On 7 August 2025, the Government issued Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP regulating foreign worker working in Vietnam (“Decree 219”) to replace previous regulations outlined in Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP and the amending Decree No. 70/2023/ND-CP. In general, Decree 219 outlines relevant provisions to attract high-quality talent in priority sectors, and provide clear guidance for both employers and employees. Notable provisions are as follows:
- Streamlined Work Permit Application Process: Decree 219 integrates the two-step process of (i) seeking approval for the demand to use foreign labor and (ii) applying for a work permit into a single, consolidated procedure. This significantly reduces administrative burden. As a result, the total statutory processing time for a work permit appcation is now 10 working days, a significant reduction compared to the statutory timeline of about 20 working days for the two steps before integration.
- Expanded Cases for Work Permit Exemption: The new decree expands the list of cases where a foreign worker is exempt from a work permit. Notable cases include:
- High-Value Capital Contributors: Owners or capital-contributing members of limited liability companies, and Chairpersons or members of the Board of Management of joint-stock companies, with a capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more.
- Priority Sector Professionals: Foreign experts and workers confirmed by relevant ministries or provincial People’s Committees to be working in strategic fields such as finance, science and technology, innovation, and national digital transformation.
- Short-Term Work: Foreign managers, executives, experts, or technicians entering Vietnam for short-term assignments of less than 90 days per calendar year are now eligible for exemption.
- Relaxation of Requirements for “Experts” and “Technicians”: The conditions to qualify as an “expert” or “technician” have been eased as follows:
- Experts: Now require a bachelor’s degree (or higher) and at least 2 years of relevant work experience (down from 3 years). For those in priority development sectors, only 1 year of experience is needed.
- Technicians: The required relevant work experience has been reduced from 5 years to 3 years.
- Decentralization of Authority: The authority for issuing, re-issuing, extending, and revoking work permits and work permit exemption certificates is now transferred to provincial-level People’s Committees.
- New Rules for Work Permit Exemption Certificates: The decree introduces clear procedures for the re-issuance, extension, and revocation of work permit exemption certificates.
- An exemption certificate may be extended once for a maximum period of two years.
- Clear grounds for revocation have been established, including working outside the certified scope or termination of the work assignment.
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Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Oliver Massmann under [email protected] if you have any questions or want to know more details on the above. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC.
