The Council of Ministers has agreed to a request from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to reduce the cost of passports from $50 to $20 for people going to work abroad, a Labor Ministry official said on Tuesday.
“We want to reduce the workers’ passport price because most Cambodian workers are poor. Those people make sacrifices to work abroad to support their families, as well as the country,” said Seng Sakda, the director of the Labor Ministry’s Department of Employment and Manpower.
He added that it is common for countries that want their citizens to work abroad to make passport costs affordable.
Seng Sakda said that people wanting the specially priced passport should submit a request to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs before going to the government’s passport office or they will be charged the regular passport fee of $100 for people not travelling to work abroad.
“We do this because we are afraid ordinary people might pretend that they are workers so they can pay less for passports,” he said.
Seng Sakda also appealed to people to accept employment only with companies approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
“If workers go abroad with a company that is not recognized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, those workers will be exploited,” he said.
Since 1998, more than 2,000 Cambodians have been gone abroad for legal work, mostly to Malaysia. About 450 Cambodians were selected last month for work in South Korean factories.
An Nan, legal supervisor for the Cambodia Labor Organization, which works to support workers’ rights, praised the reduction in passport fees but said the government should focus on generating more jobs inside Cambodia instead of encouraging people to seek work abroad.
“It is good but only for the short term. The government should draw more investment into the country. Then more people will have jobs to do,” he said.
