Illegal Vietnamese workers abroad and particularly in the Republic of Korea (RoK) who voluntarily return home from September 1 to December 31 this year will not be imposed with any administrative penalties, an official from the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs said.

Relevant agencies are creating favourable conditions for voluntary returnees to have the opportunity to return to the RoK to work legally, said Director of the Ministry’s Overseas Workers Centre Pham Van Minh at the September 6 meeting with Vietnamese guest workers whose contracts are about to expire in Bucheon city, Gyeonggi province.

The exemption of administrative fines for illegal workers who return home voluntarily is a prompt policy of the Vietnamese Government which aims to mitigate the proportion of illegal Vietnamese employees abroad and in the RoK in particular, Minh said.

This is also a favourable condition for the implementation of commitments with the RoK under the special Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining orientations for receiving Vietnamese guest workers under the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme, which was signed between the two countries on April 10 this year.

(Source:VNA)