Step to step for application of work permit in Vietnam

Work permit in Vietnam, with the increasing demand for recruiting foreign workers in Vietnam, Vietnamese law allows enterprises, agencies, organizations, individuals, and contractors to recruit foreign workers for positions. management, administration, expert and technical work that Vietnamese employees have not yet met with production and business needs. In order for foreign workers to legally work in Vietnam, foreign workers need a work permit. Viet An Law Firm would like to send you a summary of legal information you need to know about procedures for granting work permits in Vietnam.

Legal documents guiding procedures for issuing work permits

• The Labor Code 2019 takes effect from January 1, 2021;
• Decree 152/2020 ND-CP dated 30/12/2020 regulating foreign workers working in Vietnam and recruiting and managing Vietnamese employees working for foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam.

Eligible foreigner to grant a work permit in Vietnam

• Be enough 18 years old or older and have full civil act capacity;
• Having professional qualifications, techniques, skills, work experience; to be healthy enough according to regulations of the Minister of Health;
• Not being a person in the period of serving a penalty or having not had a criminal record expunged or being examined for penal liability in accordance with the provisions of foreign law or Vietnamese law;
• Having a work permit issued by a competent state agency of Vietnam, unless the foreign worker working in Vietnam is not required to be issued a work permit under Article 154 of the Labor Code 2019.
• The term of the labor contract for the foreign worker in Vietnam must not exceed the term of the work permit. When employing foreign workers in Vietnam, the two parties may agree to enter into several times a fixed-term labor contract.

In addition, foreign workers working in Vietnam must comply with Vietnamese labor law and be protected by Vietnamese law, except for international treaties accessed by Vietnam have other rules.

The issuance of foreign work permits is applicable to foreigners working in Vietnam, specifically including the following subjects:

• Performance of labor contracts;
• Intra-corporate transitions;
• Perform various types of contracts or agreements on economic, commercial, financial, banking, insurance, technical science, culture, sports, education, vocational education, and health;
• Contractual service provider;
• Offering services;
• Working for foreign non-governmental organizations, international organizations in Vietnam licensed to operate under the provisions of Vietnamese law;
• Volunteers;
• The person responsible for establishing the commercial presence;
• Managers, executives, experts, technical workers;
• Participate in the implementation of bidding packages and projects in Vietnam;
• Relatives of members of foreign representative missions in Vietnam are allowed to work in Vietnam in accordance with international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

Term of work permit

The duration of a work permit is 2 years at most. In case of extension, it can be extended only once for a maximum of 2 years.

List of dossiers for work permits and notes on dossiers of work permits

Documents for a work permit need to be prepared

1. A health certificate or health certificate issued by a competent foreign or Vietnamese medical agency or organization is valid for 12 months from the date of signing the health conclusion to the date of submitting a dossier or certificate of health in accordance with the regulations of the Minister of Health. The list of hospitals eligible for the medical examination for work permits.
2. Judicial record card or document certifying that the foreign worker is not currently serving a penalty or has not had his criminal record removed or is being examined for foreign criminal liability or issued by Vietnam.

Note about the criminal record card in the application for a work permit:

• For judicial record certificates issued abroad: judicial record cards issued or documents certifying that the foreign worker is not currently serving a penalty or has not had his criminal record removed or is in The time of being examined for penal liability overseas is 6 months from the date of issue to the date of filing the dossier.
• For criminal record certificates issued in Vietnam: If the employee has a certificate of temporary residence in Vietnam and is residing in Vietnam, he/ she can apply for a criminal record certificate at the Department of Justice where the foreigner is residing in Vietnam to apply for a work permit. The time limit of a judicial record issued in Vietnam to a foreigner must not exceed 6 months, from the date of issue to the date of filing the dossier.

3. Documents and papers proving that the manager, the executive director, the expert, the technical worker, which ncludes the following documents:

• The expert falls in one of the following cases:
  • Have a bachelor’s degree or higher or equivalent and have at least 3 years of experience working in a specialized training appropriate for the job position that the foreign worker is expected to work in Vietnam;
  • Have at least 5 years of experience and practice certificate suitable for the job position that the foreign worker is expected to work in Vietnam;
• A manager is a manager of an enterprise as prescribed in Clause 24 Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises or is ahead or deputy head of an agency or organization.
• The CEO is the head and directly operates a unit directly under an agency, organization,, or enterprise.
• Technical employees in one of the following cases:
  • Have been trained in technical or other majors for at least 01 years and have worked for at least 03 years in the trained discipline;
  • Have at least 5 years of experience in the job appropriate to the job position the foreign worker is expected to work for in Vietnam.

