Policy Credit Expansion Creates New Opportunities for Overseas Employment

Under Resolution No. 71, local budget funds entrusted through the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) are being allocated to support various policy beneficiary groups, with clear regulations on eligible borrowers, loan amounts, loan terms, and interest rates.

Eligible groups include households with average living standards; ethnic minority and mountainous households; production and business households in disadvantaged communes; and students, university students, master’s students, and doctoral candidates who are Vietnamese citizens permanently residing in Lam Dong and studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines within the national education system.

Notably, the resolution also covers workers who have been officially recruited to work overseas under labor contracts and are in need of loans. Loan amounts, interest rates, and repayment terms are implemented in accordance with regulations issued by the Prime Minister and guidance from VBSP from time to time, similar to existing loan programs for overseas workers and employment support policies under the National Employment Fund.

Speaking by phone from Japan, Nguyen Thi Thu Yen, a resident of Phan Thiet Ward, said she borrowed VND 45 million from VBSP, in addition to her family’s savings, to cover the cost of working abroad. “Without the loan from VBSP, I would not have been able to work overseas due to my family’s financial difficulties,” she said, noting that her current income in Japan far exceeds what she could earn in Vietnam.

Despite such positive cases, VBSP’s Lam Dong Branch reports that the number of borrowers using policy credit to work overseas remains modest compared to other provinces and cities.

According to Ly Khau Nghia, Deputy Director of VBSP’s Lam Dong Branch and Director of the VBSP Binh Thuan Transaction Office, only a handful of borrowers in the Binh Thuan area have accessed bank loans for overseas employment since 2020, with similarly low figures across the province.

To address this, VBSP Lam Dong is stepping up the implementation of Resolution No. 71 at the grassroots level.

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At our year-end review conference, we invited representatives from commune and ward People’s Committees, village heads, and savings and credit groups to disseminate the resolution in advance. This helps policy beneficiaries access information, register their borrowing needs, and enables us to consolidate data and report to the province to balance lending capital.

Mr. Ly Khau Nghia, Deputy Director of VBSP’s Lam Dong Branch and Director of the VBSP Binh Thuan Transaction Office.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 84/2025, amending and supplementing Circular No. 11/2017, which regulates the management and use of local budget funds entrusted through VBSP for lending to the poor and other policy beneficiaries, including overseas workers.