The window to apply for the 2025 foreign employee quota is open until the end of November 2024.
Enterprises employing or intending to employ foreign employees in 2025 are required to apply for a foreign employee quota from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”). Under the quota system, a maximum of 10% of an employer’s total local workforce may be foreign nationals (based on a calculation of foreign employees/local employees), comprised of: office employees (3%); skilled labour employees (6%); and unskilled labour employees (1%).
However, in August 2020, the MLVT issued Prakas 277/20 concerning Special Conditions on the Employment of Foreign Nationals (“Prakas 277/20”), to permit the hiring of foreign nationals in excess of the above foreign employee quota cap, subject to the MLVT approval. Based on Prakas 277/20, enterprises governed by the scope of Article 1 of the Labour Law that need to hire employees, but cannot find suitably qualified Cambodian nationals or sufficient numbers for their workplace, may file a request to hire foreign nationals under special conditions in excess of 10% of the total number of Cambodian employees.
If your organization employs or intends to employ any foreign nationals, we recommend that the 2025 foreign employee quota application be prepared as soon as practicable and, in any event, before 30 November 2024, in order to avoid potential fines by the MLVT and, where applicable, leave sufficient time to seek approval for any increase in the quota. Please refer to this alert on Annual Labour Compliance for more details about the applicable penalties.
If you require our assistance with such application, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected].
