Vietnam _Government Relaxed Conditions for Work Permit Issuance of Foreign Employees

1. Vietnam-Work Permits - Good news!
Government relaxed conditions for
work permit issuance of foreign employees
Highlight: Recently, the Government has issued a resolution to simplify the conditions for
foreigners to work in Vietnam as experts, technicians and teachers (in pre-schools, general
education institutions and language training centers) (details as provided below). In brief,
foreigners are deemed as experts, technicians if they satisfy requirements for professional
training qualification or have been acquiring at least 5 year working experience in the field
that they are expecting to work in Vietnam. In addition, the following foreigners eligible
to work in Vietnam: (i) foreigners who have diploma certificate or equivalents and above
and who have specialized training suitable to their majors at foreign language training
centers (foreign language centers), pre-schools and (ii) foreigners who have bachelor degree
or equivalents and above and who have specialized training suitable to their majors at
general educational institutions.” However, the changes will not take effect until the
Government approves the relevant amendment to the current regulations. We predict that
the amendments would be adopted by the Government within the second half of this year.
We will keep you posted on this.
Please find below our detail report:
On 8 July 2014, the Government arranged a regular meeting aiming to promote the business
development, investment environment of Vietnam, and address major issues occurred due to
economic crisis and China setting up the oil rig No. 981 within Vietnamese waters. Afterwards,
the Government issued Resolution No. 47/NQ-CP on 8 July 2014 (“Resolution 47”) to direct
and enforce its conclusions made in the meeting. Resolution 47 provides, among others, positive
changes on certain conditions for foreigners to work in Vietnam as experts, technicians and
teachers (in pre-schools, general education institutions and language training centers). In this
email, we only report the changes in relation to conditions for foreigners to work in Vietnam.
We alert that the above changes in Resolution 47 have not yet become effective until the
Government officially approves the relevant amendments to the current regulations. We
also predict those amendments to be adopted within the second half of this year. We will keep
you posted on this.
a. Foreign Experts and Technicians
The applicable law currently defines scope of foreigners being experts and technicians as follows
[Circular No. 03/2014/TT-BLĐTBXH dated 20 January 2014 of MOLISA and Decree No.
102/2013/NĐ-CP dated 5 September 2013 of the Government]:

2. - A foreigner being an expert must satisfy either: (i) having an engineer's or bachelor's
degree or higher or similar level, and having at least five years' experience working in
the relevant speciality; or (ii) having a confirmation of being an expert issued by a
competent agency or organization.
- A foreigner being a technician must satisfy the following conditions: (i) having evidence
or confirmation from a competent agency or organization or from an enterprise overseas
that the foreigner has received at least one year's training in his technical speciality; and
(ii) having evidence that the foreigner has at least three years' experience working in the
relevant technical speciality.
Resolution 47 has revised the above requirements as follow:
“Foreigners are deemed as experts, technicians if they satisfy requirements for professional
training qualification or have been acquiring at least 5 year working experience in the field that
they are expecting to work in Vietnam”
It expressly appears that the conditions for being an expert /a technician have been simplified
since only either qualification condition or 5 year experience condition is required. Confirmation
of being as an expert / technician would be removed since it is claimed to be not practically
adopted in foreign countries. In addition, “professional training qualification” is likely easier to
satisfy and be more flexible though we believe that the final conditions / requirements would be
heavily depending on how the Government interprets the term of professional training
qualification.
b. Foreign Teachers (in pre-schools and general education institutions and language
training centers)
Decree No. 73/2012/ND-CP dated September 26, 2012 of the Government and its guidelines
require:
- For short-term training institutions: the foreign teachers must have college degrees, or the
equivalent, and have specialized training suitable to their majors at the institutions, and
must have at least 5 years of experience in the field that they are expect to teach in
Vietnam.
- For pre-school education institutions: the foreign teachers must have college degrees in
pre-school pedagogy, or the equivalent and must have at least 5 years of experience
in the field that they are expect to teach in Vietnam;
- For general education institutions: the foreign teachers of elementary schools, middle
schools, and high schools must have Bachelor’s degrees in pedagogy and must have at
least 5 years of experience in the field that they are expect to teach in Vietnam;

3. Resolution 47 revised the above conditions and redefines the scope of foreigners being teachers
(in pre-schools and general education institutions and language training centers):
“b) Foreigners who have diploma certificate or equivalents and above and who have specialized
training suitable to their majors at foreign language training centers (foreign language centers),
pre-schools;
c) Foreigners who have bachelor degree or equivalents and above and who have specialized
training suitable to their majors at general educational institutions.”
The requirements of qualification on “pedagogy” and 5 year experience would be removed. In
fact, the “pedagogy” requirement is claimed to be not practically adopted in foreign countries
and 5 years experience requirement is way too strict and not necessary for general educational
institutions, pre-schools and language training centers.
If you have any question, please contact omassmann@duanemorris.com;