Vietnam_ Decree 102 2013/Nd/CP Impact on Business Issues

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THE NEW DECREE 102 ON WORK PERMITS AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Decree 102 has made some changes to the current regulations and such changes caused either negative or positive
impacts on the employment of foreigners working in Vietnam, in brief:
Positive impacts: this will help the employers to have more opportunities on employment of foreigners:
• The most promising advantage is to tailor a foreigner to an “Intra-corporate transferee” and that mean such
foreigner can avoid work permit in Vietnam totally. Of course, this must be further considered subject to the
guidelines of the MOIT.
• New categories of foreigners are not subject to work permit in Vietnam (e.g., international volunteers, teachers
working at international university, etc) as well as foreigners can be assigned to Vietnam (e.g., technical
workers). This will help to
• Wider range of intra-corporate transferees that permitted to be assigned to Vietnam.
• The wording “extension of work permit” is no longer used. Article 13 provides that work permit can be “re-
issued” upon expiration of a current work permit, for a period of up to 2 years.
• Decree 102 does not require employers to place a job advertisement. This requirement in Decree 34 and Decree
46 has been removed.
Negative impacts:
• One of significant negative impact of Decree 102 is the requirement to obtain approval of the Chairman of the
People Committee for the demand on foreigners in the enterprise. First, there is no specific procedure for
issuance of such approval confirmation of the Chairman and may cause delay on employment of foreigners (NB:
the application for work permit requires this approval).
• The confirmation letter for the foreigners to exempt from work permit is a new baby permit that will cause
more paper works for employers.
• Decree 102 abolished the regulation that the foreigner who works less than 03 month is not subject to work
permit. Those regulations may be a disadvantage for the employer because from now on, the employer cannot
apply the probation requirement to the foreign employee for 3 months. Now, in any case, they must obtain the
work permit for such foreigners from the very beginning of the employment.
Conclusion: Overall, it appears to us that if Decree 102 will be implemented its effect will not contribute to doing
business easier than the current regulations since it does not clearly provide all procedures necessary for foreigners to
work in Vietnam. This may cause delay and challenging for foreign investors to employ its foreign employees when
Decree 102 comes into effect. Of course, if the Government and MOLISA promptly provide necessary guidelines, it
would mitigate somehow the foregoing challenges of Decree 102 and it is a good chance to avoid work permit if the
regulation on “intra-transferee” is not strict.