Vietnamese workers ask to be allowed to stay in Czech Republic if laid off

Vietnamese citizens have asked to be allowed to remain in the Czech Republic if they lose their jobs. At a meeting with Interior Ministry officials, leaders of the Vietnamese community said they were capable of supporting one another in the event of being laid off, arguing that possible deportation was too heavy-handed a measure on the part of the Czech authorities. The Vietnamese leaders said their compatriots would prefer to stay in the Czech Republic and do community service, for instance.

The Czech government recently launched a scheme to give laid-off workers from non-EU states EUR 500 and a ticket home. So far around 550 people – most of them from Mongolia – have signed up for the programme, which is open to 2,000 foreigners in its first phase. Only 20 or 25 people from Vietnam have taken up the offer.