Cambodian workers stuck in Thailand can continue working for six months

The Thai Interior Ministry has announced that documented Cambodian migrants may remain in Thailand to continue working for six months on humanitarian grounds.

The announcement, signed by Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, was published in the Royal Gazette on August 8 and is now effect.

It applies to Cambodian nationals who were hired as seasonal workers to harvest farmed crops or as daily workers, who usually come to work in Thailand in the morning and return to Cambodia in the evening, but whose work permits have expired and are now stranded in Thailand, due to the closures of border checkpoints during the border tensions.

To be able to continue working in Thailand, the Cambodians are required to report to Thai immigrant officials within 15 days of the announcement being published in the Royal Gazette. After that, they are required to report to immigration every 30 days.

At the end of the six-month grace period, they can stay in Thailand for a further seven days, to make preparations for their journey back to Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the Chanthaburi-Trat Task Force of the Thai Navy has reported the arrests of 46 Cambodians, including some children, in Pong Nam Ron district of Chanthaburi province on Tuesday, after they snuck across the border from Oddar Meancheay province, with the help of a suspected Thai human trafficker who was also arrested.

Rear Admiral Parach Rattanachiayaphan, deputy spokesman for the Thai Navy, said that Cambodians continue to stream back into Thailand seeking work, after they returned en masse to Cambodia at the urging of the Cambodian government, who had promised them better jobs.

They discovered, however, that there were no jobs, as promised, and many have decided to return to Thailand, he added.

Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians returned to Cambodia during and after the fierce armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia late last month.