VietNamNet Bridge – One third of the total 600 foreign workers in Da Nang City had no work permit and poses difficulties for local authorities to ensure social order, according to the municipal Department of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs.

The department also reported that 600 foreign workers, employed by 38 enterprises in the city, came from 22 nations. The city had a total of 500 workers more than last year.

Of the 600 workers, those holding bachelor degrees accounted for 62 per cent, while the rest have professional certificates.

According to the department's Employment and Labour Safety Division, none of the foreign workers were expelled due to having no work permit.

Some employers were fined after inspectors found they employed workers without permits.

The division also reported that most of the foreign workers in Da Nang were specialists and engineers working for major and foreign-invested projects that did not register their employees.

Under the newly-modified Government's Decree No 46 regarding management of foreign labourers, which takes effect today, foreigners bidding for investment packages must indicate in their documents a specific plan on how many employees and what qualifications they need.

But the division's head, Tran Thi Bich Lien, said the decree did not include standards on technical qualifications required for foreign workers, resulting in many manual foreign labourers being granted work permits while many domestic labourers are still unemployed.

Another regulation stipulated in the decree was that if local authorities cannot introduce or meet demand for employment from foreign contractors within 60 days for those employing 500 labourers, and 30 days for less than 500 labourers, the contractors can recruit foreign workers to the positions that domestic workers cannot fill in.

Lien said one to two months were not sufficient for localities to fill in so many needed vacancies, thus giving opportunities to foreign workers to work in Viet Nam.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News