Temporary Suspension of Employment Contract Registration for Expats?

Under the Ministry of Labor, Immigration, and Population Notification No 140/2017, in addition to it being an obligatory requirement that the employment contract (the “EC”) is executed with employers having more than five employees, it is also subject to approval from the relevant township or district labor exchange office.

Until recently, the EC registration requirement concerned local and expat employees working for service companies registered with DICA and those holding an MIC Permit. However, taking into account the continuous work on the draft of Foreign Workers Act, under internal instructions, township and district labor offices have suspended the registration of ECs for expats who are not employed by a company that was granted a Myanmar Investment Commission Permit.

It should be noted, however, that all contracts of local employees and expat employees working for MIC companies are still allowed to be registered.

It is not clear whether it is only a temporary suspension and how long it will last. Cannot be excluded that until the Foreign Workers Act has been enacted, expats without work permits will not be able to have their EC registered.