Labor Management Committee to Extend Work Permits for 370,000 Foreign Workers

On February 21, 2024, Treenuch Thienthong, Minister of Labor, chaired a meeting of the Labor Management Policy Committee to address work permit issues for foreign workers. The committee approved an extension for resolving documentation and payment challenges for workers from Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Currently, 375,038 out of 890,786 foreign workers have pending work permit applications, which could potentially lead to illegal worker status and labor shortages in various business sectors. The ministry will propose the recommendations to the Cabinet for final approval and has been instructed to draft a special work permit announcement for these three nationalities as soon as possible.