Vietnam Work Permit

What is Vietnam work permit

A work permit is a legal certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs to allow a foreigner to work in Vietnam for a period of time. The maximum validity of a work permit is 02 years and can be extended only once with another 2 years.

Work permits allow foreigners and their families to apply for a Vietnam temporary resident card and save much time and money in getting or extending a visa in Vietnam.

Foreigners cannot apply for a work permit by themselves but must have the involvement of their employers or Vietnam service agencies.

Who is eligible?

A work permit is only available for foreign passport holders who are employed by a company/enterprise with a legal status in Vietnam. Regarding Article 2 - Decree 152/2020/ND-CP, Vietnam Government allows foreigners to work for multiple jobs such as performing labor contracts; moving within the enterprise; commerce, insurance, sports, education, contracted service providers; offering services; working for a foreign non-government organization, managers, executives, experts, technical workers, etc.

However, there are currently 4 job positions prioritized for work permits including managers, executive directors, experts, and technical workers due to the lack of qualified labor. There are attached conditions to these positions to be eligible for a work permit as follows:

• For managers/executive directors:
  • At least 03 years of experience certificate in the relevant position.
• For experts:
  • Having a bachelor’s degree or higher
  • Having at least 3 years of experience working in the trained field, or
  • Having  at least 5 years of experience and a practicing license relevant to the job position expected to work in Vietnam
• For technical workers:
  • Been trained in technical or other major for at least 1 year and been working for at least 3 years in the trained field, or
  • Having at least 5 years of working experience relevant to the job position expected to work in Vietnam

Conditions to apply

In regard to the Labor Code No. 45/2019/QH14, foreigners must comply with the following conditions to be able to work and apply for a work permit in Vietnam:

• From 18 years old and have full civil act capacity
• Having adequate professional qualifications, techniques, skills, and working experience, have a good physical condition as prescribed by the Minister of Health
• Not obliged to a penalty, have a criminal record, or examined for penal liability
• Having a work permit issued by a competent Vietnamese agency

How to apply

Dossiers

Dossiers for work permit application must include an approval of the need to use foreign workers and other documents related to foreign employees. The process must be conducted by the employers and all documents issued abroad or foreign diplomatic representatives in Vietnam must be consular legalized and notarized translated into Vietnamese.

Documents for approval of foreigner’s employment are:

• Registration form for using foreign workers by employers (Form No. 01/PLI, Decree 152/2020/ND-CP).
• A notarized copy of business registration.

Other documents for work permit application are:

• An application form for a work permit by employers (Form No. 11/PLI, Decree 152/2020/ND-CP).
• A health examination certificate if issued in Vietnam or a legalized health examination certificate issued abroad with a validity of 12 months upon the application time.
• Original foreigner's criminal record if issued in Vietnam or legalized record if issued abroad to check if foreign workers are currently subject to a penalty, not yet expunged or examined for penal liability (at least 6 months valid prior to the application date).
• Documents and papers proving that foreigners are managers, executive directors, experts, technical workers and a number of occupations and jobs (*).
• 02 color photos (4x6cm size, taken within 06 months, white background, straight looking, not wearing colored glasses, hat, or headscarf).
• A certified copy of a valid passport.
• Legalized documents proving that foreigners are eligible for applying for a work permit.

(*) Document and paper requirements to prove foreigners’ employment:

Procedures

Step 1: Apply for approval of foreigner’s employment

Employers submit approval application form No. 01/PLI in regard to Decree 152/2020/ND-CP and a notarized copy of business registration via one of two ways: 

• Submit directly to the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs or the People’s Committee of the province. The process takes around 15 days.
• Submit online via http://dvc.vieclamvietnam.gov.vn/. The process takes 12 days. If the application is approved, employers submit the original dossier to the approval agency in person or by post. The original approval result will be provided within 08 hours since the agency receives the original dossier.

Step 2: Submit documents for work permit

After getting the approval document in Step 1, you submit all documents mentioned above to a competent agency. In detail:

• In Hanoi: Employment Department, Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs - Address: 75 Nguyen Chi Thanh, Dong Da, Hanoi.
• In Ho Chi Minh City: Ho Chi Minh Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs - Address: 159 Pasteur, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.
• In other provinces: Department of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs of the province where the foreigners will work.

Step 3: Get the result

After around 05 working days, the competent agency will issue a work permit via email if the application is sufficient. After that, the employer submits the original dossier and gets the original work permit.

Processing time & fee

Work permit registration takes around 15 business days for the approval of demand on employing foreign workers and around 5 business days for the work permit application. The fee is varied based on each province where the foreigners are about to work.