Employer documentation and justification
The employer's own documents, together with the justification for employing a foreign national in the role, including evidence of the recruitment advertising the decree requires before submission.
Work Permit, Visa and Residence Card Services in Vietnam
Work permits, exemption certificates, working visas and temporary residence cards for foreign employees and their dependants in Vietnam, including renewals.
Part of Viettonkin's HR and People services
Disbursed foreign direct investment in Vietnam reached USD 27.62 billion in 2025, up 9 percent year on year and the highest level in the past five years. Capital at that level arrives with people attached, and every foreign national who works in Vietnam needs a work permit or a recognised exemption, in place before the first day of work rather than shortly afterwards.
This is the part of a deployment that most often slips, and the consequence falls on the employer. Allowing a foreign employee to start work without a valid permit, or without the confirmation or notification its exemption category requires, is a breach of the labour rules on foreign workers and is penalised per individual. The exposure reaches both the company and the employee.
The rules themselves were rewritten in 2025. Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, in force from 7 August 2025, replaced the previous decree and merged the two stages of the old process, approval of the demand to employ a foreign worker and the permit application itself, into a single dossier. Authority moved to provincial People's Committees, and the decree sets a processing period of ten working days from a complete and valid dossier. Beyond the permit sit the working visa and the temporary residence card, each with its own validity, which together create a renewal calendar the employer is responsible for tracking.
17 yearsExperience since 2009
2,000+Businesses supported
One dossierLabour demand and permit filed together since August 2025
ProvincialPeople's Committees now issue permits
What the 2025 decree changed
If your last Vietnamese work permit application was before August 2025, the process you remember no longer exists. The substance of who qualifies is broadly unchanged; the route and the authority are not.
Under the previous decree an employer first sought approval for its demand to employ a foreign worker, and only then applied for the permit, as two separate submissions. Decree 219/2025/ND-CP merges them into one dossier. In practice that removes a waiting stage between two filings, which is where much of the old end to end delay sat, and it means the justification for employing a foreign national and the application for that individual are assessed together.
Authority for issuing, reissuing, renewing and revoking permits and exemption confirmations now sits with provincial People's Committees, for employers with an office, branch, representative office or place of business in that province. The decree sets a processing period of ten working days from receipt of a complete and valid dossier. The recruitment advertising step was also relaxed: publication on the company's own platform or a public channel for a short period before submission is accepted, rather than posting on the ministry portal.
The decree also widened the exemption categories, including managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers who work in Vietnam for a total of less than ninety days in a calendar year however many entries that takes, and it added confirmations for employees in priority sectors such as finance, science, technology and innovation. The expert qualification threshold was eased as well. None of that makes the process informal: an exemption still has to be confirmed by, or notified to, the authority before work starts, depending on the category.
What the combined dossier contains
The permit application itself is straightforward. Assembling the employee's home country documents is not, and it is where most of the preparation time goes.
Criminal record certificate
Issued in the employee's home country or country of residence and authenticated for use in Vietnam. Since the Apostille Convention entered into force for Vietnam on 11 September 2026, an apostille is enough for a certificate from most contracting states; one from Germany, Austria or Czechia, which objected to the accession of Vietnam, or from a non party still needs consular legalisation unless a treaty or reciprocity arrangement exempts it. In some filings through the interconnected procedure the certificate can be waived.
Qualifications and experience evidence
Degrees, professional certificates and evidence of relevant experience for the category being applied for, authenticated the same way as the criminal record certificate and translated.
Health check
A health certificate issued within the last twelve months by a qualified medical facility. A certificate from a facility abroad is accepted only where Vietnam recognises it, so the facility is checked before the examination is booked.
Employment documentation
The employment contract or assignment documentation that matches the role, the entity and the period being applied for, consistent with what the justification says.
Exemptions, and why they still need a filing
The exemption route is genuinely useful for short assignments and for qualifying owners and investors. It is also the route most often relied on incorrectly.
An exemption is documented, never assumed
Even where a category clearly applies, the employer either applies to the provincial People's Committee for confirmation or, for the categories the decree lists, notifies it in writing at least three working days before work begins. An employee working without the confirmation or notification the category requires is exposed in the same way as one working without a permit.
Owners and capital contributors
Owners and capital contributors of a limited liability company, and chairpersons and board members of a joint stock company, with a capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more fall within the exemption categories and are notified to the authority rather than confirmed. This is the route that matters during setup, when the investor is in country before any local management is in place.
