Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bangkok Under Fire on Immigration Policy

New Rules, Which Demand Compliance by March 2, Could Cause Massive Deportation of Migrant Workers

MARCH 1, 2010
By PATRICK BARTA
The Wall Street Journal

Pressure is mounting on Thai authorities to rescind or delay new immigration rules that could cause hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to face deportation and drive up business costs in one of Southeast Asia's most important economies, human-rights workers say.
The rules, which demand compliance by Tuesday and which require some 1.5 million migrants to register with Thai authorities and prove their nationalities, or be kicked out, are adding to recent concerns about overreliance on imported labor in Asia's wealthier countries.
Other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, have increasingly drawn on low-cost foreign workers to help them stay competitive with China and India. Malaysian palm-oil plantation owners count heavily on labor from Bangladesh or Nepal to keep wages low.

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