Regulation on Service Fees Collected from Vietnamese Workers Going Abroad for Employment
1. Service fees are amounts collected by the service enterprise from the foreign party receiving workers and from the workers themselves, in order to cover expenses related to market search and development, negotiation, conclusion of labor supply contracts, and management of workers during their overseas employment, as provided by this Law.
2. Service fees collected from workers by service enterprises must comply with the following principles:
a) Based on agreement between the worker and the service enterprise;
b) Must not exceed the ceiling level stipulated in Section 4;
c) May only be collected after the labor supply contract has been approved by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and after the contract for sending Vietnamese workers abroad has been duly signed;
d) In cases where the foreign party receiving workers has already paid service fees, the enterprise may only collect from the worker the remaining amount up to the level agreed upon.
3. Where a service enterprise has collected service fees from the worker for the entire duration of overseas employment as agreed in the contract, but the worker is required to return to Vietnam before the contract term through no fault of their own, the service enterprise must refund to the worker the corresponding portion of the service fees and interest, proportionate to the remaining contract period.
Interest shall be calculated based on the demand deposit interest rate in Vietnamese dong, as agreed upon by the parties at the time the enterprise makes the refund to the worker.
4. The ceiling level of service fees collected from workers shall be as follows:
a) Not exceeding one (01) month’s basic wage of the worker under contract for every twelve (12) months of employment; for officers and crew members working on seagoing vessels, not exceeding one and a half (1.5) months’ basic wage of the worker under contract for every twelve (12) months of employment. In cases where the overseas employment contract is for a duration of thirty-six (36) months or more, the total service fee shall not exceed three (03) months’ basic wage of the worker under contract;
b) Where there is an agreement to collect service fees for the extension period of the labor contract under the overseas employment contract, the maximum service fee for every twelve (12) months of extension shall not exceed half (0.5) of one month’s basic wage of the worker under contract;
c) For certain markets, industries, occupations, or specific jobs, the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall provide detailed regulations on service fee ceilings lower than those stipulated at Point a and Point b, Section 4 above.
(Legal basis: Article 23 of the Law on Vietnamese Workers Going Abroad under Contract, 2020)
