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JOINT CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE TRAINING FUND REPAYMENT BY SUBJECTS WHO HAVE BEEN SENT TO STUDY ABROAD BUT DO NOT RETURN HOME AS SCHEDULED

In furtherance of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 957/1997/QD-TTg of November 11, 1997 on improving a number of exit procedures and resolving matters relating to Vietnamese people who have gone abroad but do not return home as scheduled;
Pursuant to the Ordinance on Public Servants;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 96/1998/ND-CP of November 17, 1998 and the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel’s Circular No. 28/1999/TT-BTCCBCP on the job severance regime applicable to public servants;
After getting comments from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Official Dispatch No. 1293/BKHCNMT-TCCBKH of May 27, 1998); the Ministry of Planning and Investment (Official Dispatch No. 3661/BKH/KHGDMT of May 30, 1998); the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Official Dispatch No. 217/CB of May 26, 1998 and Official Dispatch No. 1727/CV/NG-CB of December 25, 1998); the Ministry of Justice (Official Dispatch No. 1182/TP-PLDSKT of June 24, 1999) and the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Sciences and Education (Official Dispatch No. 1141-CV/KGTW of March 14, 2000), the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training hereby jointly guide the training fund repayment as follows:

I. APPLICATION SUBJECTS

1. Subjects:

As from 1999, the following subjects, who have been sent abroad to study with funds provided by the State or foreign parties under treaties or agreements reached with Vietnam but do not return home or fail to return home within the prescribed time-limit after finishing their training courses, shall have to repay part or whole of the expenditures relating to the training process:

+ Public servants as prescribed in the Ordinance on Public Servants.

+ University and post-university students (research students, post-graduate students) who are sent to study as from the 1999-2000 school year under Article 76 of the Education Law.

+ Other subjects who have been sent for training in form of: job learning, apprentice, skill fostering.

2. Subjects liable to training fund repayment:

a/ Those who, upon the expiry of their study duration, do not return home to work or return home 3 months or more after the deadlines without any plausible reasons or approval by domestic competent agencies or organizations.

b/ Those who are compelled to return home ahead of schedule for being suspended from learning as a discipline; who do not fulfill their learning duties without any plausible reasons or who drop their study at their own will to return home.

c/ Those who return home on time but arbitrarily quit their jobs, failing to return to their former agencies or units or disobeying the work assignment by their agencies without plausible reasons.

d/ Those who apply for permanent residence abroad while studying, doing research work or taking apprentice there.

e/ Those who return home on time, return to work at their former agencies or units but arbitrarily quit their jobs or apply for exit to reside permanently overseas while their service period is less than 3 times the period they study or are trained abroad.

For cases (a), (b), (c) and (d), the whole of the training expenses must be repaid; for case (e), part of the training expenses must be repaid.

3. Cases entitled to consideration for exemption or reduction in part or whole of the training fund repayment:

a/ Subjects entitled to exemption consideration:

- Those who return home on time but have not yet been assigned work by their agencies or organizations due to objective reasons or have been transferred to other jobs against their will due to merger or dissolution of their units...

- Those who are sent to study by their agencies and allowed by their managing agencies to stay abroad and work as collaborators for overseas research institutions, or who get ill with certification by medical establishments of the host countries, and return home 3 months or more after the deadlines with plausible reasons certified by the Vietnamese embassies in such foreign countries, and these cases must be approved by the Compensation Considering Councils of the competent agencies or organizations.

b/ Subjects entitled to reduction consideration: Those who are entitled to social policies or whose families fall in particularly difficult circumstances (with certification by the local administrations) may file their applications for compensation reduction through the Compensation Considering Councils of the competent agencies or organizations.

4. Bases for calculating the training fund repayment:

- The training agreements the Vietnamese Government has signed with each country; this funding includes all the training expenses and scholarships granted during the period of their study abroad, from the time they begin their study in training institutions till the time they finish their training courses and are granted certificates or diplomas, and the training expenses paid to the foreign parties by the Vietnamese State (if any).

- The time they are sent for overseas training.

