According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, 1,418,472 former Burmese residents, including 812,798 men and 605,674 women, were living in Thailand, constituting about 70% of Burma's overseas population.

Migrant workers tend to hold low-skilled jobs in the fishing and seafood processing, construction, garment, and domestic service industries.

[2] Macquarie University estimates that the average annual remittances from Thailand to Burma exceed US$300 million.

[7][8] Other large Burmese communities reside in Mae Sot,[9] Ranong,[10] In 2003, the Thai and Burmese governments signed a memorandum of understanding to formally recognize this labor migration flow and legalize migration through a government program to recruit workers directly from Burma, and to use a nationality verification process whereby migrant workers receive a temporary passport, an identity certificate, a visa to remain in Thailand for two years, and a change of work status to legal.

In 2014, the Thai government announced plans to repatriate Burmese refugees who have been living in border camps for the past 2 decades.