LookAtVietnam – Illegal migration to the EU took the fore at a high-level seminar in the capital city yesterday.

Although the EU was a potential destination for Vietnamese migrants, few were employed in the region because of complicated visa procedures. (Photo: VNN)

Diederik Paalman, an expert on immigration and visa policies from Europe said people from developing countries should be given up-to-date information on migration policies when they head to an EU country.

He said integration for all legal migrants was a key EU policy, under which migrants would be provided with free language training, and education on culture and society.

Illegal migration caused many security problems, he said.

Bui Quoc Thanh, deputy director of the Consulate Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said international migration was a socio-economic development phenomenon. About 3.2 million Vietnamese migrated to nearly 100 countries in the world and the number was increasing every day.

Among them, 500,000 are migrant workers who send home US$1.6 billion each year, 250,000 are Vietnamese brides, and 30,000 students, according to Thanh.

Labour export

He said the Vietnamese Government considered labour export a key industry that had been helping change the lives of poor people in the country for the last 20 years.

Dao Cong Hai, deputy director of the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs’ Overseas Labour Management Department, said his department planned to send more workers abroad.

Although Vietnamese workers were employed in many Asian countries, they didn’t often meet EU requirements which favour high-standard workers. Hai said most export labour was for manual work.

Although the EU was a potential destination for Vietnamese migrants, few were employed in the region because of complicated visa procedures.

Like the EU, Viet Nam supported all legal migration but kept a watch on illegal migration, and human trafficking, said Lieutenant General Hoang Duc Chinh, adding the EU should provide more information on demand for migrant workers as well as relevant policies.

A senior police officer representing Hai Phong said the northern port city bad 300,000 illegal migrants.

In the last four years, 30 people in Hai Phong were found to have illegally entered EU destinations with fake visas. They were then forced to return to Viet Nam.

The police officer asked the EU to to-operate in information exchange on illegal actions and help Vietnamese police crack down on fake passports and visas.

He also asked the delegation to simplify visa procedures for Vietnamese people who meet requirements for legal migration and report the number to Vietnamese authorities for better co-operation and management.

Master plan

Representative of the Immigration Department said they were working on a master plan by next year and 2015 under which they would apply the electronic passports with Bio Recognition and Identity information system, advance, passenger information, and an immigration website.

An official from the department said the plan would boost the fight against illegal migration.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News