The reopening of international flights is a good sign for businesses sending workers abroad and for workers
Vietnam has opened flights to a number of countries and territories such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (China) with a frequency of 2 flights per week, starting from September 15. Of which, Vietnam Airlines officially resumed the first regular international flights by operating one-way flights from Vietnam to Japan from September 18. This is the information that labor export businesses (XKLĐ) are most excited about after a long wait.
Businesses are excited
On the evening of September 17, the departure area of Tan Son Nhat International Airport was quite crowded, different from the deserted state since the Covid-19 outbreak. Among those preparing to fly, there was a group of 8 people going to Japan as trainees (TTS).
Ms. Hong Thao, a representative of the company who saw off the group of workers to Japan, said that these workers were supposed to fly in March, but due to the pandemic, their visas expired and were only renewed by the Japanese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City at the end of August, so they only departed today. “Since we heard that Japan has reopened visa issuance for workers, our company has devoted all of its staff to preparing new and renewed visa applications for students. Nearly 30 applications have been approved, more than 10 visas have been issued, and we are currently completing applications for about 50 more students who are expected to fly in late September or early October,” said Ms. Thao.
Mr. Tran Anh Quang Thanh, Branch Director of PITSCO Human Resources Training and Development Company Limited (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City), said that businesses working in the labor export sector like him are very excited about the news of reopening flights and that is a positive sign for the entire labor export industry.
According to Mr. Thanh, if flights to countries like Japan and South Korea are not resumed soon, labor export enterprises will face many difficulties because the cost of maintaining operations is very high, workers cannot fly, causing business costs to increase and they are also tired of waiting. Fortunately, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea have controlled the epidemic quite well, so the day of returning to normal operations will not be far away.
“The embassy reopening visa issuance for workers, the Government reopening main flights is a significant support for labor export enterprises and laborers. Almost immediately, we completed all flight procedures for students as well as contacted students who had returned home to complete flight procedures and health check-ups. We also reconnected with our partners in Japan for online interviews as well as took new orders to plan new enrollment” – Mr. Thanh said.
Workers rejoice
Mr. Nguyen Du, Director of the East Asia Institute of Economics and Technology (IET; Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City), commented that although commercial flights have not resumed, sending students to study and work in Germany has become active again. Germany does not require a 14-day quarantine for Vietnamese citizens upon entry into Germany, but only conducts medical checks at the airport.
“Even at the peak of the epidemic, Germany still issued visas for Vietnamese citizens to study nursing in Germany, then issued visas for other industries and now they have normalized activities related to studying and working. The consulate also stepped up the issuance of visas for students to study in Germany, so since August, IET has sent 8 students to Germany to study and work in the fields of nursing, restaurants – hotels, and auto mechanics,” said Mr. Du.
Having had a visa to go to Japan to work as an electronic trainee since March, after more than 5 months of waiting, early last week, Le Van Hung (22 years old, from Tra Vinh) was informed by the company that he would fly at the end of September. Overjoyed after many months of waiting, Hung confided: “I thought my dream of going to Japan was over, but now I have touched it. I am preparing everything as best as possible to go abroad. After three years in Japan, I will definitely try my best to complete my work well and save money for the future.”
Hung said that in the group studying Japanese, there was a friend who applied for a job as a motorbike taxi driver to make a living, but when he heard that he could go to Japan this year, he contacted the company to apply for a visa to continue to nurture his dream of working in Japan. They all consider Japan a stepping stone for their careers after 3-5 years as a trainee.
Participating in the seasonal work order to Korea, Ms. Ho Thi Vuong (33 years old, from Ha Nam) shared that she had registered and passed the selection, but because there were no flights, she had not been able to go to Korea to work. As soon as she knew there was a flight, she contacted the provincial job placement center to get information. Ms. Vuong said that the center is actively working with the Korean side so that she and 28 others can go to Korea as soon as possible, possibly in October. Joy has returned to her after many months of waiting. Ms. Vuong said that farming in her hometown is hard with unstable income and limited qualifications, so she chose to go to Korea to work seasonally as an opportunity to improve her life. She hopes that with 3 months of working as a vegetable harvester in the land of kimchi, she can earn a decent amount of money to pay off her debt and rebuild her kitchen which is in disrepair.
