Foreign labourers buck system

The province’s Police Department, in conjunction with the local Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, has detected and withdrawn 25 work permits from foreign workers in Taiwan-invested Omexey Home Furnishing Vietnam for recruitment and management violations.

The Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs also reported that it had detected other cases of using counterfeit employment certificates, including those at Quoc Thang International.

Nguyen Phung Trung, Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs deputy director, rang the alarm bells that some foreign direct invested (FDI) enterprises in the province were intentionally faking employment certificates to receive work permits.

Trung said a total of 7,313 work permits for foreign workers had been issued by Binh Duong authorities.

According to Vietnam’s existing Labour Code, foreigners entering Vietnam to work for a period of more than three months must hold business visas and obtain  work permits. However, many FDI enterprises in the country have not complied with this regulation.

“Also, many foreign labourers working in FDI enterprises in the province are unskilled or having not education and training degrees,” Trung added.

Similarly, according to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the agency has so far issued 27,236 working permits to foreign labourers in the second city.  But only a half of them or 14,732 issued licences are still valid.

A recent Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs survey showed that 30 per cent of foreign workers in the city did not have their paperwork in order.

The neighbouring Dong Nai province is facing the same problem.

“There are many foreigners working in the province without work permits,” said a deputy director of Dong Nai Provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, which has issued 4,814 work permits for foreign labourers in the province.