The regime Ministry of Labour has capped the number of migrant workers each overseas employment agency in Myanmar can recruit per month starting on Tuesday.

“Even before the limitation, the overseas employment market was in ruins with many agencies going out of business,” an overseas employment agency owner told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Over 600 overseas employment agencies operate in Myanmar.

Fifty migrant workers per agency will be allowed to go to Thailand. Fifteen will be allowed to work in Japan. Ten will be allowed to work in South Korea, and five will be allowed to work in Singapore, according to the agencies. 

These restrictions are viewed by the agencies as an attempt to restrict men aged 18 to 35 from leaving the country as they are required to serve in the military for at least two years under the conscription law, which was enforced on Feb. 10, 2024.

The ministry instructed the agencies to adjust their recruitment demand letters submitted before Jan. 30 to reflect the new quotas and resubmit them. It stated that each agency can submit a recruitment demand letter only once a month. 

Overseas employment agencies can submit a request to the ministry for demand letters that allow them to recruit. Previously, they could request an unlimited number of demand letters and recruit as many workers as they could find.

A foreign employer, or recruitment agency, issues a demand letter requesting a specific number of workers from Myanmar to fill job vacancies abroad. 

Regime-controlled embassies in foreign countries verify the letters and submit their findings and remarks to the ministry in Naypyidaw through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

According to overseas employment agencies, nearly 70,000 workers that have signed employment contracts are waiting to receive their Overseas Worker Identification Cards (OWIC) as the process was scheduled to resume on March 20 after a month-long hiatus.

Under the 1999 Foreign Employment Law, migrant workers must hold an OWIC with a five-year term to travel for overseas employment. The Ministry of Labour keeps detailed information about the OWIC holder.