Presenting amendments to the 2020 Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers Working Abroad Under Contract to the National Assembly on Aug. 5, Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Hai said the current text bans massage placements only at restaurants, hotels and entertainment centers.

The draft would prohibit the work in any setting.

Companies would also have to publish complete and accurate information on their websites covering recruitment numbers, selection criteria, working conditions, and workers' rights and obligations.

They would have to report any incident affecting a worker's life, health or entitlements, along with any emergency, immediately to the authorities and to Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad.

Where workers face abuse, violence or discrimination, the company that sent them would be responsible for helping them reach legal aid services.

The draft would let companies build a pool of trained candidates before registering supply contracts. They could work alone or with vocational schools and employment service providers to deliver skills and language training.

Companies could not charge for that training until the foreign employer has selected the worker. The Ministry of Home Affairs, which drafted the bill, said the change targets a pattern of workers paying training fees early with no guarantee of a job or a departure date.

Licensed companies would have to recruit and assess workers themselves or jointly with the receiving employer, rather than routing the work through a third party or delegating it to another organization or individual.

The draft further bans false promises, misleading information, deceptive advertising and consulting, and other tactics used to defraud workers.

It bans using overseas placement as a cover for organizing illegal exit, human trafficking, exploitation or forced labor.

A separate provision would widen the existing prohibition on sending workers to conflict zones, radiation- or toxin-contaminated areas and places with especially dangerous epidemics, adding any destination Vietnamese authorities have advised against or restricted travel to.

Reviewing the bill, the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society endorsed the labor pool provisions, saying a written agreement between company and worker would give both sides a legal basis for protecting their interests, including when a worker leaves a program voluntarily.

The committee also asked that the government be left to spell out state management responsibilities and inter-agency coordination, which it said would keep implementation flexible.

The National Assembly is expected to pass the bill before the current extraordinary session, its first of the 16th legislature, closes on Aug. 24.