INSTRUCTIONS ON PROCEDURES FOR APPLYING FOR WORK PERMITS FOR FOREIGNERS IN VIETNAM

The trend of globalisation with the rapid expansion of multinational corporations leads to an increasingly strong flow of foreign investment capital into Vietnam. The foreign-invested economic sector is gradually rising to become an important position in the Vietnamese economy, thereby creating a great demand for the use of foreign employees, especially experts and enterprise’s managers. However, Vietnam’s policies always give priority to domestic employees to solve employment problems and ensure social security. Therefore, foreigners who want to work in Vietnam must meet the conditions and carry out sufficient procedures according to the law before entering Vietnam for working, and the most important of which is applying for a work permit. The article below will provide Instructions on procedures for applying for work permits for foreigners in Vietnam to support foreign employees and enterprises demanding to recruit foreigners.

Conditions for foreigners to work in Vietnam.

According to the provisions of the Labour Code 2019, a foreigner is allowed to work in Vietnam when he/she meets the following conditions:

• Being at least 18 years of age and having full civil capacity;
• Having professional qualifications, techniques, occupational skills, and work experience; having adequate health as prescribed by the Minister of Health;
• Not serving a sentence or his/her conviction has not been expunged or not being under any prosecution for criminal liability according to foreign or Vietnamese law;
• Having a work permit issued by a competent state authority in Vietnam, except in cases not subject to a work permit.

Foreigners who are not required to have a work permit in Vietnam

According to the law, foreigners working in Vietnam must carry out procedures to apply for a work permit, except for foreign employees who are not required to have a work permit as prescribed in Article 154 Labour Code 2019 and Article 7 Decree 152/2020/ND-CP, including:

• Owner or members of a limited liability company or Chairman/member of Board of Directors of a joint-stock company with a value of capital contribution from VND 3 billion or more.
• Head of representative office, project or a person who has the main responsibility for operations of international organisations, foreign non-governmental organisations in Vietnam.
• Entering into Vietnam for less than 03 months to offer services.
• Entering into Vietnam for less than 03 months to resolve issues, complicated technical or technological situations which affect or threaten to affect production and business that cannot be resolved by Vietnamese experts or any other foreign experts currently in Vietnam.
• Entering into Vietnam to work as a manager, chief executive officer, expert or technical employee with a working period of less than 30 days and no more than 03 times in 01 year.
• Being granted a communication and journalism practicing certificate in Vietnam by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Foreign lawyer who has been granted a lawyer practicing certificate in Vietnam.
• Being confirmed by the Ministry of Education and Training to enter into Vietnam to (i) Teach, research or (ii) Work as a manager, chief executive officer, principal, vice principal of an educational institution run by a foreign diplomatic representative agency or intergovernmental organisation proposed to be established.
• Internal transfer within the scope of 11 services under the service commitment schedule to the World Trade Organisation, including: trading, information, construction, distribution, education, environment, finance, healthcare, tourism, culture, entertainment and transportation.
• Entering into Vietnam to provide professional and technical consulting services or perform other tasks serving research, development, appraisal, monitoring, evaluation, management and implementation of the program, the project uses official development assistance (ODA) according to regulations or agreements in international treaties on ODA.
• Being sent to Vietnam by a competent foreign agency or organisation to teach or work as a manager, chief executive officer at an educational institution proposed to establish in Vietnam by a foreign diplomatic representative agency or intergovernmental organisation; institutions and organisations established under international treaties that Vietnam has concluded and participated in
• Volunteers who work in Vietnam voluntarily and without salary to implement international treaties to which Vietnam is a member and have confirmation from foreign diplomatic representative agencies or international organisations in Vietnam.
• Pupils and students studying at schools and training facilities abroad who have internship agreements with agencies, organisations and enterprises in Vietnam; interns and trainees on Vietnamese ships.
• In one of the cases where according to the provisions of an international treaties to which Vietnam is a member or entering Vietnam to implement an international agreement that a central or provincial agency or organisation has concluded.
• Marrying a Vietnamese and living in Vietnamese territory.
• Being a relative of members of foreign representative agencies in Vietnam.
• Having an official passport to work for a state authority, political organisation, or socio-political organisation.
• Being responsible for establishing commercial presence.

