Minister orders faster verification system for foreign workers after staff reshuffle

Employment Department director-general Anurak Tossarat said yesterday that Adul expected the centres to work faster and provide greater convenience to service users. 
Provincial employment offices under the department’s supervision are in charge of the centres. 
There are nine nationality verification centres for Myanmar workers in Thailand. Two of them are located in Samut Sakhon province, and the others are in Samut Prakan, Tak, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nakhon Sawan, Ranong and Songkhla provinces. There are also two mobile units at Imperial World Samrong in Samut Prakan province. 
For Cambodian workers, there are three verification centres in Thailand in Bangkok, Rayong and Songkhla provinces. 
Laotians, meanwhile, can have their nationality verified at IT Square shopping complex in Bangkok’s Lak Si district. 
“To speed up the process, we have improved the queuing system and set up signs to inform service users at every step,” Anurak said. 
He said that nearly 2 million Myanmar, Cambodian and Laotian workers were waiting for nationality verification. 
Last month, the former labour minister, General Sirichai Distakul, resigned along with senior ministry staff after a dispute that appeared to be associated with the slow rate of enrolling foreign workers.
Several stipulations in the labour law governing foreign workers have been suspended until the end of this year. During the grace period, workers and their employers have been urgently trying to ensure that their employment is legal. 
After the end of the suspension, the law will involve harsher punishments for people employing illegal workers. 
People who employ foreigners illegally will face fines of between Bt400,000 and Bt800,000 for each illegal worker. Foreigners found working without a work permit face fines of between Bt2,000 and Bt100,000, or imprisonment of up to five years.