Work permits

Work Permits for Foreign Specialists

An FDI company hiring a foreign specialist, manager or executive director usually faces the first question: does this person need a work permit, under which category, and what does the dossier look like. From 07/08/2025, the entire procedure follows Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, with many new points compared with the old framework. FLAT LAW FIRM supports companies from classifying the permit-required versus exempt category all the way to issuance — compliant and on time.

Get advice Labour law advisory

FLAT lawyer advising on work permits for foreign specialists

Who is this service for?

FLAT LAW FIRM’s work permit service for foreign specialists suits:

FDI companies hiring foreign specialists, engineers and managers to work under labour contracts.
Overseas parent companies seconding staff to manage or provide technical support to subsidiaries and branches in Vietnam (intra-corporate transferees).
Contractors and service providers bringing foreign personnel to perform bid packages, projects and service contracts in Vietnam.
Factories and production projects operating with teams of foreign specialists and engineers — see Legal for industrial manufacturing companies.
Vietnamese companies employing foreign managers, executive directors, specialists or technical workers under various working forms.
Individual foreign investors needing to determine whether they fall under the permit-required category or the work-permit-exempt category.

Legal issues clients commonly face

Work permit dossiers for foreign nationals rarely “fail” on simple missing documents. The points that cost companies time usually lie in classification and preparation:

Uncertainty whether the worker falls under the permit-required category or the work-permit-exempt category.
Inability to distinguish the job position (manager, executive director, specialist or technical worker) to prepare the correct supporting documents.
Degrees and experience confirmation documents issued by foreign organisations but not yet consular-legalised, translated or certified as required.
Workers employed in multiple provinces and cities while the dossier is prepared for only one locality.
Filing at the wrong time: too early or too late relative to the worker’s expected start date.
Having a permit but then changing position or working form without completing the new-issuance procedure.

FLAT’s lawyers review each specific case from the outset, so the dossier follows the correct procedure from the first submission.

When is a work permit required, and when is it exempt?

The general principle: foreign workers in Vietnam must hold a work permit, except for cases falling under the work-permit-exempt category as prescribed in Article 7 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP.

Some cases FDI companies commonly encounter:

Working under 90 days in a year (from 01/01 to the end of the calendar year): specialists, managers, executive directors and technical workers on short-term assignments fall under the work-permit-exempt category.
Intra-corporate transferees: workers employed by the foreign company for at least 12 consecutive months before coming to Vietnam, working within the 11 service sectors under Vietnam’s WTO commitments.
Investors contributing capital of VND 3 billion or more: owners or capital-contributing members of LLCs, and Chairpersons or Board members of joint-stock companies with capital contributions of VND 3 billion or more fall under the work-permit-exempt category.
Persons entering Vietnam to establish a commercial presence, official passport holders working for foreign agencies and organisations, and certain cases under international treaties, ODA, journalism and education.

Important note: “work-permit-exempt” does not mean “no procedure needed”. Depending on the case, the company may need to obtain a certificate of work-permit exemption, or — for certain cases exempted even from the certificate procedure — must still notify the competent authority at least 03 working days in advance. Misclassification is the most common and also the riskiest mistake.

Distinguishing the four job positions under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP

Article 3 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP sets criteria for each position. Correct position identification determines the supporting documents the company must prepare:

Position	Key criteria	Typical supporting documents
Manager	A manager of the enterprise as defined by the Law on Enterprises; or the head or deputy head of an agency or organisation	Company charter, appointment/secondment documents; establishment licence of the agency or organisation
Executive director	The head of a branch, representative office or business location; or the head directly managing a field of an agency, organisation or enterprise with at least 03 years of relevant experience	Operation registration certificate of the branch/representative office/business location; experience confirmation from the foreign employer
Specialist	A bachelor’s degree or higher (or equivalent) and at least 02 years of relevant experience; or a bachelor’s degree in the relevant major and at least 01 year of experience in finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation or priority sectors	Diplomas and certificates; experience confirmation from the foreign employer (for those who have worked in Vietnam, an issued work permit or confirmation certificate may substitute for experience proof)
Technical worker	At least 01 year of training and at least 02 years of relevant experience; or at least 03 years of relevant experience	Training diplomas and certificates; experience confirmation from the foreign employer

Compared with the previous framework, Decree 219/2025/ND-CP has relaxed the experience requirements for specialists and technical workers, and added specialist categories in priority sectors. However, experience confirmation documents must clearly show the position, duration and relevant field matching the intended work in Vietnam — this is the point dossiers are most often asked to supplement.

