In an official dispatch to provincial and municipal people's committees, the Office of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs informed that in early March 2024, the ministry and the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade signed a plan to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries to support Vietnamese citizens to work in the agricultural sector in Australia.
The MoU comes under the Pacific Australia Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme which allows eligible Australian businesses to hire workers from Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste when there are not enough local workers. Employees under the PALM scheme have the same workplace rights and protections as other employees in Australia.
Under the MoU, the two sides agreed to select a licensed enterprise to operate the service of sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad under a contract, a public service unit with the function of sending Vietnamese workers to work abroad and a unit with legal status representing Australia in Vietnam to send 1,000 Vietnamese workers to work in the agricultural industry in Australia, starting in 2024.
Currently, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam are selecting qualified Vietnamese businesses, providing information about the program to workers, and guide businesses and workers to complete visa application procedures to work in Australia and organize free training courses for workers before leaving the country.
However, a number of organizations and individuals impersonating the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and Australia have recently collected money from jobseekers in contravention of the present regulations causing security disorder in some localities.
To promptly prevent these impersonating organizations and individuals from taking advantage of this program to defraud and illegally collect money from workers, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs requested the people’s committees of provinces and cities to disseminate information about the program. That aims to prevent local workers from registering or paying money to any organization or individual claiming to be able to select workers for the employment program until the Ministry Vietnam Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam officially announced the list of businesses selected by both sides.
