Immigrants to suffer tighter visa controls

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Under Article 36 of the draft Law on Immigration and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam, currently being discussed by the National Assembly Standing Committee, foreigners working in Vietnam must have a work-permit issued by Vietnam’s authorised agencies before they are granted a visa to enter the country.

Article 7 of the draft law, which will replace the existing ordinance on immigration and residence of foreigners in Vietnam issued in 2000, also stipulates that visa holders are banned from changing their visa purposes in Vietnam, except for special cases stipulated by the government.

Article 3 also noted that foreigners entering and residing in Vietnam must be invited or guaranteed by an agency, organisation or individual, and their residential address must also be named.

These new regulations received a big thumbs from the committee’s members who said the regulations would help Vietnam better monitor the activities of foreigners working in Vietnam.

At present, the ordinance enables foreigners wanting to work in Vietnam to obtain a visa before they apply for a work-permit in the country, if they work for at least three months. The ordinance also allows foreigners to change the purpose of their immigration upon request. Besides, it has no specific regulations about the responsibilities of any agencies, organisations or individuals in guaranteeing foreigners working in Vietnam.

“These are porous regulations that have enabled foreigners to enter Vietnam under the guise of travelling, in reality to do other things such as illegally working and even doing unlawful activities,” said Deputy Minister of Public Security Bui Van Nam.

“For example, many Chinese workers are now illegally working in Vietnam’s construction projects. This is a very complicated problem that local authorities are trying to solve,” Nam said.

According to a government report on the draft law, since 2000, immigration authorities have discovered and punished 74,441 cases involving foreigners violating immigration regulations, with the hubs of immigration violations being Hanoi with nearly 4,300 cases and Ho Chi Minh City at close to 16,900 cases, while Quang Ninh and Binh Duong provinces saw approximately 4,500 cases each.

Late last month, south-central Binh Thuan province’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs found that four Chinese contractors had been illegally using 720 Chinese workers in the construction of the Vinh Tan 2 thermal power plant in the province. Some 554 of the illegal Chinese labourers had no labour contracts, while 224 workers did not have work-permits.

The Vietnamese government reported that thousands of foreign manual workers were illegally working at Vietnam’s many construction projects, especially those built by Chinese contractors, such as thermal power plants in Quang Ninh, Haiphong city and Ca Mau province, as well as in cement plants in Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Tay Ninh provinces.