The Migrant Workers’ Rights Network has demanded five conditions from the Thai Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare on Tuesday.

The conditions include giving passports to Myanmar immigrants inside Thailand or at border areas after their visas expire, negotiations between the Thai and Myanmar governments over visa extensions and to allow visa extensions for workers inside Thailand or at border areas.

The remaining two demands seek to ease the process of issuing passports to pink-card holders and to ensure transparency in all procedures to protect migrant workers from over-charging and exploitation.

The Migrant Workers’ Rights Network was formed in 2009 in Mahachai with an aim of protecting Myanmar expats in Thailand and to ensure their basic labour rights. The network now has 4,511 members.

The Myanmar Embassy in Thailand takes between four and six months to issue a passport to a migrant worker, while it only takes 10 days inside Myanmar.

The network has urged the embassy to adopt a more time-efficient procedure for issuing passports to Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.