Foreign-investor requirement
| Item | Foreign-investor requirement |
|---|---|
| Who is covered | Foreign managers, executives, experts, technicians, employees, secondees, and other foreigners performing work in Vietnam |
| Primary document | Work permit, unless a statutory exemption applies |
| Investor exemption | LLC owners or capital-contributing members, and qualifying JSC chairpersons or Board members, meeting the prescribed capital-contribution threshold |
| Short-term exemption | Managers, executives, experts, or technicians working in Vietnam for less than 90 cumulative days in a calendar year may be exempt; the employer may still need to notify the authority before work begins |
| Other common exemptions | Qualifying intra-company transferees, ODA/project personnel, foreign lawyers, accredited journalists, treaty-based personnel, certain priority-sector workers, and spouses of Vietnamese citizens |
| Typical term | Up to two years, based on the employment or assignment documentation |
| Renewal | A work permit or exemption confirmation may generally be extended once, subject to the statutory conditions |
| Responsible party | The Vietnam-based employer, sponsoring entity, or host organization |
| Timing | Start the dossier early because legalization, health, criminal-record, qualification, and translation documents often take longer than the government processing period |
| Separate immigration issue | A business visa, investor visa, temporary residence card, or exemption from a work permit does not automatically resolve every immigration or residence requirement |
The 90-day rule is calculated cumulatively from January 1 to December 31, rather than by relying only on individual visits.
Investor exemption checklist
Before relying on the investor exemption, confirm:
- The person's exact legal role in the Vietnamese company.
- The amount of capital actually contributed, not merely proposed.
- The ownership and contribution records in the company's filings.
- For a JSC, whether the person is the qualifying chairperson or Board member.
- Whether the person performs genuine management or executive work in the company.
- Whether the work location, employer, position, and duration match the supporting documents.
- Whether the relevant exemption requires prior confirmation or only employer notification.
- Whether the visa or temporary-residence status separately permits the intended stay and activity.
The exemption is personal. A qualifying investor does not make the company's other foreign employees exempt.
Typical work-permit dossier
A standard application commonly includes:
- Employer's application form.
- Passport copy.
- Health certificate.
- Criminal-record certificate or equivalent document.
- Evidence of manager, executive, expert, or technician status.
- Diploma, professional qualification, or experience evidence.
- Passport photographs.
- Employment contract, appointment decision, assignment letter, or service agreement.
- Vietnamese translations and foreign-document legalization where required.
The employer should not let the foreigner begin ordinary work merely because the person has entered Vietnam on a business or investor visa. Work authorization and immigration status should be checked separately, alongside the employer's broader foreign employee compliance obligations.
Work permit is not the same as investor status
Confirm the work-permit category, exemption procedure, visa/TRC basis, job title, work location, and employer before the foreign national begins work in Vietnam.
One important caution: secondary summaries of the investor exemption are inconsistent, especially concerning the capital threshold and whether a confirmation or notification is required. The final decision should be based on the text and implementation of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP and the current filing practice of the competent provincial authority, not on the visa label alone.