The regime’s Labour Minister stated on Sunday that around 15,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand have applied for the Certificate of Identity (CI), a regime-issued identification documentation valid for five years, at its five CI centers in Thailand since Oct. 14.
“We expected to process around 4,000 to 5,000 applications a day, which would have brought the total to hundreds of thousands by now,” said Maung Myint, adding that due to “various interferences” the regime has processed around 15,000 CI for migrants,
The regime in Nyapyidaw estimates around 750,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand are undocumented.
His remarks come amid a campaign by a group representing Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, which stated on Nov. 6 that it had collected more than two million signatures from its members between Nov. 1-6, petitioning the National Unity Government (NUG) to issue its own identification documents instead of the CI.
“It has only been a few days, but we can already see how much Myanmar workers in Thailand want an official document issued by the NUG,” Nay Myo Zin, an interim committee member of the Myanmar Migrant Workers’ Representative Coordinating Committee in Thailand, told DVB.
The campaign, hoping to receive three million signatures, has yet to disclose the total number it received up to Nov. 8.
The NUG Ministry of Social, Labour and Humanitarian Affairs declined to respond to DVB regarding the campaign, adding that publicly discussing its activities could invite interference from the “opposition.”
Thailand’s Labour Minister Julapun Amornvivat said on Nov. 6 that the government had raised concerns with Myanmar over its requirement for migrant workers to remit 25 per cent of their earnings and submit payslips from the previous three to six months to obtain CI documents, Thai media reported.
In addition to the mandatory remittance, obtaining a CI can cost more than 5,000 THB ($149 USD), nearly double the official fee of 2,660 THB ($78 USD), due to “additional expenses” such as broker service fees, migrant workers told DVB. Workers from Myanmar are also subject to a tax of two per cent on all income earned abroad.
A CI serves as a passport substitute but is valid only in Thailand, meaning holders cannot travel to countries other than Myanmar. It can be obtained at five CI centers in Thailand, located in Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Surat Thani, Chonburi, and Chiang Mai provinces.
Registered Myanmar migrant workers without passports must hold a CI and a Thai-issued identification document known as a “pink card”, named after its color and valid for 10 years, to legally reside and work in Thailand, and to move freely within its border.
Myanmar’s regime-controlled Ministry of Labour stated that more than 429,000 CI documents were issued to migrant workers in Thailand between February and Aug. 16, 2026.
The Thai Labour Ministry reported on Oct. 14 that about 4.1 million Myanmar nationals are working in the country. It remains a major destination for Myanmar migrants, with numbers increasing following the 2021 military coup and the enforcement of the 2024 conscription law.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) states that over 2.3 million Myanmar nationals were registered as migrant workers in Thailand in March 2024.
