Junta’s restrictions on working abroad derail young men’s future plans

Names in this story have been changed to protect our sources’ security A ban by the military regime on men pursuing foreign employment has wrecked thousands of young men’s prospects for taking jobs outside Myanmar since junta officials confirmed the decision last week. A junta official told Myanmar Now on May 1 that authorities would no longer allow male Myanmar citizens to work in foreign countries if they were eligible for conscription. Its impact is likely to be far-reaching even after authorities specified a narrower age range for the ban this week. Some young men, however, are resolute in their refusal to enlist in the military and have continued to seek any available means to escape the country and the reach of a nationwide conscription law reactivated by the regime in February. Min Thu, a 24-year-old Yangon resident, has plans to leave his hometown next week. His destination is Thailand, one of the more popular refuges for young people fleeing the regime’s enforcement of mandatory military service. Having initially sought a job in Thailand’s service industry through proper, commonly used channels, he was forced to come up with a new plan when he heard that the junta was stopping men of conscription age from leaving the country for work. “We don’t know exactly when they will issue work permits for us again. They could even impose tighter policies to bar us from leaving the country,” Min Thu said. “So, I decided to leave as soon as I could.” Obtaining a blue-collar job in Thailand through employment agencies normally requires an investment of around 5m kyat (US $2,400), and the entire process of applying and receiving approval prior to leaving Myanmar takes at least five months. The abrupt ban means Min Thu may now have to pay up to 10m kyat (US $4,800) to follow a new plan involving a six-month stay in Thailand on an education visa, during which he believes he can find a good job. “Luckily, my passport is not a PJ, so I was able to change my plans on short notice,” he said, referring to a type of passport Myanmar nationals must obtain for employment abroad. “PJ holders have to wait at least three weeks to change from PJ to PV,” he added, referring to the type of passport used for visit visas. Among the thousands of Myanmar nationals hoping to find work abroad, Min Thu is lucky to be from a family that can afford the estimated cost of his stay in Thailand to escape conscription. “My family agreed to send me to Thailand because it’s the nearest country. Once I’ve secured a job, I’ll try to repay all the debts I owe them,” he said. Whom does the ban affect? Immediately after the junta’s ban went into effect on May 1, employment agencies that specialise in brokering the arrangements for Myanmar nationals continued with their usual recruitment procedures uninterrupted. Some terms of the restriction were initially unclear, although a permanent secretary at the junta’s labour ministry said it would not affect men approved to work abroad on or before April 30. However, employment agencies said they received a new notice from the labour ministry on Tuesday clarifying the parameters of the prohibition: It will apply to males between 23 and 31 years old—narrower than the age range eligible for conscription—and prevents men approved before April 30 from working abroad, according to the agencies. Therefore, virtually any 23- to 31-year-old man wishing to avoid military service—and unable to follow the same process as Min Thu—now faces a choice between crossing Myanmar’s border illegally or joining the resistance forces. After the 2021 military coup, an increasing number of young people have sought employment in foreign countries due to low wages, scarce opportunities, the depreciation of the kyat, and generally poor economic conditions at home. Ten percent of Myanmar’s workforce is employed in foreign countries according to a report released by the International Labour Organization in late 2023. An estimated 2.2 million Myanmar nationals are working in Thailand and Malaysia. The enforcement of a decade-old conscription law by the regime in February pushed more young people than ever to seek ways to leave the country, and the regime’s latest restriction will disrupt the plans and shatter the hopes of thousands seeking opportunities outside Myanmar. Hope for a better life postponed Kaung Kaung, a 36-year-old Muslim resident of Ayeyarwaddy Region who had hoped to find employment in Dubai, told Myanmar Now about the difficulties he encountered in getting a passport to work abroad. In his current job as a snack vendor, Kaung Kaung does not earn enough in a day to support his family. He made the difficult decision to sell his Chinese-made motorbike, which he used for deliveries, to cover the fees of around 600,000 kyat (US $290) charged by an agent for his passport application. However, he was unable to obtain a passport for months, he says, mostly due to his nationality being listed as “Bengali” on his national identification card. This month, he finally received news from the agent that his passport was ready to be picked up after more than a year of waiting. While he is outside the age range to which the ban applies, the trouble he experienced in getting a passport and the new restrictions have made him pessimistic about his chances for pursuing the path he planned. “Even the first step—getting a passport—has been extremely difficult. We lost all hope when they banned us from working abroad,” Kaung Kaung said. With commodity prices soaring and the value of the kyat sinking, working abroad has become a last resort for many young people to earn a decent living, he added. “Everyone is struggling, so we all want to go abroad. We are uncertain about what will come next, and we are all facing financial difficulties,” Kaung Kaung explained. Time, money, and futures lost Myanmar nationals must pass language exams to pursue blue-collar jobs in South Korea and Japan, meeting more stringent criteria before they can apply for jobs there. “We need to pass a Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level N4 to qualify for a job,” said a young man from Yangon who is planning to take the qualifying test. “For those who want to get jobs in the service industry or as care workers, there is also a job skills proficiency test.” The estimated expense for the required language training as arranged by employment agencies is between 400,000 and 500,000 kyat (US $190 to $240). However, this is on top of the 2m kyat (US $950) in minimum living expenses that a test taker can expect to pay for staying in Yangon during a six-month period of study. The fee charged by the agencies for brokering a job offer in Japan is over 10m kyat (US $4,750)—twice as much as the fee for arranging work in Thailand or Malaysia. The owner of one of these agencies told Myanmar Now that the ban could inflict huge financial losses on both the employment agencies and their clients, the workers. Ministry of labour regulations stipulate that employment agencies can only implement their recruitment procedures for workers whose demand letters from abroad have been approved by the ministry. The rule was impractical to follow, however, and before the unexpected ban many agencies initiated their procedures by requesting upfront fees for services abroad which they are now unlikely to be able to refund. “Some people from rural areas don’t contact employment agencies directly. They rely on intermediaries and brokers to help them find job opportunities, and they may lose the payments they made to those brokers,” the agent said. The agencies also stand to incur long-term financial losses now that the ban will drastically reduce their clientele. “We don’t know how long the ban will last. At this stage, it’s already caused us to lose money and waste time, but it also saddens us because it’s impeding us from pursuing our desired path,” said a young man who had made plans to work in Japan.

Junta’s restrictions on working abroad derail young men’s future plans

A notice sent to employment agencies this week said authorities would not permit men aged 23 to 31 to leave Myanmar for work, even if they were approved before the new rule went into effect

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