Da Nang, Vietnam · Factory licensing in industrial zones
Set up a factory in Vietnam: licensing for Da Nang industrial zones, step by step.
Since Quang Nam merged into Da Nang in 2025, the city's industrial zones come under two management boards and differ in land availability, tax-incentive basis and minimum-wage region. We prepare and file your factory's licensing dossiers as your authorised representative; design and construction stay with qualified firms you contract directly.
What the zone changes in your filings
The zone decides which authority handles your dossiers. Zones in former Da Nang city come under the Management Board of Da Nang Hi-Tech Park and Industrial Zones (DSEZA). Since 18 August 2025 (Decision 1012/QĐ-UBND; scope restated in Da Nang People's Committee Decision 2965/QĐ-UBND of 12 December 2025, Regulation Art. 1(1)), DSEZA has also managed the former Quang Nam zones outside the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, such as Dien Nam – Dien Ngoc, Dong Que Son and Thuan Yen. Zones inside Chu Lai come under the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Management Board (Prime Minister's Decision 2609/QĐ-TTg of 28 November 2025, Art. 1(1)). For a project located entirely inside its zones, each board normally issues the IRC and appraises the feasibility study where an appraisal is required.
Land availability differs by zone. In DSEZA's 2025 data, Hoa Khanh and Hoa Khanh Expanded had no industrial land left to lease, while Lien Chieu (about 82 ha remaining, part of it without infrastructure) and Dong Que Son (about 63 ha) still had land. In Chu Lai, the Bac Chu Lai developer reported about 20 ha of serviced land available to lease in December 2025, including a plot of about 6 ha that still carries a former project's assets. Some newer zones, such as Hoa Ninh, where infrastructure works started in July 2026, have not published a date for handing land to factory tenants. Every plot has to be confirmed with the developer before you plan around it. These figures are general public information, not an offer or listing, and InTimeVisa does not act for any zone developer.
Tax incentives follow the location type and the project, not the zone label. Under Corporate Income Tax Law 67/2025/QH15 and Decree 320/2025/NĐ-CP, a new project does not get a location-based incentive merely because it is in an ordinary industrial zone; what counts is the sector, whether the commune is a disadvantaged area, whether the site is in a hi-tech park, an economic zone or the Da Nang Free Trade Zone, the project's scale and any transitional rights. The Da Nang Hi-Tech Park is reserved for hi-tech projects (each project must meet the criteria of Decree 260/2026/NĐ-CP, Article 26, in force 1 July 2026); there, for income from a new project, the base incentive, if the conditions are met, is a 10% rate for 15 years, with exemption for up to 4 years and a 50% reduction for up to the following 9 years (Law 67/2025/QH15 as amended by Law 133/2025/QH15, Articles 13(1)(d) and 14(1)(a)). These periods are not added together: as a rule, the rate period counts from the first year the project earns revenue, and the exemption and reduction from the first year it earns taxable income, or from the fourth year if it has no taxable income in its first three years of revenue. Separately, from 1 July 2026 some incentives follow the company's certified status rather than its location: 10% for 25 years for group-1 hi-tech enterprises, strategic-technology enterprises and qualifying R&D centres, and 17% for 10 years for certified high-tech-product manufacturers (Law 67/2025/QH15, Articles 12(2)(e1)–(e2), 13(1a) and 13(4)(d), added by Law 133/2025/QH15, Article 25(7), in force 1 July 2026).
