The House's foreign affairs committee has urged the Foreign Ministry to speed up renewing passports for Thai workers in South Korea after discovering that more than 60,000 were waiting for new passports.
Committee chairman Noppadon Pattama said the panel had received complaints from Thai workers about passport renewal delays and had invited the Department of Consular Affairs to clarify the issue. The department acknowledged the delays and was asked by the committee to temporarily consider employing more staff and equipment to expedite renewals for workers who need their passports for identification when contacting authorities or making transactions, he said.
According to Mr Noppadon, the committee also invited the Department of Labour and the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs to update it on the situation in Israel and the living conditions of the Thai labour force there. It also asked both agencies to look to boost safety for Thai workers after learning that violence near the Israel-Lebanon border had flared, he said.
Moreover, it recommended that the Labour Ministry consider seeking charter flights to take Thai workers unable to travel to Israel to work due to an insufficient number of flights. Based on information from the Department of Labour, there are currently 3,000 vacancies in Israel's safe zones, but there is a shortage of flights to transport people there.
Meanwhile, the Senate labour committee this week visited the families of Thai workers from Buri Ram who were affected by the Hamas-Israeli conflict.
A total of 1,189 people from Buri Ram were employed in Israel when the conflict broke out in early October last year. Three were killed, and three were taken hostage by Hamas militants.