Public and transparent costs of bringing Vietnamese citizens in Myanmar back home

Mr. Luong Thanh Quang, Deputy Director of the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

* Reporter: Could you please tell us what difficulties have been encountered in protecting Vietnamese citizens in the Myawaddy region (Myanmar) recently?

* Mr. LUONG THANH QUANG: In March 2025, Myanmar authorities coordinated with Thai police and related countries to conduct many raids on online gambling establishments located along the border area. The forces discovered tens of thousands of foreigners residing illegally, carrying out activities such as: online fraud, forced labor, human trafficking, etc.

After a quick screening, the Myanmar side determined that many Vietnamese citizens taken from gambling establishments were illegal immigrants and workers and had to leave the country. The information was reported to the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam to develop a plan to receive and bring citizens back to the country. However, due to the complicated security situation in Myanmar, traveling from Yangon (where the Vietnamese Embassy is located) to Myawaddy town is not feasible, posing many challenges to the campaign to bring citizens back to the country .

In addition, citizens from Vietnam come to Myanmar by many different routes, most of them take trails, open paths, even cross rivers, so they do not have legal documents. A large number of them violate the law in the country and flee abroad, so the subjects are very diverse and complicated.

* In reality, how many Vietnamese citizens need to be protected and brought back to the country?

* The number of identified citizens increased rapidly, from 200 to 400 and then to more than 600 people. The work of verifying the identity of each citizen was urgently deployed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Public Security , preliminarily identifying 681 citizens from 56 provinces and cities across the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has discussed with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense, localities and agencies that there is no basis to determine that the Vietnamese citizens deported by Myanmar are victims of human trafficking. In case citizens are tricked into working in Myanmar, after returning to Vietnam, they can contact the local police to report and after the investigation, if they are identified as victims of human trafficking, they will receive appropriate financial support mechanisms.

* Can you tell us more about the process of developing plans and procedures for bringing citizens back to the country?

* The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported to the Government leaders for approval and started to develop a detailed plan. The Consular Department, relevant domestic agencies, and Vietnamese embassies in Myanmar and Thailand quickly drafted and considered.

The final option chosen was to bring citizens from Myanmar to enter Thailand, by bus from the town of Mea Sot, traveling nearly 500km to the airport in Bangkok and boarding a plane back home, a total travel time of nearly 20 hours. During the entire journey, security forces always monitored, not allowing citizens to escape, stay illegally in Thailand or cause disorder and safety for the whole group.

* Regarding the cost of bringing citizens back to the country, what are the current regulations and how is it actually implemented?

* According to regulations on the use of the Fund for the Protection of Vietnamese Citizens and Legal Entities Abroad, Vietnamese citizens are only paid by the State budget for the cost of returning home due to war or being victims of human trafficking. In cases where citizens violate the law abroad and are deported, they will have to pay for the cost of returning home themselves.

For bringing citizens from Myawaddy back to the country, the representative agency has calculated the preliminary costs including: road vehicle rental, food, airfare and document issuance fees... The total estimated cost for each citizen is 12.2 million VND.

The Fund for the Protection of Vietnamese Citizens and Legal Entities Abroad has notified the localities where citizens live in the country to request relatives and families of citizens to pay advance payments to the Fund. After receiving the advance payments, the Fund will make a list and notify representative agencies to pay for vehicle rental, air tickets to bring citizens back to the country, and issue necessary travel documents, etc.

After citizens return home, representative agencies will send documents and invoices to the Fund for Protection of Vietnamese Citizens and Legal Entities Abroad to make settlement and notify each individual (return excess money or request additional payment if actual expenses are higher than the advance payment amount).

We also advise citizens in Myanmar to be wary of fake information that seeks to exploit and profit from the repatriation of citizens. This is a public, transparent process with the participation and supervision of the localities where citizens reside in the country.

* How do you evaluate the results of citizen protection work in Myawaddy up to this point?

* Up to now, 3 groups of citizens with a total of 471 people have returned to Vietnam safely and orderly. This is an important initial success for the next journeys. In May 2025, we are determined to bring all citizens in Myawaddy back to the country as soon as possible.

The Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that people be vigilant against invitations and enticements to work abroad with unclear job descriptions, no labor contracts, no labor dispatch companies, no insurance...

If citizens require information related to regulations, procedures or costs related to repatriating citizens, they can directly contact the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the local foreign affairs agency to discuss and clarify information. In case of needing assistance, citizens can immediately contact the citizen protection hotline +84 91 84 84 84 or the nearest Vietnamese representative agency.

BICH QUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cong-khai-minh-bach-chi-phi-dua-cong-dan-viet-nam-tai-myanmar-ve-nuoc-post795691.html