Minimum wages follow where the employer operates (Decree 293/2025/NĐ-CP, in force since 1 January 2026 under Art. 5(1)). Zones in former Da Nang city are in Region II (VND 4,730,000 a month), while Dien Nam – Dien Ngoc, Dong Que Son and Bac Chu Lai are in Region III (VND 4,140,000); communes and wards not listed in Region II or III are Region IV (VND 3,700,000). The regions come from the decree's Appendix, item 21, and the monthly rates from Art. 3(1). Where an industrial zone, export-processing zone, hi-tech park or concentrated digital-technology zone spans areas with different minimum wages, every employer in it applies the region with the highest minimum wage among them, whichever commune its own plot is in (Art. 3(3)(c)). Tam Thang IZ, which its developer CIZIDCO describes as lying in the former Tam Thang commune (former Tam Ky city) and Binh Nam commune (former Thang Binh district), now lies in Ban Thach ward (Region II) and Thang Truong commune (Region III) under Resolution 1659/NQ-UBTVQH15, so it is Region II for every employer in it: VND 4,730,000 a month or VND 22,700 an hour. Tam Thang 2 IZ also spans Ban Thach ward and Thang Truong commune (Da Nang People's Committee Decision 773/QĐ-UBND of 28 February 2026, Appendix II; developer's environmental licence), so it is Region II for every employer in it as well. A site outside such a zone, including land in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone outside an industrial zone, follows the commune or ward where the employer operates, and a branch follows the area where the branch operates (Art. 3(3)(a)–(b)). A draft decree proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs would raise these rates from 1 January 2027 and may move some Da Nang areas to a higher region; it is not yet law.
Seven workstreams
- Dossier and site-document checklist
- Based on the information you give us about your industry, capacity and building sizes, we list the dossiers your project is likely to need under the administrative procedures published by the authorities, check back with the receiving authority where needed, and then prepare and file them as your authorised representative. Whether your project requires an EIA, a fire-police design appraisal or a feasibility-study appraisal follows from the law and is reviewed by the competent authority when it receives and appraises the dossier; if you need a legal opinion, it must come from a licensed law firm. We also give you a list of the site documents your investment registration dossier needs, such as the site lease agreement, land sub-lease or factory lease, or another document establishing your right to use the site. This list is the same for every industrial zone; we do not assess any plot, any developer's documents or any draft lease. We do not select or compare zones or sites, compare land prices or lease terms, advise on land-lease contracts, introduce zone developers, take part in negotiations or act for you in any procedure relating to the land sub-lease or factory lease. Finding a plot or ready-built factory that meets a client's requirements, and acting as intermediary in the lease negotiation, is real-estate brokerage (Real Estate Business Law 29/2023/QH15, consolidated text 06/VBHN-VPQH, Art. 3(11) and Art. 62), which must be carried out by a real-estate brokerage enterprise that meets the conditions of that law, with certified brokers, under its own contract with you; we do not do it.
- Investment Registration Certificate (IRC)
- We prepare and lodge the IRC dossier with your zone's management board, which must decide within 10 working days of a complete, valid dossier for a project that needs no in-principle approval and meets the statutory conditions, including having a site, for example under a lease agreement (Decree 96/2026/NĐ-CP, in force since 31 March 2026, Art. 39(3)).
- Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC)
- We prepare and file the company registration with the business registration office of the Da Nang Department of Finance, or with DSEZA for a company based in the Hi-Tech Park; the registering authority has 3 working days from receipt of the dossier (Enterprise Law 59/2020/QH14, Art. 26(5)). Since 1 March 2026 the company can be registered before the IRC, with a commitment to meet the market-access conditions, but it must complete the procedure to be granted the IRC within 12 months of incorporation and cannot carry out the project until it has one.
- Environmental licence or EIA
- We ask the board whether the zone's infrastructure already holds an approved EIA or environmental licence: if it does, temporary Resolution 66.19/2026/NQ-CP (in force from 18 May 2026 to 28 February 2027 unless replaced earlier; Appendix IX, Part A, Section VI(1)) takes a new factory in that zone off the EIA list. We then prepare and file the EIA, licence or registration dossier that applies. A city-level licence has a limit of 30 days from a complete, valid application, or 15 days on the online track, which you can request if none of the project's waste-treatment works needs trial operation.
