The Finnish Embassy in Bangkok has temporarily stopped giving out new visas to Thais who want to work as berry pickers in Finland, while they work on changing the rules to make sure foreign pickers are treated fairly.
Somchai Morakotsriwan, director-general of the Department of Employment, mentioned that the visa suspension is to allow representatives from Thailand and Finland to create plans to ensure better employment protection for the workers.
Applications for visas for other reasons are still being accepted, he added.
Somchai stated that employers who agreed to take Thai nationals to work in Finland must cover all the expenses involved in getting them to Finland. He also said that the revised rules will make sure things are clear and protect the workers from mistreatment by employers.
According to Somchai, in the long run, Thai workers going to Finland should be arranged on a government-to-government basis, so workers can be better protected and abusive employers can be punished.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has been told about the visa issuance suspension and has directed the Thai Foreign Ministry to help, because he does not want this issue to impact the ongoing talks on pre-travel visa exemption between the two countries, said Somchai.