Short presence in the year
The decree covers managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers present in Vietnam for a total of less than ninety days in a calendar year, with no limit on the number of entries. It replaced a rule of under thirty days per visit and no more than three visits a year, so more travel patterns now qualify, and the days still have to be counted.
Treaty, licence and priority sector cases
Other categories include work under an intergovernmental agreement, foreign lawyers licensed to practise in Vietnam, and confirmations for employees in the priority sectors the decree names. Eligibility is assessed per individual, per deployment.
Review an existing exemption basis
Anyone deployed on an exemption granted under the previous decree should have their basis checked against the current categories and the filing each one now requires. The paperwork on file has to match the rule that applies today, and the exposure sits with the employer.
Permits, visas and residence cards
The documents below are the ones we manage for a foreign employee and any accompanying family. Validity depends on the role, the contract and the authority; we scope the sequence rather than promise a date, and government charges are payable to the authority.
Scroll the table horizontally on smaller screens.
| Document | What it does | Issued by |
|---|---|---|
| Work permit | Authorises the individual to work for the named employer in the named role. Applied for as a single combined dossier since August 2025. | Provincial People's Committee |
| Exemption confirmation | Confirms formally that an individual falls in an exempt category and may work without a permit. | Provincial People's Committee |
| Business visa | Allows entry and short term business activity, commonly used while the permit dossier is being processed. | Immigration authority |
| Working visa | The employment visa applied for once the permit is issued, single or multiple entry depending on travel needs. | Immigration authority |
| Temporary residence card | Replaces repeated visa renewals for its validity period. Aligned with the permit's validity so the two do not fall due separately. | Immigration authority |
| Dependant visa or card | Covers a spouse and children accompanying the employee, within the employee's own validity period. | Immigration authority |
The renewal calendar is the real service
A first application is a project. Keeping a foreign workforce lawfully at work is a calendar, and it is the calendar that fails, usually because nobody owned it.
A work permit, a working visa and a residence card each have their own validity, and they rarely expire on the same day unless somebody deliberately aligned them. We align them where the rules allow, typically by matching the residence card to the permit, so that a single renewal cycle covers the employee rather than three staggered ones through the year.
Renewal dossiers are prepared before expiry, not at it, because they need the same home country documents as a first application and those documents take time to obtain and authenticate. Where a permit has lapsed, been refused or where the role, employer or qualifications have changed, the application is a fresh one rather than a renewal, and the first step is establishing why the previous one failed.
We keep a renewal calendar for every employee under engagement and raise each item well before it falls due, with the document checklist attached. The standard we work to is simple: no employee under our engagement should be working on an expired permit because a date was missed.
Where deployments go wrong
Five recurring failures, each of which can be planned away.
Starting work before the permit is issued
The employee arrives, the business is ready, and work begins while the dossier is still with the authority. The breach is the employer's, it is penalised per individual, and it is entirely avoidable with a business visa and a start date set from the dossier rather than from the flight.
Home country documents authenticated the wrong way
An apostille is accepted for Vietnam only from contracting states that did not object to its accession, so a German, Austrian or Czech document still needs consular legalisation, and a health certificate from a facility Vietnam does not recognise is not accepted. Both defects cause delay that is easily blamed on processing time.
Miscounting the ninety day threshold
The short presence exemption totals every day worked in Vietnam from 1 January to 31 December, across all entries. An executive who reaches ninety days late in the year needs a permit for the work that follows, so the days are tracked from the first trip rather than reconstructed at year end.
Treating an exemption as automatic
Owners and investors are often surprised that even an exemption has to be notified to the authority before work starts, and that it only applies above the capital threshold. Without the required notification or confirmation, the position is hard to distinguish from working with no permit at all.
Unaligned renewal dates
A residence card that expires months before the permit, or a permit renewal started too late to gather the documents, both produce the same result: an employee who cannot lawfully work for a period that could have been planned away.
What the engagement covers
Mobility work runs alongside payroll and employment setup for the same employee, so the right to work, the contract and the payroll registration all land before the agreed start date.
Assessment and route selection
Whether the individual needs a permit or falls in an exemption category, which category applies, and what that means for the documents and the timing of the deployment.
