CAMBODIA is drafting a new immigration law that includes barring foreigners with criminal records from entering the country.
It's General Department of Immigration (GDI) director general Kirth Chantharith said officials were discussing revisions to the draft law and the main content was focused on preventing foreigners who had committed offences from entering Cambodia and imposing penalties on offenders.
"The draft law also improves control of foreigners living in Cambodia, both foreign investors and immigrants," he said.
The Phnom Penh Post reports Ministry of Interior undersecretary Poly Da saying that the draft law seemed complete but it still needed to garner opinions and input from experts to bring the entire content in line with the current situation.
According to the GDI, more than 140,000 immigrants, mostly Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and United States nationals, were residing in Cambodia as of the end of 2020.
The move to revise the immigration laws has also garnered the support of civil society groups in the country.
Am Sam Ath, deputy director for rights group Licadho, said the new draft law was timely and warranted as many foreigners were residing and working in Cambodia.
"In fact, we already have an immigration law but it seems inadequate for controlling immigrants in Cambodia. So, the law should be amended to respond to the current situation and new developments in the modern digital age," he said.
He added that Cambodia must have a good law to seriously control immigration because the old law had a lot of loopholes.
"Since 1979, immigration issues have remained an unsolved problem. The law was put in place but its implementation was not effective. So, immigration problems still persisted until now. If we have a standard law, I think it can control immigrants more effectively," he said.
Sam Ath said that currently some immigrants had not only lived in Cambodia illegally but had also committed offences.
"Other countries used both technological systems and the law to control immigration. If immigrants commit cybercrimes, they managed to control them," he said, adding that the draft law needed more input from relevant stakeholders to make it comprehensive and effective.
In a report on June 15, the GDI said it had regularly enforced the immigration law on illegal foreigners, including detaining them, charging them in court and deporting them.
The report said that since 2014 until May this year, the GDI had deported 18,470 illegal foreigners including 3,060 females. They comprise nationals from 104 countries.