VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese state management agencies said they have “loosened” regulations to allow businesses to more easily employ foreign workers in Vietnam. However, employers say the “loosening” is not loose enough.

“The principle of the government of Vietnam is to create the most favorable conditions for foreigners to work in Vietnam for mutual benefits. Highly qualified specialists and engineers are especially welcomed in Vietnam,” Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Pham Minh Huan said to representatives of foreign invested enterprises in Vietnam at a meeting in HCM City last week.

However, businesses disagree with Huan, saying that the current regulations are bureaucratic and too formal.

Ho Xuan Dung, deputy general director of Windsor, said under Decree No 102, foreigners have to have a criminal record evaluation in foreign countries, and in Vietnam, if they reside in the country, they must apply for work permits.

He said foreign workers find this very difficult to satisfy, because foreign legal agencies do not grant these kinds of documents.

Meanwhile, foreigners have to wait two months on average to get their criminal record results certified by Vietnamese management agencies, though under current laws, the procedure must be fulfilled within 20 days.

As a result, the enterprises’ owners still have to pay foreign workers so they can cover their living expenses, but foreign workers cannot work until they get work permits.

Obtaining health certification is also a burdensome procedure for foreign workers and their employers.

Under current regulations, set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH), foreign workers have to have their health examined at the hospitals authorized by the ministry.

However, according to Dung, many of the authorized hospitals do not have physicians who can speak foreign languages. As a result, foreign workers have to be “escorted” by interpreters.

“I cannot understand why such strict regulations are set up. Businesses will not employ workers with bad health,” he said.

Meanwhile, an international school in Binh Duong province has complained about the short validity (three months) of the health certificates.

This forces foreign workers to have their health re-examined many times, while some kinds of tests, including X-ray, are not good for people’s health.

Lawyer Miki Yasufumi from Vilap law office in HCM City said the 2012 Labor Code stipulates that a work permit for foreign workers is valid for a maximum of two years, less than one year compared with the previous regulations. Meanwhile, labor contract validity is usually a maximum of three years.

The lawyer said he cannot understand why the regulations change so much, and why the work permit validity period was shortened.

TBKTSG