On 07/8/2025, the Government issued Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP (“Decree 219”) on foreign employees working in Vietnam. This new decree replaces Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP (as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 35/2022/ND-CP and Decree No. 70/2023/ND-CP) (“Decree 152”), accordingly introduces several notable changes, particularly regarding the issuance of work permits for foreign employees in Vietnam. Decree 219 is expected to simplify legal procedures, broaden opportunities for international cooperation, attract foreign workers, enhance the quality of human resources and contribute to Vietnam’s sustainable development goals.

Changes to work permit eligibility standards

Compared with Decree 152, Decree 219 adjusts the standards and conditions applicable to foreign employees in the direction of reducing experience requirements, adding priority for certain strategic fields and streamlining the criteria for each position.

The definition of “Managers” remains unchanged (Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree 219), while the experience requirement for “Experts” is reduced from 03 years to 02 years. Especially, if working in priority fields, a foreign employee only needs at least 01 year of relevant experience. Although the experience period is reduced, Decree 219 still requires foreign employees in this position to hold a university degree or higher in both cases (Clause 3, Article 3 of Decree 219).

“Technical workers” are also granted a reduction in the required period of experience, needing only 02 years of experience (if trained) or 03 years of experience (if untrained), instead of 03 to 05 years as previously required (Clause 4, Article 3 of Decree 219).

However, with respect to the criteria of “Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)”, Point b, Clause 2, Article 3 of Decree 219 adds the condition of having at least 03 years of experience relevant to the job position and removes the requirement that CEOs “be subject to the direct direction and management of the head of the agency, organization, or enterprise”.

The Provincial People’s Committee is the competent authority to issue work permits

Under Decree 152, the authority to issue work permits belongs to the Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs and the Departments of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs, depending on the type of employment with the employer and the geographical scope of work. This distribution makes the regulation complicated and difficult to determine the correct issuing authority.

To address this issue, Decree 219 stipulates the consolidation of all authority to issue work permits for foreign employees into the Provincial People’s Committees, thereby simplifying the process and ensuring consistency in application.

Specifically, pursuant to Article 4 of Decree 219, the Provincial People’s Committees have the authority to issue, re-issue, renew, revoke work permits and certificate of exemption from work permit requirement for foreign employees. The Provincial People’s Committees shall decide the delegation of powers to specialized authorities to perform such tasks in accordance with the law. At present, the Department of Home Affairs has been assigned to carry out these procedures (Clause 1, Article 8 of Decree No. 150/2025/ND-CP).

Additionally, if a foreign employee works for one employer across multiple provinces or centrally-run cities, the Provincial People’s Committees of the province or city where the employer’s head office is located shall have the authority to issue work permits. In this case, the employer must inform the competent authority in the province or city where the foreign employee is expected to work at least 03 days prior to the expected start date (Clause 5, Article 22 of Decree 219).

Amendment to the Dossier for Application for issuance of work permits

According to the previous regulations, employers had to first submit a report explaining the demand for employing foreign employees, obtain approval, and only thereafter submit the dossier for application for work permits together with such report. To shorten this process, Decree 219 integrates the two procedures into one by combining the demand report and the work permit request into a single standardized form. Specifically, pursuant to Article 18 of Decree 219, the dossier for application for issuance of work permits includes:

• A written document from the employer reporting and explaining the demand for foreign labor and applying for the issuance of a work permit (Form No. 03 in the Appendix attached with Decree 219);
• Medical examination report issued by a qualified medical establishment, or connected and shared on the database; in case of issuance by a foreign medical establishment, it may be used in accordance with mutual recognition treaties/agreements, with validity not exceeding 12 months from the date of issuance;
• Unexpired passport;
• A criminal record certificate or a document confirming that the foreign employees do not hold any criminal record/not being prosecuted for criminal liability, issued not more than 6 months prior, except where administrative procedures are interlinked;
• 02 color photos of size 4×6 cm (white background, facing forward, head uncovered, no glasses);
• Documents proving the form of employment of the foreign employee (depending on each case under Clause 6 Article 18);
• Documents proving that the foreign employee is a Manager, CEOs, Expert, or Technical Worker (Article 19).

Applications may be submitted via the National Public Service Portal

Previously, Decree 152 required applications to be filed at least 15 days before the foreign employee’s expected start date, only generally stating that the employer must “submit” the application without specifying any submission methods. Currently, pursuant to Clause 1, Article 22 of Decree 219, employers must submit applications within a period ranging from 60 days to at least 10 days before the foreign employee’s expected start date in Vietnam. Furthermore, submission methods are now clearly provided: in person, by post, via a service provided by an enterprise or individual, or via authorized representatives to the Public Administration Service Center in the local area where the foreign employee is expected to work.

Notably, pursuant to Article 6 of Decree 219, the dossier for application for issuance of work permits may also be submitted online via the National Public Service Portal, and at the same time, the employer may request issuance of the work permit in combination with issuance of the criminal record certificate under the authorization of the foreign employee. The processing time when simultaneously carrying out these two procedures shall be the sum of the time limits for issuing such certificate and permit.

The time limit for issuance of work permits is 10 days

Pursuant to Clause 3 Article 22 of Decree 219, within 10 working days, from the date receiving a complete application for issuing a work permit, the competent authority shall review and approve the application and issue the work permit for the foreign employee.

In case of refusal, the authority must respond in writing, clearly stating the reasons within 03 working days from the date receiving the complete application.

In addition to the above provisions, Decree 219 also introduces various other changes, such as supplementing additional cases: foreign employees not subject to work permits (Article 7), not required to obtain a certificate of exemption from work permit requirement (Article 9), grounds for determining the term of work permits and certificates of exemption from work permit requirement (Article 21);...

The adjustments under Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP not only focus on streamlining and digitalizing administrative procedures, adjusting standards and expanding the scope of application, but also create conditions for enterprises to be more proactive in accessing and utilizing foreign human resources. Along with these changes is a management mechanism aligned with practical realities, meeting the requirements of international integration and the needs of development of Vietnam’s labor market.

Credit

Special thanks to Mr. Trung Dung and Ms. Minh Nguyet for their contributions to this article, under the supervision of Mr.Tran Duy Canh.