The number of foreigners working in Vietnam as of July 2012 is more than 77,000, of whom over 24,000 have no work permits, said Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen. The minister released the figures at yesterday Q-A session of the ongoing meeting of the National Assembly. By July, the number of unlicensed foreign workers accounted for nearly 33 percent of the total number of foreigners who were required to obtain work permits, she said. The number of those who are not required to seek a work permit is nearly 2,650, she added. Under current regulations, foreigner workers who work on contracts for more than three months in Vietnam are required to obtain a work permit. Commenting on the figures, Dr. Bui Sy Loi, deputy head of the NA’s Committee for Social Affairs, said he was doubtful about the reliability of the figures. “The ministry confirmed that 48 percent of foreign laborers have university degrees and 43 percent have technical certificates, but these figures are incorrect, since many inspections show that most of foreign workers are unskilled,” Loi said. Considering the issue of foreigners working in Vietnam as ‘complex’, Lieutenant General To Lam, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, said that many foreign contractors have brought a large number of foreign workers into Vietnam. There are also foreigners travelling to Vietnam on tourist visa and when their visa expired, they illegally stayed on to seek for jobs, Lam said, adding that it is difficult to expel them, especially those who come from African countries many of which have no diplomatic representative offices in Vietnam.

Lieutenant General To Lam, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, speaks at the Q-A session (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Regarding this issue, Minister Chuyen said penalties and punishment on violations of regulations on using foreign workers are not strong enough to deter violators. To improve the situation, “inspections must be strengthened and any infringements must be strictly punished.” Nguyen Ba Thuyen, deputy head of Lam Dong Province National Assembly delegation, questioned Minister Chuyen, “Why is there a large quantity of unskilled Chinese workers at the bauxite project in the Central Highlands, while our country is abundant in workers of this kind?”

The minister blamed the problem on loopholes in relevant laws.

“According to a regulation, every Vietnam-based foreign business that wants to employ more than 500 unskilled workers must give a 60-day notice to local authorities so that local labor agencies can provide them with Vietnamese workers. If the number of such workers is under 500, a 30-day notice is required. When the deadlines are over but there are not enough Vietnamese workers, then foreign businesses are allowed to employ foreign workers to fill in the vacancies”.

“There is also another regulation under which foreign visitors to Vietnam are allowed to seek jobs that last less than 3 months. It is advisable that such regulations be revised,” she said.

It is necessary to limit the number of unskilled foreign workers in Vietnam, she added.