Vietnam is considered a potential job market for foreign workers; in addition, to work legally in Vietnam, the law requires that foreign workers shall have a Work Permit. However, this regulation does not apply to all foreign workers when they work in Vietnam, because in some cases and certain fields, foreign individuals working in Vietnam are not required to have work permits, in that case, there are exempt from work permits.

When does a worker not apply for a work permit?

Exemption from work permits are cases in which foreign workers that work in Vietnam, which are not required to carry out procedures for applying for a work permit, typically in some cases:

• Being the owner or capital-contributing member of a limited liability company with a capital contribution value of 3 billion VND or more;
• Being the Chairman of the Board of Directors or a member of the Board of Directors of a joint-stock company with a capital contribution value of 3 billion VND or more;
• Commuting within enterprises within 11 service industries in Vietnam’s service commitment schedule with the World Trade Organization, including business, information, construction, distribution, education, environment, finance, health, tourism, culture, entertainment, and transport;
• Entering Vietnam to provide professional and technical consulting services or perform other tasks for research, establishment, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation management and implementation of the program, and project using official development assistance (ODA) according to regulations or agreements in international treaties on ODA signed between the competent authority of Vietnam and foreign country;
• Entering Vietnam to work as a manager, executive director, expert, or technical worker for less than 30 days and no more than 3 times per year;
• Head of a representative office, project, or main responsibility for activities of international organizations, foreign non-governmental organizations in Vietnam;
• Entering Vietnam with a term of fewer than 3 months to make a service offering;
• Entering Vietnam for less than 3 months to handle incidents, technical situations, complicated technologies that affect or have the risk of affecting production, and business which Vietnamese experts and the foreign experts currently in Vietnam cannot handle it;
• Being a foreign lawyer who has been granted a legal practicing certificate in Vietnam in accordance with the provision of Law on Lawyer.

However, in some cases, the enterprise does not decide on its own whether the foreign worker is eligible for a work permit or not. The determination of any worker who is not subject to a work permit shall be based on the decision of the competent authority, especially the Department of Labor – War Invalids and Social Affairs where the employee is expected to work.

What should businesses do?

To be considered a legitimate employer, the enterprise shall carry out the necessary procedures for the competent authority to confirm the foreign worker is not subject to a work permit. We review this procedure in two steps as follows:

Step 1: Apply for Approval of Demand on Using foreign workers

Similar to the case of having to apply for a work permit, in the case of not having to apply for a work permit, businesses must also go through the step of “applying for approval to use foreign workers. Accordingly, at least 30 days before the date foreigners are expected to start his/her work in Vietnam, enterprises shall prepare a dossier for the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, or the provincial People’s Committee to consider the labor demand of enterprise.

In case of agreement, within 10 working days from the date of submission of a complete dossier document to explain the demand to use employee, the enterprise will receive written approval. In case of refusal, the competent authority shall also give a written reply specifying the reason for refusal.

Please kindly notice that not all foreign workers who are not required to be issued with a work permit shall perform this Step 1, however, there are some objects which are exempt from implementation.

Step 2: Confirm foreign workers are not subject to a work permit

After receiving the written approval of employment in Step 1, the enterprise shall prepare a set of dossiers to submit to the competent authority, this dossier shall be submitted at least 10 days before the date the foreign worker starts his/her work. Within 5 working days, the enterprise will receive written confirmation of exemption from “work permit” for foreign workers. In case of refusal, the enterprise shall receive a written reply with specific reasons.

Therefore, enterprises rely on each case of foreign workers to determine which employees are expected to work at the enterprise, and which are eligible for work permits or exemptions. On that base, enterprises choose appropriate procedures to avoid losing time and affecting the time employee are expected to work in Vietnam.

Time of writing document: 07/03/2023

The document contains general information which is of the reference value, in case you want to receive legal opinions related to the issues that you are having trouble with, please contact our lawyer at info@cdlaf.vn