Migrant workers at a shrimp processing factory in Mahachai town in the suburb of Bangkok, Thailand. — AFP/VNA Photo

BANGKOK — Thailand’s Ministry of Labour has extended the deadline for Lao, Myanmar and Vietnamese workers to complete work-permit renewal requirements until March 31, 2026.

Thai Minister of Labour Treenuch Thienthong chaired a recent meeting of the Foreign Workers’ Management Policy Committee which was attended by a deputy permanent secretary of labour, the director-general of the Department of Employment, senior Labour Ministry officials, and representatives from relevant agencies.

The event approved an extension to address obstacles in the work-permit application process under the Cabinet resolution dated November 11, 2025, in matters related to the submission of health insurance documents, medical checks, and payment of the work-permit fee of THB900 THB (US$29).

The deadline, previously set for February 24, 2026 for Lao, Myanmar and Vietnamese workers, has been extended to March 31, 2026, to prevent these workers from falling out of the system and becoming undocumented.

Treenuch said a total of 375,038 people out of 890,786 have still been unable to complete the process, so the meeting set measures to resolve pending issues in work-permit applications for foreign workers of the three nationalities. The move aimed to prevent labour shortages in the business sector and ensure production and national labour stability.

The Labour Ministry will submit the meeting’s outcome to the Cabinet for further consideration and approval, the minister noted.

She also instructed the Department of Employment to urgently draft a Labour Ministry notification on granting special permission for Lao, Myanmar and Vietnamese nationals to work in Thailand, in line with the November 11, 2025 Cabinet resolution, as quickly as possible. — VNA/VNS