- Fire safety
- If your project's buildings are on the fire-appraisal list (for example, a production building in hazard class C from 15,000 m³ or 2,000 m² of floor area, measured on the largest building in the project) and the project does not use the special investment procedure, we file your consultants' fire-system design for the fire-police appraisal that must be issued before construction starts. At completion we compile your self-acceptance file and prepare the declaration for the national fire-safety database; you, as investor, carry out the self-acceptance, are responsible for its result and must complete the declaration before operation.
- Construction permit or feasibility-study appraisal
- If your project's feasibility study must be appraised (for example, a project with a grade II or higher industrial structure in the categories of Appendix IV to Decree 217/2026/NĐ-CP, in force since 1 July 2026, unless an exception applies), we submit it to the competent authority, normally the zone board. Once it is appraised and approved, the project's structures are exempt from a construction permit (Construction Law 135/2025/QH15, Art. 43(2)(e); the Law is in force from 1 July 2026, but Art. 43(2) and (3) have applied since 1 January 2026), and a notice of commencement with the supporting dossier must still be sent before work starts (Art. 43(3)(b)). Otherwise, whether any other exemption under Article 43(2) of the Construction Law applies is determined by you and your qualified consultants, or you may ask the permitting authority for written guidance. On that basis we submit either the construction-permit application or, where the works are exempt, the commencement notice with the supporting dossier required by Article 43(3). All technical documents are prepared by your qualified consultants.
- Language support and filings for your design-and-build contract
- You contract design and construction directly with firms of your own choice; each must meet the capability requirements of Vietnam's Construction Law, which you should check on csdlhdxd.gov.vn, and a foreign contractor also needs a Vietnamese construction operation licence. If you wish, we can introduce a design-and-build firm we have worked with, as one option. We receive no commission or other benefit from that firm; our fee is paid only by you, the investor. You check its capability, decide, and contract with it directly; you are free to choose any other firm. We are not a party to these contracts, and we do not design, build, supervise construction or manage the project. Our part is to translate, interpret and take minutes in your meetings with the firm you choose, and to file the approval applications based on the technical documents it prepares.
The licensing sequence
- Dossier checklist: based on the information you give us about your industry, capacity and building sizes, we list the dossiers your project is likely to need under the administrative procedures published by the authorities. Whether an EIA, a fire-police design appraisal or a feasibility-study appraisal is required follows from the law and is reviewed by the competent authority when it receives and appraises the dossier.
- Site: you choose the zone and the site and agree the sub-lease or factory lease directly with the zone developer or owner, or through a real-estate brokerage enterprise you appoint. We give you the list of site documents your investment registration dossier needs; we do not find, compare or negotiate land, and we do not assess any plot, developer or lease.
- Investment and company: we file the IRC with the zone board once you hold a site document such as a lease agreement, and the ERC with the business registration office, before or after the IRC as you choose; registering the company before the IRC requires a commitment to meet the market-access conditions.
- Environment: where an EIA is required, the EIA appraisal result is approved before the project is approved. Where neither an EIA nor an environmental licence is required, any environmental registration that applies is made before construction starts (Resolution 66.19/2026/NQ-CP, until 28 February 2027; outside that period, before the construction permit is issued, or before discharging waste where no permit is needed). Where no EIA is required but an environmental licence is, the licence must be obtained before the authorities approve the project or issue the construction-investment or investment decision; where the construction project is not subject to feasibility-study appraisal by the construction authority, it must be obtained before the construction permit is issued or amended, and therefore before construction (Environmental Protection Law 72/2020/QH14, Art. 42(2)).
- Design approvals: feasibility-study appraisal, normally by the zone board, where required; for buildings subject to fire-safety design appraisal, it also covers fire separation distances, fire-access roads, escape routes, fire resistance and compartmentation, and smoke control. Then the owner appraises and approves the detailed design; for buildings subject to fire-safety design appraisal, that design must first be verified by a consultant against fire-safety requirements. Then, except for projects using the special investment procedure, the fire police appraise the fire-system design of buildings on the list; those buildings cannot be built before that appraisal.
- Construction: a construction permit or, where the project is exempt, a notice of commencement with the corresponding dossier where the law requires one; the contractor you have chosen builds under its contract with you.
