Hiring new migrant workers: What must employers do?

Summary of complete legal procedures. Verify all documents and register them correctly in the system to ensure business confidence.

Rules and Regulations Employers Must Know

Hiring new migrant workers involves crucial steps that cannot be avoided to prevent employers from being fined and to protect the rights of both the employer and the worker. All procedures are clearly divided into 2 main phases, as follows:

1. Document Verification Before Starting Work

Employers must verify the accuracy and expiration date of all workers' documents before allowing them to start work.

• Passport / CI

  Passport or Certificate of Identity must not have expired and must accurately and completely state the worker's information.

• Visa (VISA)

  Inspect the VISA to check the VISA type and the period of stay permitted for the worker in the country.

• Work Permit

  The work permit must specify the correct job description and the information must always be up-to-date. If not much validity is left, start the renewal early — see the steps and the document list at Work Permit Renewal for Migrant Workers.

• Notification of Departure (MOU group only)

  A notification of departure from the previous employer of the same migrant worker to transfer to work with the current employer. If the worker has not yet been notified as departed from the previous employer, that has to be cleared first — only then can the worker be notified as entering your employment. See which cases are eligible to transfer at Migrant Worker Employer Change Service.

2. Update Important Information to Be Current

After successful document verification, employers are responsible for notifying and carrying out 4 important legal procedures.

1. Worker Registration

   Notify the Department of Employment of employment within the legally prescribed timeframe. The employer's name in the system must match your current actual name.

2. Update Information in the Work Permit

   Adjust the information regarding the position, duties of the migrant worker, and current workplace to be correct as authorized.

3. Notification of Residence (TM30) for Migrant Workers

   The law requires employers or house owners to notify immigration authorities (TM30) of the foreigner's residence within 24 hours from the date of arrival.

4. Check Expiration Date of Social Security or Health Insurance

   Ensure that the coverage rights are still active as usual to prevent problems in case of emergency illness and to avoid losing coverage rights.

Want to run the MOU yourself? Where do you start?

Everything above is what an employer must do once the worker is already in hand. But if you have no workers yet and want to import new migrant workers through the MOU system yourself, the road starts several steps earlier than that.

1. Submit a labour import request (Demand) to the Department of Employment, together with company documents showing the hiring need is genuine.
2. Wait for the file to be forwarded to the country of origin so the authorities there can select workers and send the Name List back.
3. Complete the country-of-origin steps — criminal record check, health check, pre-departure training and the visa.
4. Receive the workers into Thailand and report them through the channels and within the timeframe set by the authorities.
5. Apply for the work permit, after which work can actually begin.

What most employers get stuck on is running two countries at the same time: one set of documents sits on the Thai side, another sits at the origin, and nobody follows either of them up. An MOU is not a job where you file today and get workers next week. To see the whole road before deciding, read 6 Steps for Importing MOU Migrant Workers That Employers Should Know, or if you would rather not run it yourself, see the scope of work and the service fees at MOU migrant worker import service (Laos and Myanmar).

Key Summary

"When hiring new migrant workers, the most important duty of all employers is to verify all documents and register in the system + update information regarding work, residence, and health coverage, ensuring it is accurate and complete according to the law promptly for the benefit of all parties."

If after reading this you are still not sure what your own case has to notify first and what comes later, send us the worker details and the Exworker team will look at it. We handle everything from importing migrant workers through the MOU system to the paperwork after the worker has started.