Clause 8, Article 1 of Law No. 22/2026/QH16, which amends and supplements Article 18 of the Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers, No. 69/2020/QH14, provides:

1. A service enterprise may proactively prepare worker sources before registering a labor supply contract based on the enterprise’s needs, the receiving market and its capacity to conclude labor supply contracts.

Accordingly, service enterprises may proactively prepare worker sources before registering labor supply contracts based on their actual needs, the receiving market and their capacity to conclude such contracts. This is a new provision compared to the previous regulations, providing a basis for enterprises to proactively develop worker sources suitable to the requirements of overseas labor markets.

The preparation of worker sources shall be carried out through one or several of the following activities specified in Clause 2, Article 18 of Law No. 69/2020/QH14, as amended and supplemented by Clause 8, Article 1 of Law No. 22/2026/QH16:

• Directly providing, or coordinating with organizations and units having relevant functions or politico-social organizations in providing, information and conducting dissemination activities among workers;

• Organizing counseling and preliminary selection of workers;

• Directly providing, or cooperating or entering into partnership with education institutions in providing, training and refresher training in occupational skills and foreign languages for workers when necessary in accordance with the law on education.

In addition, amended Clause 3, Article 18 provides that a service enterprise shall enter into a written agreement with workers on their participation in worker source preparation activities. Such agreement must contain the following contents:

• Charges for training and refresher training in occupational skills and foreign languages and other amounts collected, if any;

• The expected market, professions and occupations, selection criteria and selection time;

• A commitment to prioritizing the selection of workers who have participated in worker source preparation activities;

• Responsibilities of the parties in case a worker is not selected or terminates his/her participation ahead of schedule.

Notably, a service enterprise may only collect charges for training and refresher training in occupational skills and foreign languages after the worker has been selected by the worker-receiving foreign partner and has signed a contract on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad.

In addition, under amended Clause 4, Article 18 of Law No. 69/2020/QH14, a service enterprise shall send a written notice to the commune-level People’s Committee of the locality where worker source preparation activities are organized and update information on the database on Vietnamese guest workers at least 3 days before carrying out such activities.