Question: Hereby I would like to ask about the requirement to apply working permit in Vietnam. I got a job offer in Vietnam as personal assistant in Thai company which currently base in ho chi minh city. Could you let me know the docs i need to prepare before i apply the working visa?
Im Singapore citizen.
Answer: I am entrusted lawyer who has expertise on work permit and residence for foreigner,
1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO REGULATION ON OBTAINING WORK PERMIT
Under Vietnam Law, except for cases 1 in which foreign employee are exempted from work permit, all foreign employee must obtain work permit to be employed in Vietnam. In order to obtain Work Permit, the Employer and Employee must satisfy following requirements:
a. Requirements for the employer:
Article 170, Labor Code 2012, when hiring a foreign employee, the employers need to satisfy the recruitment conditions as follows:The enterprises, agencies, organizations, individuals and contractors in the country areonly entitled to recruit foreign citizen to work as manager, operating director, specialist and technical employee while Vietnamese employee has not meet the production and business demand.
(ii) The foreign enterprises, agencies, organizations, individuals and contractors before recruiting employees who are foreign citizens to work in the territory of Vietnam must explain the demand for labor employment and be approved in writing from the competent state agency.
b. Requirements for the foreign employee:
According to Decree 102/2013/ND-CP date September 05thThe Labor Code 2012 on foreign workers in Vietnam, the foreign employees need to satisfythe following requirements:
(i) The worker is capable of civil acts as prescribed by law.
(ii) The worker’s health is suitable for his or her job.
(iii)The worker is a manager, executive officer, expert, or technician.
(iv)The foreign workers that provide medical examination, medical treatment in Vietnam, or work in education and vocational training must meet the conditions for provision of medical examination, medical treatment, education and vocational training of Vietnam’s law.
(v) The worker is not a criminal or liable to criminal prosecution according to Vietnam’s law and the foreign country’s law.
(vi)The employment of the foreign worker is approved in writing by a competentauthority.
2. SCOPE OF SERVICES
SB LAW is ready to provide a service package to the Client for purpose of applying the Work Permit at Department of Labor, Invalids & Social Affairs (“DOLISA”) and registering the Temporary Residency Card at Department of Immigration of HCMC as follows:
- Preparation of the application documents:
- Notifying application documents required in accordance with Vietnamese laws;
- Drafting application documents required for submission;
- Liaising with the Client to discuss about the drafted application documents;
- Amending the application documents based on the Client’s comments;
- Obtaining preliminary comments from the licensing authority on the draft application documents;
- Finalizing the application documents following comments from the licensing authority.
Licensing procedures:
• Submitting the application dossier to the licensing authority (the DOLISA) on the Client’s behalf;
• Monitoring and following up with the relevant authorities on the approval process;
• Keeping the Client updated on the developments and additional requirements, if any; and
• Receiving the result and handing it over to the Client.
TIMING:
- Within 02 working days from the full receipt of necessary documents and information provided by Client, SB Law shall transfer necessary documents to client for reviewing and signing.
- Within 01 working days upon receiving the application dossiers from Client, SB Law submit the Explanation Letter for foreign labor demand which is required to be submitted 30 days before the submission date of Work Permit application.
This step shall take 25 days for obtaining the Approval Letter for foreign labor demand.
- Within 25 working days from the obtaining of Approval Letter for foreign labor demand issued by DOLISA, SB Law shall submit the Work Permit application.
- Within 15 - 20 working days from the submission of application dossiers to DOLISA,
SB Law shall obtain the Work Permit and hand over to Client.
Applying the Temporary Residence Card:
Submitting the application dossier to the Police Department of Immigration on theClient’s behalf.
• Receiving the Temporary Residence Card and handing it over to the Client.
TIMING:
- Within 02 working days from the submission of Work Permit, SB Law shall transfer necessary documents to client for reviewing and signing.
- Within 01 working days upon receiving the application dossiers from Client, SB Law shall submit the Temporary Residence Card application at the Department of Immigration.
- Within 10 - 15 working days from the submission of application dossiers, SB Law shall obtain the Temporary Residence Card and hand over to Client.
3. PROFESSIONAL FEE
3.1. The Fee for performing the registration of Work Permit as mentioned in item above will be 500 USD (Five hundred US Dollars)/license.
3.2. The Price for performing the registration of Temporary Residency Card as mentioned in item above will be 500 USD (Five hundred US Dollars)
3.3. The fee is exclusive of 10% VAT and any disbursements including, governmental fee, consularization, legalization, translation; obtaining Vietnam Criminal Record (300 USD/ 01 Criminal record) if the foreigner have been staying in Vietnam for more than 3 months; Actual communication fee and travelling costs required in performingthe legal services. Client is, therefore, required to reimburse these expenses.
3.4. Services fee shall be paid to SB Law as follows
- Within three (03) working days from the date of signing the legal service contract, you will pay for SB Law an advance payment which equivalent to 50% of the total estimated services fee.
- You will pay the remained fee and other cost and disbursement incurred on your behalf within five (05) working days from obtainment of Work Permit.
- You will immediately notify SB Law of when actual payment(s) will be madeon the amount specified in the invoice(s). SB Law will start working only upon receipt of payment of the respective invoice(s). Alternatively, SB Law reserves the right to withdraw the service if payment is not received 10 days after the date of the invoice. Further, in the event payments are not received by the payable date, SB Law reserves the right to suspend services and/or levy and collect a late payment fee of 0.5% per month up to the date of receipt of payment by SB Law.