Dossier for work permit issuance

Under Article 18 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, a work permit application dossier comprises:

The employer’s document reporting and explaining the need to employ the foreign worker and requesting work permit issuance (per the Decree’s form).
A health certificate issued by a qualified medical examination facility; a foreign health certificate is accepted where a treaty or mutual recognition agreement exists and it remains valid.
The foreign worker’s passport with remaining validity.
A criminal record card or document confirming the worker is not serving a sentence, has not had a criminal record expunged, or is not under criminal prosecution, issued no more than 06 months before the filing date.
02 colour photos 4 cm x 6 cm, white background, face forward, head uncovered, no glasses.
Documents proving the working form: secondment letter, service provision contract, documents from the service provider… depending on the form.
Documents proving the job position as manager, executive director, specialist or technical worker under Article 19 of the Decree.

Consular legalisation: documents issued by foreign agencies and organisations must be consular-legalised as prescribed, except where exempted under international treaties, the principle of reciprocity or law; they must then be translated into Vietnamese and certified. Work permit dossiers with foreign elements almost always require this step — start early, as overseas processing time is hard to control.

Besides direct or postal filing, dossiers may be filed online via the National Public Service Portal; the Decree also allows linked processing of criminal record issuance with work permit issuance in certain cases.

Procedure, timelines and competence

Filing: within 60 days but no fewer than 10 days before the foreign worker’s expected start date, the employer files the dossier with the Public Administrative Service Centre in the locality where the worker is expected to work.
Processing: within 10 working days from receipt of a complete dossier, the competent authority considers approving the need and issuing the work permit. Where not approved or not issued, the authority must reply in writing stating the reasons within 03 working days.
Signing the labour contract: for workers employed under labour contracts, after the permit is issued, both parties must sign a written labour contract before the expected working date.

Competence: the provincial People’s Committee is the authority competent to issue, re-issue, extend and revoke work permits (the provincial People’s Committee decides on delegation to specialised agencies as prescribed). In practice, dossiers are received via the Public Administrative Service Centre or the Public Service Portal and forwarded to the competent authority — companies should confirm the local receiving point before filing.

Permit validity: determined by the duration of the labour contract, secondment letter, service contract… but not exceeding 02 years.

Extension: permitted only once, for a maximum of 02 years; the extension dossier is filed at least 10 days but no more than 45 days before the permit expires.
Re-issuance: when a valid permit is lost or damaged; or when the name, nationality, passport number or employer name changes. Processing time: 03 working days.
New issuance required: when changing employer, job position or working form stated on the permit — these cases use the new-issuance procedure, not re-issuance.

Vietnamese labour recruitment posting: only 03 mandatory cases remain

A notable new point of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP is reducing the burden of posting Vietnamese labour recruitment before employing foreign workers. The posting obligation now remains mandatory for only three cases:

Foreign workers performing a labour contract;
Foreign workers participating in bid packages or projects in Vietnam;
Foreign workers entering into labour contracts with diplomatic missions or foreign organisations in Vietnam.

The posting period is shortened to 05 working days with no platform limitation. If your dossier requires posting, add at least these 05 working days to the total preparation time.

How does FLAT LAW FIRM help?

Category classification: determining whether the worker is permit-required, work-permit-exempt (exemption certificate) or notification-only — avoiding redundant or missing procedures.
Job position identification: matching the manager, executive director, specialist and technical worker criteria against each person’s actual dossier.
Drafting and reviewing dossiers: the employer’s explanatory document on foreign labour need, proof of working form and job position; guidance on consular legalisation, translation and certification of foreign documents.
Filing and follow-up: filing at the Public Administrative Service Centre or via the Public Service Portal, tracking progress, supplementing dossiers when the competent authority requests.
Extension, re-issuance, new issuance: timely reminders and handling when permits near expiry, are lost or damaged, or when there are changes to the worker, position or employer.
Post-issuance compliance: advice on signing labour contracts after permit issuance, obligations to report foreign labour usage, and notifications when workers operate in multiple provinces and cities.

For companies employing many foreign workers, FLAT builds an internal process tracking each permit’s validity, avoiding situations where permits expire while workers are still working.