The combined dossier
Preparation and submission of the single work permit dossier, including the employer justification, advertising evidence, employment documentation and the authenticated personal documents.
Exemption confirmations and notifications
Eligibility assessment, then the formal application for confirmation or the advance written notification, as the category requires, including review of an existing basis that predates the 2025 decree.
Visas and residence cards
Business visa for entry while the dossier is processed, the working visa once the permit is issued, and residence cards for the employee and qualifying dependants, aligned to the permit where possible.
Supporting documents
Health check coordination at a recognised facility, police clearance where a renewal requires it, and advice on which home country documents need authentication and in what order.
Renewals and departures
The renewal calendar with advance notice, re-application where a permit has lapsed or circumstances have changed, and cancellation and de-registration when the employee leaves.
Examples of our work
Since 2009, Viettonkin has supported 2,000+ businesses, including Fortune 500 and VNR500 companies. The engagements below took place in Vietnam, where workforce and documentation support formed part of a wider mandate.
Engagement in Vietnam
Aircraft components production line: entity setup for a Canadian corporation
A Canadian corporation established a legal entity in Vietnam for an aircraft components production line. The engagement extended to factory rental, staff recruitment and accounting and tax procedures, with Viettonkin acting as legal representative and handling contract drafting and review.
Read the case study
Engagement in Vietnam
Joint venture setup and factory build for Chinese manufacturing investors
Two investors from China set up a joint venture company and factory in Vietnam. Under a retainership, Viettonkin advised on the legal process, compliance issues in construction and manufacturing and charter capital procedures, and supported adjustments to the Investment Registration Certificate and Business Registration Certificate.
Read the case studyFrequently asked questions
Practical answers on contributions, withholding, permits and renewals.
Does every foreign employee need a work permit?
Every foreign national working in Vietnam needs a work permit or a recognised exemption before work starts. The exemption is not automatic: most categories need a confirmation from the provincial People's Committee, and the rest, such as qualifying capital contributors and short assignments under ninety days a year, need a written notification to the authority before work begins.
What changed under the 2025 decree?
Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, in force from 7 August 2025, replaced the previous decree. The approval of the employer's demand to employ a foreign worker and the permit application are now one dossier instead of two filings, provincial People's Committees issue permits instead of the ministry, the decree sets a processing period of ten working days from a complete dossier, and the exemption categories were widened.
Can we use an apostilled criminal record certificate?
Usually, yes. The Apostille Convention entered into force for Vietnam on 11 September 2026, so an apostille replaces consular legalisation for documents from contracting states that did not object to its accession. Germany, Austria and Czechia objected, so their documents, and those from non parties, still need consular legalisation unless a treaty or reciprocity arrangement exempts them, and in some filings through the interconnected procedure the certificate can be waived. Authentication problems are a frequent cause of delay, which is why we issue a document checklist at the start of an engagement rather than when the application is due.
How does the ninety day exemption work?
For managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers, the decree covers a total of less than ninety days in a calendar year, however many trips that involves. It replaced the old limit of three visits of under thirty days each, so the test is wider than before, but days have to be tracked across the year.
When should we start a renewal?
Well before expiry, because a renewal needs the same authenticated home country documents as a first application. We keep a renewal calendar for every employee under engagement and raise each item with its document checklist in advance, so nobody ends up working on an expired permit.
Sources and further reading
Regulatory points checked on 16 September 2026; market statistics checked on 11 September 2026. Requirements depend on the entity, the activity and the date of filing.
- Vietnam Investment Review, quoting the Foreign Investment Agency: FDI in 2025
- Duane Morris: Decree 219/2025/ND-CP on foreign workers in Vietnam, in force 7 August 2025
- LuatVietnam: Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP dated 7 August 2025 on foreign workers in Vietnam
- Indochine Counsel: Decree 219 streamlines work permit procedures
- Senelite: work permit exemption under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, confirmation and notification cases (Vietnamese)
- Tilleke & Gibbins: Vietnam relaxes requirements for foreign workers, the ninety day exemption
- Apolat Legal: work permit procedures under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, periodic reports abolished
- HCCH: Apostille Convention status table, Viet Nam accession 31 December 2025, in force 11 September 2026
Get the right to work in place before the start date.
Tell us who is being deployed, in what role and for how long. We will confirm whether a permit or an exemption applies, what the home country documents need, and what the renewal calendar will look like.