Half of foreign workers in Vietnam undocumented

More than half of some 57,000 foreign laborers in Vietnam are working illegally without permits, announced a ministry report at a Monday conference on employment and job trend in Vietnam in 2010.

According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, only 47 percent of the foreign workers have permits.

Hoang Binh, deputy director of Lam Dong Province’s Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said there are some 1,200 foreign workers at a bauxite mining project in Lam Dong alone, making it very difficult for local authorities to keep track of them.

He said the number of unskilled foreign employees was increasing at the expense of local workers.

He suggested that the relevant ministries tighten regulations to control the number of undocumented, unskilled foreign laborers in Vietnam.

Nguyen Thi Hai Van, deputy head of Vietnam\'s Labor and Employment Agency, told the conference that current regulations require foreigners to leave the country after a maximum of three months unless they have work permits.

Vietnam does not allow unskilled foreign workers into the country but encourages those with managerial or technical skills or higher education to work in Vietnam, Labor Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said.