Da Nang expands loans for overseas workers

Labor shortage of initial capital

A few years ago, the cost of about 200 million VND to go to Japan to work was a burden for Mr. Phan Huu Trung's family (28 years old, Hiep Duc mountainous commune, Da Nang). Despite having good health and wanting to increase income, he faced difficulties due to lack of initial capital.

Thanks to being supported with a loan of 200 million VND from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, Mr. Trung went to Japan to work for 3 years, earning 30-35 million VND/month. The loan helped his family improve their economy, and at the same time created capital for him to invest in business after returning.

However, not all workers who need to work abroad can easily access this capital source.

In the period 2022-2024, the old Quang Nam province had nearly 4,600 workers going to work abroad, while only nearly 700 people were able to borrow policy capital, with a total amount of about 36 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Qui Quy - Deputy Director of Da Nang City Department of Home Affairs - acknowledged that the number of workers accessing policy credit is still low compared to the actual number of people leaving the country. The gap is concentrated in the group of workers who do not belong to poor or near-poor households but also do not have initial capital.

They have health, skills, and opportunities to work in Japan, Korea and many other markets, but must prepare a large amount of money for foreign language learning, training, orientation education, health check-ups, travel and pre-expatriation expenses, causing many workers to miss opportunities.

Ms. Do Thi Ha - Deputy Director of Da Nang City Employment Service Center - said that working abroad is an effective way to solve employment, especially for rural and mountainous workers.

Not waiting until we are poor to provide support

Resolution 65/2026/NQ-HĐND of the Da Nang City People's Council, effective from July 10, 2026, is expected to directly solve this bottleneck.

According to the resolution, workers who register for permanent residence for 12 months or more in Da Nang and have a need to work abroad under contract will have expanded opportunities to access capital. The city uses local budget entrusted through the Social Policy Bank to provide preferential loans to even workers who are not in the priority group according to the 2025 Employment Law.

The interest rate for the group is expanded by the city to be equal to the lending interest rate for poor households in each period. Meanwhile, the normal interest rate for workers going to work abroad according to Decree 338/2025/ND-CP is 127% of the lending interest rate for poor households.

Workers can be considered for borrowing up to 100% of the total costs to be paid before going to work abroad under the contract.

Notably, loans over 200 million VND must be secured according to regulations. This helps families without large assets still have the opportunity to access official capital sources, instead of having to borrow outside at high interest rates.

Mr. Nguyen Qui Quy said that compared to the general policy, Da Nang expands the scope of support so that more workers can access preferential capital sources. Some subjects are also supported with foreign language fees, skills, orientation education, travel and health check-ups.

In the period 2026-2030, Da Nang aims to send 10,000 workers to work abroad, focusing on mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas.

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