Cambodia grants work cards to 25,000 foreigners in 6 months

Cambodia's Ministry of Labor granted about 25,000 work permits to foreigners in the first six months of 2015, about 5,000 more than the total of last year, a local newspaper reported Friday.

Labor Minister Ith Samheng partly credited the jump to a partnership with the Ministry of Interior.

"We have more people applying for employment cards," the Phnom Penh Post quoted him as saying. "This is the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Interior."

Sok Phal, director-general of the Interior Ministry's General Department of Immigration, said his department is cracking down on employment card and other documentation violations.

From January to June, 1,600 foreigners were deported due to documentation issues, 98 percent of whom were Vietnamese, Sok Phal said.

"Foreigners and investors do not have the right to work here without employment cards," Sok Phal said. "If they do not have employment cards, they will be fined 125 U.S. dollars, and if they still do not obtain a card, they will be jailed for three months and then expelled."