Employment, HR & Immigration

Why employment law matters early

Vietnamese labour law is protective, written and enforced through documents. An employer is expected to hold a written labour contract for every employee, a registered set of internal labour rules once it has ten or more staff, salary scales and a payroll that it has published to its workforce, monthly insurance filings, and a work permit or a confirmed exemption for every foreign employee before that person starts work. Labour inspectors and Vietnam Social Security check these documents, and in a dispute the labour court reads them strictly. Much of the cost of getting it wrong arises late: an employer that skipped the procedure for a dismissal, or let a work permit lapse, usually discovers the problem when it is trying to end the relationship.

The core statute is Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14, in force since 1 January 2021, detailed by Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP. Around it sit Law No. 41/2024/QH15 on Social Insurance (from 1 July 2025), Law No. 74/2025/QH15 on Employment, which governs unemployment insurance (from 1 January 2026), Law No. 50/2024/QH15 on Trade Unions (from 1 July 2025), Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP on foreign workers (from 7 August 2025) and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners. The institutions also changed in 2025: labour policy moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and provincial Departments of Home Affairs took over the functions of the former Departments of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Hiring: contracts, probation and the working week

Any agreement under which a person does paid work under an employer's management is an employment contract, whatever the parties call it. Contracts are either indefinite-term or definite-term for up to 36 months; two consecutive definite-term contracts are normally the limit before the relationship becomes indefinite, although a foreign employee's contract may be renewed repeatedly but may never outlast the work permit. Probation runs for up to 180 days for enterprise managers and for shorter periods for other roles, at not less than 85% of the agreed salary. Contracts may now be concluded electronically. All of this is in Employment contracts and probation, which also covers secondments, service arrangements and labour sub-leasing.

Normal hours are capped at 8 a day and 48 a week. Overtime is limited to 40 hours a month and 200 a year, or 300 in listed sectors, and is paid at 150%, 200% or 300% of the normal rate. Annual leave starts at 12 working days, and the public holiday calendar now runs to 12 paid days for Vietnamese employees after Vietnam Culture Day was added from 1 July 2026. Sick and maternity pay come from social insurance rather than the employer. See Working hours, leave and holidays.

Paying people: minimum wages, payroll and insurance

Decree No. 293/2025/ND-CP sets four regional minimum wages from 1 January 2026, from VND 5,310,000 a month in Region I to VND 3,700,000 in Region IV, and the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed a further rise from 2027. Salaries must be stated and paid in Vietnamese dong, save that a foreign employee may be paid in foreign currency; payslips are compulsory; a 13th-month salary is customary but not required by law. Wages, minimum wage and payroll explains the rules and works through the gross-to-employer cost of two employees.

On top of salary, the employer pays 17.5% of insured salary for social insurance, 3% for health insurance and 1% for unemployment insurance, and deducts 10.5% from the employee, with social and health insurance capped at 20 times the reference level, VND 50,600,000 a month from 1 July 2026. Foreign employees on contracts of 12 months or more contribute to social and health insurance but not to unemployment insurance. Every enterprise also pays a trade union fee of 2% of the insurance salary fund, whether or not a union exists. See Social, health and unemployment insurance. Salary tax is covered in Personal income tax and expatriates.

Bringing in foreign staff

A foreigner who works in Vietnam needs a work permit unless an exemption applies. Under Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP the provincial People's Committee issues permits, the former advance approval of the employer's demand for foreign labour has been folded into a single application, the position must first be advertised to Vietnamese candidates for five days, and the authority decides within ten working days of a complete dossier. Permits last up to two years and may be extended once. Capital contributors of VND 3 billion or more, intra-company transferees and people working under 90 days a year are among the exempt. See Work permits for foreign staff.

Work authorisation and immigration are separate. The foreigner also needs the right visa, LD1 or LD2 for employees, DT1 to DT4 for investors graded by capital, DN1 or DN2 for business visitors, NN for heads of representative offices, and in most cases a temporary residence card of up to two years for employees, or up to ten for the largest investors. Dependants follow on TT visas and cards. The sequence matters, because a residence card for an employee is issued on the strength of the work permit. See Visas and temporary residence. Remember too that at least one legal representative must reside in Vietnam (Legal representative and governance).

Ending employment, and the collective side

An employer may end a contract unilaterally only on the grounds listed in Article 36 of the Labour Code, with 3, 30, 45 or, for certain occupations, 120 days' notice; may dismiss only for the misconduct listed in Article 125 after a formal disciplinary meeting; and may make redundancies for restructuring or economic reasons only after preparing a labour use plan, consulting the employee representative organisation and notifying the provincial authority 30 days in advance. Severance is half a month's salary per year of service and the job-loss allowance one month per year, at least two months, in each case for periods not covered by unemployment insurance. An unlawful termination brings reinstatement, back pay and at least two months' salary. See Termination, severance and redundancy.

Collective labour law is the last piece: internal labour rules, registered once the workforce reaches ten; periodic workplace dialogue; collective bargaining agreements; grassroots trade unions affiliated to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, which foreign employees may now join; and the dispute ladder of labour mediator, labour arbitration council and court. Penalties are now set by Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP, in force since 10 September 2026, with fines for organisations at twice the individual amounts. See Internal labour rules, unions and disputes, and for commercial disputes Chapter 9.

How to use this chapter

A new employer should read the sections in order, in parallel with the post-licensing steps in Compliance calendar after licensing, which places the labour declarations, insurance registration and union fee in the company's first-year calendar. An investor planning to relocate executives should start with the work permit and visa sections at the same time as the investment registration (The Investment Registration Certificate), because the legalised degree and experience documents take the longest to collect. Each section ends with the related FAQs, the official sources and a question that can be put to Lawbot with the reader's own facts. The worked examples are illustrative; the figures in them are not quotations, and the rules should be checked against the current text before a decision is taken.