At present, there are more than 2,000 foreign workers in Champassak, including illegal workers who entered as tourists but have subsequently found work there and stayed on without legal documentation.

The provincial authorities began registering migrant workers over the years to address the issue while ensuring social order and protecting workers’ rights in anticipation of the Asean Economic Community coming into effect.

Most of the workers came from Vietnam and China, an official with the provincial Labour and Social Welfare Department said.

Department Director Khamsay Mueanluang told Vientiane Times on Friday that his staff would work closely with the provincial police to register about 200 migrant workers this year, up on last year’s figure of 100.

The migrant workers will pay an obligatory fee of 300,000 kip for three months or 1 million kip for one year visas to allow them to work in the province.

“Under the law, these workers should be repatriated. Their situations don’t meet the criteria required to submit a request for a work permit,” Khamsay said.

Khamsay said the workers needed to obtain the relevant documents before the deadline issued by authorities. If not, they might be repatriated.

He said many came to work for foreign-owned investment projects and had a legal work permit, but did not return home after the project finished and their documents expired.

The immigrants work mainly as hawkers, nail cutters and painters, beauticians, scrap metal collectors and buyers.

The provincial authorities plan to inform companies, factories and other business operators of their requirements in registering migrant workers, and companies would then provide a list of their foreign workers in accordan ce with the law, Khamsay added.

“The registering of foreigners for the year 2016 will start in the near future and the provincial authority expects to record at least 200 foreigners this year,” he said.

“The new measures are aimed at collecting information and identifying the number of foreigners working illegally so we can then assign resources to best regulate the situation and avoid the complexities of the past,” he added.

Khamsay called on everyone involved to cooperate in resolving the problem to make sure that foreign workers were registered.