- Before operation: you, as investor, carry out the fire-safety self-acceptance and declare the building on the national fire-safety database (we compile the file and prepare the declaration); for industrial buildings of grade II or above, the construction authority must approve your acceptance results in writing before use (covering fire safety where it appraised the fire design); where an EIA was required, the environmental licence must be obtained before the waste-treatment works start trial operation.
Who does what, and who signs with whom
- InTimeVisa is an independent private firm based in Da Nang. We are not a government agency or a law firm, and we are not affiliated with DSEZA, the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Management Board, the Da Nang authorities or any industrial-zone developer. We do not own or operate any industrial zone. We receive no commission or payment from any zone developer, and no commission or benefit from any design-and-build firm we may introduce; our fee is paid only by the investor.
- As your authorised representative, we prepare and file your investment, enterprise and environmental dossiers and prepare your fire-safety database declaration, and we compile and submit the dossiers prepared by your qualified consultants for feasibility-study appraisal, fire-safety design appraisal and the construction permit or commencement notice. We translate, interpret and take meeting minutes in English, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and we track the status of every filing.
- Design and construction, and project management and supervision where required: you contract directly with firms of your own choice that meet the capability requirements of Vietnam's Construction Law, which you should check on csdlhdxd.gov.vn; a foreign contractor also needs a Vietnamese construction operation licence. For design and construction, if you wish, we can introduce a design-and-build firm we have worked with, as one option; we receive no commission or other benefit from it, and our fee is paid only by you, the investor. You decide and contract with it directly, and you are free to choose any other firm. We do not design, build, supervise construction, manage the project or sign construction contracts.
- Land: the sub-lease or factory lease is signed between you and the zone developer or owner. Finding a plot or ready-built factory that meets a client's requirements, and acting as intermediary in the lease negotiation, is real-estate brokerage (Real Estate Business Law 29/2023/QH15, Art. 3(11) and Art. 62); if you want help with it, use a real-estate brokerage enterprise that meets the conditions of that law and has certified brokers, under its own contract with you. We do not find, select or negotiate land, compare land prices or lease terms, advise on lease contracts, introduce zone developers, or act for you in any procedure relating to the land sub-lease or factory lease. For other land and lease matters, deal directly with the zone developer or through a qualified real-estate services enterprise.
- We do not give legal advice. If you need a formal legal opinion, it must come from a licensed law firm under its own contract with you.
Fees
Frequently asked questions
Does a factory in a Da Nang industrial zone get corporate income tax incentives?
Not automatically. Under Corporate Income Tax Law 67/2025/QH15 (Art. 12(3)) and Decree 320/2025/NĐ-CP (Art. 18(3)), an ordinary industrial zone is no longer, by itself, a basis for a location-based incentive for a new project. Incentives depend on the sector, whether the commune is a disadvantaged area, whether the site is in a hi-tech park, an economic zone or the Da Nang Free Trade Zone, the project's scale and any transitional rights. In the Free Trade Zone, the incentives under Resolution 136/2024/QH15, as amended by Resolution 259/2025/QH15, depend on the sector, the type of income, the location and the conditions met. Which of these applies depends on the facts of your project and its site.
Does my factory need a construction permit?
It depends on the exemption grounds, not on size alone. Under Construction Law 135/2025/QH15, Art. 43(2)(e), structures in a project whose feasibility study was appraised by the construction authority (in a zone, normally the zone board) and approved are exempt. Other grounds exist, including the special investment procedure. A zone's 1/500 detailed plan does not by itself create an exemption. Projects exempt under point (e), and under several of the other points, must still send a notice of commencement with the corresponding dossier before work starts (Art. 43(3)(b)).
Is there still a police fire-safety inspection when the factory is finished?
