Acquiring an entry visa or a temporary residence card only addresses the entry, exit and residence rights of foreign nationals in Vietnam. Any foreign national, including overseas Vietnamese individuals, who want to work in Vietnam must obtain work permits unless they qualify for any of the exemptions mentioned below. The DOLISA or MOLISA is responsible for issuing work permits to foreign nationals who would like to work for enterprises and organizations in Vietnam.

The government's policy is still to limit the use of foreign nationals in positions/jobs that can be handled by Vietnamese persons. To prevent low-quality foreign labor, the government asks for the recruitment notice of Vietnamese employees for the same position, and the preapproval of a foreign labor usage plan before the official submission of work permit applications. Therefore, the authorities have a chance to refuse the use of foreign nationals in a job/position that a Vietnamese person can handle. Contractors are also required to prioritize Vietnamese employees in their projects in Vietnam. In practice, there have been cases where the relevant authority did not allow companies to recruit foreign nationals for certain positions. However, there are no clear criteria on jobs that can be handled by Vietnamese employees. Recently, with the new requirement on posting jobs for Vietnamese employees prior to applying for a work permit for a foreign national, MOLISA would expect that, if no local employee applies or is qualified for the position, this would be reasonable justification for the employer to proceed with having a foreign employee fill the position.

In addition, among the various criteria for a work permit, a foreign worker must be a manager, executive, expert or technician.

The work permit application for managers and executives must include documents proving that the foreign nationals are managers or executives. They can be labor contracts, or appointment letters or corporate licenses/certificates showing that they are working in managerial/executive positions.

The term "manager" is defined by the Law on Enterprises as (i) an owner of a sole proprietorship, a partner of a partnership, the chairperson of the board of members, a member of the board of members, the company's president, the chairperson of the board of directors, a member of the board of directors, the director/general director, or a person holding another managerial position according to the company's charter or (ii) the head or deputy head of the agency or organization.

An "executive" means any of the following persons: (i) the head of a branch, representative office or place of business of the enterprise; or (ii) a person leading and directly managing at least one function of an enterprise, who is working under the direct instruction and management of the head of this enterprise.

The application for experts must include documents proving that (i) the foreign national holds the requisite academic qualification and at least three years of suitable work experience for the job position in Vietnam, or (ii) the foreign national has at least five years of experience and a practicing license suitable for the job position they will hold in Vietnam.

For technicians, the application must include documents proving or certifying that (i) they have been trained for a duration of at least one year, as issued by relevant organizations or authorities or foreign companies, and have at least three years of suitable work experience for the job position in Vietnam, or (ii) they have at least five years of experience in a job corresponding to that which they will hold in Vietnam.

Foreign experts and technicians whose work permits have been renewed once that would like to continue to work in the same job positions and titles as provided in these work permits can use the issued work permits as evidence of their eligibility as "experts" or " technicians" in the application for new work permits.

An intracompany transfer from a foreign enterprise to that enterprise's direct commercial presence in Vietnam is possible after the foreign national has worked at the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the transfer. The commercial presence exclusively includes the foreign invested economic entity, the representative office, the branch of the foreign trader in Vietnam and the operational office of the foreign investor in a business cooperation contract. Unless the foreign national falls under the categories of a work permit exemption, the foreign enterprise's commercial presence in Vietnam must submit an application dossier (which, aside from the generally required documents, must include documents proving that the foreign national has worked at the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months) to obtain a work permit for the foreign national.

In this scenario, the foreign national can still maintain the employment relationship with the parent company and does not sign any local employment contract. The advantage of this is that, while it is very difficult for an employer to terminate employees under Vietnamese law, the parent company can transfer the foreign national back to their home country and easily terminate them under the foreign law (assuming that termination at will is allowable in foreign countries). The foreign national can also maintain their current benefits (such as participation in pension and social security schemes) in their home country.

However, some of the common difficulties in sending a foreign national to Vietnam under an intracompany transfer is that the foreign national is working for an affiliate rather than the parent company of the commercial presence in Vietnam, or the foreign national has not worked for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the date that the application for a work permit was submitted.

The new regulation allows work permits to be granted to foreign nationals who are assigned by a foreign entity to Vietnam to work ("Assignees"). Generally, this category does not impose any strict conditions like intracompany transferees, so, in principle, foreign employees from affiliates can receive work permits under this category. The application for this category varies and depends on DOLISA.

