VietNamNet Bridge – Among 412 Chinese workers engaged in a project at the Cong Thanh Cement Plant in Thanh Hoa Province, 229 have not been granted work permits, said the Management Board of the Nghi Son Economic Zone.

The cover page of a work permit for foreigners in Vietnam (for illustration only). (Photo: Internet)
These workers are building the second production line for the plant, which is part of the zone.

Most of the unlicensed Chinese workers are unskilled and were sent to Vietnam in late 2010.
Their personal records have not met requirements under Vietnam law, so they have yet to be granted work permits, the board said.

The zone now has 766 foreign workers, including the 412 Chinese workers, who were sent to Vietnam by five Chinese contractors, said Tran Chi Thanh, deputy head of the board.

The provincial People’s Committee has asked the board, in conjunction with local police and the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, to request that the plant provide concerned agencies with full and adequate records of the 229 workers.

These workers can later be granted work permits if they meet required criteria under current regulations, the committee said.

All foreign workers who have unqualified records but are still working will be punished under applicable Vietnamese laws, the committee added.

In a similar case, the Inspectorate of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, found 15 Chinese workers working without a work permit at the Meisheng Textiles Vietnam Co Ltd in April, 2012.

The company, located in the Ngai Giao Industrial Park in Chau Duc District, is a 100% foreign owned company belonging to Leading Textiles Group, which was established in Australia and has associate companies in Malaysia and Vietnam.
The Inspectorate fined the company VND17.5 million (US$840) for violating Vietnam’s regulations on foreign labor management.

In addition, the department also requested that the company train Vietnamese workers to replace the unskilled Chinese laborers.

In August last year, authorities in southern Ca Mau Province found more than 600 Chinese employees working on over-3-month contracts without work permits at the construction site of the Ca Mau Urea Plant, part of the Ca Mau Gas-Power-Fertilizer complex.

Under Vietnam’s current regulations, foreign workers who work on contracts for more than three months are required to obtain a work permit.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre