Renewal date reminder for foreign labor

PHUKET: The one-year permits for registration of Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian laborers expire on September 25, the Phuket Employers Club (PEC) reminded members yesterday. The rules have also been tightened, the PEC said. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare will allow only laborers who already have work permits to renew for another year. In addition, this year, freelance foreign laborers will not have their permits renewed; they must find full-time employers willing to hire and register them for 12 months. But, said Pornchai Chantarachuwanich, a member of the PEC committee, “The club will raise these issues [with the Ministry] because we need more laborers. The regulations should be changed to meet employers’ needs.” There are 17,000 legal foreign laborers in Phuket, registered in six job areas: construction, fisheries, factories, livestock, agriculture and domestic service. Laborers may not move to another province but, at the time of reregistration, they may change employers. Employers have quotas and are allowed to replace workers who go home. Renewal of permits must be undertaken between September 15 and October 15 at the Provincial Employment Services Office, between 8:30 am and 4:30pm, seven days a week. Registering an employee is a complex process and involves considerable expense for employers with large workforces. The application fee is 1,950 baht per worker. Documents to accompany the application form include a copy of the employer’s ID card, house registration and business registration, the employee’s old work permit and a map of the workplace. Employers will also be required to take each worker to a government hospital for a health check, at a date to be announced. This will cost 300 baht for the check-up, plus an additional 1,200 baht for health insurance. In addition, every laborer must also submit to having prints taken of all 10 fingers, again at a time and place to be announced.