Vietnam Work Permit, handled end-to-end.

Most foreign nationals taking up employment in Vietnam need a work permit (Giấy phép lao động), unless they fall into one of the exemption cases in Decree 219/2025. It is also the prerequisite for an employment-based temporary residence card later on. InTimeVisa checks eligibility and documents before filing; the government issues the permit, while we prepare, lodge and track the file.

An owner or capital-contributing member of an LLC with a contribution of VND 3 billion or more, or the chairman or a board member of a joint-stock company with a contribution at that level, is exempt from a work permit (Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, Art. 7(2)–(3)). Below VND 3 billion, the decree lists the same owners and board members as work-permit cases (Art. 2(1)(l)), so you apply for a permit. If you are exempt, the formality is light but required: the company notifies the authority at least 3 working days before you start working (Art. 9(4)). Plan each member's contribution with the VND 3 billion line in mind when you set up the company.

An exemption removes the permit, not the paperwork, and there are two tracks. Notice only: for the cases in Article 9(4) of Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP — owners and board members with a contribution of VND 3 billion or more, managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers working under 90 days in a calendar year, the person setting up a commercial presence, people entering for under 3 months to sell services or to fix a complex technical incident, licensed foreign lawyers, and foreigners married to a Vietnamese citizen and living in Vietnam, among others — the employer notifies the authority at least 3 working days before work starts. Exemption certificate: every other exempt case, such as intra-corporate transferees, needs a written certificate, applied for 60 to 10 days before the start date and issued within 5 working days of a complete file (Art. 9(1)–(3)). Skipping the step exposes both the worker and the employer to penalties.

Only if they fit an exemption. The short-stay exemption in Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP covers managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers whose total working time in Vietnam is under 90 days in a calendar year, 1 January to 31 December (Art. 7(13)(a)); for them the employer files a notice at least 3 working days before work starts (Art. 9(4)). There is no general 'under 30 days, no more than 3 times a year' exemption in the decree. Anyone else on a short assignment must fit another case — for example entering for under 3 months to sell services or to fix a complex technical incident (Labour Code 45/2019/QH14, Art. 154(4)–(5)) — or needs a work permit. Tell us the role, length and dates so we place the person in the right track.

A foreigner married to a Vietnamese citizen and living with them in Vietnam is generally exempt from a work permit under Decree 219/2025. For this category the sponsor files a prior notification with the authority — at least 3 working days before you start work — rather than obtaining a confirmation letter, and your marriage documents must be valid. Each situation differs, so let us confirm your case before you start work.

Intra-corporate transferees are exempt only if all conditions are met: a manager, executive director, expert or technical worker sent temporarily by a foreign enterprise to its commercial presence in Vietnam, within the 11 service sectors of Vietnam's WTO services schedule, and employed by that enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months beforehand (Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, Art. 7(13)(b)). This case is on the certificate track: the employer applies for a written exemption certificate 60 to 10 days before the start date (Art. 9(1)–(3)), with proof of the person's status and the foreign employer's assignment letter confirming the 12 months (Art. 8). If a condition is missing, you apply for an ordinary work permit instead. We review the file to pick the right route.

You must fall into one of four categories: manager, executive director, expert, or technical worker. Decree 219/2025 lowered the thresholds: an expert needs a university degree and at least 2 years' relevant experience (only 1 year in certain priority fields such as science-technology, innovation and national digital transformation); a technical worker needs at least 1 year of training plus 2 years' experience, or at least 3 years' experience. You also need a clean criminal record, a health certificate, and a sponsoring employer.

The core file includes your passport; your degree/professional certificate, notarised, authenticated and translated into Vietnamese; proof of experience; a criminal-record certificate (issued within the last 6 months); a health certificate (within 12 months); and photos. Documents issued abroad must be authenticated before Vietnam will accept them. Since 11 September 2026 that is normally a single apostille from the issuing country: Vietnam is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, and under Decree 293/2026/NĐ-CP of 23 July 2026 an apostilled document is exempt from consular legalisation and no Vietnamese authority may demand a further step. Consular legalisation still applies to documents from Germany, Austria and Czechia — all three objected to Vietnam's accession — from Thailand until 28 February 2027, and from any country outside the Convention. A notarised Vietnamese translation is required either way, and this remains the most time-consuming part of the file.

Under Decree 219/2025, the work permit is issued by the provincial People's Committee, which delegates intake and processing to its specialised agency — in most provinces this is now the Department of Home Affairs (Sở Nội vụ) after the mid-2025 merger, no longer the former Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Files go in through the provincial Public Administration Service Centre or the public-service portal. The old separate labour-demand report is now merged into the permit application itself.

Once the file is complete and valid, the authority issues the permit within 10 working days under Decree 219/2025. In practice the slow part is authenticating overseas documents (degree, criminal record), which can take several weeks depending on the country — an apostille since 11 September 2026 for most countries, consular legalisation for the rest. So it pays to start early; we handle that step to shorten the overall timeline.

A work permit is valid for a maximum of 2 years and may be renewed once (also up to 2 years) under Decree 219/2025. After that single renewal, you generally have to apply for a brand-new permit. Start the renewal before the current permit expires to avoid a gap in employment and in your residence card — we track the deadline and prepare the file for you.

A work permit (or an exemption confirmation) is the prerequisite for an employment-based temporary residence card, which lets you live in Vietnam for several years without constantly renewing a visa. The TRC's validity is normally capped by the work permit's validity. We usually run the two steps back-to-back: the work permit first, then the TRC.

A work permit is tied to one specific employer and job position, so moving to a new company generally means applying for a new permit sponsored by the new employer — it is not a simple name transfer. Your employment-based residence card also has to be updated to match. Tell us before you switch jobs so your legal status isn't interrupted.

It's a risk for both sides. Under Decree 12/2022 (Article 32), a worker without a permit (or an exemption confirmation) can be fined VND 15–25 million and be forced to exit or be deported. The employer can be fined VND 30–75 million if an individual, but VND 60–150 million if a company (organisations pay double), scaled by the number of workers involved. That's why it's worth completing the permit or exemption before anyone starts working.

Yes, and it's often the sensible order: your Vietnamese sponsor files the application while you prepare your criminal record, degree and their apostille or legalisation in your home country first — the most time-consuming part. The health certificate can be done abroad at an approved facility or in Vietnam after you arrive. Tell us whether you're in or outside Vietnam so we sequence the documents correctly.