ROS CHANVEASNA
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| Migrant workers being taken into custody by officials. Supplied |
As many as 622 foreign migrant workers from 37 countries have been fined for not having work permits in the first half of this year, according to an official from the Interior Ministry’s general department of immigration yesterday.
Major General Pum Vithya, the investment department chief at the department of immigration, said the government has seen applications for work permits skyrocket alongside revenue from fines since the crackdown on foreigners without work permits started two and half years ago.
In April 2014, the Interior Ministry and Labor Ministry formed a joint-inspection committee to keep an eye on companies employing foreigners and to take a more active role in enforcing the 1997 Labor Law as well as the Immigration Law.
These laws require all migrant workers in the Kingdom to hold a work permit along with the appropriate business visa.
“According to the latest nationwide statistics, the number of foreign workers who have been fined for deficient work permits is down to 622 compared with 4,582 last year. In all, violators have paid approximately $77,750 in fines,” Maj. Gen. Vithya said.
“Because most violators of the laws were fined already, they clearly understand how to apply to obtain a work permit at the Labor Ministry, following the strict enforcing of the Labor Law and Immigration Law of the Kingdom.”
He said that most of the foreign workers who had been fined were Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, South Korean and also Indonesian nationals who worked at garment and shoe factories and construction companies. “The government fines foreign laborers $125 in penalty for each violation.”
This year, the joint-inspection committee had targeted about 2,600 private enterprises and factories who employ foreign laborers for inspection once every six months. But to date, only about 1,800 had been inspected.
“We are continuing to carry out checks on more private companies that have hired foreign workers. Therefore, the number of companies should be more than that,” Maj. Gen. Vithya said.
The immigration department gives one week’s notice to an employer before visiting a worksite, but does not do so when visiting private residences.
The recent crackdown has also sparked a rise in work permit applications.
“Before 2014, usually we had about 5,000 foreign workers apply for the work permit. But now in 2016, we noticed the figure is seven times higher – it jumped to more than 36,000. A work permit must be renewed every year.
“The government has added at least $3.6 million to the nation’s budget from foreigners applying for work permits.”
In 2015, the government set up a January-to-March period as the time to start the three-month process for work permit applications.
“If any foreigner refuses to follow our laws, they will be forced to pay $125 in fines for lacking a work permit, and an additional $100 to pay for the work permit fee.”
While the immigration department has given some foreigners a chance to apply for work permits, it has clamped down on others who have overstayed their visas or who crossed the border illegally.
More than 2,500 immigrants who entered the Kingdom illegally or had expired visas were deported in the first six months of this year as the government began cracking down on foreign nationals living in the Kingdom illegally, an official said.
Major General Uk Hai Seila, chief investigator at the Interior Ministry’s immigration department, told Khmer Times yesterday: “A total of 2,502 immigrants have been deported and those deportees are permanently barred from returning to the Kingdom Cambodia.
“These immigrants comprise 35 different nationalities. Of this total, 1,893 deportees were Vietnamese,” he said.
In April 2014, the government established the general department of immigration and according to nationwide statistics, a total of 10,800 immigrants from 68 countries have been deported and permanently barred from the Kingdom. Of them, 9,217 were Vietnamese nationals.
Meanwhile, Immigration Police arrested an additional 18 undocumented foreign workers yesterday in a raid in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Morn district.
Maj. Gen. Hai Seila told Khmer Times: “We arrested 18 people, 16 Vietnamese and two Filipinos, at coffee shops where they worked in Boeung Trabek commune.”
He said they had transferred the detainees to the immigration department for questioning.
“After that we released two Filipino nationals when we found that they had passports.”
Maj. Gen. Hai Seila added that his officers were questioning other Vietnamese people and said “if they don’t have passports they will be deported and put on the no-entry list permanently.”
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