Myanmar citizens can legally leave the country, but since the February 2021 coup and the activation of the People’s Military Service Law in early 2024, doing so has become extraordinarily difficult. The heaviest restrictions fall on men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27, who face effective bans on new overseas employment and heightened questioning at airports. A passport law enacted in 2026 gives authorities broad discretion to refuse or revoke travel documents, and appointment backlogs push many applicants toward brokers or irregular border crossings into Thailand.
Who Faces the Heaviest Restrictions
The single biggest obstacle for most Myanmar citizens is the People’s Military Service Law. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing approved the law on February 10, 2024, and the implementing regulations took effect on January 23, 2025. It subjects men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to conscription. Male specialists such as doctors and engineers can be called up through age 45, and female specialists through age 35.
The travel consequences are severe. Since January 2025, men aged 18 to 35 have been barred from obtaining new Overseas Worker Identification Cards, which effectively blocks them from traveling abroad for work. Men who already held an OWIC and had signed contracts before January 30, 2025 were initially allowed to depart, but starting January 31, no new employment contracts were permitted for conscription-eligible men. Anyone registered for conscription must pass a medical examination and await drafting, and those who pass are prohibited from traveling abroad without official military permission.
Conscription-aged men have also been unable to convert job passports (PJ) to visitor passports (PV) since 2025, closing another route to a legitimate departure. Reports from travelers and advocacy groups indicate that men in this age range are routinely questioned at length at departure points and sometimes turned back even when carrying valid passports and complete documentation.
Grounds for Refusing or Revoking a Passport
Myanmar’s new Passport Law, published on March 20, 2026, gives the Myanmar Passport Issuance Board wide authority to refuse a passport. Grounds include being unable to prove eligibility, having citizenship revoked, submitting a fraudulent application, serving a criminal sentence, and being deemed a likely threat to national security or state interests. Anyone convicted of a crime where a court has recommended blocking passport issuance, anyone serving a sentence under conditional amnesty, and anyone deported from a foreign country can also be denied.1Global New Light Of Myanmar. Myanmar Passport Law
The “national security” ground is particularly open-ended because no criteria define what qualifies. Civil Disobedience Movement participants, political activists, and journalists have reportedly been targeted under this provision. If a passport is denied or canceled, the applicant can appeal within 60 days to the Union Minister for the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the minister’s decision is final with no further review.1Global New Light Of Myanmar. Myanmar Passport Law
Getting a Passport in Practice
Documents You Must Submit
Under the new passport law, applicants for an ordinary passport must submit a Citizenship Scrutiny Card (original and copy), a household registration form (Form 66/6, original and copy), and a Unique Identification Number. Children under 10 need a birth registration certificate, and those under 18 must have parental or guardian consent with the parent present at the office. The Passport Issuance Board can also request additional supporting documents.1Global New Light Of Myanmar. Myanmar Passport Law
Fees
The official passport fees as of 2026 are 45,000 Myanmar Kyats for a new passport or renewal, and 101,000 Kyats for a lost or damaged passport. A renewal book that is wet, torn, or otherwise damaged will be reclassified as a “damaged book” at the higher fee, so applicants should check condition carefully before paying. An express service launched on January 5, 2026 processes passports within five days for 545,000 Kyats.2Myanmar Passport Issuance Office. Online Passport Application
The Appointment Bottleneck
Applications now run through an online booking system at passport.gov.mm. Applicants select an appointment type (regular or “Green Channel” for eligible applicants), enter personal information, and pay via KBZ-Pay or an MPU bank card registered for e-commerce. The system assigns a date to visit the passport office; Green Channel applicants receive their date from the specific office rather than the automated system.2Myanmar Passport Issuance Office. Online Passport Application
Slots fill quickly. Many applicants report being unable to secure a booking for weeks or months, and unofficial brokers have stepped into the gap, charging fees that start around 150,000 Kyats to help secure an appointment. These fees have no legal backing.
Applying from Abroad
Myanmar embassies and consulates offer some passport services, including renewals. For citizens already living overseas, applying at an embassy avoids the domestic appointment backlog, but embassy processing capacity is limited and wait times vary by location. For citizens who cannot return to Myanmar, an embassy application may be the only option.
