Poor district workers are recruited to go to Japan for free

Workers aged 18-30 who are accepted into the IM Japan program and accepted by the Japanese company will be exempted from tuition fees, only paying for visas and airfare.

On July 6, the Overseas Labor Center (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) announced that in 2023, there will be no limit on the number of interns recruited to work under the Technical Internship Program in Japan (IM Japan) in two industries: manufacturing and construction. Candidates must be between the ages of 18 and 30, from poor districts, disadvantaged communes, and coastal areas.

Successful candidates undergo three months of preparatory training and pay for accommodation and tuition during this period. During the next four official months, candidates will be exempted from tuition, dormitory fees and vocational training fees by the International Human Resources Development Organization of Japan (IM Japan) if the Japanese company accepts them.

Working time in Japan is 3-5 years with a contract salary of 25-30 million VND per month, not including overtime pay. Workers returning home on time will receive 1 million yen (about 170 million VND) in support from IM Japan to encourage them to start a business and a pension insurance of about 80 million VND.

"The program is non-profit, so participants only have to pay for expenses such as health check-ups, passports, airfare to Japan... up to 38 million VND," said the center's leader. Therefore, the program accepts applications directly at the center's headquarters or by post , without intermediaries. Workers do not submit applications through brokers to avoid losing money.

A notice board outside a training class for workers going to work in Japan in Hanoi, May 2023. Photo: Hong Chieu — A notice board outside a training class for workers going to work in Japan in Hanoi , May 2023. Photo: *Hong Chieu*

IM Japan has been deployed since 2006 and has so far sent about 8,000 trainees to Japan. Japan's technical trainee program was established in 1993 to support workers from developing countries in learning skills in fields such as agriculture , construction and food processing. Each training course does not exceed 5 years, and workers returning home after working in Japan are expected to be highly qualified human resources in the trained profession.

However, some employers have also taken advantage of the program to find cheap labor, putting trainees at risk of exploitation and abuse. On April 10, a panel of 15 experts, scholars and provincial leaders in Japan proposed scrapping the program because it focuses only on "human resources" - the element that is exploited, turning trainees into manual workers due to severe labor shortages due to the aging population.

By the end of 2022, the country had more than 600,000 workers working in 50 countries and territories, transferring nearly 4 billion USD in foreign currency annually through official channels, not to mention other channels. Of which, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are traditional markets attracting over 90% of Vietnamese workers. Japan has 250,000 people, Taiwan 230,000 people, and South Korea 40,000 people.

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