Hundreds line up for passport renewal at Myanmar Embassy in Thailand

Hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers waited in a long queue in front of the Myanmar Embassy to Thailand on 7 January to receive tokens to get an appointment for passport renewals, said Myanmar workers in Bangkok.
“Some have queued since yesterday. When we arrived at the embassy in the morning, the number reached 2,000. As the embassy gives a token between 9 am and 12 pm, thousands of people could not get one,” said Ko Ye Lin Aung from Pakokku, who is working at a restaurant in Bangkok.
“The embassy is fully booked until mid-February for now. Myanmar Embassy to Thailand notified the citizens working in Thailand of the token system on 7 January to renew a passport from 7 January. The tokens can be requested between 9 am and 12 pm on Saturdays.
The embassy gives priority to those workers whose passport validity has already expired. Those expired passport holders can renew the passports in proper sequence, as per the statement. The representatives are not allowed and it can be done only in person. Those passports with certain validity cannot be renewed.
At present, all the passport offices in Myanmar have been temporarily suspended since early January 2023, posing the citizens’ difficulty to renew their passports. Halting passport service raised the concerns of those willing to go abroad. — TWA/EMM