Myanmar refugees get Thai IDs and legal work access

Myanmar refugees living in camps in Thailand are receiving non-citizen identity cards and permission to work legally, a change that lets some leave long-isolated border shelters for paid jobs.

Thailand began issuing the cards in June after decades in which Myanmar refugees and their children were barred from leaving camps and working legally. The Thai interior ministry said about 4,600 people from Myanmar living in camps sought permission to work legally from October 2025 to July this year.

They are a small share of the about 80,000 people who have fled conflict in Myanmar and live in nine camps along the border, according to UN figures.

At a farm in Nakhon Sawan province, 25-year-old Ney La Jaw said he now earns about 3,000 baht, or $90, a week after spending much of his life in Mae La refugee camp. “I send all of my money home to my mom” in the camp, he said.

In Prachinburi province, 15 displaced people collected new ID cards at a district office in July. Gay Lah, who fled to a Thai camp with her family as a child, said the card meant she no longer had to be afraid when travelling.

UNHCR welcomed Thailand's move in June, calling it a “landmark step towards inclusion, protection and self-reliance” for one of the world's most protracted refugee populations. The agency said more than 5,500 refugees had joined the workforce since October.

Thailand does not legally recognise refugees or offer asylum, but it began authorising legal employment for longstanding refugees last year.

Myanmar's civil war, triggered by a 2021 military coup, has sent more people across the border into Thailand. Myanmar's leader, ex-junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, arrived in Bangkok on Thursday, and the two countries signed an agreement on labour cooperation.