Migration

Up to 750,000 Vietnamese people are believed to be living in Cambodia, about 5 percent of the country’s population, but no one knows for sure. They are almost universally stateless. Few qualify for Cambodian citizenship. ...

The Ministry of Interior’s department of immigration temporarily arrested 31 foreign nationals, including one Frenchman, on suspicion of staying in the Kingdom illegally in raids of two businesses in the capital yesterday. ...

A leading opposition lawmaker has urged the government to make better use of skilled migrant labor returning from overseas in a bid to encourage more Cambodians to stay in the country. ...

The Thai Labor Ministry yesterday said it would refuse to extend the July 29 deadline for migrant workers to register themselves, stating they will arrest workers who have not registered from next month. ...

The newest U.S. ambassador to Cambodia is visiting Long Beach, which is home to the largest population of Cambodians outside their native country – many of whom are still connected to their homeland.   ...

Two ethnic minority rights groups have filed a letter to the Interior Ministry urging it to push commune and provincial officials to create identification cards for Khmer Krom citizens, many of whom have been denied the service. ...

About 100 Vietnamese nationals allegedly living illegally in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district were arrested by Interior Ministry officials on Friday. The 93 Vietnamese, including 34 women, had been living in Nirot commune when general department of immigration police raided their residences. All are now in ...

Keo Rotha was sitting in his small brick house in a quiet village in Pursat province, surrounded by coconut trees and a bamboo fence, looking at his old phone while waiting for a call to tell him the results of the court case he and ...

Six Cambodian workers were rescued from Malaysia and arrived home safely late last weekend after being cheated by brokers, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. ...

Vietnamese police visited a group of Montagnards in Phnom Penh on Tuesday in an effort to persuade them to return to Vietnam, where the asylum-seekers claim to have fled systematic government persecution, a member of the group said on Wednesday. ...

Sixty illegal Vietnamese and Chinese laborers were arrested in Kampot province yesterday. ...

Recruiters say it could be 2017 by the time Cambodia starts sending maids to Malaysia through legal channels again, despite Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s public endorsement of a tentative deal last week. ...

Malaysia is primed to accept an influx of Cambodian workers after Prime Minister Hun Sen entreated his Malay counterpart to receive more Cambodians during an official visit to Malaysia late last week. ...

In an attempt to protect the interests and safety of Cambodian maids who travel to Malaysia, the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia National Association of Employment Agencies (PIKAP) last week, according to officials. ...

More than a dozen Montagnard refugees are set to depart from Cambodia for the Philippines today, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).   ...

The Interior Ministry has made tentative plans to send a delegation of three people to the South Pacific island of Nauru next month to meet and vet two more refugees who have volunteered to resettle in Cambodia.   ...

Cambodian refugee officials are expected to arrive on the shores of chaotic Nauru this month to interview two Iranian refugees about resettling in the Kingdom under a controversial deal with Australia.   ...

Two more refugees being held by Australia in an offshore detention facility have volunteered to relocate to Cambodia, an immigration official said on Wednesday, a sign that the teetering resettlement deal between the two countries has yet to run its course. ...

The Cambodian government has agreed to a request from the Thai Labor Ministry to temporarily block migrant workers from traveling to Thailand for the next four months as it conducts a census into migrants in the country, according to a statement released on Thursday.   ...

Foreigners living in certain areas of Phnom Penh have 10 days to show their documents to police so the government can complete registering foreign nationals by the end of the year. Those found to have overstayed their visas or entered the country illegally will be ...

A Montagnard asylum seeker was found dead on Wednesday morning in a Phnom Penh residence provided by the U.N.’s refugee agency, having committed suicide in his room, according to police. ...

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has rejected claims the Federal Government’s Cambodian refugee settlement program has spent all of the $55 million allocated to it. ...

After fleeing religious persecution in Myanmar, Mohammed Rashid found himself on a circuitous route to Phnom Penh. ...

The Immigration Department warned Interior Ministry officials on Wednesday not to issue Cambodian citizenship documents, such as birth certificates and ID cards, to foreigners living in the Kingdom. ...