The Vietnamese Government has issued a regulation on a pilot program to collect a refundable deposit of US$4,800 from qualified candidates before they are sent to the Republic of Korea for work.

The deposit will be applied for those who will be sent to South Korea for work under the Employment Permit System (EPS) program, which was signed between the two countries in 2004, but was halted last year since the number of Vietnamese workers who have overstayed their visas to work illegally in the country has increased steadily.

The regulation took effect on August 21, and the deposit collection on a pilot basis will be implemented for five years. It is aimed at helping to strengthen the responsibility of workers sent to South Korea under the EPS program.

According to the regulation, when workers complete their labor contract terms in South Korea and return to Vietnam on schedule, the deposit will be repaid to them after deducting reasonable expenses, if any.

The deposit will also be returned to workers in case they have to return to Vietnam earlier than expected due to unforeseeable reasons such as disasters, sickness, accidents, etc. 

If a worker dies while working under their labor contract in South Korea, the deposit will be repaid to their family after deducting related expenses, if any. 

In case workers have to return to Vietnam after violating their labor contract, the deposit will be used to make up for damage from their breach of contract.

If the amount of damage is less than the deposit, the remaining amount will be given back to the worker; but if the damage is more than the deposit, the worker must make up the difference. As previously reported, Vietnam and South Korea agreed to renew the EPS program every two years after signing it in 2004, but after the latest renewal expired on August 28, 2012, South Korea refused to continue the program, pending improvements from the Vietnamese side. South Korean authorities announced that as of December 2011, 48 percent of Vietnamese workers in the country had stayed on after their contracts expired, the highest proportion among the 15 countries that have sent workers to South Korea.

The figure increased to 54 percent in the first quarter of 2012 before reaching 57 percent in August that year.

According to the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Dolab), the majority of Vietnamese workers in South Korea work in production and manufacturing (over 78 percent), followed by 10.5 percent in agriculture and more than 9 percent who work in construction. The rest work in fisheries (1.7 per cent) and the service sector (0.2 per cent). Vietnamese workers in South Korea reportedly send back over US$600 million in remittances to their families each year, Dolab reported.