after the military government in Bangkok
launched a massive crackdown on illegal labour.
Now
they are being asked to return and ease the pressure on an economy stripped of
cheap workers. But this time it will be official.
Three
temporary centres offering short-term work permits opened in Sa Kaeo,
Chanthaburi and Trat provinces on Thursday. A fourth will open in Surin on
Monday, Thai officials have announced. Business has been brisk.
Cambodian
workers will receive a two-month permit to enter Thailand. Once there, they
will undergo health checks before obtaining a permanent two-year work visa.
“In a
day, we can handle up to more than 3,000 people,” said Aseam Suttiruk, an
official for Sa Kaeo provincial labour department in Thailand. “Now many
workers have registered with us,” he added, pointing out that Thailand had more
than 140,000 jobs available for migrant workers.
The
fast-track service began on Thursday and will continue until July 25. Thousands
of Cambodians are expected to have their official work permits processed in a
day.
“Thailand’s
policy is not to clear [migrants] out. [We] want to manage [it better],” said
Pakkarathorn Teainchai, the Sa Kaeo provincial governor, at a press conference
in Aranyaprathet district on Friday.
Aranyaprathet
is a key border crossing from Thailand. On the Cambodian side, the town of
Poipet was turned into a refugee camp earlier this month as workers flooded
home in wake of the clampdown on illegal migrants.
While
Pakkarathorn asserted that many had left Thailand “voluntarily”, he admitted
the new system would help clean up the foreign labour industry.
“Thailand
has a new policy to manage public order in the country. [We want to] help
Cambodian migrants work legally in Thailand [and earn] a good salary based on
Thai laws.”
On
Thursday, Prime Minister Hun Sen called the mass exodus of Cambodian workers “a
violation”, which he blamed on the junta-led government. He also appealed to
coup leader general Prayuth Chan-ocha to release 13 Cambodians arrested for
allegedly using fake visas. Last week, Prayuth claimed that the rumours which
triggered the exodus were spread by “influential figures and corrupt officials”
who aimed to profit from bribes when the labourers returned.
Still,
the opening of one-stop centres in Thailand is likely to wreck the Cambodian
government’s own efforts to send workers back legally by using new procedures
such as $4 passports.
Mao
Chandara, the director-general at the General Directorate of Identificiation at
the Ministry of Interior, questioned why the Thais had not approached his
government before seeting up the processing centres.
“I
heard about the centres that were created yesterday on the Thai side,” he said.
“For me, I wonder why they are doing things on their own without discussion
with Cambodia. We thank them if this will make it easier for Cambodian migrant
workers, but they should discuss it with [us]. It’s a self-made decision from
the Thai side.”
Earlier
this week, the Phnom Penh government announced that licensed recruiters would
be able to charge a flat-fee of $49 to help workers obtain passports and
official documentation to travel to Thailand legally. But the process could
take up to 53 days. “We have talked about what can be done to shorten the
[process] and help workers [return] quickly,” he said.
Many,
though, are refusing to wait and are rushing to the new fast-track centres set
up by the Thailand military government. Sa Morn, 25, from Takeo province, was
waiting for a broker at the Poipet border yesterday, clutching a pass he had
obtained from immigration police.
He had
worked in a Thai factory for almost two years before the illegal-migrant
crackdown.
Refusing
to wait for a passport in Phnom Penh, he returned to the same broker, who
obtained the border pass for a $37 fee. “This time, I have a pass so I can
return to work in Thailand without any worry,” he said.
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