VietNamNet Bridge – The HCMC government will not allow foreign employees to have their work permits extended in the city but will require them to apply for new ones when their current permits expire.

Illustrative image. -- Photo: Saigoneer

According to a notice which the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has sent to foreign enterprises in the city, when the work permits granted before November 1 last year fall due, foreigners will have to ask the department for new permits.

To continue working in Vietnam, foreigners should present their certificates of qualification, experiences, police records granted by authorized agencies in Vietnam, and overseas and medical reports.

Given the new ruling, thousands of foreign workers here in the city will have to apply for new work permits.

A specialist from the labor department said the new rule would cause difficulties to companies and foreign employees.

For the requirement on police records, foreigners will have to contact competent agencies in their countries as the papers are required to have six-month validity from the date of issuance.

In addition, some countries still require employees to come back to complete the procedures. This step is time-consuming.

Meanwhile, foreigners who had got work permits before November 1, 2013 have mainly been residing in Vietnam. Therefore, their police records would be similar to those submitted to the labor department before, the expert explained.

Lawyer Le Thanh Kinh, head of Le Nguyen Law Office, said that the new rule provided guidelines for implementation of Decree 102, which will replace Decree 34 and Decree 46, but Article 19.3 of the new decree stipulated that foreigners would not have to renew work permits that are still valid until November 1, 2013, the date Decree 102 took effect.

In fact, the neighboring provinces such as Dong Nai and Binh Duong still extend the work permits for foreign employees despite their expiration.

SGT/VNN