Procedures for applying for a work permit in Vietnam

Before carrying out the procedures for applying for a work permit for foreigners to work in Vietnam, the employer must post a notice of recruitment of Vietnamese employees to positions expected to recruit foreign employees on the Electronic Information Portal of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (Department of Employment) or the Electronic Information Portal of the Employment Service Center which is decided to establish by the Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee. In case of failure to recruit Vietnamese employees, the employers is responsible for determining the need to use foreign employees and submit an explanation report to the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.[1] After obtaining approval from this Department on using foreign employees for each job position, the procedure for applying for a work permit for foreigners will be carried out as follows:

Application dossier for a work permit

Application dossier for a work permit includes:

• Application form for a work permit from the employer. In case a foreigner works for an employer in many workplaces, the application form for a work permit must fully list the workplaces;
• Health certificate or health examination certificate issued by a competent foreign or Vietnamese medical agency or organisation is valid for a period of 12 months, from the date of signing the health conclusion to the date of submission or certificate of adequate health as prescribed by the Minister of Health;
• Judicial record or document certifying that the foreign employee is not serving a sentence or his/her conviction has not been expunged or is being prosecuted for criminal liability issued by a foreign country or by Vietnam. The document must not be older than 06 months, from the date of issue to the date of dossier submission;
• Documents proving that the employee is a manager, chief executive officer, expert, technical worker and other occupations and jobs according to the law;
• 02 color photos (size 4 cm x 6 cm, white background, straight face, bare head, no colored glasses), taken no more than 6 months before the date of submission.
• Document approving the need to use foreign employees, except in cases where the need to use foreign employees is not required.
• A certified copy of passport or a copy of passport with confirmation from the employer that is still valid.
• Documents related to foreign employees proving their eligibility to work in Vietnam as prescribed in Article 2.1 of Decree 152/2020/ND-CP.

Documents must be consularly legalised, translated into Vietnamese and notarised or authenticated, unless otherwise stipulated by international treaties.

Persons submitting the dossier[2]

• Employers in the case of foreign employees working in the following forms: implementing labour contracts; moving within the enterprise; volunteers; managers, chief executive officer, experts, technical workers; participating in implementing bidding packages and projects.
• Vietnamese agencies, organisations, enterprises or foreign organisations, enterprises operating in Vietnam where foreign employees come to work under various types of contracts or service providers under contracts.
• Foreign employees entering Vietnam to offer services or people responsible for establishing a commercial presence.

Procedures for submitting and handling dossier

Step 1: At least 15 days before the date the foreign employee is expected to start working in Vietnam, the subject according to regulations submits 01 dossier for a work permit to the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs where the foreign employee is expected to work.

Step 2: Within 05 working days from the date of receiving the complete dossier, the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs where the foreign employee is expected to work will issue a work permit to the foreign employee. In case a work permit is not issued, there will be a written response clearly stating the reason.[3]

Work permit fees are decided by the Provincial People’s Council. The current fee for issuing new work permits in Hanoi is 400,000 VND/01 work permit, in case the employer submits via online public service, it is 250,000 VND/01 work permit.[4] The current fee for issuing new work permits in Ho Chi Minh City is 600,000 VND/permit.[5]

Understanding the details of work permits application procedures not only helps enterprises and employees carry out procedures legally, but also contributes to minimising legal risks, saving time and costs. From reviewing conditions, preparing documents, submitting documents to receiving a work permit, each step requires meticulousness and understanding of current legal regulations. Hopefully the above article on Instructions on procedures for applying for work permits to foreigners in Vietnam will help enterprises as well as foreign employees carry out the procedures for applying for work permits quickly and legally.

The above is an overview of Instructions on procedures for applying for work permits to foreigners in Vietnam. If you have difficulties in finding a Law Firm to advise and support in the relevant legal field, please contact us. Phuoc & Partners is a professional consulting firm established in Vietnam and currently has nearly 100 members working in three offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang. Phuoc & Partners is also rated as one of the leading consulting firms specialising in business law in Vietnam that has leading practice areas in the legal market such as Labour and Employment, Taxation, Merger and acquisition, Litigation. We are confident in providing customers with optimal and effective service.

[1] Article 4.1(c) Decree 152/2020/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Article 1.2 Decree 70/2023/ND-CP

[2] Article 11.1 Decree 152/2020/ND-CP

[3] Article 11.2 Decree 152/2020/ND-CP

[4] List of fees, charges according to Resolution 06/2020/NQ-HDND

[5] Resolution 09/2022/NQ-HDND