Education and healthcare are two social service sectors drawing growing foreign investor interest in Vietnam, and also two sectors where authorities appraise projects more strictly than average. The reason lies in the nature of the services: schools concern curricula and learners, hospitals concern human health and life directly. An application for an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) for such projects is therefore viewed not only through an investment lens but also through sector management.
This article analyses the additional sector appraisal layer in IRC applications for education and healthcare projects: at which stage the education and health authorities’ opinions are sought, which groups of conditions on capital, facilities and staffing are typically examined, and the question of foreign ownership limits in the two sectors.
Legal basis: investment procedure combined with sector conditions
The investment procedure for education and healthcare projects follows the Law on Investment No. 143/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 96/2026/ND-CP, whose appraisal mechanism allows and requires the investment registration authority to consult sector management bodies when a project sits in a conditional sector. For education, foreign investment conditions are set in education law and the instruments on foreign cooperation and investment in education, including conditions on investment capital, facilities, curricula and teaching staff depending on the level and type of institution.
For healthcare, a medical examination and treatment facility project is tied to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, effective from 1 January 2024, and the system of operation licensing conditions for medical facilities, covering premises, medical equipment and staff holding practice certificates. Understand the two distinct document layers: the IRC certifies the investment project, while the right to actually operate education or healthcare services depends on the sector licence granted to the facility once conditions are met at the time of operation.
Appraisal process for education and healthcare projects
Step 1: Check market access conditions against international commitments
Identify which group your intended sub-sector — preschool, general education, vocational training, university, hospital, specialist clinic — falls into under Vietnam’s services commitment schedules and the rules on investment conditions for foreign investors. Some sub-sectors carry their own conditions on forms of commercial presence or service scope. This check decides whether the project is structurally feasible before any dossier discussion.
Step 2: Design the project to meet sector conditions in the proposal itself
An education proposal should present training scale, intended curricula, area and facilities, the teaching staff plan and the roadmap to meet establishment conditions for a foreign-invested education institution. A healthcare proposal should present bed scale or professional scope, the main medical equipment list, medical staffing needs and the plan to secure operation conditions. Writing these contents at a sketchy conceptual level is what makes sector opinions request clarification and prolong appraisal.
Step 3: Sector authority opinions during appraisal
During dossier appraisal, the investment registration authority consults the education or health management authority at the same level on the project’s conformity with facility network planning, sector conditions and local management capacity. An unfavourable sector opinion, or one requesting added conditions, is a signal to adjust the project design rather than a formality to dismiss. Engaging the sector authority early at pre-feasibility stage reduces surprises at this round.
Step 4: From the IRC to the sector operation licence
After the IRC and establishment of the economic organization, the project must still complete sector procedures to operate in reality: a decision permitting establishment of an education institution, an operation licence for a medical examination and treatment facility, plus approvals on curricula, personnel and facilities per sector. The project schedule must add both procedural chains together, especially as some sector conditions can only be inspected once the facility is built and staffed.
| Content | Education project | Healthcare project |
|---|---|---|
| Sector opinion body | Education management authority | Health management authority |
| Key conditions | Capital, facilities, curricula, teachers | Facilities, equipment, staff with practice certificates |
| Operation licence | Decision/licence to establish an education institution | Operation licence for a medical facility |
Practical notes for education and healthcare projects
Confusing the IRC with a service operation licence
Holding an IRC does not mean a school may enrol students or a hospital may treat patients. Actual operation starts only when the facility holds the corresponding sector licences. Business plans and partner commitments should separate these two milestones, or projected cash flow will drift years away from the lawful operation date.
Taking staffing conditions lightly
Both sectors carry staffing requirements: teachers meeting standards, medical staff holding practice certificates and a person in charge of professional matters. Qualified labour markets in many localities are not readily stocked, so the recruitment and training plan must be part of the project file, not something to work out after construction finishes.
Assuming ownership limits from hearsay
Foreign ownership limits in education and healthcare depend on the specific sub-sector, international commitments and sectoral rules of each period; there is no single figure for both sectors. Verify your sub-sector at project preparation time using instruments in force, instead of relying on another project’s experience in a different sub-sector.
For education and healthcare projects, the deciding step often lies not with the investment registration authority but with the appraisal opinion of the specialised regulator — and the way that regulator in each locality assesses facility and staffing conditions is not entirely uniform. A school model or a medical facility model accepted in one province may not pass in another unless adjusted to the actual requirements of the place where the project sits. Before finalising the plan, the investor should study same-sector projects already licensed in that very locality and, where needed, engage the specialised regulator early to understand their position from the start.
For education and healthcare projects, the investment registration certificate is only the first licence: actual operation still requires the specialised operating licence and the continuous maintenance of the facility and staffing conditions as committed. Many investors pour their energy into the certification milestone and forget that specialised conditions keep being inspected throughout operation, not only on the initial appraisal day. The project’s compliance calendar must therefore cover both layers of milestones — those under the investment certificate and those under specialised regulations — and track them in parallel from the first day of operation.
In short, an IRC application for an education or healthcare project is the investment procedure plus a substantive sector appraisal layer, and after the IRC there is a separate chain of operation licences. The right approach is to check market access by sub-sector from the start, design the project to meet sector conditions within the proposal itself, and engage the local education or health authority early. Done this way, the sector appraisal layer becomes a verification step that strengthens the project, not an unexpected barrier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Must education and healthcare IRC applications pass sector appraisals by the education/health authorities?
During investment appraisal, the investment registration authority consults the education or health management authority for projects in these conditional sectors. The sector opinion assesses network planning conformity, conditions on facilities, curricula or professional scope, and the ability to meet operation conditions. This is a substantive extra appraisal layer on top of the ordinary investment procedure, and after the IRC the project still needs its own sector operation licence.
What capital and facility conditions apply to education and healthcare projects?
The specific conditions depend on the education level and type of institution, or the type of healthcare facility: an education project must meet sectoral requirements on minimum investment capital, area, facilities, curricula and teaching staff; a healthcare project must satisfy conditions on facilities, medical equipment and staff holding practice certificates under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 to obtain its operation licence. Check the current sectoral rules for your exact sub-sector before fixing the capital plan.
Are there foreign ownership limits in education and healthcare?
Any limit is not a single common figure; it depends on the specific service sub-sector, Vietnam’s international commitment schedules and sectoral rules of each period. Some sub-sectors allow full foreign ownership, while others impose conditions on the form of commercial presence or the scope of activities. Verify your own sub-sector under the instruments in force when the project is prepared, rather than inferring from another sub-sector’s project.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council
