Despite significant economic achievements, Vietnam continues to see a rising number of illegal Vietnamese immigrants to Europe. In October 2019, for example, British police found thirty-nine illegal Vietnamese immigrants dead inside a lorry trailer in Essex (BBC 2020). The trailer arrived by sea from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The story has drawn worldwide attention to the plight of illegal Vietnamese immigrants in Europe and the criminal networks of human smuggling from Vietnam. While the story reveals a tragic aspect of Vietnam’s integration into the global economy, it is important to note that thousands of Vietnamese workers travel to foreign countries every year to work legally under government-sponsored programmes. In fact, the Vietnamese government has long promoted labour export as part of its strategy to reduce poverty while earning remittances from overseas workers. In spite of such programmes, to cope with persistent poverty and insufficient opportunities for training and higher-paid jobs, young Vietnamese in poor areas, such as those ill-fated immigrants above, have sought work opportunities abroad by relying on networks of human smugglers.

This chapter addresses the related phenomena of labour export and human smuggling from Vietnam to Europe. Both groups of workers, including those exported legally and illegally smuggled workers, have contributed significantly to the Vietnamese economy through remittances. But both forms of labour migration have encountered problems. On the one hand, the legal labour export programmes operated by state-owned agencies engage in the exploitative practice of charging excessive labour service fees. Another problem is visa overstaying as workers refuse to return after the end of their contracts. On the other hand, associated with smuggled workers are problems of human trafficking, money laundering, labour exploitation and risks of death.

The plight of both groups of workers points to a larger issue—namely, that Vietnam has achieved rapid economic growth but this growth has created rising inequality, and workers especially are exploited through low wages. Vietnam has a large workforce of 55.5 million, which remains one of its advantages in attracting foreign investment. While non-skilled labour is abundant, skilled workers are in great shortage, and training opportunities for workers are insufficient.