The Cambodian immigration chief on June 17 asked Vietnam’s ambassador to Cambodia to work with local authorities to expedite repatriation of illegal Vietnamese nationals residing in the Kingdom.

Kirth Chantharith, director-general of the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration (GDI), met ambassador Vu Quang Minh at the GDI to discuss the issue.

During the meeting, Minh thanked the GDI for accepting the “foreigners” and providing them with permanent resident permits, as well as for other initiatives related to immigration.

Chantharith told Minh that there are challenges concerning the rights of permanent resident permits for Vietnamese nationals, in Phnom Penh as well as in the provinces.

And concerning illegal Vietnamese residing in the Kingdom, the GDI asked that Minh “continue to cooperate by filling out the forms and repatriating them back to Vietnam soon”, Chantharith said, stressing that the request was not based on racial discrimination.

He also said the GDI would continue raising awareness concerning rules applicable to permanent resident permits, as well as other relevant legal regulations, to ensure that enforcement is exercised lawfully.

GDI spokesperons Keo Vanthan said on June 20 that illegal Vietnamese immigrants arrested by immigration police were detained at pre-deportation centres. Some did not possess a passport, which is a required document from the Vietnamese embassy.

“Some illegal immigrants that we arrested had passports and some did not. We requested the Vietnamese embassy to issue travel documents to expedite deportation,” Vanthan said.

He said there are more than 100 illegal Vietnamese immigrants waiting for deportation, all but three had passports.