The Department of Immigration examines the system for dealing with foreigners.

The Immigration Department is currently working on standards and processes for deporting foreign nationals.

Top officials and other relevant stakeholders met at the Immigration Department on Wednesday to discuss the draft.

General Kirth Chantharith, director-general of the Immigration Department, said the draft rules were discussed in depth, taking into account the foreigners who arrive in Cambodia from all over the world.

The new standards and procedures are aimed at improving the management of foreigners and immigrants in the country while also considering humanitarian issues and bilateral interactions with their home countries.

When the standards and processes go into effect, Gen Chantharith said they will be used universally across the country when dealing with and managing foreigners, including foreign migrants and workers.

“It is also for the armed forces, particularly the police, to utilize them as a standard guideline when dealing with immigrants when they are relocating them,” he added, adding that it will be used as a manual by all law enforcement officers when dealing with foreigners.

Meanwhile, in June, Cambodia deported 106 Vietnamese nationals who had entered the country illegally, primarily in search of work and a place to call home.

88 of them were deported to Vietnam via the Bavet International Border Checkpoint in Svay Rieng province, while another 18 were deported via the Prek Chak International Border Checkpoint in Kampot.

They were deported with the help of the National Police and approval from the Director-General of Immigration. Representatives from the Vietnam Embassy in Phnom Penh were also on hand to guarantee that their countrymen were safely deported.

284 individuals of 22 nationalities were deported to their home countries in the first five months of this year after being determined to have broken the Cambodian Immigration Law.

Last year, 797 visitors from 40 nations, including 121 women, were deported.

General Keo Vanthan, spokesman for the Immigration Department, told the Khmer Times that despite rigorous immigration rules, foreigners continue to enter the country illegally through border checkpoint crossings.

He claimed that since the Covid-19 epidemic, border police and the army have increased border checks, and that anyone caught crossing illegally is deported back to their home country.

According to Am Sam Ath, deputy head of the Licadho Human Rights Commission, a person who enters the nation unlawfully has broken the Immigration Law or the Criminal Code.

A total of 18,470 foreigners representing 104 nations have been deported since 2014.