Illegal migration of unskilled labour from bordering countries into Thailand is
currently an important topic of great concern in Thailand. Despite the government efforts to
reduce the number of illegal labour migrants during the past five years by preventing new
entrants, regularizing those already employed and in need by employers as well as
arresting and repatriating violators of the law, the number of illegal labour migrants in
Thailand has not much declined and is still very high at an estimate of at least one million
persons.
Being illegal with no personal information registered in any Thai official record, the
presence of a large number of such migrants is viewed as a possible threat to Thailand’s
national security and public safety. Furthermore, as the Thai economy is still suffering from a
severe crisis and unemployment of Thai workers has increased markedly during the past 3
years, the availability of cheap labour from a large pool of illegal labour migrants is viewed
as reducing the opportunities for employment of Thai workers and their wages. As the rate
of contagious disease among labour migrants is also very high, the impact on Thailand
public health has also become an issue of great concern.