Work permits for foreign staff under Decree 219/2025: the four categories, exemptions, the single application, documents, timing, extension, re-issue, revocation and penalties

The framework after August 2025

Articles 151 to 157 of Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14 set the principles: a foreigner may work in Vietnam only in defined roles, only with a work permit or a confirmed exemption, and only for an employer that has explained why a Vietnamese worker cannot do the job. The detailed rules are in Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP of 7 August 2025, which took effect on the day it was issued and replaced Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP and its amending Decree No. 70/2023/ND-CP. Under the decree the provincial People's Committee is the authority that issues, extends, re-issues and revokes work permits and exemption confirmations, usually acting through the provincial Department of Home Affairs, which absorbed the labour functions of the former Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Applications are filed online through the National Public Service Portal.

The 2025 decree made four changes that matter to employers. It abolished the separate advance approval of the employer's demand for foreign workers, which used to take 15 working days before the permit application could even be filed, and folded the explanation into the permit application itself. It reduced the advertising period for the position from 15 days to five and let employers choose where to advertise. It lowered the experience thresholds for experts and technical workers. And it linked the Vietnamese criminal record procedure to the permit application, so that the record can be requested online at the same time. The work permit and the visa remain separate processes, handled by different ministries; the immigration side is in Visas and temporary residence.

The four categories

Article 152 of the Labour Code allows an employer to recruit foreigners only as managers, executives, experts or technical workers, and only for positions that Vietnamese workers cannot yet fill. Article 3 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP defines each category.

A manager is a manager of an enterprise as defined in Article 4(24) of the Law on Enterprises, such as the owner of a private enterprise, a member or chair of the members' council or board, the company owner, the director or general director and any other managerial position set by the charter, or the head or deputy head of an agency or organisation. An executive is the head of a branch, representative office or business location, or a person who heads and directly runs a field of activity of an agency, organisation or enterprise and has at least three years' relevant experience. An expert holds a university degree or higher, or an equivalent, and has at least two years' relevant experience; in the priority fields named in the decree, including finance, science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, a university degree in the relevant speciality and one year's experience suffice. A technical worker has at least one year's training and at least two years' relevant experience, or at least three years' experience without formal training.

Evidence of experience is a confirmation from previous employers stating the position, the period and the work, or equivalent documents. The authority compares the position with the degree and experience, and a mismatch is the commonest reason for a clarification request.

Exemptions, and how to rely on them

Article 154 of the Labour Code and Article 7 of the decree list the cases in which no permit is needed. For investors and multinational groups the important ones are: the owner or a capital-contributing member of a limited liability company with a capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more; the chair or a member of the board of a joint stock company with a capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more; the head of a representative office or of a project of an international organisation or foreign non-governmental organisation; a person entering Vietnam to establish a commercial presence; a manager, executive, expert or technical worker who works in Vietnam for fewer than 90 days in a calendar year, however many entries that involves; an intra-company transferee, that is, a manager, executive, expert or technical worker transferred for a limited period within a foreign enterprise with a commercial presence in Vietnam in one of the eleven WTO service sectors, who has worked for that enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months before the transfer; a foreigner married to a Vietnamese citizen and living in Vietnam; practising lawyers licensed in Vietnam; and specialists certified by a ministry or provincial People's Committee for work in priority sectors. Capital contributors and board members below the VND 3 billion threshold now need a permit, but are spared the advertising and demand explanation.

An exemption is not self-executing. In most cases the employer must obtain a work permit exemption confirmation from the provincial authority, filed 10 to 60 days before the start date and decided within five working days (Article 9); the confirmation lasts up to two years and may be extended once for up to two years. Certain categories need only a notice to the authority at least three working days before work begins. Either way, the foreigner must hold the exemption evidence before starting work, and must still obtain the right visa or residence card. Exempt status under the 90-day rule should be tracked by days worked in each calendar year; a manager who visits for 20 working days a quarter will exceed it.

