Question:
Our company is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise and is currently planning to cooperate with a Vietnamese company to jointly invest in and operate a nursing home providing elderly care services. May I ask whether the current laws of Vietnam allow foreign companies to participate in this field?
Answer:
According to Appendix I on the List of business sectors with restricted market access for foreign investors under Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP guiding the Law on Investment 2020, the nursing home sector does not fall under: Category A: business sectors not yet accessible to foreign investors; nor Category B: business sectors with conditional market access for foreign investors.
In addition, under Vietnam’s WTO commitments, this sector is also not included in the schedule of commitments. This means, in principle, foreign investors are permitted to invest in the nursing home sector in Vietnam, without being subject to specific restrictive conditions, and may be treated equally as domestic investors pursuant to Clause 5, Article 5 of the Law on Investment 2020.
However, in practice, the application of these regulations may still depend on the interpretation and guidance of the competent sectoral authorities. Therefore, after receiving the application, the processing authority may need to seek opinions from relevant ministries and agencies before granting approval, in order to ensure compliance with the current state management policies.
