More than 1,000 foreigners working in business and service sectors have been registered and issued temporary work permits as Vientiane authorities seek to bring such workers and their employers in compliance with the law.A month-long drive to register and issue temporary work visa for foreigners was conducted in the capital’s nine districts from July 17 to August 17.
The department in coordination with district authorities and security sector collected information and identified a number of foreigners working without permission in Vientiane.
For the purposes of registration, such foreign workers have been classified into two groups.
The first eligible for six- month and one-year status will include categories of vendors or people who operate a business in compliance with the regulations, and people who work in business and service units, investment projects, and special and specific economic zones.
The three month status will be allocated to itinerant hawkers, people engaged in breeding of livestock, and those who operate beauty salons, coffee shops, karaoke bars, game shops and those operating without a license.
So far over 1,000 additional foreign workers have been registered, most of them Vietnamese and Chinese nationals.
The exact number of foreign workers who were registered and granted temporary work permits will be reported next month at a meeting to review the work implementation after the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits, which will be held from September 6-8 in the capital, Vientiane Labour Social Welfare Department Director Ms Lamphoy Si-akkhachan told Vientiane Times yesterday.
In Laos, the issue of migrants entering the country to work without necessary permissions has become a chronic one.
The new measure is in a bid to regulate the increasing number of undocumented workers in Laos and generate greater revenue into the state budget.
Recently, Savannakhet province registered and issued temporary work permits for foreigners there.
The province collected information on the number of foreign workers in 25 villages in the central Kaysone Phomvihane district and identified some 537, including 523 Vietnamese, six Chinese and two Thai nationals leading to collection of some 463 million kip in fees.
Meanwhile, Borikhamxay public security officials reported they had located 1,471 foreigners working unlawfully in the province.
These were from Vietnam, China, Thailand, India, Germany and the Republic of Korea.
Of the total identified, some 257 were permitted registration and granted temporary work permits.
Meanwhile, authorities in Attapeu tracked down 1,317 foreigners working in the province of whom 848 were working unlawfully.
Source: Vientiane Times