Obtaining a work permit for a new hire

1. Confirm category and eligibilityMatch the position to manager, executive, expert or technical worker and check the degree and experience against Article 3 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP. Check first whether an exemption applies.
2. Collect and legalise documents abroadDegree, experience confirmations and the foreign criminal record (issued within six months before filing). Documents issued abroad need an apostille (Vietnam applies the Apostille Convention from 11 September 2026) or consular legalisation, and a certified Vietnamese translation.
3. Advertise the positionFor a local labour contract, a bidding package or project, or a contract with a foreign mission or organisation, advertise to Vietnamese candidates for at least five days before filing, by a method the employer chooses. Intra-company transferees and service suppliers are exempt from advertising.
4. Obtain the health certificateFrom a qualified medical facility, issued no more than 12 months before filing; a foreign certificate is accepted only where mutual recognition applies.
5. File the single applicationThrough the National Public Service Portal, 10 to 60 days before the start date: the labour demand explanation and application on the prescribed form, health certificate, passport copy, criminal record (or the linked request for a Vietnamese record), two 4 x 6 cm colour photographs, proof of the form of employment and of the job category.
6. Answer any clarificationThe authority decides within 10 working days of a complete dossier and must give reasons for a refusal within three working days. A request for clarification restarts the completeness check.
7. Sign the labour contract and start workSign the written labour contract with a term no longer than the permit, then start work; for a secondee, the assignment letter governs.
8. Visa, residence and insuranceApply for the LD2 visa or temporary residence card on the strength of the permit, register temporary residence, and register the employee for social and health insurance if the contract is 12 months or more.

Duration, extension, multi-site work and re-issue

Under Article 21 of the decree a work permit is issued for the term of the labour contract or assignment, up to a maximum of two years. Article 29 allows one extension, for up to two years, on an application filed 10 to 45 days before expiry and decided within 10 working days (Article 28). After the extension has been used, a further period requires a new permit, with a full application. Employers should therefore diarise the expiry of every permit at least two months ahead.

A permit issued to work for one employer may now be used at that employer's workplaces in several provinces without a new permit, provided the employee notifies the labour authority of the new location at least three days before starting work there. A permit is re-issued (Article 23), within three working days, where the original is lost or damaged, or where the employee's name, nationality or passport number, or the employer's name, changes while the enterprise code remains the same; the re-issued permit runs for the remaining term. A change of employer, of position or of category requires a new permit, not a re-issue.

Revocation, expiry and the employer's duties

A permit ceases to be valid in the cases listed in Article 156 of the Labour Code, including expiry of its term, termination of the labour contract, a change in the content of the contract inconsistent with the permit, the end of the assignment by the foreign employer, and the cessation of the employer's operations. Under Article 30 of the decree the authority revokes a permit that has expired in those circumstances, one obtained or used in breach of the decree, and one whose holder is being prosecuted or investigated for criminal liability in Vietnam. Within 15 days of a permit ceasing to be valid, the employer must recover it and return it to the authority with a written explanation (Article 31).

Because Article 34 of the Labour Code ends the labour contract when the permit expires, the expiry of a permit is also a termination event for the employment, with the consequences described in Termination, severance and redundancy. The employer must also report periodically on its use of foreign workers, as part of the labour reports prescribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Penalties and the deportation risk

Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP, which replaced Decree No. 12/2022/ND-CP on 10 September 2026, keeps the established scale of fines. A foreigner working without a permit or exemption confirmation, or with an expired permit, is fined VND 15 to 25 million and may be deported, which in practice also ends any immediate prospect of returning to work in Vietnam. An employer that uses foreign workers without permits or exemption confirmations is fined VND 30 to 45 million where one to ten workers are involved, VND 45 to 60 million for 11 to 20, and VND 60 to 75 million for 21 or more; an employer that uses a foreign worker for work different from the permit faces a fine per worker. Under Article 7 of the decree these amounts are for individuals and are doubled for organisations, so a company employing a single unpermitted foreigner faces up to VND 90 million.

The fines are the smaller part of the cost. A deportation order disrupts management, and the absence of a permit undermines the labour contract, the residence card and the documentation that supports the salary cost in the company's tax filings (Corporate income tax).