Inventive Legal|Inventive Legal

Before you hire

Hiring requirements

Area	Foreign-investor employer must check
Eligible position	Manager, executive, expert, technician, or another recognized category
Market need	Whether the role qualifies for foreign staffing and whether demand information must be included
Work permit	Apply for the permit before the person starts work unless an exemption applies
Exemption	Confirm whether the person qualifies and whether advance notification or exemption confirmation is required
Documents	Passport, health certificate, criminal record, qualifications, experience, translations, and legalization
Employer	Vietnamese company, branch, representative office, contractor, or other permitted host
Job matching	Permit or exemption must match employer, position, location, and duties
Term	Usually tied to the employment or assignment period and subject to the statutory maximum

Work-permit applications may generally be submitted between 60 and 10 days before the expected work start date. A complete work-permit dossier is generally processed within 10 working days; a refusal may be issued within three working days under the applicable procedure.

What changed

Quota and reporting position

Question	Current practical position
Is there a fixed company-wide foreign-worker quota?	Generally no blanket numerical quota
Must the employer justify foreign hiring?	Demand information is generally incorporated into the work-permit application
Is separate semiannual foreign-labor reporting still required?	Decree 219 removed the former general semiannual employer report
Are all reports eliminated?	No. Authorities may require information, local reporting, inspections, or unscheduled reports
Multiple work locations?	Notify the competent authorities in each province or centrally governed city where the worker will work, generally at least three days before the start date
Exempt worker?	The employer may still need advance notification or exemption confirmation

The removal of the general semiannual report should not be read as removal of all employer-record and reporting duties. Employers must still maintain accurate foreign-worker records and respond to authority requests.

After hiring

Ongoing labor compliance

After hiring, the company should maintain:

A valid work permit or exemption record.
A signed employment, assignment, or service agreement matching the approved role.
Correct salary, payroll, tax withholding, and payment records.
Social-insurance registration where the foreign worker and contract fall within the compulsory-insurance rules.
Employee handbook, workplace, safety, and internal-labor compliance.
Accurate work location and assignment records.
Passport, visa, TRC, and accommodation-declaration records.
Evidence of qualifications, experience, health checks, and legalized documents.
A calendar for permit, visa, TRC, passport, and contract expiry.
Termination and return-of-document procedures when employment ends.

The employer should not move a foreign worker between group companies, provinces, factories, or client sites without checking whether a new permit, amendment, or provincial notification is required.

Screen first

Common exemptions to verify

Before applying for a permit, screen whether the person is:

An LLC owner or qualifying capital-contributing member.
A qualifying JSC chairperson or Board member.
An intra-company transferee.
A short-term expert, manager, or technician within the applicable annual limit.
An ODA or project specialist.
A foreign lawyer, accredited journalist, treaty-based worker, or qualifying education professional.
A worker in a designated priority sector.
The spouse of a Vietnamese citizen.
Another category listed under Decree 219/2025.

An exemption from a work permit does not necessarily mean no filing. Some categories require advance notification or exemption confirmation, and the person still needs valid immigration and residence status.

Watch for

High-risk failures

The most common compliance problems are:

Starting work before the permit or exemption process is complete.
Using an investor visa as though it were a work permit.
Changing the job title or employer without updating authorization.
Sending the worker to another province without the required notice.
Treating a foreign consultant or secondee as outside Vietnam labor rules.
Allowing the work permit to expire while the TRC remains valid.
Failing to update the accommodation declaration.
Continuing to use the worker after termination or company suspension.
Keeping qualifications or criminal-record documents that are expired or improperly legalized.

Foreign-worker compliance is position-based, not quota-based

Verify the role, employer, location, work authorization, exemption procedure, immigration status, and reporting requirements before the foreign employee starts work. Decree 219/2025/ND-CP is the key current framework, effective August 7, 2025. Because implementation and authority arrangements can vary by province, confirm the current filing channel and local notification practice before onboarding or relocating a foreign employee.