Future migrant workers in Phu Tho Province attend a language course before their departure.

HANOI (ILO News) – Recruitment processes and costs related to international labour migration from Viet Nam will become more transparent following the enactment of new regulations on 1 December.

With the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has issued two circulars standardizing contracts and setting ceilings for required deposits for each destination country.

“The two circulars are essential as they help enterprises reach specific standards in signing contracts with international partners and workers to minimize risks for both enterprises and employees,” Nguyen Luong Trao, Chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Manpower Supply, said. “It’s an important factor that contributes to sustainable enterprise development and safe migration.”

Under the new rules, Vietnamese recruitment agencies will no longer be able to impose their own conditions in contracts, but have to follow standard conditions which request the companies to return costs paid by workers if they fail to send them abroad.

It’s an important factor that contributes to sustainable enterprise development and safe migration."

The standard contract also requires details such as references to a specific job, name and location of the receiving company, and establishes clear responsibilities of all parties, and procedures for dispute settlement in an effort to protect migrant workers in case of contract termination.

“Circular 22 prevents recruitment agencies from using provisions that benefit themselves while minimizing those in favour of migrant workers,” Max Tunon, the coordinator of the ILO’s TRIANGLE project, said. TRIANGLE aims at making labour migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-region safer.

The other new regulation– Circular 21 – prevents recruitment agencies from fixing the amount of deposits workers have to pay as they wish.

According to Tran Van Tu, Director of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour’s Policy Divison, the new circulars will help tackle unhealthy competition among agencies and “black costs” that workers have to pay to go abroad.

“But to achieve those goals, the State authorities will need to step up inspection over the enterprises in the industry,” he said.

Representing the Government, Hoang Kim Ngoc, Deputy Director of MoLISA’s General Department of Overseas Labour, believed the new regulations will create a favourable ground for the State management and cracking down on violations in sending workers overseas.

Today, some 170 recruitment agencies operate in Viet Nam, sending 80,000 Vietnamese workers abroad every year.