Yankin Passport Office was closed for over one month due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Yangon Division. But since the reopening of the passport office on September 13, hundreds of people are applying for passports every day.

In the past, only about a dozen people daily applied at the Yankin Passport Office but due to the advent of a new wave of pandemic and the military coup, hundreds of people are now queuing up on weekdays.

Passport fees are twice the original price and you cannot get the passport by just lining up. It can only be obtained by connecting with brokers and there is a large brokerage market there. Previously, passport fees were only 35,000 MMK but now they are almost 75,000 MMK. Despite rising passport fees, people are still trying to leave Myanmar.

“Near the end of the semester, my university closed due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but the military seized power at a time when my university was taking a new step toward continuing education with a new normal learning system. Under the worst education system, I did not go back to school. I have to go abroad and need to do a part-time job while attending school for my future,” a fourth-year university student queuing for a passport said.

Currently, entry to countries are restricted due to a new COVID-19 variant Omicron, which is becoming more prevalent and most of the people are preparing to go to the countries such as Singapore, Japan, Korea, Dubai and the United States of America. There are young people who will go to school and there will be people who will work casually.

“No one wants to be employed in Myanmar unless we graduate. While we apply for jobs, the employer doesn’t want to hire us because we are involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement and if we go back to school, they think, they will get lost,” said one applicant.

“Unable to stay unemployed for a long time due to family subsistence, we had to go abroad to work,” a young man who is not able to go to school abroad due to his family’s financial condition and plans to go abroad to work said.

There are hundreds of thousands of people waiting to leave Myanmar if other countries are allowed to reopen. Moreover, hundreds of people are arrested almost daily for trying to exit illegally.

Since the COVID-19 epidemic period, the hotel and tourism sectors, construction, many factories and workshops were shut down, and there were labour reductions and only 50% of the salary payment system.

After the military coup, the situation in the country deteriorated on all fronts, foreign investors are also leaving and unemployment rates are rising into the millions. Given these circumstances, many believe the only option is to leave Myanmar to work abroad.