Feb. 19 – The number of foreign laborers coming to Vietnam for work has steadily increased in recent years, from 52,633 people in 2008, to 55,428 in 2009, and 56,929 in 2010. However, by September 2011, the number of foreign workers in Vietnam had surged to 78,440 people.
A large portion of the foreign workers in Vietnam originate from Asian countries such as Korea, China, Japan and come as employees of foreign contractors in Vietnam. More and more come to work for or establish foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam.
A Vietnamese entity is permitted to recruit foreign workers in order to work as managers, executive directors and experts where local hires are not yet able to meet production and business requirements. Unlike in certain other Asian countries, Vietnamese representative offices are also able to hire staff directly.
To demonstrate the necessity of a foreign employee, thirty days prior to recruiting the foreign employee, the entity must publicly announce recruitment for this position to Vietnamese job-seekers in a Vietnamese newspaper or online portal. Evidence of this announcement must be presented in the application for a work permit for a foreigner employee. The other option is to recruit foreigners through a government-owned employment service center.
