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ResourcesThailand Criminal LawCriminal Jurisprudence ThailandRecently Promulgated Labor Ministry Work Permit Penalties Under Review

Recently Promulgated Labor Ministry Work Permit Penalties Under Review

Transcript of the above video:

In this video, we're going to be discussing recent rule changes and sort of, not only rule changes but certain sort of backpedaling with respect to rule changes pertaining to Thai work permits and the employment authorization generally here in the Kingdom of Thailand.

So as previously noted in a prior previously posted video on this channel and noted on our websites as well as our blog, a new executive decree came down via the Royal Thai Gazette which noted that there were going to be new penalties associated with certain work authorization violations and there were going to be not only the increasing of fines but there were new violations created under the new framework. And this has pretty much caused something of a minor uproar with respect to those companies, factories, various business enterprises, farms, you know even in a domestic capacity environment, it has created some real upheaval with respect to foreign nationals being employed in Thailand.

And to be clear, we're talking mostly about Burmese those from Myanmar, those from Laos and those from Cambodia working in Thailand as there are quite a number of migrant workers of those nationalities who frequently undertake labor activities here in the Kingdom. Again, this this rule came down on the 22nd, it was pretty well immediately implemented after promulgation and it immediately started having an impact and there are even news articles out there regarding them, you know, so-called exodus as various migrant workers try to leave the country to avoid having problems with various Thai authorities, et cetera. This is a significant thing as a result.

And there are various articles that are discussing this. There's articles Khaosod English, Thaivisa.com, Coconuts. This is of wide discussion in the, sort of, expat community as it has a pretty significant impact on those foreign nationality who are wishing to work here in Thailand. But I'm just going to take note of a recent article published June 30th in the Bangkok Post. Article’s title is “PM Admits New Law Too Tough.” Ministry told to find ways to soften the blow. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has instructed the Labor Ministry to come up with urgent measures to soften the impact of the executive decree on foreign workers as the stringent new labor laws raised concern about manpower shortages in some businesses.

Basically, and I urge those viewing this video to go check out, I urge those viewing this video to check out that article directly. Basically, what's going on here is they've implemented something. There's been, for lack of better term, sort of unforeseen consequences. There's the possibility of certain economic problems raised as a result of this change in legislation. That's change in policy and change in regulation. And therefore, it looks to me as though the government here in Thailand is going to go ahead and take sort of review these things. In fact, it's been noted that they're going to take 120 days sort of moratorium period to go ahead and review the legislation in order to create better implementation.

But here's something to note and I think that this is important. This is pertaining specifically again to mostly to national, this sort of upheaval and this sort of backlash against these regulations at least on a policy level appears to only pertain to those from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia I’m betting there's something of a bit of a of an impact happening down in Malaysian border as well. But I need to be clear with this video that I don't think fundamentally, work permit, employment authorization policy is going to be too far off of what has previously been promulgated within this past 10 days here with respect to nationals from outside of ASEAN.

So what I'm saying here is I expect that they're going to figure out some way of, sort of, coming to some sort of compromise position with respect to these regulations as they pertain to those with Myanmar nationality, Lao nationality or Cambodia, Malaysian nationality. Probably even in the greater ASEAN context, I suspect that'll be the case as well. Philippine national, Singaporeans, Indonesians et cetera, there might be sort of a different framework but for so-called “farang” those from say the Anglosphere, the United States, Europe, I think that these policies are going to be enacted I think notwithstanding this recent uproar.

This is not an issue of controversy being raised with respect to, you know, Western expats here in Thailand. This is specifically pertaining to, related to nationals from bordering countries who are coming here as migrant laborers to work and they're essentially a major shall we say underpinning to the overall Thai economy. Foreign workers from other countries further abroad further afield from here in Thailand then say ASEAN. I don't think that these policies are going to be greatly changed with respect to nationals from those countries.

So basically the point to take away from this video is yes, it looks like they're going to review this go ahead and implement it fully at a later date and probably make some changes with respect to those non-Thai nationality that are migrant labor here. But those non-Thai nationality further afield, I don't think it's fair to assume that or I don't think it's safe to assume that they're going to go ahead and change policies to better accommodate those individuals. I think as noted in the previous in the previous video, people from such nationalities are going to go ahead and probably be governed by those laws as previously written or by some framework very, very similar to what's already been announced.