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August 20, 2025

Vietnam Relaxes Requirements for Foreign Workers

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On August 7, 2025, the government of Vietnam promulgated Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP on foreign workers working in Vietnam (Decree 219), introducing substantial reforms to the management of foreign employees. Taking immediate effect upon issuance, and superseding earlier regulations on foreign employees under Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP as amended by Decree No. 70/2023/ND-CP (collectively referred to as “Decree 152”), Decree 219 sets out clear timeframes and application requirements for work permit issuance, while adopting more flexible policies to support business operations.

The key new provisions are as follows:

1. Relaxed Requirements Regarding Job-Posting

Under Decree 152, employers were required to follow a complex process to apply for work permits or work permit exemption certificates for foreign employees. This included posting an advertisement for any position the employer wished to fill with a foreign employee on a designated online portal for a given amount of time, to demonstrate that the company tried, but failed, to find a suitable Vietnamese candidate for the position.

This job-posting step now only applies when the foreigner will work in Vietnam under a local labor contract. Foreigners coming to Vietnam as intra-corporate transferees (i.e., as secondees) or working under service contracts are exempt. The job-posting period is also reduced from 15 calendar days to five business days. Employers may also now post the advertisements on multiple websites instead of only the online portal of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs after government restructuring) or the provincial-level employment service center.

2. Work Permit Application Dossier

Previously, employers were required to complete a preapproval step, whereby they had to submit a dossier explaining their foreign labor demand that required approval from the labor authority. Once approval for the foreign labor demand was granted, the approval dossier was an integral part of the work permit application. In practice, many employers struggled to obtain approval in this first step, significantly delaying the work permit application process.

This step is eliminated under Decree 219, as an explanation regarding foreign labor demand is now integrated into the single work permit application form (Form No. 03). This explanation is also required only in case of foreigners working under local labor contracts. Thus, like the relaxation in respect to the job-posting rule, intra-corporate or internal transferees and those working under service contracts would be exempt from this requirement.

3. Integrated Application Process for Work Permit and Criminal Record Certificate

Decree 219 introduces an integrated process allowing simultaneous applications for work permits and criminal record certificates through the National Public Service Portal. Accordingly, employers may submit both applications online concurrently, and the submitted applications will then be handled separately by the provincial people’s committee (for work permit application) and the police authority responsible for issuing criminal record certificates (the Department of Professional Records under the Ministry of Public Security or the professional records division under the provincial public security authority). The employers will then be issued electronic versions of the work permit and criminal record certificate.

Previously, it was necessary to obtain the criminal record certificate before applying for the work permit. Now that these processes can be conducted simultaneously, the work permit application process will be expedited.

4. Flexibility to Work in Multiple Locations

Instead of mandating the reissuance of a work permit upon a change in work location,  Decree 219 now allows foreign employees to work in different provinces for the same employer without a separate work permit. In this regard, such employees must simply notify the local labor authorities at least three days before commencing work at the new location. However, further official guidance is needed for implementation of this new regulation.

5. New Eligibility Criteria for Experts, Technical Workers, and Executives

Decree 219 reduces the years of experience required to qualify as an expert or technical worker. Experts must have a relevant university degree and two years of work experience in their field of expertise (reduced from three years under Decree 152), or one year of work experience in priority sectors such as finance or science and technology. Decree 152’s condition that foreigners without a relevant university degree could still qualify as experts if they had worked in their field for five years has been removed.

Technical workers must have two years of work experience in their field (reduced from three years) plus a one-year training period, or three years of working experience (reduced from five years) with no training.

Executives who are not named in the employer’s corporate documents must now have at least three years of work experience in a relevant field.

6. Expanded Work Permit Exemptions

Decree 219 provides a longer work permit exemption period for short business visits. Foreign executives, experts, and technical workers can work in Vietnam for up to 90 days per calendar year regardless of the number of entries, versus the previous restriction to 30 days at a time with a total of three trips a year. This amendment offers greater flexibility for project-based deployments without necessitating a full work permit.

Decree 219 also facilitates the entrance of foreign workers for priority sectors. Foreigners who are officially invited by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, or provincial-level people’s committees engaging in finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, and other priority socioeconomic development sectors may qualify for work permit exemptions.  However, further guidance will be issued to set out the procedure to obtain this invitation.

Outlook

The changes under Decree 219 incorporate many of the reforms proposed by the business community and are expected to facilitate foreign investment in Vietnam. However, some further clarifications are needed in respect to procedures and requirements within the decree, so businesses may initially expect some obstacles in the implementation of these changes.

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