More open and flexible to attract international talent

"Finding good foreign experts and scientists is not difficult, but having enough procedures for these experts to stay in Vietnam to work long-term is "very difficult", National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thanh Phuong, Chairman of the University Council of Can Tho University, said at the National Assembly's discussion session on the draft Law on Civil Servants (amended) on the morning of October 22.

Explaining this statement, delegate Nguyen Thanh Phuong said, “work permits are an extremely difficult obstacle”. In reality, at Can Tho University, many foreign professors who have been with the school for many years, when they retire, are willing to pay their own salaries, even pay their own living expenses just to continue working in Vietnam. But because they cannot get a work permit, they can only stay for 3 months, then have to go abroad to complete immigration procedures, sometimes “circumventing the law” by entering and exiting to a neighboring country for just a few hours and then re-entering to extend their visa.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thanh Phuong, Chairman of the University Council of Can Tho University, spoke at the group. Photo: Lam Hien

"For good professors who contribute their intelligence, this way of doing things is very boring," delegate Nguyen Thanh Phuong shared.

The above story is not an isolated one and it raises a larger story: if we do not thoroughly "remove" the institutional situation, it will be difficult to implement the policy of attracting and making use of the leading intellectuals, experts, and scientists, including Vietnamese people living abroad and international experts, and "chief engineers" who are capable of solving the "big problems" of the country as required in Resolution 57 of the Politburo and the request of General Secretary To Lam.

Recently, while chairing the meeting of the Central Steering Committee on the implementation of Resolution 57 of the Politburo, General Secretary To Lam asked the leaders of ministries and branches: What outstanding mechanisms and policies are needed to "roll out the red carpet", gather and empower talents both at home and abroad to serve the Fatherland? When will Vietnam have centers that gather global technology talents? What should we do to have such centers?

Of course, to answer the above requests of the General Secretary, there is a lot to do. Among them, the thing that can be done immediately and needs to be done urgently is to amend and supplement a number of current legal regulations to create a more open, transparent and flexible legal corridor in attracting international talent.

On August 8, the Government issued Decree 221 regulating temporary visa exemption for foreigners in special need of incentives to serve socio-economic development. Accordingly, scholars, experts, scientists, professors of universities, research institutes; chief engineers; high-quality digital technology industry human resources are the groups of subjects exempted from temporary visas. This demonstrates Vietnam's strong message, helping to reduce administrative barriers and create favorable conditions for international experts, scholars, and scientists to come to our country to work, teach, research or cooperate in investment. However, this is only one condition.

Currently, the National Assembly is discussing and is expected to consider and pass the draft Law on Civil Servants (amended) and the draft Law on Higher Education (amended) at the 10th Session. This is an opportunity to immediately "resolve" some problems related to work permits. In particular, delegates proposed to immediately add a regulation allowing work contracts with foreign experts to be recognized as a valid work permit, along with a monitoring mechanism and periodic reporting by the competent authority.

Specifically, for experts signed contracts by universities, public research institutes (or designated prestigious establishments), the labor contract (or contract inviting experts), after being reported to the competent authority (such as the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Science and Technology), will have the same value as a work permit. That is, the mechanism will be changed from "pre-inspection" to "post-inspection". This is a practical proposal, both ensuring legal responsibility and creating convenience for public service units and, more importantly, "can be done immediately" in this Tenth Session.

In the long term, it is necessary to study and amend the regulations on granting work permits in the Labor Code. It is possible to add a chapter or specific provisions specifically for "foreign experts, scientists, and high-level talents" to be exempted or to simplify the work permit issuance procedures to the maximum.

Of course, any specific amendment to any law or provision must be carefully assessed for its impact, but it is necessary to review all regulations that are hindering talented experts and scientists who want to cooperate, research and contribute to Vietnam. Each barrier removed will not only help attract more experts and scientists, but also open the door for new ideas and projects that can contribute to promoting the development of the country.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/thong-thoang-linh-hoat-hon-de-thu-hut-nhan-tai-quoc-te-10392696.html