At the border gates, the foreign nationals must present visas to the immigration officers, except when the foreign nationals are exempt from visas. The immigration officer will grant a certification of temporary residence, which indicates the allowed time of stay in Vietnam, unless the foreign nationals present temporary or permanent residence cards. Generally, in most cases, the granted term of temporary residence is the same as the visa term.

Any foreign national that temporarily resides in Vietnam must, via the manager of the lodging establishment, declare their temporary residence status at the local police authority.

The manager of the lodging establishment shall complete the declaration form and submit it to the local police authority within 12 hours (or within 24 hours if the administrative division is in a remote area) of the foreign national's arrival at the lodging establishment. Hotels must file temporary residence information through an online account on the website of the provincial-level immigration department ("Information Portal") where the foreign national resides. Other lodging establishments may choose to declare the temporary residence via the Information Portal or via the declaration form, as prescribed by the MPS, and submit the same information to the communal-level police. If the foreign national changes their temporary residence address or resides in a place different from that written on their temporary residence card, they must submit a new declaration of temporary residence.

Foreign nationals working in Vietnam in the following forms are subject to the regulation on foreign labor management:

• Working pursuant to a labor contract
• Working in the context of an intracompany transfer
• Performing any of the following types of contracts: economic, commercial, financial, banking, insurance, scientific and technical, cultural, sporting, educational, vocational, or medical contracts
• Providing a service pursuant to a contract
• Offering services
• Working for a foreign nongovernmental organization or an international organization in Vietnam that is permitted to operate pursuant to the laws of Vietnam
• Working as a volunteer
• Establishing a commercial presence in Vietnam
• Working as a manager, executive, expert and technician
• Implementing a tender or project in Vietnam
• Working as an Assignee
• Being permitted to work as relatives of members of foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam according to international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory

If the foreign nationals are subject to work permits, the sponsor (with the exception of foreign bidders for the foreign national's work permit) must do the following:

• Announce the recruitment of Vietnamese workers to the job positions in which foreign workers are expected to work at least 15 days before the expected date for the report explaining the demand for the use of foreign labor
• Notify the DOLISA or MOLISA about the sponsor's foreign labor usage plan at least 15 days prior to the date the sponsor intends to recruit/use the foreign national (The DOLISA or MOLISA must be notified of any change in foreign labor demand at least 15 days prior to the date the sponsor intends to recruit/use the foreign national.)
• Obtain approval of the foreign labor usage plan issued by the DOLISA or MOLISA
• Submit an application for a work permit at least 15 days prior to the date the foreign national intends to start working

By law, the approval of the foreign labor usage plan takes place within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the notification from the sponsor, while the work permit issuance process will only take five working days from the date of submission of a properly completed application dossier.

However, document preparations may take several months. Therefore, companies should prepare the work permit application and apply for the work permit well in advance of the employee's intended date of arrival in Vietnam.

The sponsor does not need to submit and get approval for a foreign labor usage plan in the following cases:

• Foreign students studying at foreign schools/institutions who enter Vietnam pursuant to an internship contract signed with agencies, organizations or enterprises in Vietnam; foreign students completing an internship or practicing on seagoing ships
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam to work as a manager, executive director, expert or technician for a period of less than 30 days, provided that the accumulative time of working in Vietnam in a year does not exceed 90 days
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam for a period of less than three months to offer services
• Foreign nationals staying in Vietnam for less than three months to deal with complicated technical or technological problems that (i) adversely impact or are at risk of having an adverse impact on production and business activities and (ii) cannot be handled by Vietnamese and foreign specialists who currently reside in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals who are chief representatives of a representative office or heads of a project office of an international organization or a nongovernmental organization in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals who are the owner or capital contributors contributing VND 3 billion or more
• Chair of the board of directors, or members of the board of directors contributing VND 3 billion or more
• Foreign nationals coming to Vietnam to establish a commercial presence in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals with public-affair passports coming to Vietnam to work for state authorities, political agencies or sociopolitical organizations
• Foreign nationals coming to Vietnam to implement international agreements signed by the central or provincial state authorities/organizations according to the law
• Foreign nationals who are relatives of members of foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam who are exempt from work permit requirements according to international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory
• Foreign lawyers who have been granted a lawyer's practicing certificate in Vietnam in accordance with the Law on Lawyers
• Foreign nationals who get married to a Vietnamese citizen and would like to reside in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals who enter Vietnam to provide professional and engineering consulting services or perform other tasks intended for research, formulation, appraisal, supervision, evaluation, management and execution of programs and projects using official development assistance (ODA) in accordance with the regulations or agreements in international treaties on ODA signed between the competent authorities of Vietnam and foreign countries
• Foreign nationals who are granted a communication and journalism practicing certificate in Vietnam by the MOFA as per the law
• Unpaid foreign nationals who voluntarily work in Vietnam to implement an international treaty to which Vietnam is a signatory with certification of a foreign diplomatic mission or international organization in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals certified by the Ministry of Education and Training as a foreign worker entering Vietnam for (i) teaching or researching, or (ii) acting as a manager, executive, principal or deputy principal of an educational institution, which is established in Vietnam under a proposal of a foreign diplomatic mission or intergovernmental organization