4. 2 color photos (4 cm x 6 cm, white background, straight face, bare head, no colored glasses), taken within 06 months from the date of application.
5. A certified copy of the passport is valid in accordance with the law. Include all pages of your passport.
6. Other documents, including:

• For foreign workers moving within the enterprise, the following documents are required:
  • Document of the foreign enterprise sending to work in the commercial presence of that foreign enterprise in the territory of Vietnam;
  • Documents proving that the foreign worker has been recruited by that foreign enterprise at least 12 consecutive months before working in Vietnam;

• For foreign workers performing various types of contracts or agreements, the following documents are required:

Contract or agreement signed between the Vietnamese partner and the foreign side, which must include an agreement on the foreign worker working in Vietnam;

• For foreign workers being a contractual service providers, the following documents are required:

Service contract signed between a Vietnamese partner and a foreign party and a document proving that the foreign worker has worked for a foreign enterprise with no commercial presence in Vietnam for at least 2 years. ;

• For foreign workers offering services for sale, the following documents are required:

Document of the service provider sending the foreign worker to Vietnam to negotiate on service provision;

• For foreign workers working for foreign non-governmental organizations, international organizations in Vietnam must:

Documents of agencies or organizations sending foreign workers to work for foreign non-governmental organizations, international organizations in Vietnam and operation license of foreign non-governmental organizations, national organizations economy in Vietnam according to the provisions of the law;

• For foreign workers who are managers, executives, experts, technical workers, the following documents are required:

Document of the foreign enterprise, agency,, or organization sending the foreign worker to work in Vietnam and suitable for the expected working position.

Papers and records need to be consular legalized and notarized

All the above-mentioned papers of the foreigner issued in a foreign country must be consular legalized, then translated into Vietnamese and notarized and authenticated before applying, except for the papers and documents, exemption from consular legalization under the provisions of Vietnamese law or international treaties to which Vietnam and the foreign country concerned are both members, or on the principle of reciprocity.

Process of issuing work permits for foreign workers in Vietnam

Step 1. Obtain the demand for foreign workers

At least 30 days before the intended date of employment of the foreign worker, the employer (except contractors) shall send a report explaining the need to employ foreign workers to the Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Invalids. and Social or Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

• Within 10 days from the date of receipt of the valid declaration and report explaining the need to use foreign workers, the approving agency will send the results via email to the employer. If the submitted dossier is not valid, the approving agency will issue a correction notice.
• The file includes A report form explaining the need to use foreign workers (according to form No. 01, Appendix 01 to Decree No. 152/2020 / ND-CP) and a copy of the enterprise registration.

Step 2: Submit your work permit application

At least 15 working days from the date the foreign worker is expected to start working for the employer, the employer must fill in the declaration and submit the application for the license. according to regulations, go to the work permit-issuing agency through the portal.

• Number of documents: 01 set
• Submit documents at: Apply directly at the 1-door section of the approval agency or the web portal system http://dvc.vieclamvietnam.gov.vn
• Processing time: 05 working days

Step 3: Sign a labor contract and report the employment of foreign workers to the Department of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs or the Management Board of the industrial and export processing zones of the province.

After the foreigner is granted a work permit, the enterprise (the employer) must carry out the following procedures:

1. To sign a labor contract with the person who is granted a work permit;
2. To pay health insurance and social insurance premiums for foreign workers. From January 1, 2018, if a foreign worker has been granted a work permit, a practicing certificate,, or a practice license by a competent Vietnamese agency, it is also compulsory to participate in insurance. social under the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance 2014.
3. Report on the use of foreign workers: Currently, employers (except contractors) are not required to make periodic reports. Instead, employers will report when requested by the competent state authority.

Step 4: Issue a temporary residence card according to the term of the work permit to the foreigner

After the foreign worker is granted a work permit in Vietnam, the next thing is to apply for a temporary residence card for the duration of the work permit. In Vietnam, the maximum duration of a work permit is 2 years, so the maximum period of a temporary residence card is also 2 years according to a work permit.

A dossier of application for a temporary residence card includes

• Written request of agencies, organizations,, and individuals that carry out the procedures for inviting or guaranteeing (usually the employer)
• Application form for temporary residence card with photo: Form NA8 issued together with Circular No. 04/2015 / TT-BCA regulating forms of papers related to entry, exit,, and residence of nationals. outside in Vietnam. This declaration is signed by the applicant for temporary residence, clearly stating the full name. The guaranteeing agency or organization shall affix its seal on the border of the photo and the declaration form and stamp on the other side;
• Passport of the temporary residence card applicant;
• Work permit of the temporary residence card applicant;
• 03 color photos (size 2cm x 3cm, white background, straight face, bare head, no colored glasses), photos were taken within 06 months from the date of application;
• Certificate of temporary residence certified by the police of the commune/ ward where the foreigner temporarily resides;
• Documents proving the legal status of the sponsor.

Note:

In case the employee terminates the labor contract with the enterprise, the organization needs to revoke the work permit and temporary residence card issued to the foreigner as employees at the enterprise or organization. to avoid the legal liability of the business or organization from occurring (if any).

Consulting service granting work permits for foreigners of Viet An Law Firm

• Counseling on procedures for issuing judicial record cards for foreigners in Vietnam (to be able to carry out procedures for issuing judicial record cards for foreigners, it is necessary to have a confirmation of temporary residence in Vietnam);
• Counseling on dossiers of application for work permits for foreigners according to regulations;
• Consulting procedures for medical examination in Vietnam to apply for a work permit;
• Translation, notarization of translation, consular legal service for the issuance of work permits;
• Counseling on conditions for obtaining a work permit in Vietnam;
• Complete application file for work permits in Vietnam for customers;
• Counseling on cases that are not required to issue a work permit and perform procedures for certification in case of not having to apply for a work permit;
• Business representatives and employees carry out procedures for applying for work permits at competent state agencies.
• Counseling and guiding the preparation of dossiers for granting temporary residence cards for foreigners after being granted work permits.