Overseas Vietnamese returning home receive support
VNA Saturday, July 20, 2019

In an attempt to assist former overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia in stabilising their lives as returning home, Binh Phuoc provincial authorities have deployed numerous practical measures.

Phan Thanh Liem, a former overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia, had never thought of having a concrete house until today. When first returning from Cambodia, he had to live on a floating house in Can Don Lake.

He told reporters: "I used to have a very difficult life living inside a floating house. Now I’m care-free. With this concrete house, now I can totally focus my mind on making money."

Besides accommodation assistance, Bu Gia Map district government has also provided former overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia with health insurance. Their kids are also sent to local schools. They also have access to preferential loans to stabilize their lives.

According to statistics, there have been 352 households with 1,544 former overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia in Binh Phuoc province.
https://en.vietnamplus.vn/overseas-viet ... 156443.vnp

An encounter with the people of the floating villages on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake
At home, at sea: In the ’70s, many Vietnamese living in Cambodia faced deportation after a change in regime. Stripped of all Cambodian identity documents, those who returned in the ’80s could neither reclaim nor buy land.
Written by Divya A | New Delhi | Published: January 5, 2020 6:00:16 am

Floating in a big blue, plastic bucket, with a long stick propelling her towards us, came a little girl asking for ‘dollars’. We were on a half-day cruise on Tonle Sap lake near Siem Reap, Cambodia, and were about to stop by at a floating crocodile farm for some refreshments, souvenirs and selfies. The girl had comfortably wrapped a snake around her body, which she seemed to have plucked out of the water.

According to our guide, the girl was from one of the floating villages on the lake, mostly inhabited by groups of people who were “neither Cambodian nor foreigners”. With more than 170 floating villages on Tonle Sap, most of the 80,000 people living here are considered non-immigrant foreigners, he explained.

In the ’70s, many Vietnamese living in Cambodia faced deportation after a change in regime. Stripped of all Cambodian identity documents, those who returned in the ’80s could neither reclaim nor buy land. Their solution was to live in wooden homes floating on the lake. So, their children don’t get birth certificates, they can’t attend public schools, own property, get regular jobs, or even open bank accounts. They subsist primarily on fishing and tourist dollars. That’s what had brought the little girl to us.

Full article: https://indianexpress.com/article/expre ... n-6199171/

Breaking news:
President Phuc pledges to seek legal status for Cambodia's ethnic Vietnamese
By Hoang Thuy December 22, 2021 | 03:54 am PT
President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has promised to support Cambodia's ethnic Vietnamese to soon have legal identities as they are not registered citizens in either country.

During a meeting on Wednesday with officials at the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of businesses and the Vietnamese community in Cambodia, President Phuc said "there is no community that has encountered as many difficulties as the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia."

It is because of their "uncertain legal status," and many of them do not have any identity documents such as ID cards or passports, he said.

Phuc was in Cambodia for a two-day state visit on Dec. 21-22 at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni.

Sim Chy, head of the Khmer-Vietnamese Association in Cambodia, told the meeting that the ethnic Vietnamese community is facing even more difficulties due to the plan to relocate them by the Cambodian government.

Cambodian had earlier this year announced a plan to dismantle or relocate floating houses, fish farms, and boathouses or any other unregulated and illegal structures along the Tonle Sap River in Kampong Chhnang Province and Phnom Penh City.

The reason given for this relocation is that the floating village dwellers "seriously affect water biodiversity, damage water quality, pollute the environment and affect the beauty of Phnom Penh, as well as affect the health of people who use unclean water."

The decision affects thousands of ethnic Vietnamese as many of them are not eligible for the resettlement policy of the Cambodian government, because they are recognized neither as Cambodian nor as Vietnamese citizens.

Sim asked the Vietnamese head of state to suggest the Cambodian government soon issue an official document on the rights of ethnic Vietnamese people who have registered as foreigners living in Cambodia, as well as have a decision to recognize them as expats and grant them permanent residence cards.