Implementation process

Intake and classification: the lawyer receives worker information and company needs, determining the applicable procedure category and job position.
Eligibility review: checking degrees, experience and identity documents; identifying which documents need consular legalisation and translation.
Dossier drafting: drafting the employer’s explanatory document on foreign labour need and the work permit application dossier per prescribed forms.
Filing and follow-up: filing the dossier, tracking processing progress, working with the competent authority on supplementation requests.
Result receipt and handover: receiving the work permit and guiding next steps (signing the labour contract, reporting obligations, validity tracking).

Documents the client should prepare

Enterprise registration certificate / operation licence of the company in Vietnam.
The foreign worker’s passport with remaining validity.
Diplomas, certificates and work experience confirmations (issued by foreign organisations — requiring consular legalisation, translation and certification).
Health certificate.
Criminal record card or equivalent confirmation.
Secondment letter / service provision contract / agreement — depending on the working form.
02 photos 4×6 per specifications.

FLAT’s lawyers will send a detailed checklist for each case after the first consultation, so the company prepares correctly and completely from the start.

Expected timelines and costs

State authority processing time: 10 working days from receipt of a complete valid dossier (new issuance, extension); 03 working days for re-issuance.
Actual preparation time: depends most on consular legalisation and translation of foreign documents — start the dossier at least 4–6 weeks before the worker’s expected start date.
Costs: depend on the number of workers, dossier complexity (documents needing legalisation and translation) and filing locality. FLAT quotes a fixed fee in writing after understanding the matter.

Notes for FDI companies

Parent company secondments: distinguish intra-corporate transferees from new hires — each form requires different supporting documents (secondment letter with confirmation of prior employment duration, or service provision contract).
Workers in multiple provinces: issuance competence belongs to the provincial People’s Committee where the employer is headquartered; when workers operate in another locality, the competent authority there must be notified at least 03 working days in advance.
Short-term project specialists: if total working time is under 90 days in a year, they may fall under the work-permit-exempt category — but notification obligations must still be checked.
Coordination with other procedures: work permits usually go together with temporary residence cards, and hiring foreign specialists should align with FDI company formation in Vietnam or the company’s existing presence structure. See also: foreign investment in Vietnam.

Risks of having no permit or wrong position

Employing foreign workers without a work permit or the required confirmation certificate may expose the company to administrative penalties in the labour field.
Workers operating in a position or form different from that stated on the permit may have the permit revoked.
Expired permits while workers continue working: extension or new-issuance procedures must be completed promptly — after one extension, continued work requires a new work permit.
Errors in foreign labour dossiers can also cascade into related procedures such as the worker’s temporary residence card.

Specific fines (Article 31 of Decree 12/2022/ND-CP): foreign workers working without a work permit face fines from VND 15,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 and may face the additional penalty of expulsion. Employers face fines from VND 30,000,000 to VND 45,000,000 (violations involving 01 to 10 persons), from VND 45,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 (11 to 20 persons), from VND 60,000,000 to VND 75,000,000 (21 persons or more); fines for organisations are double those for individuals.

Remediation costs once a violation has occurred — in both fines and work disruption time — are usually far higher than the cost of doing the procedure correctly from the start.

Legal updates as of September 2026

Decree 219/2025/ND-CP effective from 07/8/2025, replacing the foreign worker framework under Decree 152/2020/ND-CP and Decree 70/2023/ND-CP.
Issuance competence for work permits is assigned to the provincial People’s Committee (which decides on delegation to specialised agencies as prescribed), replacing the previous mechanism.
Foreign labour need reporting is integrated into the work permit application dossier, no longer a separate approval step as before.
Relaxed experience requirements for specialists (02 years instead of 03; 01 year for priority sectors) and technical workers (03 years of experience replacing sectoral training requirements in some cases).
Linked procedures for criminal record issuance with work permit issuance; online filing allowed via the National Public Service Portal.
Underlying legal framework: besides Decree 219, the Labour Code 2019 remains the foundation — Article 151 on working conditions of foreign workers, Article 154 on work-permit-exempt cases, Article 155 on work permit validity.
Two-tier local government operating from 01/7/2025: foreign labour dossiers need to be reviewed against the new administrative names and addresses after rearrangement. Depending on locality, dossier type and delegation at filing time, the competent authority may differ.

The full texts of the above instruments are available on the Government’s legal normative documents system.

Regulations may continue to be detailed and adjusted during local implementation. The content reflects the legal framework at the time of update; for specific dossiers, companies should consult a lawyer to cross-check current regulations.

