Hiring a foreign expert to work in Vietnam is not only about agreeing on salary and benefits. Employers must go through a chain of mandatory administrative procedures — from obtaining approval of the demand for foreign labor, determining work permit exemption, to aligning the contract term with the permit and correctly calculating insurance and tax obligations. Here are 6 key points under current law (as of 14 October 2026), including many new rules effective from 2025–2026.
1. Get demand approval before recruiting — work permit first, labor contract second
Article 152 of the Labor Code 2019 (No. 45/2019/QH14, effective 01/01/2021): employers must obtain written approval from the competent state authority regarding the demand for foreign workers before recruiting. Without the approval document, foreign workers may not be hired.
The mandatory order: obtain the work permit first, then sign the labor contract. Foreign workers in Vietnam must meet 4 conditions under Art. 151.1: be at least 18 years old with full civil act capacity; have professional qualifications, technical skills, work experience and health as required by the Ministry of Health; not be serving a criminal sentence, have an unspent conviction, or be under criminal prosecution under foreign or Vietnamese law; and hold a work permit issued by a competent Vietnamese authority, except for cases under Art. 154.
2. Check work permit exemption before starting procedures
Do not assume every foreign expert needs a work permit. Art. 154 of the Labor Code lists cases not subject to work permit issuance, including: owners or capital-contributing members of limited liability companies; Chairpersons or Board members of joint stock companies; heads of representative offices or projects of international organizations or NGOs in Vietnam; entering Vietnam for under 03 months to offer services; entering Vietnam for under 03 months to handle complex technical incidents; foreign lawyers licensed to practice in Vietnam; cases under international treaties; foreigners married to Vietnamese citizens and residing in Vietnam; high-quality digital technology industry personnel (Art. 154.8a, added by the Law on Digital Technology Industry); and other cases prescribed by the Government.
Decree 219/2025/ND-CP (effective 07/8/2025, replacing Decrees 152/2020 and 70/2023) details these in Art. 7, with notable figures: owners or capital-contributing members of LLCs with contributed capital of VND 3 billion or more (similarly for Chairpersons and Board members of joint stock companies) — Art. 7.2; working in Vietnam for a total of under 90 days in 01 year — Art. 7.13(a); intra-company transferees in 11 service sectors under WTO commitments, previously employed by the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months — Art. 7.13(b).
Note: those exempt from work permit issuance must still complete the certification procedure confirming non-eligibility for a work permit with the competent authority — exemption does not mean “no paperwork”.
3. The “expert” standard has been relaxed: university degree + 02 years of experience — no longer 03 years
A common trap: many employers still apply the old “03 years of experience” standard from the expired Decree 152/2020. The current standard under Art. 3.3 of Decree 219/2025: hold a university degree or higher with at least 02 years of relevant work experience; or hold a university degree in the exact trained major with at least 01 year of experience in finance, science and technology, innovation, national digital transformation or priority sectors.
Prepare the dossier: degrees and experience confirmation documents duly legalized — missing proof of experience is a common reason work permit applications are returned.
4. Align the contract term with the work permit — maximum 02 years, only one renewal
Art. 151.2 of the Labor Code: the term of a labor contract with a foreign worker in Vietnam must not exceed the term of the issued work permit; the parties may enter into multiple fixed-term labor contracts — as a result, indefinite-term labor contracts are not signed with foreign workers.
A work permit is valid for a maximum of 02 years according to the term of the labor contract expected to be signed, and may be renewed only once for a maximum of 02 years (Art. 155, Labor Code; Art. 21.1, Decree 219/2025). Employers should plan long-term staffing from the outset rather than assuming repeated renewals.
5. Mandatory social insurance for contracts of 12 months or more — factor it into staffing costs
Art. 2.2 of the Social Insurance Law 2024 (No. 41/2024/QH15, effective 01/7/2025) and Decree 158/2025/ND-CP (effective 01/7/2025, replacing Decrees 143/2018 and 115/2015): foreign employees are subject to mandatory social insurance when working under a fixed-term labor contract of 12 months or more.
Exclusions: intra-company transferees; employees who have reached retirement age at the time of signing; and cases where an international treaty to which Vietnam is a party provides otherwise. Employers should include social and health insurance costs when budgeting for foreign experts (check specific contribution rates in Decree 158/2025).
6. Personal income tax by residence status — and the cost of non-compliance
The Personal Income Tax Law 2025 (No. 109/2025/QH15, effective 01/7/2026) distinguishes two groups: non-residents — PIT on wages equals total Vietnam-sourced work income x 20%, regardless of where the income is paid (Art. 21); residents — taxed under the progressive schedule, with new family deductions of VND 15.5 million per month for the taxpayer and VND 6.2 million per month per dependent under Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15 (applicable from 01/01/2026).
Warning: employing foreign workers without a work permit or exemption confirmation (outside exempt cases) is subject to administrative penalties — fines plus deportation of the worker as an additional penalty — under Decree 283/2026/ND-CP (effective 10/9/2026, replacing Decree 12/2022). Never cite expired decrees (152/2020, 70/2023, 143/2018, 115/2015, 12/2022) as current authority.
Additional note on labor subleasing: from 01/7/2026 to 28/02/2027, Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP suspends issuance and renewal of labor subleasing licenses and employment service licenses; during this period a deposit mechanism with notification, reporting and post-inspection applies — employers using subleased labor should stay updated.
Conclusion
Signing labor contracts with foreign experts is a multi-layer compliance process: demand approval, work permit (or exemption confirmation), expert standard, contract-term alignment, social insurance and personal income tax. Getting the sequence right from the start helps employers avoid penalties, staffing disruption and miscalculated hiring costs.
Contact FLAT Law Firm
If your company is preparing to hire foreign experts and needs a conditions check, work permit dossier preparation, or compliant labor contract drafting, please contact our team at contact us.
This article provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. The content has passed quality review by the AI Legal Council (a panel of two independent reviewers plus a chief editor) and was approved by the site owner before publication; it was not reviewed by a human lawyer.
