The governments of Laos and Vietnam are amending a labour cooperation agreement towards more effective management of their nationals working in one another’s countries, a senior government official has said.
Under the newly-amended agreement expected to be signed later this year, Vietnam nationals seeking work in Laos will only be allowed to do so through recognised employment recruitment companies, said Director General of the Labour Management Department, Mr Khamkhane Phinsavanh.
“Both sides are finalising the agreement. It is expected to be signed in late November or early December,” he said. The new agreement will replace the current one, which was signed in 1995.
Most foreign workers have been brought into Laos by investors and managers of development projects, who are required to submit labour requests to the government individually.
Mr Khamkhane said the fact that project managers are hiring foreign workers individually makes it difficult for the ministry to manage the expatriates properly, and keep track of workers employed on every single project scattered across the country.
Once the new agreement comes into effect the hiring of foreign labour will be done through only one channel, that being legitimate recruitment agencies.
It is expected this will ease the management effort as the recruitment agencies are required to participate in management affairs, including maintaining a database of the workers they bring into Laos.
So far, Laos has established labour cooperation agreements with Vietnam and Thailand, with large numbers of Vietnamese nationals working in Laos, and a significant number of Lao people working in Thailand.
Officials said lessons learnt from previous labour cooperation agreements negotiated between Laos and its two neighbours will be evaluated, aiming to form similar cooperation agreements with other countries including China. Many Chinese nationals are currently employed on various projects throughout Laos.
An initial report showed that there are more than 54,000 foreign workers in Laos, including more than 15,000 people working here illegally.
It was previously reported that many foreign workers entered Laos legally to work on development projects but did not return after the projects were completed or when their work permits expired. Meanwhile, some entered Laos as visitors but subsequently sought employment and are now working here illegally.
Officials in charge of labour management are currently taking steps to regulate and manage foreign workers following the government’s recent announcement.
Those foreigners presently working as hawkers, nail cutters, beauticians, scrap metal collectors, and vegetable and seafood vendors in markets will be repatriated, according to the announcement.
Development projects and businesses are required to register their foreign employees and obtain work permits and related documents for any foreign employees who have no such documents, or whose documents have become invalid.
Foreigners found owning businesses such as wholesale or retail shops, working as tailors or operating livestock farms without a business licence can apply for legal documents if the value of the business amounts to at least one billion kip.
Those whose business value is below one billion kip but not less than 250 million kip will be given a two-year period to grow their business to a value of one billion kip, at which point they can apply for legal documents.
