Vietnamese firm boss gets suspended sentence for harboring illegal foreign workers

The Hai Phong City People’s Court recently handed down the ruling to Le Anh Dung, director of Son Dung Import Export and Production Company Limited, on charges of organizing the unlawful stay of others in Vietnam.

According to the indictment, Dung recruited 10 workers from Bangladesh in October 2024 to work at the company’s workshop.

Eight of them left Vietnam by January 2025 after their temporary residence permits expired.

The remaining two male workers, Saker Bikash Kumar and Jam Md Mhamadul Hasan, stayed on to work illegally after their permits expired.

Prosecutors said Dung neither reported the workers’ overstayed status to authorities nor completed procedures to extend their temporary residence in line with regulations.

Instead, he arranged accommodation for the pair and continued employing them to cut labor costs.

Investigators determined that from February 2025 to August 18, 2025, Dung illegally earned VND15 million (nearly US$570) from employing the two undocumented Bangladeshi workers.

Hai Phong police said Dung’s suspended sentence reflected both the strictness and humanity of the law, while serving as a lesson for businesses to comply with regulations on the employment and residence of foreign nationals in Vietnam.

After the case was uncovered, police in Hai Phong carried out procedures to deport the two foreigners from Vietnam on September 18, 2025, according to the Voice of Vietnam.