Naypyidaw advises passport conversion after tightening exit rules for overseas Myanmar workers

The regime’s Department of Labor advised holders of Overseas Worker Identification Cards (OWIC), through its social media channel on the Telegram app called “Safe Migration,” on Saturday to convert their passports for jobs (PJ) to passports for visitors (PV) if they don’t currently have working visas.

A freelance service provider, who assists migrant workers in Myanmar to apply for passports, told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the conversion from PJ to PV for males under age 35 has been paused since the Labor Department issued a new rule restricting OWIC holders from leaving the country on Jan. 14.

Under the new rule OWIC holders, including migrant workers who have returned to Myanmar in recent weeks, must submit an application form requesting permission at least five working days before the date of departure from the Labor Department in Naypyidaw

Previously, they only had to notify the department via email and present the email to immigration officials at the airport to be allowed to depart. The Labor Department announced the names of 166 OWIC holders permitted to leave Myanmar on Jan. 14.

Under the 1999 Foreign Employment Law, migrant workers must hold an OWIC with a five-year term to travel overseas. This card contains detailed information about the holder, which is kept by the Ministry of Labor, which has been under military control since the coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

A migrant worker who returned to Myanmar on leave told DVB on the condition of anonymity that he was supposed to return to his job on Jan. 12 but was stopped at the Yangon International Airport by immigration officials, who told him about the new rule without him receiving any prior notice.

Males aged 18 to 35 are required to serve a minimum of two years in the military under the conscription law, which was enforced on Feb. 10, 2024.

Conscription aged men told DVB on the condition of anonymity that they had to pay immigration officials at the airport up to five million MMK ($1,250 USD) each to leave the country without changing their passports as the new requirement stipulates.