Thailand's military-installed Cabinet has decided to allow an additional 10,000 laborers from Burma to work in Thailand this year.
After a meeting Tuesday, Thai Labor Minister Apai Chanthanachulaka said the Cabinet will also allow about 500,000 Burmese workers whose permits expire this year on February 28 or May 30 to re-register.
The human rights organization, Amnesty International, estimates there are hundreds of thousands of Burmese workers in Thailand.
Burmese fill a wide range of jobs in industry, fisheries, manufacturing, construction, hotels and restaurants.
The Thai Cabinet also approved a verification process for Lao migrant workers, and a special type of registration to allow foreign migrant laborers to work in the strife-torn mainly Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
