Emigration

Four Cambodian domestic workers sent to Malaysia despite an official moratorium on the practice have been repatriated amid claims of unpaid wages and harsh working conditions, though the company that recruited them has insisted that the terms of their employment didn’t technically violate the government ...

A ship, two rescue boats and a fleet of drones will be deployed in the Andaman Sea on 3 March to comb for migrants and monitor for smuggling vessels – and respond in case of a crisis. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station was launched by an ...

The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consulate Department has announced that it will halt the extension of expired passports and require officials and all citizens to apply for new passports. The move comes after sub-standard barcodes in passports issued between 2008 and 2012 caused problems when ...

More than 2400 Myanmar workers left in the lurch while Malaysia and Myanmar dispute a visa fee will have their applications processed under the previous – much cheaper – payment schedule, according to the Ministry of Labour. Myanmar recruitment agencies have been boycotting Malaysia – long ...

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to support free migration for Vietnamese returning from Laos to settle in Vietnam. The plan will be carried out in 10 provinces that border Laos including Dien Bien, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, ...

In a seeming about-face, the Cambodian government has backed away from its looming deadline to deport more than 100 Montagnards currently seeking asylum in Cambodia, instead pledging to “expedite” the process of assessing their refugee status. Following a meeting on 20 January in Phnom Penh between Interior ...

Overseas employment agencies, angry at “bullying” from the Malaysian government, have resolved to boycott the country. Agency chiefs say they will no longer send Myanmar migrant workers to Malaysia, as the recruitment industry has been monopolised by a newly instituted system that has changed the ...

After facing abuse and battery at the hands of their employer, Myanmar domestic workers in Singapore are confronted with a difficult choice: stay and press charges, in often lengthy investigations that rehash their pain, or return home and relinquish any opportunity for recompense. Ma Ei Phyu ...

Thailand is preparing to take migrant workers from three other ASEAN nations under memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community. Labour Minister General Sirichai Dithakul met on 22 December with delegates from Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia to discuss the MOUs. Thailand has already signed MoUs with Myanmar and ...

Cambodia has signed a long-anticipated agreement to resume the legal flow of domestic workers to Malaysia, putting an end to a ban introduced more than four years ago amid reports of serious migrant abuses, which had led to multiple deaths. A statement released on 10 December evening ...