Why choose FLAT LAW FIRM?

FDI and labour specialisation: a team of lawyers regularly handling foreign labour dossiers for foreign-invested companies, from technical specialists to senior managers.
Mastery of the new regulations: updated and applying Decree 219/2025/ND-CP since its effectiveness, including differences from the old framework.
Full permit lifecycle handling: from category classification and new issuance to extension, re-issuance and post-issuance compliance — a single point of contact.
Transparent timelines and costs: fixed fee quoted in writing, regular dossier progress updates.

Learn more about our corporate legal services and labour law advisory.

Frequently asked questions

Does a foreign specialist coming to Vietnam for 2 months need a work permit?

Specialists, managers, executive directors or technical workers working under 90 days in total in a year (from 01/01 to the end of the calendar year) fall under the work-permit-exempt category. However, depending on the case, the company may still need to notify the competent authority at least 03 working days in advance. Have a lawyer check the specifics before the worker enters to work.

What is new about the “specialist” standard under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP?

Decree 219/2025/ND-CP relaxes the previous conditions: specialists need a bachelor’s degree or higher (or equivalent) and at least 02 years of relevant experience; for finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation or priority sectors, only a bachelor’s degree in the relevant major and at least 01 year of relevant experience is required.

Where are work permit dossiers filed?

Dossiers are filed with the Public Administrative Service Centre in the locality where the foreign worker is expected to work (in person, by post, by authorisation, or online via the National Public Service Portal). Issuance competence belongs to the provincial People’s Committee, which decides on delegation to specialised agencies as prescribed — companies should confirm the local receiving point before filing.

How long is a work permit valid, and how many times can it be extended?

A work permit is valid for a maximum of 02 years. It may be extended only once for a maximum of 02 years; the extension dossier is filed at least 10 days but no more than 45 days before the permit expires. After the extension, if the worker continues working, a new work permit procedure is required.

Does changing a foreign worker’s job position require a new permit?

Yes. When changing the job position or working form stated on the permit (even without changing employer), a new work permit procedure is required. Re-issuance applies only when a valid permit is lost or damaged, or when information such as name, nationality, passport number or employer name changes.

Does a parent company sending staff to manage its Vietnamese subsidiary need work permits?

It depends. If intra-corporate transferee conditions are met (employed by the foreign company for at least 12 consecutive months, within the service sectors under WTO commitments), the worker may fall under the work-permit-exempt category. Otherwise, a permit must be obtained under the corresponding working form. Classification must be based on each person’s specific dossier.

What happens if a worker works in a position different from the permit?

The work permit may be revoked when the worker or employer does not comply with the issued contents. When there are changes to job position, working form or employer, the company needs a new-issuance procedure instead of continuing to use the old permit.

Can one work while waiting for the work permit?

Companies should be cautious. Workers working without a work permit or appropriate confirmation may create administrative penalty risks for both the worker and the employer.

Is a work permit related to the temporary residence card?

Yes. A work permit or work-permit-exemption confirmation is usually an important basis for processing the foreign worker’s visa and temporary residence card.

Does FLAT LAW FIRM support dossiers for Chinese specialists?

Yes. For Chinese-speaking investors seconding personnel to Vietnam, we explain dossier requirements in parallel to the parent company and the Vietnamese entity in Vietnamese, Chinese and English, helping prepare the right documents from the start.

Useful links

Labour law advisory — FLAT LAW FIRM’s overall labour services.
FDI company formation in Vietnam — establishment procedures for foreign investors.
Foreign investment in Vietnam — the investment legal framework for foreign investors.
Corporate legal services — ongoing legal services for companies.

You should talk to a lawyer if…

Uncertain whether the worker is permit-required or exempt.
The worker’s degrees and experience were issued in several different countries.
The worker will operate in multiple provinces and cities during their time in Vietnam.
The company employs many foreign workers and needs a permit-validity tracking system.
A permit exists but a change of position, employer or organisational structure is upcoming.

Need work permits for foreign specialists?

Send your case details — FLAT LAW FIRM’s lawyers will classify the procedure category, review eligibility and propose a suitable dossier plan as soon as possible.

Book a consultation Contact FLAT LAW FIRM

Disclaimer: This page is for general information only, reflecting the legal framework at the time of update (September 2026), and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. Foreign worker regulations may be further guided, adjusted or applied differently by locality and time. Please contact FLAT LAW FIRM for advice suited to your dossier.