Route Map to Hire Foreign Talent in Cambodia
The business world is hardly new to workforce localization. From the US to UAE, the nationalization has snowballed over the decades to promote employing the local population in a meaningful and efficient manner in the public and private sectors. In fact, this doesn’t even remotely mean that you must refrain from acquiring foreign talents, but the regulations you must comply with have become a lot more stringent.
Cambodia has a fairly transparent system to accommodate foreign employees and has announced a set of rules and regulations for employers to follow. The Cambodian government has opened ‘the foreign employee quota application’ for businesses for 2023. Businesses that want to hire a foreign employee must apply for this quota before obtaining a work permit for the employee. According to the quota system, only 10 percent of a Cambodian company’s total workforce can be foreign nationals. This, too, has a substratum: office employees— three percent; skilled labor—six percent; and unskilled labor—one percent.
On the other hand, businesses in Cambodia can exceed their foreign employee quota if they adhere to certain rules mandated by the government. The employers need to submit a request to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training to employ excess foreign employees, with their employment contract attached. They subsequently need to complete the work permit application through the FWCMS, and pay the work permit fee before acquiring the visa permit for the foreign employee. The foreign employee quota application deadline ends at the end of November 2022.
We have curated some interesting stories from Cambodia’s business realm in this special issue. Do let us know your thoughts.