By Mu Dra - Feb 07, 2025
The military council’s Ministry of Labour has announced that 16 overseas employment agencies will be fined 100,000 kyats per month for failing to pay their penalties within the designated timeframe.
According to the ministry, 123 overseas employment agencies that have failed to pay taxes have been suspended from submitting new job demand letters. Among them, 16 agencies that do not fully comply with the ministry’s directives are now required to pay a monthly fine.
"There are over 600 local agencies providing overseas employment services, and more than 100 of them have been unable to submit the required worker lists and reports mandated by the Ministry of Labour. As a result, their operations have been halted, and they have been suspended from submitting new job demand letters. Currently, overseas employment agencies are facing severe difficulties. They are required to report to the ministry on whether or not the remittances sent by their deployed workers have reached their families. Some agencies are even covering the remittance amounts themselves to submit the reports. Now, these 16 agencies are being subjected to increased monthly fines as they failed to pay their imposed fines within the deadline. However, the names of these agencies have not yet been disclosed. Given these circumstances, some agencies no longer wish to continue operating. It’s only a matter of time before they shut down if they have to keep paying monthly fines," said an individual involved in the overseas employment agency business.
The 123 agencies whose ability to submit new demand letters has been suspended will only be allowed to resume operations after paying their fines and outstanding taxes.
According to the Ministry of Labour’s announcement, agencies must submit monthly worker deployment reports by the first day of the following month, regardless of whether they have sent workers abroad. Additionally, remittance reports must be submitted by the fifth day of the following month, whether or not they have received supporting documents.
Failure to submit these reports within the stipulated deadlines will result in further fines and the suspension of new demand letter submissions.