In the case of implementing a bid won by a contractor, certain requirements are to be met:

• Before recruiting foreign employees, the contractor must declare its foreign labor demand to the DOLISA in the province where the project is being implemented, with this declaration certified by the investor (project owner), and request that the DOLISA approve the recruitment of these foreign employees.
• The DOLISA will assign the labor service providers, among others, to find suitable local employees for the contractor.
• The DOLISA will consider allowing the contractor to recruit foreign employees if local employees are not introduced to the contractor within one of the following time frames:

• Two months from the date on which the written request for 500 local employees or more is received
• One month from the date on which the request for 100 to fewer than 500 local employees is received
• Fifteen days from the date on which the request for fewer than 100 employees is received

The conditions for work permits vary according to the categories of foreign nationals, as mentioned above. However, the general conditions required of foreign nationals are as follows:

• They must be at least 18 years old with full civil act capacity in accordance with the law.
• They must be in suitable health certified by a health certificate.
• They must have a clean criminal record according to both Vietnamese law and foreign law.
• They must be managers, executives, experts or technicians meeting certain conditions regarding relevant experience or qualifications, as detailed in the "Skilled workers" section above.
• They must have received written approval from the relevant labor authority regarding foreign labor usage.

The application for a work permit must include substantial supporting documents, such as a criminal record, a health certificate, diplomas, certificates regarding the foreign national's skills and a certificate of work experience. Documents that are written or issued in a foreign language must be apostilled, consularized and translated into Vietnamese, and the translation must be notarized for submission.

The industrial zone authorities are no longer in charge of handling work permit applications (and have governing authority over work permit-related matters).

The MOLISA shall grant work permits (and have governing authority over all work permit-related matters) for foreign employees who (i) work for organizations permitted to be established by the government, prime minister, ministries, ministry-level agencies or agencies of the government (such organizations include, for instance, enterprises operating in the banking or insurance sectors) or (ii) work for an employer in a variety of provinces/cities.

An employer whose head office is in a province/city but has representative offices or branches in another province/city is entitled to file the application at the MOLISA.

The DOLISA shall grant work permits (and have governing authority over all work permit-related matters) (i) for foreign employees working for an employer in different locations in the same province/municipality and (ii) in other cases that do not fall under the MOLISA's governing authority.

For locally hired employees, the employer and the foreign employee may only enter into an employment contract after a work permit has been issued by the DOLISA or MOLISA.

The term of the work permit will be set as the term of work in Vietnam but shall be no longer than 24 months. Work permits can only be extended once with the maximum same term, subject to the term of work in Vietnam. Then, a new work permit must be obtained.

Foreign nationals who work in Vietnam without first obtaining a work permit may face expulsion from Vietnam. Furthermore, employers that recruit foreign nationals who are working without proper work permits or who are barred from working in Vietnam may be subject to a monetary fine. With respect to exemptions and required documents, an employer that would like to apply for a work permit for its foreign employee should seek professional assistance with regard to their particular circumstances, as regulations frequently change and authorities may also change their interpretation of existing regulations.

On 15 August 2017, the MOLISA officially issued a circular detailing online work permit application procedures applicable to foreign nationals working in Vietnam (i.e., approval of requests for utilizing foreign employees, issuance/reissuance of work permits and affirmation of work permit exemptions), which came into force on 2 October 2017. Under this circular, several notable provisions are as follows:

• The online work permit application procedures must be carried out via an account registered by the employer here.
• All written documents must be converted into electronic form — if these written documents are legally invalid, the respective electronic forms are legally invalid.

The online procedures have provided employers with a more cost-effective and time-saving option in comparison with existing paper-based procedures.