- The current domestic norms on training expenditures.

5. Contents and levels of training fund repayment:

5.1. Contents: The training expenses include the following:

- Training expenses paid by the Vietnamese State (or Vietnamese agencies or organizations) to foreign parties or training expenses provided by foreign parties under the signed agreements.

- Expenses for domestic training or fostering during the period of their study at schools or training institutions according to the training expense norms promulgated annually by the Finance Ministry.

- The round trip airfares provided by the Vietnamese State or foreign parties.

- The total amount of scholarship granted by the Vietnamese State or foreign parties.

- Special occupational allowances (if any).

- Expenses on exit and entry for study and other expenses (if any).

5.2. Compensation levels: 100% of the above-mentioned total training expense. In case of reduction, the maximum reduction level shall be 50% of the to-be-repaid amount.

The calculation of partial or full repayment of training expenses by State employees shall comply with the regulations on compensation of training and fostering expenses in the Government’s Decree No. 96/1998/ND-CP of November 17, 1998 on the regime of job severance for public servants and the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel’s Circular No. 28/1999/TT-BTCCBCP of July 31, 1999 guiding the implementation of Decree No. 96/1998/ND-CP (Part IV - Compensation of training and fostering expenses).

II. MEASURES TO RECOVER TRAINING EXPENSES

1. Officials, employees, post graduates, undergraduate students,... who are sent abroad for training, fostering or further study with funds provided by the State or foreign parties under treaties or agreements signed between Vietnam and foreign countries (except those sent by foreign organizations to study abroad and then return to work for such organizations in Vietnam) shall, before carrying out exit procedures, have to deposit collateral amount equivalent to USD 1,000 at the agencies which send them for study. Within 15 days after receiving such collateral amount, the agencies managing such subjects shall have to deposit such collateral amount into a commercial bank, the principal and interest of which shall be refunded to the subjects when they return home, or which shall be remitted into the State Treasury in Chapter 160, Series 10, Clause 10, Item 62 of the State Budget Contents if such subjects do not return home or fail to return on time. In cases where the trainees do not have the collateral amount as prescribed, there must be the guarantee from their families or relatives.

2. Agencies and organizations with subjects liable to the training fund repayment shall have to issue decisions on repayment, calculate repayment levels and urge the repayment as prescribed.

3. For subjects who do not return home as scheduled but continue to work in State agencies, they shall be assigned work only after making the repayment.

If the collateral amount is larger than the repayment amount, the depositor shall receive back the difference from the agencies which sent them for study. If the collateral amount is lower than the repayment amount, the person sent abroad for study shall have to pay the deficit to the agencies which sent them for study for remittance into the State Treasury.

4. For subjects who do not return home or apply for exit to permanently reside overseas, if after getting the repayment decisions from the sending agencies or units, they do not voluntarily make the repayment, the agencies or units managing such subjects shall have to coordinate with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security, within their respective functions, in taking measures to temporarily hold or recover their passports, ensuring the full, serious and fair repayment.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security shall consider and settle other benefits for individuals staying overseas only after they fulfill their obligations towards the State under the Government’s Decree No. 05/2000/ND-CP of March 3, 2000 on exit and entry by Vietnamese citizens and the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 957/1997/QD-TTg of November 11, 1997 on improving a number of exit procedures and resolving matters relating to Vietnamese people who have gone abroad but do not return home as scheduled.

5. Subjects liable to repay the training fund shall base themselves on the repayment notices sent them by competent agencies to personally pay the compensation amount into the State Treasury. Basing itself on the State Treasury’s collecting receipts, the Police offices shall carry out the procedures for exit or household membership registration; those who deliberately refuse to make the repayment shall be handled according to law provisions.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

The sending agencies with subjects liable to repay the training expenses shall have to make reports on the repayable amounts and number of the violating subjects and send them together with annual final settlement reports to the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Finance according to current financial management regime.

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing and applies also to those who have been sent for overseas training but not yet returned home though the dates for their return have expired. The expiry date shall be counted from the effective date of this Circular.

Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported to the two ministries for study and settlement.-