There is no longer a police fire-safety acceptance inspection: the procedure was suspended from 1 July 2026 (Government Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP) and removed from Decree 105/2025/NĐ-CP by Decree 347/2026/NĐ-CP from 15 September 2026, although Article 18 of Fire Law 55/2024/QH15 has not yet been amended. The investor must carry out its own fire-safety acceptance, take responsibility for the result and declare the building on the national fire-safety database before operation; operating before then can lead to fines and a suspension of operations. Separately, an industrial building of grade II or above is a work with a major impact on public safety (Decree 217/2026/NĐ-CP, Appendix IV), so the construction authority must inspect the investor's acceptance and approve it in writing before the building is used (Construction Law 135/2025/QH15, Art. 57(4); Decree 207/2026/NĐ-CP, Arts. 25 and 29(2)); where that authority also appraised the fire-safety design with the feasibility study, this inspection covers fire safety (Law 55/2024/QH15, Art. 18(4)–(5)(a)). The authority decides which buildings fall into this group, based on their grade and design. Except for projects that use the special investment procedure, the fire police still appraise the fire-system design before construction for buildings on the list, and they can inspect during construction and after opening. Because the Fire Law itself may still be amended, we re-check these rules before each filing.
How long do the approvals take?
Statutory periods: IRC, 10 working days for a project that needs no in-principle approval and meets the conditions; ERC, 3 working days; feasibility-study appraisal by the zone board, 12 to 25 working days depending on project group and structure grade, extendable once; fire-police design appraisal, 6 working days (10 days for national-level or Group A-scale projects); city-level environmental licence, up to 30 days, or 15 days on the online track where it applies. Each runs from a complete, valid dossier (the ERC from receipt of the dossier) and excludes the time to prepare, legalise and correct documents, so we give you a licensing timeline for your project, not a guaranteed date.
What is the special investment procedure, and does it skip fire safety?
It skips fire-safety approval procedures, not fire-safety obligations. The route is open to projects in industrial zones, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks, concentrated digital-technology zones, free-trade zones, the international financial centre and functional areas of economic zones, except projects subject to in-principle approval that the Government excludes (Decree 96/2026/NĐ-CP, Art. 46(1)); a project in a hi-tech park must also meet the hi-tech project criteria (Investment Law 143/2025/QH15, in force since 1 March 2026, Art. 28). A project that qualifies and elects it skips the EIA report, the construction permit and the construction and fire-safety approval procedures, and the zone board issues the IRC within 15 working days of receiving the dossier (Decree 96/2026/NĐ-CP, Art. 47(5)(b)). In exchange, the investor commits to meeting the conditions, standards and technical regulations on construction, environmental protection, technology transfer and fire safety; notifies the authorities at least 30 days before construction starts, sending with the notice an economic-technical report that it prepares, appraises and approves itself and a verification report by a qualified organisation or individual covering the safety of the works, environmental protection and fire safety; and remains subject to inspection and penalties. A project that needs an environmental licence still goes through the licence procedure before construction starts.
Can our company hold a land certificate and mortgage the land?
If your company sub-leases land from the zone developer under an approved investment project, Land Law 31/2024/QH15 does not bar a land-use-right certificate in your company's name (Art. 151(1)(c)), subject to the normal registration and certificate conditions. To mortgage the land-use right itself, you must pay the sub-lease rent upfront for the whole term (Art. 43(2)(a)), which in turn requires the developer to hold that area from the State on a lump-sum lease (Art. 202(3)). With annual rent, you can mortgage your own assets on the land but not the land-use right (Art. 43(2)(b), Art. 34(1)(b)). These are points to confirm with the developer before you sign.
Are you part of DSEZA, the city government or a zone developer?
No. InTimeVisa is an independent private firm. DSEZA and the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Management Board are government agencies under the Da Nang People's Committee; we are not affiliated with them, with the Da Nang authorities or with any industrial-zone developer, and we do not own or operate any industrial zone. We receive no commission or payment from any zone developer, and no commission or benefit from any design-and-build firm we may introduce; our fee is paid only by the investor. We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice or act as a real-estate broker: as your authorised representative, we prepare and file licensing and administrative dossiers.