Job Discussion Forums

[Snaff]

....

[spycatcher]

Snaff:

Within 3 months of working for an organization in Vietnam expatriates should have a work permit. One of the prerequisites for the work permit is a police report (others include things such as: education certificates, health check, etc.)

I believe the 3 months that I quote above is the official duration, but it might just be a grace period given by DOLISA (Department of Labour........).

I believe that if they catch you working for an organization after you have been there more than 3 months and you still don't have the work permit they (the Department of Immigration) has the right to deport you.

The above is what I was alluding to in an earlier posting when if posted something like "If the government doesn't do anything stupid like deporting foreigners that don't have all their papers in order" Haven't heard of any deportations for not having work permits so far, but am sure it will happen sooner or later.

NB: once you have got your police report DOLISA requires your consulate to "confirm" or "notarize" this. The American consulate refuses to do this unless it is notarized by ??? (Not sure who is mean to do this, but it is someone in America). For most other nationalities their consulates will notarize these without any question and it is not a big issue.


I believe but am quite unsure about this next point, DOLISA has said that if you have been here for a long time (can't remember this date, but think it was about 3 years ago) then you don't need a police certificate.

If you are just extending your work permit you do not need to produce another police certificate.

[Snaff]

Thanks again, Spycatcher.

[spycatcher]

Snaff:

Vietnam has come from very humble beginnings when it implemented "Doi Moi" in 1986. This new open door policy caused them many issues. One of them being that their laws were antiquated. Also very few people knew the laws and the ones that knew them chose not to abide by them.

Since then laws have developed and concepts that were totally alien to them are now prevailing. It was only about 6 years ago that a bankruptcy law was introduced!!

The cities of HCM and Hanoi and expected to lead the way in following these laws and when it comes to Human Resource laws and paying taxes it is the foreign companies that are expected to be 2 steps ahead of the Vietnamese companies.

Vietnam has always been skeptical of foreigners, but as the economy has progressed they are becoming a lot less so.

These new rules for foreigners are not so new. The rules have been there for sometime, but because the relevant government departments have been unable to enforce them, or even have an solid understanding of them until very recently they have decided to largely ignore them.

The police report has always been a prerequisite for the work visa, however, until about 9 months ago the DOLISA accepted a letter from the policeman of the ward you are living in saying that he hasn't see you do anything wrong as being ok for the police report.

Because of 9/11 and the progressive ability of government departments to track foreigners the DOLISA has decided to no longer accept the report from the local policeman and only accept a police report from your native country.

This is applicable for nearly all organizations in Vietnam and is not just a "school thing". I believe diplomatic, rep office, and NGO staff don't have to get work permits so don't have to get this police report, but the rest of the foreigners do.

The ESL industry in Asia is full of transients and schools in most of Asia have large issues with procedures like these mainly because they have a high turnover of a lot of foreigners and because schools are usually badly organized.

Many governments in Asia accept that these transient teachers are very valuable for the development of their country so largely accept that schools will never be 100% legal with all their foreign staff. These governments do tend do have clampdowns, however, and deport foreigners who don't have their papers in order, every now and then.

NB: a business visa is easy to get from any tourist agency, but these aren't legitimate and you should have a business visa from the company you are working for.

The work permit is not your property is actually issued to the company and it allows you to work for them.

[miketeflsgn]

Spycatcher...

[spycatcher]

Health check:

Your employer, if they are half sensible, should tell you where to go for this. There are a number of institutions here that the government accepts to do this. These range from the foreign clinics that charge about 100 usd to the Vietnamese hospitals that charge about 20-30 usd for this service.

Can't remember the list, but know Cho Ray hospital in on there.

I seriously doubt any health check from institutions outside of Vietnam would be acceptable, especially if the results aren't in Vietnamese.

[Snaff]