This is the worst document emergency for a foreign expert: on a business trip or leave abroad, the entire wallet containing the passport and residence card is lost. There is no shortcut back to Vietnam — only a correctly ordered chain across three systems: the local police, the employee’s own country’s mission, and Vietnam’s immigration system.
Phase 1 — At the location abroad: a new travel document
- Report the loss to the nearest police and obtain the written confirmation (this document is used throughout the later steps and will need translation back in Vietnam);
- Contact your own country’s mission: a new passport or an emergency travel document — note that some countries’ travel documents are valid only for returning to that country, so ask clearly about usability for onward travel to Vietnam;
- Notify the sponsoring company in Vietnam immediately — it runs Phase 2 in parallel while the employee handles Phase 1.
Phase 2 — Rebuilding the Vietnam entry basis
The lost residence card is no longer an entry basis. A new basis is created in one of two common practical ways: (1) the sponsoring company requests the Vietnamese immigration authority to approve the employee’s entry on a new visa tied to the new passport (an entry approval letter), and the employee collects the visa at a Vietnamese mission in that country; (2) where the travel document/new passport is restricted, coordinate directly with the Vietnamese mission on site for guidance on the appropriate visa form. The whole process needs information from scans of the old documents — old passport number, residence card number, validity — for authorities to look up and cancel the lost documents in the system.
Phase 3 — Back in Vietnam: closing the document chain
- Reissue the residence card under the new passport number (dossier: NA6, NA8, photos, new passport, loss report, valid work permit/confirmation) — processed under the 5-working-day card framework;
- Reissue/update the work permit because of the passport number change (Article 11, Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, processed in 3 working days) if the permit records the old passport number;
- Update the residence declaration and the company HR file to the new documents.
Prevention for frequently traveling experts
- Scans of the passport, residence card and work permit stored in at least two independent places (personal email and the company’s repository);
- Residence card and passport carried in two different places when traveling — losing one item does not mean losing everything;
- The company maintains a 24/7 emergency contact list for foreign staff (missions of the countries its staff usually hold, immigration contacts) — in this situation, coordination speed decides how many days the employee is stranded abroad.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the steps when both passport and residence card are lost abroad?
Four steps in order: (1) report the loss to the local police and keep the report confirmation; (2) go to your own country’s diplomatic/consular mission in that country for a new passport or an emergency travel document (the travel document for moving and re-entering); (3) rebuild the Vietnam entry basis on the new document — the sponsoring company in Vietnam coordinates with the immigration authority for an entry approval/new visa tied to the new passport number, and the employee collects the visa at a Vietnamese mission in that country; (4) after re-entering, apply for residence card reissuance under the new passport number in Vietnam.
Can a phone photo/copy of the residence card be used to re-enter Vietnam?
No. Entry control accepts only valid original documents: a valid passport/international travel document plus a visa or a valid residence card attached to that document. Photos of the residence card and old passport serve only as information support (card number, old passport number) for authorities and the sponsoring company when preparing the new visa/card reissuance dossier — they never replace originals. This is why experts should always keep document scans in personal email/cloud storage, even though a scan is never an entry document.
After returning to Vietnam, how are the residence card and other documents reissued?
Apply for residence card reissuance under the Article 37 card procedure of the Entry-Exit Law: the sponsoring company’s request (NA6), the application form (NA8) with photos, the new passport, the loss report (with the overseas loss documents duly processed), and the valid work permit/exemption confirmation. One often-forgotten task: the work permit records the old passport number — a passport number change is a work permit reissuance case under Article 11 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, to be handled so the document chain (passport — permit — residence card) matches completely for later inspections.
Contact us
FLAT Law Firm advises FDI companies and foreign employees on work permits, visas and temporary residence cards in Vietnam. Contact us for advice on your specific case.
This content is general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice on a specific case.
