Phuket migrant worker center to combat slavery to open July 22, as deadline looms

PHUKET: Phuket’s one-stop registration center where employers will be able register their illegal migrant workers will be open for 30 days, starting on July 22.

“The center will be located at the Phuket Provincial Community Hall in Phuket Town,” Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) Chief Yaowapa Pibulpol confirmed to the Phuket Gazette today.

“The one-stop center will be open from July 22 to August 20. We will work every day from 8:30am until 4:30pm.

“We will be able to register 600 laborers per day. The application process will take only one day and cost 1,300 baht.”

Employers will have only the 30-day grace period during which they can register their employees, Ms Yaowapa warned earlier this month (story here).

“After the deadline, both illegal workers and their employers will be prosecuted,” she said.

The purpose of the one-stop centers, initiated by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), is to streamline the process of registering illegal immigrants (story here).

The NCPO order is aimed at eradicating slavery nationwide. Before companies can register their illegal workers, however, they must report the names of all their workers – illegal and legal – to the PPEO.

Fishing operators have two more days, until July 21, to report all their workers’ names (story here).

Non-fishing industry employers, including construction companies operating in Phuket, had to report all names by July 15 (story here).

— Woranut Pechdee