Scenario: an investor asks three consulting firms “how long does it take to get the Investment Registration Certificate and the Enterprise Registration Certificate” and gets three different answers: “two weeks”, “two months”, “it depends”. All three are partly right, because the question merges two different things — the statutory deadline and the actual timeline — at an agency whose name has changed. This article separates three layers: what the regulations say in days, how long it really takes, and where it gets stuck.
Which agency is the “Department of Planning and Investment” today?
Before talking about time, locate the right agency. On 18 February 2025, the Ministry of Planning and Investment ceased operations and merged into the Ministry of Finance. At provincial level, Departments of Planning and Investment merged into Departments of Finance (effective 1 March 2025 in many localities); the Business Registration Office now sits under the Department of Finance. Centrally, business-registration management belongs to the Department of Private Enterprise and Collective Economy Development (Decision 377/QD-BTC dated 26 February 2025 of the Minister of Finance). This article keeps “Department of Planning and Investment” in the headline because that is the name investors still search for, but dossiers are actually filed with the Business Registration Office under the Department of Finance — or with the Industrial Park / Economic Zone Management Board for projects inside parks and zones. Filing with the wrong agency is the first reason dossiers “go in circles”.
The regulations: how many days on paper?
For the Enterprise Registration Certificate: Clause 5, Article 26 of the Enterprise Law 59/2020/QH14 requires the business registration office to review the dossier’s validity and issue the certificate within 03 working days of receiving the dossier. Note the decisive phrase: “of receiving the dossier” means a valid dossier — an incomplete or wrongly templated dossier draws a notice requesting amendments, and the deadline clock only runs once the dossier is valid. For the Investment Registration Certificate: processing time follows Article 47 of Decree 96/2026/ND-CP (on IRC issuance procedures) — the specific day count in that article is currently being clarified further with practicing lawyers, so this article states no absolute figure from that provision. One timing rule applies generally: under Point e, Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 96/2026/ND-CP, time the investor spends amending, supplementing or explaining the dossier does not count toward the state agency’s processing deadline. In other words, the law only counts the agency’s handling time, not the investor’s preparation time.
Reality: how long does it actually take? (practical experience, not legal deadlines)
The ranges below reflect observed practical experience and are not attributed to any legal instrument. Enterprise registration via the Business Registration Office: with a standard dossier filed online, typically 5–10 working days from filing to certificate in hand — including one or two minor supplementation rounds (misspelled names, missing signatures, blurry scans). IRCs for ordinary projects outside industrial parks: 4–8 weeks from when the dossier is substantially complete, because the agency must consult specialized regulators. Projects inside industrial parks or economic zones filed via the Management Board: usually faster, around 3–6 weeks, thanks to the one-stop mechanism and the Board’s ready grasp of zone planning. Projects requiring in-principle investment approval: add several months for the inter-agency consultation and appraisal round — the stretch investors find most “shocking” because it sits in no single issuance step’s committed timeline.
Where does it get stuck? The five most common bottlenecks
First, foreign paperwork: consular legalization and certified translation of the parent company’s license, financial statements and passports. This sits outside Vietnamese agencies’ processing deadlines but consumes 2–4 weeks of the total timeline — investors who start paperwork only after finalizing the project concept add a month on their own. Second, the project location: site-use proof documents (lease agreements, land papers) mismatching zoning plans, or investment-per-land-area ratios failing local requirements — dossiers bounce at the first round. Third, specialized consultation rounds: technology (for projects subject to technology consultation), environment, fire prevention — each agency its own round, each follow-up question another 1–2 weeks. Fourth, wrongly templated or incomplete dossiers: every supplementation notice “resets” the clock, and the investor’s fixing time does not count toward the agency’s deadline. Fifth, post-merger administrative overload: since 2025 the investment-registration and business-registration apparatus has gone through departmental mergers — new staff, new one-stop workflows; filing at year-end peaks or right after personnel reshuffles means longer waits than usual.
How to shorten it? A pre-filing checklist
Fast-moving projects share a pattern: prepare foreign paperwork (legalization, translation) before finalizing the plan; keep site documents clear, zoning-consistent, with confirmation from the park infrastructure developer for in-park projects; write the project proposal to the official template with consistent figures across documents; file online and track the dossier code instead of filing on paper and waiting for a call; assign a single focal point to work with the handling officer so every supplementation request is cleared in one round. Nothing shortens the agency’s statutory deadline, but nearly all investor-side dead time can be eliminated — and that is the majority of the total timeline.
Frequently asked questions
Do we file investment registration with the “DPI” or the “Department of Finance”?
Currently file with the Business Registration Office / the investment-registration function under the Department of Finance (post-merger, effective 1 March 2025). Projects in industrial parks, export processing zones and economic zones file with the park/zone Management Board. “DPI” in this headline is the familiar old name; when filing, look for the agency’s current name.
Why does the law say 3 days but reality take two weeks?
Because the 03 working days in Clause 5, Article 26 of the Enterprise Law 59/2020/QH14 run from when the dossier is valid. In practice most dossiers go through one or two supplementation rounds, and under Point e, Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree 96/2026/ND-CP, the investor’s amendment time does not count toward the agency’s deadline. Two weeks in reality means a few days of agency handling plus the investor’s own fixing time.
How do we know which step our dossier is at?
Filing via the one-stop desk or online yields a receipt / dossier code for tracking processing status. Proactively contact the handling officer using the receipt details instead of waiting passively; every supplementation request must be in writing and state clearly what needs fixing.
Does hiring a consulting firm make it faster than doing it ourselves?
It does not change the state agency’s statutory deadline. The single — but significant — benefit is a correct dossier from the start, fewer supplementation rounds, i.e. eliminating investor-side dead time. For complex projects (in-principle approval, multiple specialized consultations), that value is even greater.
