1.
Written
approval of the President of the provincial people’s committee (PC) to the
employer for the employment of foreign employees:
Under the applicable regulations, the employer
has to report only to the Department of Labor, War Invalid and Social Affairs
(DOLISA) about the labor use situation in the next year. That is only informing
procedure, not really affected to the employer.
However, the new requirement on written approval
of the PC president may be a huge obstacle and more paperwork for the employer
who wants to recruit foreign employee. This can be considered as a new “baby
license”.
At current stage, the applicable regulations
states that the employer (except for contractors) annually shall determine the
demand for foreign workers for every position in which Vietnamese workers are
not competent, and send a report to the PC President for approval.
In my opinion, this approval procedure is likely
to be made to replace the requirement for training plan of the Vietnamese staff
to take over the work position that the foreign employee is taking under the
current regulation. Actually, that requirement for training plan is really
unclear and not applicable.
2.
Requirement
for application for work permit or certification of not subject to work permit
for the foreign employee before commencing to work (i.e. before 15 working days
and 07 working days respectively)
The applicable regulations require the employer
to apply for work permit or certification for the foreign employee not subject
to work permit to its’ foreign employee before he/she commences to work. The
applicable regulations also repeal the regulation that the foreigner who works
less than 03 month is not subject to work permit.
Those regulations will be a disadvantage for the
employer because from now on, the employer cannot apply the probation
requirement to the foreign employee. The employer has only one choice:
signing labor contract with the foreign employee and send to DOLISA the copy of
that labor contract within 05 after the signing date.
For the foreigner who is living outside Vietnam,
it will be more difficult because the labor code regulates that the work permit
must be presented when he/she conduct the entry and exit procedure at the
immigration department
3.
Shorter
term of work permit
Under the applicable regulations, the term of
work permit will now base on the term of labor contract or agreement between
the employer and the foreign employee but not exist 02 years. The work permit can
be reissued with the term not existing 02 years.
However, the applicable regulations are silent
on how many time of re-issuance it is applied.
4.
Application
dossier for work permits
The applicable regulations repeal the
regulations on recruitment advertisement. This can be a good news to the
employer. However, the applicable regulations require that the application
dossier must enclose the written approval of the PC President.
As commented above, the requirement of written
approval of the PC President will be a huge obstacle and this procedure will
surely create more paperwork and cost time for the employer.