Vietnam negotiates bilateral agreements over implementation of social insurance policies for foreign workers.
Deputy General Director of Vietnam Social Security (VSS) Dao Viet Anh was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) as telling a VSS conference in Hanoi on November 2 that bilateral agreements for a new generation of social insurance policies have been negotiated to support foreign workers engaging in Vietnam’s social insurance scheme.
Under Decree No. 143/2018/ND-CP detailing the Law on Social Insurance and the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene, foreigners working in Vietnam with a work permit, practice certificate, or practice license granted by competent Vietnamese authorities and under indefinite-term labor contracts or contracts with a term of one full year or more shall be subject to compulsory social insurance.
Those temporarily transferred from parent companies abroad to subsidiaries in Vietnam or reaching the retirement age shall not be subject to the compulsory social insurance scheme.
Deputy Head of VSS’s Department of Social Insurance Policy Implementation Dinh Thi Hien was as quoted by VNA as saying that, currently, foreigners are yet to join social insurance in Vietnam, so from December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, they are not subject to compulsory insurance.
From January 1, 2022, foreign workers subject to the compulsory social insurance scheme must pay 8 percent of the salary stated in their contract to the retirement and survivor fund, as their Vietnamese peers do.
From December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, employers must pay insurance for employees to the fund for sickness, maternity, workplace accident, and occupational disease. From January 1, 2022, employers must pay an additional 14 per cent of their employees’ monthly salary fund to retirement and survivor insurances.
According to figures from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the number of foreign workers in Vietnam increased from 63,557 in 2011 to 83,046 in 2016. They mostly come from Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan, which account for 73 per cent of the total, followed by European countries (21.6 per cent) and North American countries (2.4 per cent).
Those with employment contracts of under one year only make up 4.4 per cent, which is in response to local demand for and sustainability of foreign workers in the country.
Mr. Anh said that VSS has finished the fourth round of negotiations with South Korea, one of Vietnam’s biggest bilateral overseas labor partners.
VSS has also been implementing necessary negotiation processes with Japan and Germany, as well as all countries with overseas workers in Vietnam.
He added that the bilateral deals will support foreign workers in Vietnam in joining social insurance.
Source: Vneconomictimes