Mizzima
Overseas workers returning to Myanmar on leave can only return to their jobs abroad if they can prove they have paid 2 per cent tax and remitted 25 per cent of their salary to Myanmar through official channels.
Myanmar people who want to go work overseas must have an Overseas Worker Identification Card (OWIC) to be allowed to leave the country.
The junta Ministry of Labour announced that it will only re-issue OWIC’s to returning workers who can prove they have paid two per cent of their salary as income tax at a Myanmar embassy and remitted at least 25 per cent of their foreign earnings or 200,000 kyats a month, whichever is more, to their families through official channels.
As of 6 June 2024, overseas workers who have returned to visit Myanmar who cannot produce the necessary remittance slips showing that they send back the required amount to Myanmar through official channels and proof that they have paid tax, are not being issued with an OWIC
They have to be able to show that money was remitted using Myanmar banks or official channels such as Western Union, IME, RIA or Money Gram.
The Ministry of Labour statement also said that if those who had not paid the necessary tax visit their nearest Internal Revenue office and pay the necessary tax they will be able to receive an OWIC. It gave no details of what people who have not paid the necessary remittances can do to get an OWIC.
The official exchange rate for the Myanmar kyat is about 2,100 kyats to 1 USD, whereas the black market exchange rate is about 4,350 kyats to 1 USD, meaning that people remitting money using black market money exchangers will get more than twice as many kyats for their money than if they used the official channels where the junta insists on using an inflated set value for the kyat.
The value of the kyat is tumbling in international money markets due to the junta’s economic incompetence which means that the the gap between the official and black market kyat rates is steadily widening. But, forcing overseas workers to remit part of their wages at the official rate means that the junta can get much-needed foreign currency at less than half the rate they would have to pay for it on the open market.
It also means that overseas workers can only buy half of what they should be able to with the remittances they receive. With an inflation rate estimated to be about 27 per cent for 2023 those reduced remittances will buy even less.
The rule that all overseas workers have to send back remittances through official channels and pay tax came into effect in September 2023. Returning workers who want an OWIC must prove that they have sent back official remittances and paid taxes since then to get their OWIC.
