After Months of Dialogue Between The Government & Foreign Business Community, Decree 219 is Released.
The Vietnamese Government has issued Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, overhauling the rules on foreign labor management. It introduces greater flexibility, clearer definitions, and a streamlined process changes that are highly relevant to businesses operating in Vietnam and managing cross-border talent.
Although the new decree does not include all of the hoped for requests by the business community, and some clarifications are still needed with regard to certain procedures and requirements within the decree itself, it is a welcome improvement over previous decrees and is in general a positive step forward. As with every new decree, we expect in the upcoming weeks some challenges as the various laws and procedures are implemented throughout government offices nationwide.
Key highlights include:
One of the most notable updates is the extension of the short-term work mission period from the previous 30 days (up to 3 times per year) to 90 days per calendar year (January–December). This change offers more breathing room to deploy foreign specialists on short assignments without triggering a full work permit process.
For the first time, experts in priority sector such as finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, and other priority socio-economic development sectors may qualify for a work permit exemption.
- Be Advised: The exemption must be confirmed by a competent authority (ministries, ministerial-level agencies, or provincial People’s Committees). The process for obtaining this confirmation has not yet been defined, so practical implementation will require further guidance from the relevant ministries.
Job Posting Requirement and foreign labor demand– Now Only applicable for limited working forms
The mandatory job posting and foreign labor demand steps, originally applicable to all work permit cases—now applies only to foreigners performing labor contract (employment under a Vietnamese labor contract).
- This means intra-company transfers, service contract deployments no longer require the formal labor market test, and an approved foreign labor demand prior to apply for a work permit, significantly reducing preparation time and procedural burden for these categories.
The separate “foreign labor demand” approval process has been eliminated as a standalone step.
- Instead, a simplified explanation is now integrated into the single work permit application form (Form No. 03).
- This integration cuts down on administrative back-and-forth and speeds up processing.
- Experts: The relevant experience requirement has been reduced (from 3 years to 2 years), and to just 1 year for those in priority sectors with a relevant degree.
- Technical workers: Experience requirements have also been relaxed, from 3 years to 2 years (for those who have a training proving at least 1 year of training) and from 5 years to 3 years (for those ho who do not have proof of training).
- Be Advised: The former pathway of qualifying as an “expert” based on practicing certificate and extensive work experience of minimum 5 years has been removed.
- This eliminates the need for a new permit in the other province and adds flexibility for companies with nationwide operations.
- Be Advised: the practical scenarios and exact implementation process will likely require further official guidance to ensure that such assignments are carried out in full compliance with the law and in line with the expectations of the relevant provincial authorities.
The long-standing semi-annual report requirement for employers on their use of foreign labor has been removed.
- This reduces compliance workload and frees HR/legal teams from preparing biannual updates to the authorities.
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