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:
1. 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 application is now 10 working days, a significant reduction compared to the statutory timeline of about 20 working days for the two steps before integration.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm's full disclaimer.
