Myanmar’s junta has stopped issuing permits to men who want to work abroad, weeks after the introduction of a military conscription law that led to thousands of people trying to leave the country.
The junta, which is striving to suppress widespread armed opposition to its government, said in February that it would implement a law allowing it to call up all men to serve in the army for at least two years. This prompted thousands of people to queue for visas at foreign embassies in Yangon, while others tried to cross the border into neighboring Thailand to escape the law.
Therefore, the Ministry of Labor decided to “temporarily suspend” accepting applications from men who wish to work abroad. The ministry says this measure is necessary “to verify departures and other issues.”
According to an International Labor Organization estimate that cites data from the then government, in 2020, more than 4 million Burmese citizens worked abroad. However, this number may be much higher, since many of them – as analysts point out – work abroad illegally.
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