On a July afternoon in the Thai coastal town of Samut Sakhon southwest of Bangkok, hundreds of Myanmar migrants queued in the rain outside a government office, one of the last places in Thailand where they can get a Certificate of Identity, or CI, which allows them to live and work legally in the kingdom.
Until very recently, similar scenes played out at seven other such offices across Thailand. But on July 7, the government shut those offices, leaving hundreds of thousands of Myanmar workers fretting about how to get hold of the vital paperwork.
“After the other centers closed, about 900 people would come to the center per day,” said one job broker in Samut Sakhon, who helps migrants get the documents, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Thailand is home to about two million people from Myanmar toiling in jobs in agriculture, hospitality, fishing, manufacturing and other sectors, but labor advocates say that many live undocumented after arriving through the porous border.
Thousands have fled for their lives after protesting against a 2021 military coup and again in early 2024 when the military began conscripting young people into their army, and the closure of the CI offices has sent shockwaves through the community.
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Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, estimates that more than 200,000 Myanmar nationals still need to apply for a CI, saying that some have not been able to afford the fees and may need more time.
Workers caught without documentation can be sent to prison, hit with heavy fines and deported, under Thai law.
“It’s really dangerous for the migrant workers,” said Htoo.
The government has said that workers have had sufficient time to apply for the proper paperwork since the offices opened in October. The Department of Employment did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.
Fewer options
For many migrant workers, the alternatives to obtaining the CI are daunting. They can risk returning to Myanmar – which has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup – to try to get a passport but they run the risk of being refused or of being drafted into the army. Or they can approach the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok to ask for a passport, a prospect that terrifies those who fled for political reasons.
“It will be more difficult. I have many friends who are trying to get a CI, but they won’t get it if the offices are closed,” said one man living on the border who asked to remain anonymous to protect his status to stay in Thailand.
The man said he applied and received his CI in 2023 near Bangkok, but his friends may not be so lucky, adding that more than 15 people from his circle of friends won’t be able to make a similar trip hundreds of kilometers south to Samut Sakhon for fear of arrest and the cost of travel.
"They're trying to think how to do it but they don't really know. They're living here with police cards," he said, referring to an unofficial system by which migrants pay a monthly fee to local police to avoid arrest. "The police are always asking for documents and they arrest our people who don't have them so it will be hard."
But labor advocates argue this ignores the complex realities faced by migrant workers.
Brahm Press, director of the Migrant Assistance Program in Thailand, said the CI was a vital first step for people trying to set themselves up in Thailand, especially for those in fear of persecution by the Myanmar junta.
“The problem is that when documents expire, people who are in Thailand and don’t want to return and don’t want the government to know where they are, they're the ones who are going to have the problem,” Press said “The CI is kind of the starting point for re-entering the system.”
The Foundation for Education and Development’s Htoo shares similar concerns.
“Who’s going to provide it? If you didn’t have a CI or you didn’t want to work with the Myanmar government, where are you going to get this kind of certificate?” he said.
Additional reporting by Pimuk Rakkanam. Edited by Taejun Kang.