News of the resignations came a few hours after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha exercised his special powers under Article 44 of the provisional constitution to demote Sirichai’s key man, Varanon Peetiwan, from director-general of the Department of Employment to deputy permanent secretary of the Labour Ministry

A resignation letter from General Charoen Nopsuwan, vice labour minister, a close aide to Sirichai, was circulated in the ministry yesterday evening.

The resignation was effective yesterday and the team was seen packing their belongings. Varanon had previously been demoted to be deputy permanent secretary of the Labour Ministry.

The ministry source said the Varanon’s reshuffle was made due to the department’s failure under his leadership to register significant numbers of migrant workers.

The grace period pending full enforcement of the new migrant worker law approaches at the end of this year.

The former deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, Anurak Tossarat, has replaced Varanon as the chief of the Employment Department, according to a Royal Gazette announcement.

In June this year, the government promulgated a new law on migrant worker management stipulating harsh punishments for people who illegally hire workers from foreign countries. Under the new law, employers could be fined as much as Bt800,000 for every illegal migrant.

Thousands of migrants fled back to their home countries causing chaos in the labour market when the law was implemented.

Prayut then exercised his Article 44 powers to suspend enforcement of the law for 180 days.

In the meantime, the Employment Department has registered fewer migrants worker than was expected.

It is estimated that there are more than 2 million undocumented foreign workers in Thailand, but as of the deadline of August 7, the department managed to register only 674,336 migrant workers from the neighbouring countries of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

The government blamed Varanon for the failure to get tens of thousands of migrant workers – mostly people from Myanmar and Cambodia – to register, the ministry source said.

The registry process is complicated and requires a lot of paper work, with workers having to pass an interview with the Labour Ministry to guarantee their employment status with a current employer, after which they have to obtain a Certification of Identity via one-stop services.

People who failed to register in August must return home and come back under a different system agreed upon under memorandums of understanding signed with their respective countries.