Myanmar citizens trying to travel abroad for work have been prevented from leaving the country after the junta brought in new restrictions at airports last week.
Immigration staff at airports began turning travelers away on Friday after the junta-controlled labour ministry issued new rules requiring anyone leaving the country for work to have an Overseas Workers Identification Card, or OWIC, as well as a PJ passport.
In the past, people with passports issued for non-work visits, called PV passports, were also allowed to work abroad. Now, people with PV passports are reportedly being turned away if they also have work visas.
“They are just creating new laws as they please,” said a worker who is trying to leave the country to work in Singapore. “It’s really troubling for those of us who are trying to work abroad.”
The OWIC, also known as the smart card, was first introduced in 1999 but its use was never enforced, meaning many people leaving Myanmar for work have never been issued such cards or have never even heard of them.
Several people in recent days have been turned away just before boarding their planes “for not having smart cards,” the worker said.
He added that he was among 100 workers who were barred from chartering an MAI plane to fly to Singapore this month. “We do not want such ridiculous laws during times of peril like this,” he said.
He speculated that the junta has tightened the rules now in order to benefit local job agencies that want the emigration process to be complicated so foreign employers cannot hire people directly from Myanmar, which would force workers to use the agencies’ services.
One woman who wrote on Facebook about being turned away at the airport said she had not been given any clear information about the new restrictions.
She added that the disruption has cost her around 3,000,000 kyat in travel fees, Covid-19 testing fees and other expenses and that she has lost her job offer. She does not know when she will be able to get a smart card, she added.
Myanmar’s economy has collapsed in recent months and foreign investors have fled amid the violence and chaos triggered by the military’s February 1 coup.
With GDP set to shrink drastically and jobs becoming scarce, many have borrowed money so they can afford to go abroad for work.
The new restrictions are likely to compound the hopelessness felt by workers across the country, and may make it difficult or impossible for those already abroad to visit home, for fear that they won’t be able to leave again.
The immigration ministry said in an order to its staff on Friday that the new restrictions were based on instructions from the labour ministry and were aimed at preventing criminals and unlicensed organisations from sending workers abroad.
The labour ministry’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
Many families in Myanmar rely on remittances from relatives working in Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the UAE, Qatar, Macao, Jordan and elsewhere.
