Cambodia Offers Cheap Passport to Help Workers Return to Thailand

"Nearly 200,000 Cambodians have fled Thailand in recent days."

Since the military coup Poi pet has been transformed into an aid camp teeming with hundreds of soldiers, relief workers workers as thousands of migrants poured into the town, arriving in overcrowded Thai detention vehicles, cattle trucks and buses.

32 year-old Chan Ny has just returned from Thailand…she says it’s too dangerous to be an undocumented worker there now.

“We need to be careful now about your safety, we need all the right documents to avoid persecution by the Thai military.” 

Near her is Vong Non. He has been working as a construction worker in Thailand undocumented for years.  With the military junta in power she no longer feels safe doing that.

“It is easy for us to be arrested if we don’t have a passport and then we will not get our wages. Our bosses can ask the police to arrest us. When we heard stories about this happening we decided to come home.”

Cambodia is trying to stop the exodus of workers from Thailand by dramatically dropping the price of a passport to 4 dollars instead of 135 dollars. 

The low fee applies only to those applying through Cambodia's labour department or licensed recruitment companies.

Executive director of the aid group CARAM, Ya Na Vuth says the process still lacks transparency.

“It’s cheap to get a passport but the process is still very complex and there is still rampant rampant corruption in the bureaucratic system. That’s why so many people migrant illegal to Thailand and it’s also fuels human trafficking.  We called on the both the Thai and Cambodia governments to do more to ensure Cambodians workers safety.”

Vorn Ra is an undocumented worker who has just return from Thailand. He would like to get a cheap new passport but says he can’t afford the journey to the capital.

“My friends and I are so disappointed that we have to go to the capital to get the passport.  It’s so far from my village and the process is very difficult for us.”

At least two hundred thousand Cambodian migrant workers are still working in Thailand.

22 year-old Lun Thun plans to try and return as soon as possible. She says staying at home is not an option .

“If we decide to stay in our country we will die because we have nothing to eat.”

The Thai military junta says they are not anti-immigration but want to encourage undocumented workers to seek employment through proper channels.

• Cambodia
• passport
• migration
• Thailand
• Borin Noun