Setting Up an FDI Company in Vietnam
Want to own and run your company in Vietnam under your own name instead of relying on a local nominee? A foreign-invested (FDI) company lets you do exactly that, legally. Here is the full process — from IRC and ERC through to a company that is up and running — and InTimeVisa handles all of it for you.
What are the IRC and ERC?
Foreign investors usually need two licenses: the IRC — the Investment Registration Certificate, and the ERC — the Enterprise Registration Certificate. The IRC records the investment project; the ERC gives birth to the company as a legal entity.
Since 1 July 2025, the provincial Department of Finance (Sở Tài chính) has handled investment and enterprise registration in place of the former Department of Planning and Investment. For a project inside an industrial zone, export-processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone, the IRC is issued by the zone management board (Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 Art. 27(1)), except the cases in Art. 27(3). The ERC is issued by the business registration office of the Department of Finance, or by the hi-tech park board for a company whose address is in a hi-tech park (Decree 168/2025/ND-CP Art. 20(1)).
The main steps
- Pre-check: we check your business lines against Vietnam's published market-access list (some sectors are conditional or cap foreign ownership) and explain the structure and charter-capital options the rules allow; you decide, and we prepare the dossier for your choice
- Apply for the IRC: prepare and file the investment dossier with the zone management board (project inside a zone) or the Department of Finance (Sở Tài chính)
- Apply for the ERC: incorporate the company once the IRC is granted — or, since 1 March 2026 and if market-access conditions are met, set up the company first and complete the IRC within 12 months (Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 Art. 19(2); Decree 96/2026/ND-CP Art. 72(4))
- Post-licensing: company seal, tax code, bank account, direct investment capital account (DICA), and any sub-licenses your sector requires
Capital and timeline
Vietnam sets no general minimum capital across all sectors, but charter capital must match the scale of the project, and some sectors have their own conditions on capital or foreign ownership. Once the ERC is issued, the charter capital must be contributed within 90 days through the direct investment capital account (DICA).
On timing: by law, the IRC is issued within 10 working days of a complete, valid dossier for a project that needs no in-principle approval and meets the conditions of Decree 96/2026/ND-CP Art. 39(3) (5 working days after the in-principle approval decision where one is needed; 15 working days under the special investment procedure), and the ERC within 3 working days of a valid dossier (Enterprise Law 59/2020/QH14 as amended by Law 76/2025/QH15, Art. 26(5)). In practice — a practical estimate, not a legal time limit — the full process usually takes from a few weeks to more than a month, owing to document legalization and rounds of supplementary filings — we shorten that by getting the paperwork right from the very start.
Ready to set up your FDI company?
Before filing, we vet your business lines and structure to avoid a rejection at the investment stage, then handle the whole process and any sub-licenses afterward. Your financial documents are kept confidential. The quote is free and no-obligation — you only pay when you agree. InTimeVisa is a private consulting firm, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with the Vietnamese government.