He also asks the Vietnamese leader to propose the Cambodian authorities simplify the process and procedures for those who have fulfilled the obligations of foreigners in the immigration category.

President Phuc said he will discuss with competent authorities to come up with feasible and effective solutions so that the ethnic Vietnamese community in Cambodia will soon have their legal status and settle down.

He also called them to "comply with the laws of the host country, take care of their business, and be exemplary."

"Embassies must promptly advise people of Vietnamese origin on regulations related to outstanding and border issues," said the president.

According to the Khmer-Vietnamese Association, there are currently 30,000 ethnic Vietnamese in Phnom Penh.

Between the late 19th century and early 20th century, the French sent thousands of Vietnamese to Cambodia to work on their rubber farms and through the years, a Vietnamese community took root in the new land.

This community became a genocidal target under the Khmer Republic and Khmer Rouge governments in the 1970s. Thousands were killed and many more sought refuge in Vietnam.

The Khmer Rouge invaded Vietnam and killed tens of thousands of Vietnamese between 1975 and 1979.

On the plea of Cambodian revolutionaries, Vietnamese soldiers entered Cambodia in January 1979, launched a retaliatory attack on the Khmer Rouge and succeeded in freeing Phnom Penh and large parts of Cambodia from their grasp.

After the war ended, the ethnic Vietnamese returned to Tonle Sap, where their parents, grandparents and they were born, only to discover that they had been labeled as "illegal immigrants."

As the Cambodian law only allows Cambodian citizens to buy land, thousands of ethnic Vietnamese settled in villages on stilts. After the pioneers, two more generations of Vietnamese Cambodians have been born in Cambodia, living with no official documentation of their existence until these days.

According to the Cambodian Overseas Vietnamese Association, over 1,500 Vietnamese families live in floating villages by Lake Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater body in Southeast Asia.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/presi ... 06763.html

Legal identity sought for ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia
By New Straits Times -
December 25, 2021
Vietnam hopes that thousands of Cambodia’s ethnic Vietnamese will soon have legal identities as they are not registered citizens in either country.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc promised to support the community during his two-day state visit to Cambodia that ended yesterday.

The Vn Express reports that Phuc made the comments during a meeting with officials at the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of businesses and the Vietnamese community in Cambodia.
https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/ ... ia-176200/

10K immigrants lack visas
Lay Samean | Publication date 24 February 2022 | 21:59 ICT

At present, there are nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants who continued to reside in Cambodia without applying for long-term renewals of their visas, a senior Ministry of Interior official said while also remarking on some of the challenges presented by the management of the Kingdom’s immigrant population.

Speaking at an annual meeting to review the work results of 2021 and direction for 2022 on February 23, ministry secretary-general Por Pheak discussed the challenges of managing immigrants.

“We know of at least 9,924 foreign nationals who did not apply for a new residence permit or visa renewal, and some immigrant children that turned 18 did not apply for a residence permit as the law mandates,” he said.

In order to address the issue, Pheak said the General Department of Immigration (GDI) had already listed the names of foreigners who had not renewed their visas or apply for permanent residence and those names would be distributed to all capital and provincial police chiefs.
Pheak requested that municipal and provincial police chiefs assign officers to summon those listed to a meeting at the GDI. If they failed to follow through on the summons and resolve their visa issues, they would then face legal measures.
...

Pheak noted recent issues with the Vietnamese authorities not allowing certain Vietnamese immigrants back into their country, which resulted in some of the floating houses evicted from the capital ending up in Kampong Chhnang province when that was not the intention behind the interior ministry’s relevant mandates.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... lack-visas

Over 3000 Foreigners Deported from Cambodia in 2021

Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): According to the Immigration Police of the Ministry of Interior, the annual update of the immigration report data for 2021-2022 has shown that over 3,000 foreigners, mostly Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese nationals, were deported out of Cambodia during this period.
Most of the deportees were living and working in Cambodia without work permits and/or correct visas.