VN wants to send more nurses abroad, but authorities urged caution

Vietnam wants to send more nurses abroad, but authorities urged caution

As demand for nurses has been increasing in countries with ageing populations, Vietnam sees an opportunity to send workers abroad.
Vietnam wants to send more nurses abroad, but authorities urged caution ảnh 1A Vietnamese trainee nurse during a training course in Japan (Photo: asia.nikkei.com)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - As demand for nurses has been increasing in countrieswith ageing populations, Vietnam sees an opportunity to send workers abroad.

The job offers opportunities for candidates to gain skills, high salaries andopportunities to stay, work and receive social benefits like native workers.

Tran Van Anh, head of Communication Desk at the Department of Overseas Labourunder the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said Vietnam hassent thousands of nurses to Taiwan, Japan and Germany.

According to the department, since 2012, about 1,200 candidates have joinedJapanese language courses run by the department and Japanese partners. Untilnow, 673 Vietnamese nurses have worked in Japan. The Ministry of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs granted permission for 13 companies to send nursesto Japan.

According to the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), under a pilotproject to attract workers from Vietnam to train as nurses in Germany, since2016, more than 300 trainee nurses and geriatric nurses from Vietnam foundemployment in Germany. A total 195 participants have completed their trainingand are now working in Germany as fully fledged nurses and geriatric nurses,while a further 125 are in training.

While Japan and Germany require nurse candidates to be professionally trainedin language and skills, Taiwanese employers usually consider nurses as domestichelpers who deal with household chores and take care of the elderly orchildren, Ha said.

Besides strict requirements, Japan and Germany usually offered assistance tocandidates, for example, up to 30-35 million VND per month for accommodationand food during a training course in the host countries, Ha said.

After the training courses, candidates take an exam to earn certificates whichhelped them get jobs with monthly salary of 50-60 million VND, Ha said, addingthat guest workers could then apply for residence status in the host countries.

“To get such benefits, Vietnamese workers must make efforts to meet the jobrequirements,” Ha said.

“Some Vietnamese nurses working in Japan and Germany said that what they didthere was different from the job descriptions. They said they worked more,” Ha said,warning that workers should not expect easy jobs with high salaries.

“When Vietnamese workers finish training courses in the host countries but havenot earned certificates to work as nurses, they have to do all the workassigned by official nurses. This means they might have to do more than thetasks was mentioned in their labour contracts,” Ha said.

Dang Sy Dung, deputy director of the Department of Overseas Labour, saidcandidates who wanted to become nurses should carefully learn about the job becauseof its complexity and difficulty.

“The job requires patience and hard work,” he said, adding that candidatesshould not merely look at the salary.

Dung said the department and the GIZ were implementing a programme to pick 230candidates to attend nurse training courses in Germany.

The candidates would take a 13-month German language course in Vietnam andthen, a 3-year course in Germany. During the training in Vietnam, they would beoffered accommodation, food and about 900,000 VND in cash monthly. Eachcandidate must pay 1.8 million VND monthly in training fees.

When in Germany, they would receive monthly salary of 27-34 million VND.

Nguyen Luong Trao, Chairman of the Vietnam Labour Export Association, saiddemand for nurses in Japan, Germany and other European countries was highbecause of their aging populations.

“Without co-operation and assistance from the governments of Vietnam and hostcountries for training, both workers and labour exporting companies find it astruggle to afford these programmes,” Trao said.

The number of Vietnamese workers sent to work abroad last year hit 140,000,increasing nearly 7 percent over 2017, according to the department. This wasthe fifth consecutive year the number has increased and exceeded100,000.-VNS/VNA
VNA

See more

At a job fair in HCM City (Photo: VNA)

Job market to surge in 2025, technology and sustainability leading the way

TopCV predicts that roles such as software developers, data analysts and cybersecurity engineers will dominate the labour market in the technology sector, while manufacturing and logistics industries are expected to prioritise recruitment of automation engineers, supply chain managers and quality control specialists to optimise processes and integrate new technologies.

Thu Duc city covers an area of about 21,156ha. (Photo nongnghiep.vn)

HCM city’s urban area master plan approved

Thu Duc city will be an area leading the HCM City’s economy and other metropolitan areas through knowledge-based economic activities such as training, research, high-tech production and development cooperation.

Workers give up their Tet holiday to work at Long Thanh International Airport's construction site. (Photo: VNA)

Labour gaps expected after Tet, Ministry warns

The Ministry urged labour agencies to strengthen monitoring of supply-demand trends and expand online job-matching platforms across provinces to fill the forecast labour gaps in the first quarter.

Tet gifts are handed to poor, near-poor families in Nghe An province (Photo: VNA)

Tet 2025: Communities come together to spread joy, support

According to local Departments of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, over 13.5 million people nationwide benefited from this outpouring of support. The total budget for this endeavour exceeded 7.943 trillion VND, up 181 billion VND from the previous year.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Pham Viet Hung speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

CPV’s 95th anniversary celebrated in Thailand

Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Pham Viet Hung described the CPV founding as a turning point in Vietnam’s revolutionary path - a moment that marked the growth of the Vietnamese working class and their readiness to lead the nation toward independence and progress.

National flags hung along a road in Ea Tieu commune, Cu Kuin district, Dak Lak province (Photo: VNA)

Flag road model inspires national pride

In recent years, the National Flag Road model has been widely developed across many localities in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, serving as a testament to the spirit of great national unity and making a practical contribution to the movements of building new-style rural areas and civilised urban areas.