Certain professions are exempt from obtaining a work permit, including the following:

• Capital-contributing members or owners of limited liability companies with a capital contribution value of at least VND 3 billion
• Members or the chairperson of the management board of joint-stock companies with a capital contribution value of at least VND 3 billion
• Chiefs of representative/project offices of international organizations or nongovernmental organizations in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals staying in Vietnam for under three months to offer services for sale
• Foreign lawyers that have a professional practice license in Vietnam in accordance with the Law on Lawyers
• Foreign nationals staying in Vietnam for less than three months to deal with complicated technical or technological problems that (i) adversely impact or are at risk of having an adverse impact on production and business activities and (ii) cannot be handled by Vietnamese and foreign specialists who currently reside in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals married to Vietnamese citizens and residing in Vietnam
• Other cases in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory
• Foreign nationals that are intra-corporate transferees within enterprises engaged in any of the following service industries in the commitment on services between Vietnam and the World Trade Organization (WTO): business, information, construction, distribution, education, environment, finance, health, tourism, entertainment and transportation, as described in detail under the "Intracompany transfer" section above
• Foreign nationals who provide professional and technical advisory services or perform other tasks serving the research, construction, appraisal, assessment, management and execution of programs and projects funded by ODA according to the international treaties on ODA between the competent authorities of Vietnam and other countries
• Foreign nationals who are issued with the licenses for practicing communications or journalism in Vietnam by the MOFA
• Foreign nationals who are appointed by foreign agencies or organizations to teach or act as a manager or executive at an educational institution, which is established in Vietnam under a proposal of a foreign diplomatic mission or intergovernmental organization, or establishments or organizations formed in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory
• Foreign volunteers working in Vietnam voluntarily without a salary to implement international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory and that must be certified by diplomatic missions or international organizations in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam to work as a manager, executive director, expert or technician for a period of less than 30 days, provided that the number of entries does not exceed three per year
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam to implement international agreements to which central or provincial state agencies and organizations are signatories
• Foreign students studying at foreign schools/institutions who enter Vietnam pursuant to an internship contract signed with agencies, organizations or enterprises in Vietnam; trainees interning or practicing on Vietnam's seagoing vessels
• Foreign nationals in charge of establishing a commercial presence in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals who are relatives of members of foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, who are exempt from work permit requirements according to international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory
• Foreign nationals holding public-affair passports entering Vietnam to work for state agencies, political organizations and sociopolitical organizations
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam, as certified by the Ministry of Education and Training, to (i) teach or research, or (ii) act as a manager, executive, principal or deputy principal of an educational institution, which is established in Vietnam under a proposal of a foreign diplomatic mission or intergovernmental organization

Each situation would need to be evaluated to determine if the intended activities in Vietnam could be exempt from the work permit requirement.

In most of the above cases, for those foreign nationals who are exempt from work permit requirements, their employer must request that the DOLISA or MOLISA in the locality of the foreign national's workplace issue the work permit exemption certificate (with a maximum term of two years subject to the foreign national's working term in Vietnam) and provide supporting documentation. In some cases, the requirement to obtain an approved foreign labor usage plan still applies.

However, in the following cases, it is not necessary to obtain a work permit exemption certificate:

• Foreign lawyers who have been granted practicing licenses in Vietnam in accordance with the Law on Lawyers
• Foreign nationals married to Vietnamese citizens and residing in Vietnam
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam to work as managers, executives, directors, experts or technicians for a period of less than 30 days, provided that the number of entries does not exceed three per year
• Foreign nationals entering Vietnam for a period of less than three months to offer services
• Foreign nationals who are owners or capital contribution members of limited liability companies with a capital contribution value of at least VND 3 billion
• Foreign nationals who are chairpersons or members of the board of directors of joint-stock companies with a capital contribution value of at least VND 3 billion
• Foreign nationals who are relatives of members of foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, who are allowed to work in Vietnam according to international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory

APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) program

By a decision of the prime minister in 2006, Vietnam began participating in the ABTC program for APEC countries. The ABTC is a travel card granted to businesspeople of APEC countries that participate in the program to facilitate their business travel among the APEC countries. Under this program, Vietnam committed to granting a visa waiver for ABTC holders. The ABTC is valid for five years from the date that the card is issued and cannot be extended. When the issued card expires, the card holders may apply for a new card, if necessary.

Visa waiver

Vietnam has a visa waiver program for foreign nationals of many countries, both through unilateral and bilateral commitments. Vietnam has entered into various bilateral visa waiver treaties and agreements with other countries. However, these commitments vary with regard to the length of stay permitted, the type of visa and various other conditions, and so it is advisable to check with your nearest Vietnamese consular office, or visit the consular bureau of the MOFA's website for more detailed and current information.