Phanat Nikhom is about 200km East of Vietnamese refugees border camps. It was established in July 1980 as a processing center for the refugees: Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian. The refugees were transferred from other refugee camps in Thailand for third country resettlement process. All the refugees who were accepted for resettlement were transported to Phanat Nikhom transit camp for a month or so to complete the paper work, and to be screened for health before flying to the final destinations.

Vietnamese Land Refugees (VNLR) were also transported here for processing. Most lived here for about 1 month, longer if they needed medical treatment or depended on the resettlement countries, before flying out to final destination.

Source: http://panatnikhom.blogspot.com/