Businesses "complain" that it takes a long time to apply for foreign labor permits, while the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City denies it because it "always processes applications in less than 10 days".
During the dialogue between 300 businesses and the Ho Chi Minh City government on June 16, many businesses shared that they still face difficulties in procedures for applying for work permits for foreigners. The businesses pointed out a series of obstacles from the stage of presenting documents, preparing many related papers, explaining the need for labor use to the long waiting time for feedback.
A case of a Korean-invested enterprise that attracted much attention during the dialogue was the case of a company. The company representative said that the enterprise was established at the end of last year and signed a power of attorney for a foreign employee to become the CEO. Therefore, the company applied for a work permit for this person, but it took 2-3 months.
Similarly, a joint venture chemical company between Taiwan and Vietnam told VnExpress that it is facing difficulties because it cannot send high-quality staff to operate the new specialized machine system. The company representative said that it has applied for work permits for 6 foreigners since the end of April but has not yet received any results.
For now, the company's factory has to resort to "field" measures, hiring more domestic workers and making daily video calls with a high-quality team in Taiwan to listen to instructions and follow along. As a result, work efficiency is not high. "In the past two months, we have been late on two orders, one of which was a large-value order," said the person. The company had to compensate for the contract due to delayed delivery but refused to give a specific figure for the damage.
Responding to the above stories, Mr. Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, said there was a misunderstanding. It is very possible that the long processing time is due to businesses ordering third-party support services, through many intermediaries, so from the date of ordering the service to the date of receiving the documents, it takes a long time.
"It doesn't take 2-3 months to apply for a work permit for a foreigner. Since I joined the Department in 2016, all applications have been processed in no more than 20 days, usually less than 10 days," Mr. Lam affirmed.
Since March, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City has shortened the time to process procedures for reporting/explaining changes in the need to use foreign workers from 10 working days to 7 days; and re-issuing work permits from 3 to 1 day.
Mr. Nguyen Van Lam (second from left) and representatives of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, answered questions from businesses. Photo: ITPC
Work permits for foreigners have become the main topic of many dialogues between businesses and the Ho Chi Minh City government. In early April, many companies directly "complained" to the leaders of this Department about the time-consuming paperwork and the 2-3 month wait for results.
In a dialogue between the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) and the Ho Chi Minh City government in early March, the organization pointed out that since Decree 152 took effect, applying for work permits for foreign workers has become more difficult than before because the regulations are very strict and the time is long.
Mr. Lam also said that he often heard complaints that businesses had submitted their applications for 3-4 months but still had not received results. However, when he asked the parties to provide the names of the companies that submitted their applications, most of the names mentioned did not have any records at the Department.
"We need to review the individuals and intermediary service units that submitted the documents. I am not blaming! This is an issue where we do not understand each other," said the Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City.
Regarding the fact that applications for foreign workers' licenses were returned many times, the Department's representative confirmed that this situation exists. The reason is that businesses' explanations of labor needs are not in accordance with the provisions of Decree 152. Recently, the Department has organized many meetings to listen to comments on the above decree and has compiled them to send to the central government. Decree 152 is expected to be revised in July, helping to remove many bottlenecks.
The HCM City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that it has always made efforts in processing documents to meet the city's labor needs. Mr. Lam hopes that businesses will also cooperate with this agency to make everything go more smoothly. "I believe that if you do your job well, you will contribute to the Department of Labor completing the tasks assigned by the city," he shared.
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