A Burmese refugee who recently received the right to work legally outside of the refugee camps said: “It’s quite difficult to survive with 1,000 baht [a month] for the family and it got worse after the aid cuts.” Working as a fruit picker, he now earns 4,000 baht per month, four times what he was making as a camp teacher.
Date: 1/26
Region: East Asia & Pacific
Country: Thailand
Topic: Refugees & Displacement, Economy & Livelihoods
Policy Lens: Migration & Mobility
Entry Type: Field Observation
Additional Context: This information was collected as part of The Aid Report’s original reporting, “From camps to crops: US aid cuts reshape refugee life in Thailand.” The feature story examined how a small number of Burmese refugees are now working legally in Thailand, and how U.S. aid cuts may have played a part in triggering the policy shift.
This quote is attributed to Htun Min Lat, whose family had been scheduled for resettlement in the U.S. at the start of 2025. That plan collapsed when the family’s visas were canceled after the Trump administration took office.
Thailand's new refugee work policy applies to refugees between the ages of 18 and 59, equating to a total of 42,600 eligible people. It does not apply to the 5,000 refugees living outside the camps or those who have more recently fled Myanmar amid the civil war, which began in 2021 after a military coup.
Source: Devex