About 62,000 foreign labourers join compulsory social insurance in Vietnam

After ten months, 62,000 foreigners have paid compulsory social insurance in Vietnam. (Photo for illustration)

The figure was revealed by Dinh Duy Hung, the deputy head of the Department of Revenue under the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), during a recent online exchange programme co-hosted by Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper and the VSS on the theme of "Benefits of participating in social insurance."

According to Hung, right at the time Decree No. 143/2018/NĐ-CP, stipulating in details and guiding the enforcement of the Law on Social Insurance on compulsory social insurance for foreign employees in Vietnam, took effect on December 1 last year, the collection has been applied. As of September this year, after 10 months of implementation, there were 62,000 foreigners who joined the compulsory social insurance in the country.

Hung assessed that, in general, units with foreign workers have complied and fully paid for their social insurance.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, there are over 80,000 foreign employees in Vietnam, of which 90% are granted work permits.

They are entitled to the following social insurance regimes – sickness, maternity, workplace accident, occupational disease, retirement, and survivor allowance. From December 1, 2018, foreign labourers could enjoy the three social insurance regimes, namely sickness, maternity, workplace accident and occupational disease. Retirement and survivorship regimes will take effect from January 1, 2022.

Conditions for enjoying the sickness and maternity regimes for foreign labourers working in Vietnam comply with the Law on Social Insurance, while those using workplace accident and occupational disease regimes comply with the Law on Occupational Safety and Health.

Foreign employees are entitled to retirement security when they meet the conditions for pension entitlement in accordance with the Law on Social Insurance and Decree No. 115/2015/NĐ-CP.

From January 1, 2022, every month, foreign workers working in Vietnam will pay 8% of their monthly salary to the retirement and survivorship funds. Employers will contribute 3% of their monthly salary fund, which is the basis for paying social insurance premiums for employees, to the fund for sickness and maternity, as well as 0.5% into the insurance fund for occupational accident and disease and 14% into retirement and survivor allowance funds.

In case of discrepancy between the provisions of the Decree and the international treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party on the same issue, the provisions of the international treaty shall apSource: NDO