Vietnamese laborers wait as border guards complete procedures required for them to enter Vietnam at a checkpoint in the northern border province of Cao Bang's Ha Lang District.
The checkpoint is part of the Ly Van Border Guard Station, which overlooks 5.3km of the border with Daxin County in China's Guangxi Province.
Illegal Vietnamese migrants often return home from Daxin as the county is full of hills and mountains, making it challenging for Chinese police to track them down.
A group of illegal migrants return home on January 9. They come from different localities in Vietnam and most of them had gone to China to work without a labor contract in Guangxi.
Some of them had been in China for 10 years, while others had been stuck for almost three years after China closed the border following its zero-Covid policy.
Illegal Vietnamese workers often choose to repatriate through illegal channels as they don't have legal work papers. Sneaking back into Vietnam via Daxin's network of illegal trails also allows them to save on travel costs. In most cases, they connect with human smuggling rings to get back into Vietnam.
From early 2020 to January 9 this year, border guards in Cao Bang have received almost 46,900 Vietnamese citizens entering Vietnam from China, including more than 21,000 at the Ly Van station.
A woman takes a nap while waiting her turn to complete necessary repatriation procedures.
Many repatriating at the station said they had found group rides to the Chinese borderlands via social media. Then they trekked through forests for around four days to evade Chinese border police. Getting lost or injured on the journey is not rare.
Border officers collect personal information from returnees. They file reports, issue fines, and then allow the migrants to return to their hometowns. Each returnee is fined between VND3-5 million (US$128-213), depending on how long they have been away.
When Covid-19 was at its peak, all returnees were tested and quarantined.
This 64-year-old man from the northern province of Phu Tho illegally crossed into China in April 2021. He has since then worked as a porter in Guangxi.
Due to China's stringent Covid-19 border management policies, he got stuck and had to pay human smugglers 5,000 yuan (US$743) to get home.
Trang Thi Minh, 56, from the northern province of Ha Giang, signs documents with her fingerprints because she is illiterate.
She came to China 10 years ago and has worked different jobs in Guangxi. She even got married and has children in China. She's only returning to Vietnam now after learning that her mother is critically ill.
As he hands over a decision allowing an illegal migrant to return home, border guard major Vu Van Kien (R), head of the Ly Van station, urges her to enter China legally next time if she needs to return for work.
Border guards book private passenger buses for illegal laborers to travel 100km from the station to the town of Cao Bang. Each passenger must pay their own ticket fare.
