NEW REGULATIONS ON ISSUING WORK PERMITS FOR FOREIGNERS WORKING IN VIETNAM 2025
The Government issued Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP dated August 7, 2025, regulating foreign workers working in Vietnam. This Decree has a number of new regulations on granting permits to foreign workers in Vietnam.
In the context that Vietnam is attracting capable and financially capable investors, experts, and highly skilled workers to work in new industries and professions such as semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation, it is necessary to have more flexible policies and reduce the time for granting work permits to meet the production and business needs of enterprises.
Therefore, Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP on foreign workers working in Vietnam has many changes compared to Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP and Decree No. 70/2023/ND-CP.
Contents
1. Explanation of the need to use foreign labor and issuance of work permits
Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP is amended to integrate the procedure for reporting and explaining the need to use foreign labor into the procedure for submitting application for work permits. According to the new regulations, Article 18 stipulates that the application for work permits includes:
1. Document of the employer reporting and explaining the need to use foreign labor and requesting the issuance of work permits according to Form No. 03 of the Appendix issued with this Decree.
2. Health certificate issued by a qualified medical examination and treatment facility, except in cases where the health examination results have been connected and shared on the Information System for Management of Medical Examination and Treatment Activities or the national health database. For health certificates issued by competent foreign medical facilities, they are used in cases where Vietnam and the country or territory issuing the health certificate have a treaty or agreement on mutual recognition and the validity period of such a health certificate is not more than 12 months from the date of issue.
3. Valid passport.
4. Judicial record or document confirming that the foreign worker is not a person serving a sentence or has not had his/her criminal record expunged or is under criminal prosecution by a foreign country or by Vietnam, issued no more than 6 months from the date of issue to the date of application submission, except in cases where the administrative procedures for issuing Judicial Record and work permit have been linked as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 6 of this Decree.
5. 02 color photos (size 4 cm x 6 cm, white background, face looking straight, bare head, no glasses).
6. Documents proving the form of work of foreign workers are one of the following documents:
a) Document of the employer abroad sending the foreign worker to work for a limited period at a commercial presence in Vietnam and confirming that the foreign worker has been recruited by the employer abroad for at least 12 consecutive months immediately before entering Vietnam to work in the case specified in Point b, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree;
b) Document of the employer sending the foreign worker with a signed contract or agreement in the case specified in Point c, Point i, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree;
c) Service provision contract signed between Vietnamese and foreign partners and documents proving that the foreign employee has worked for a foreign enterprise without a commercial presence in Vietnam for at least 24 months in the case specified in Point d, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree;
d) In the case specified in Point dd, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree, there must be a document from the service provider sending the foreign employee to Vietnam to negotiate service provision;
dd) Document from the employer abroad sending the foreign employee to work in Vietnam and suitable for the expected working position in the case specified in Point h, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree;
e) In the case specified in Point l, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Decree, there must be documents proving that the employee is a manager in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 3 of this Decree.
7. Documents proving that the foreign employee is a manager, executive director, expert, or technical worker as prescribed in Article 19 of this Decree.
a) Processing time
Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of a complete application for a work permit, the competent authority shall consider approving the request and issue a work permit to the foreign worker. In case of disapproval of the request for foreign workers or refusal to issue a work permit to the foreign worker, a written response must be issued stating the reasons within 03 working days from the date of receipt of the complete application.
b) Processing authority
Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP stipulates:
The provincial People’s Committee is competent to issue, reissue, extend, revoke work permits and certificates of non-exemption from work permits for foreign workers working for employers with headquarters, branches, representative offices or business locations in the locality where the foreign worker is expected to work.
In case a foreign employee works for an employer in many provinces or centrally run cities, the People’s Committee of the province where the employer has its head office has the authority to issue, reissue, extend, and revoke work permits and certificates of non-work permit issuance. The People’s Committee of the province shall decide to delegate authority to competent agencies to issue, reissue, extend, and revoke work permits and certificates of non-work permit issuance in accordance with the provisions of law.
3. Supplementing cases of foreign workers confirmed not to be subject to work permit
Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP effective from August 7, 2025 supplements cases of foreign workers confirmed by ministries, ministerial-level agencies or provincial People’s Committees to enter Vietnam to work in the following fields: finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, priority fields for socio-economic development, which are not required to be granted work permits.
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