Extra Steps for Overseas Workers
Citizens seeking employment abroad need a Job Passport (PJ) plus an Overseas Worker Identification Card, issued through the Ministry of Labour. Workers must travel through authorized recruitment channels with proper contracts.
Since January 2026, OWIC holders must obtain pre-departure approval from the junta’s Department of Labor before traveling abroad, and workers returning from overseas are required to report at the airport arrivals counter. A 2025 policy capped the number of workers any single foreign employment agency could send abroad, with some agencies limited to 15 recruits per month. A March 2026 Ministry of Labour directive said workers who bypass official recruitment channels, such as posing as returning employees on leave to skip mandatory training and medical exams, will be blacklisted and prohibited from traveling abroad for a set period.
Returning overseas workers must also remit at least 25 percent of their foreign earnings through officially licensed banks or financial institutions.3Myanmar National Portal. Myanmar Citizens Abroad Urged to Make Legal Remittances Through Licenced Banks or Financial Institutions Under the 2022 tax law, salary earned abroad in foreign currency by citizens living overseas is exempt from income tax, but only if remittances flow through licensed channels.
In January 2026, the government advised OWIC and PJ holders without valid work visas to convert to a PV (visitor) passport. That option remains closed for conscription-aged men, leaving many holding a job passport they can no longer use for work and cannot exchange for a visitor passport.
What to Expect at the Airport
At the airport or land border, immigration officials verify the traveler’s passport, the destination-country visa, and any supplemental documents such as an OWIC. Questioning at departure can be extensive. Officials may ask about the purpose of travel, employment status, and conscription registration. Men aged 18 to 35 face the highest likelihood of additional scrutiny, and some travelers report being denied boarding despite carrying all required documents. Complete documentation improves your odds but does not guarantee departure.
Authorities also have broad discretion to detain individuals with pending legal cases, outstanding debts, or unresolved tax obligations. The passport law’s provisions about national security threats apply at departure as well, not just at the application stage.
Currency and Export Rules for Citizens
Myanmar’s customs rules on currency are stricter for citizens than for foreigners. Foreign nationals must declare foreign currency exceeding USD 10,000 on exit, but Myanmar citizens must declare all foreign currency they carry out of the country, regardless of the amount.4Myanmar National Trade Portal. Special Customs Procedures Failing to declare can result in confiscation and legal consequences.
Under Notification No. 59/2020, the following items cannot be taken out of Myanmar by any route:
- Diamonds
- Crude oil
- Ivory
- Elephants, horses, and rare animals
- Arms and ammunition
- Antiques
Additional items may be restricted under other regulations, and customs officers have authority to enforce export bans at departure.5Myanmar National Trade Portal. Notification No. 59/2020 Concerning the List of Export-Prohibited Items
Crossing Irregularly into Thailand
The gap between people who want to leave and people who can leave through official channels has driven a sharp increase in irregular migration, particularly into Thailand. The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 4 million Myanmar migrants live in Thailand, with up to 1.7 million undocumented. In 2023 alone, 1.3 million Myanmar nationals crossed into Thailand, and entries surged after the conscription law was announced in February 2024: more than 330,000 crossings were recorded in March and April of that year, compared with 96,000 in the same period the year before.
Leaving through unofficial channels carries serious risks on both sides. In Thailand, undocumented migrants face up to two years of imprisonment and a fine of roughly 20,000 Baht (about USD 600) under the Immigration Act 1979, plus vulnerability to exploitation by employers and traffickers. An estimated 60 percent of long-term Myanmar nationals in Thailand had no documentation as of 2023. On the Myanmar side, returning after an unauthorized exit can lead to detention and criminal charges, particularly for conscription-eligible individuals who may be treated as draft evaders.
The scale of those crossings reflects how thoroughly the overlapping restrictions on passports, employment authorization, and conscription have overwhelmed the legal departure system. For many Myanmar citizens, especially young men, the formal process is not slow or expensive so much as functionally closed.