By Hanthar Hein - Mar 27, 2025

On March 27, the Ministry of Labour announced that agencies are now only permitted to submit overseas job demand letters for a maximum of 10 workers a month per agency for all other countries apart from Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Since March 22, the ministry has been publishing daily updates in the state-run newspapers detailing the worker quota limits per destination country. The latest announcement confirms a monthly allowance of 50 workers for Thailand, 15 for Japan, 10 for South Korea, 5 for Singapore, and 20 for Malaysia. For all other countries, only 10 workers per agency per month will be allowed.

“There are countries like Laos in that ‘other countries’ category, and Laos often demands 50 to 100 workers. It’s becoming difficult with the new 10-worker cap. Agencies plan to meet and present the challenges they face regarding these restrictions from the Ministry of Labour,” said a licensed agency representative.

Any job demand letters submitted before January 30, 2025, that exceed the 10-worker limit will need to be revised and resubmitted to comply with the new rule.

New demand letter submissions will be accepted starting from May 2.

The Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation has also scheduled a meeting with its member agencies on March 28 to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the current overseas deployment process, as dictated by the daily announcements from the Department of Labour. The outcome will be submitted to the department for further consideration.