What changes have taken place since
the law was introduced?
The law made
it easier to apply for residential status. It allowed more people to
meet the city's requirements.
By the end of
last year, 570,000 people had registered for residential status in HCM
City. Most of these would not have been eligible under the old
regulations.
Has
the law any shortcomings?
One of the
requirements of the old law was that the applicant had to be staying in a
rented room with a minimum area of 8sq.m. That requirement has now
been scrapped.
Now,
applicants only need their landlord to act as guarantor if people can
have a house owner agree to help them register as their guarantors.
Now, it is possible for a non-resident of the city to register at an
address in the city. That has caused some problems for the local
police.
How
has the city tackled this problem?
We have
suggested that the director of the City's Public Security Department
and other relevant bodies set a minimum living area for tenants of
5sq.m.
That would
make it difficult for house owners and employers to cheat when workers
apply for residential status.
Any person who
wants to register must prove that they have lived in the house at
least six consecutive months in any one year.
What
action can you take against those who try to cheat the system for
profit?
Some house
owners have taken money to act as guarantors when employees apply for
residential status.
We know there
is a problem but we are powerless to do anything about it.
The residence
law does not stipulate a punishment for this type of infraction. The
law only deals with the case of fake residency documents.
Many
people blame abuses of the residence law for overcrowding in the
country's major cities. What do you think?
The growth of
the city's population has caused social problems. However, we also
recognise that migrant workers have contributed greatly to HCM City's
development. There are a significant number of migrant workers in our
industrial, processing and economic zones.
If
the population of the city increases too much, should the residence
law be tightened?
There must be a
long-term development plan. We should not just forbid something so
that problems can be managed. For example, if traffic congestion in a
district is particularly bad, it would be wrong to prevent local
residents from buying vehicles.
Instead, we
should focus on preventing fraud.