Vietnam: Stricter Immigration Rules Implemented for Ho Chi Minh City Work Permit Applications

January 11, 2023

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Country / Territory

At a Glance

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labour (DOLISA) announced that it will revert to stricter immigration rules for work permit applications, including:

  • Removal of working location reports that previously allowed current work permit holders to work in another province or region in Vietnam for up to six months;
  • Previously-issued work permits will no longer be accepted to prove the applicant’s work experience for a new work permit application filed under Decree 152;
  • Higher scrutiny and implementation of educational qualification requirements related to job positions; and
  • Implementation of the requirement to notarize or legalize passport copies that are submitted with work permit applications.

These rule changes, among others, are expected to increase the mobility-related administrative hurdles in Vietnam that were previously eased by a pandemic-era government resolution.

The situation

The Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Labor (DOLISA) announced that it is ceasing to apply the relaxed rules and flexible requirements for Work Permit applications that were put in place with a pandemic-era government resolution, which sought to mitigate the more onerous impacts of Decree 152 (the Labor Decree that had overhauled the work permit process in early 2021).

CHANGE DETAILS IMPACT
Removal of transferability of work
    • Work permit holders in one province in Vietnam can no longer be temporarily transferred/assigned to work in another province without obtaining another work permit in that province.
    • Work permit holders in Vietnam lose the flexibility to apply their skills for a short-term basis in other regions/provinces in Vietnam without the additional administrative hurdles of applying for a new work permit in that other province.  
Stricter proof of work experience requirements
    • Previously-issued work permits are no longer accepted to prove work experience for a new work permit.
    • Work permit applicants must submit Work Experience Letters issued by previous employers overseas, certifying the years of experience held by the foreign national under a relevant role as part of the work permit requirements.
    • Applicants must submit a Work Experience Letter that is legalized at a Vietnamese Embassy in the country of the letter’s issuance.
    • Applicants will be subject to the additional steps of obtaining and legalizing Work Experience Letters, which will add to the overall document gathering time involved in obtaining a work permit and may cause delays (and even gaps) in obtaining the new work permit.
Stricter proof of educational qualifications
    • The applicant’s education and qualifications must be directly related to the job position.
    • The immigration authorities may exercise more discretion in determining this factor, which could lead to a higher rate of rejections of applications solely based on the evaluation of the availability or sufficiency of an applicant’s degree in relation to their proposed job position in Vietnam. 
Implementation of requirement to notarize or legalize passport
    • Applicants currently in Vietnam must submit a notarized copy of their passport for work permit applications.
      • Note: Chinese e-passports are not accepted for notarization at Vietnamese notary publics.
    • Applicants outside of Vietnam must submit a legalized copy of their passport for work permit applications.
    • Applicants will be subject to additional steps of either notarizing or legalizing their passports, which will add to the overall lead time of obtaining a work permit.

In September 2021, the Vietnam government introduced Resolution 105, which aimed to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown measures by easing onerous restrictions associated with Decree 152 and streamlining the work permit application process.

With the changes introduced by the HCMC Labor Department, however, it appears that the government had only intended for a temporary suspension of the strict requirements set by Decree 152, and not to overturn it altogether. Indeed, this formal announcement of the reversion to Decree 152 by the HCMC DOLISA was not unexpected, as the DOLISA has already been implementing these changes (on an ad hoc basis) over the last few months.

It is very likely that the Vietnam government will start implementing the stricter rules to work permit applications in other provinces of Vietnam as well and fully overturn the easing of requirements provided by Resolution 105 (and therefore revert to the more stringent requirements set during the implementation of Decree 152). Fragomen will report on relevant developments.

We worked closely with Resident Vietnam in Vietnam to prepare this alert. This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].

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