Over 3,400 household member lists have been issued to some 10,000 migrant workers residing in Mon State since the new government took office last year, according to Mon State’s Department of Labour, Immigration and Population.

Chief officer of Mon State’s Department of Labour, Immigration and Population U Shein Win said this number seemed to show that "not many migrant workers are coming here”.

Migrant workers who have lived in Mon State for six months to three years were reportedly issued with household member lists if they could prove they were on the census list and could provide a recommendation letter from a ward administrator.

A list of migrant households was collected between May and October 2016. Among 11,993 households on the list, 8,691 households were long-term migrant households and 3,302 households were temporary migrant households.

As part of a 100-day project after the new government took office, the Mon State government issued temporary household member lists to migrants who lived in Mon State for six to eight months and household member lists to migrants who had resided in the state for over five years, without needing any documents from their place of origin.

But the process has not been without problems. Last June, some civil society organizations submitted a letter asking the Mon State Chief Minister review the issue as they feared a surge in migrant workers.