Than Trong Ly – Partner
On 20 October 2026 the Government issued Decree 393/2026/ND-CP on foreign employees working in Vietnam (“Decree 393”). It takes effect on 5 December 2026 and replaces Decree 219/2025, which by then will have been in force for less than sixteen months.
The pace of change is itself a signal. Vietnam is competing for skilled foreign talent, and Decree 393 lowers several thresholds that have long frustrated employers. Yet it also moves the regulatory focus from the moment a work permit is granted to the whole period during which it is used. It is becoming easier to qualify, and considerably harder to stay compliant.
Decree 393 at a glance
- An executive director who heads and directly runs a function now needs two years of relevant experience instead of three.
- Foreign professionals can qualify as experts through six routes instead of two, including a new route based solely on five years of relevant experience, with no degree required.
- Technical workers can no longer be sent to Vietnam as intracompany transferees.
- Short term work without a work permit is capped at a cumulative 90 days per calendar year, counted across every Vietnamese employer.
- A new work permit is required when the employee’s field of work changes, and the permit must be reissued when the employer’s registered premises change.
- Employers may not lease foreign employees to other parties, must hire in line with their local recruitment notice, and must report on their foreign workforce twice a year.
- Extensions are faster, but a work permit can still be extended only once.
Five years of experience can now make an expert
Decree 393 lowers the bar for two of the four licensed job positions. An executive director who heads and directly runs a function now needs two years of relevant experience instead of three1. More significantly, the expert category expands from two qualification routes to six. Alongside the familiar test of a university degree with two years of experience, Decree 393 recognises (i) a degree in a discipline on the Prime Minister’s lists of strategic technologies, with no experience requirement; (ii) a degree with excellent classification in science or technology from a university in the world’s top 500, with one year of experience; (iii) experts in culture, arts and sports; (iv) academics at education institutions; and (v) at least five years of relevant experience, with no degree requirement2.
The last route deserves particular attention. For the first time, a foreign professional without a degree can qualify as an expert on experience alone, evidenced by a written confirmation from the foreign employer or, for those who have worked in Vietnam before, by earlier permits or records in the national foreign employee database3.
Technical workers lose the intracompany route
Intracompany transfers are now confined to managers, executive directors and experts who have worked for the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months4. Technical workers are no longer covered. Transferees in the 11 service sectors listed in Vietnam’s WTO commitments remain exempt from a work permit, and their exemption certificate may now run for up to three years instead of two5. Existing permits for technical workers remain valid until expiry, and on reissue or extension the holder may be reclassified as an expert if he or she has five years of relevant experience6.
This does not shut technical workers out of Vietnam. In our reading, a technical worker sent by a group company may still obtain a work permit under the separate category of employees transferred within a group to its Vietnamese commercial presence7, or may be employed locally under a Vietnamese labour contract. The choice is not merely formal. It determines whether a local recruitment notice is required and how the individual is treated for labour and social insurance purposes. Groups that rely on rotating technicians should make that choice early rather than discover the issue at the next renewal.
The 90-day allowance is shared across every Vietnamese employer
Short term work by managers, executive directors, experts and technical workers is exempt from a work permit only where the total time worked for one or more Vietnamese employers does not exceed 90 days, counted cumulatively within the calendar year8. The employer must still notify the authority at least three working days in advance9.
Two features make the rule stricter than it appears. The cap is shared, so a specialist who visits several group companies, customers or project sites in the same year draws on a single allowance. And the exemption falls away as soon as an employment relationship arises, meaning hiring, use of labour or payment of wages, in which case a work permit under a labour contract is required10. The trigger is not expressly limited to wages paid in Vietnam. Where a Vietnamese entity hires or pays the individual, the exemption should not be relied upon.
For groups that regularly send specialists for installation, maintenance or audits, this calls for central tracking of visit days across all group entities. Exceeding the cap turns a compliant visit into unauthorised work.
A work permit now follows the field of work and the workplace
A work permit now records the specific field of work, not merely the position. A change of position, field of work or working form, even with the same employer, requires a new work permit11. Moving an engineer from production to quality management, or a manager from sales to operations, may therefore require a fresh permit although the title and employer stay the same.
A change of the head office, branch, representative office or business location where the permit was issued requires the permit to be reissued12. Adding or changing a stable work location requires notice to both the issuing authority and the authority where the employee will work, at least three working days in advance13. Previously, notice was needed only where the employee worked in several provinces.
In other words, internal mobility has become a compliance event. Reorganisations, relocations, new branches or plants and changes of role should all trigger a work permit check before they take effect.
Employers take on duties they did not have before
Decree 219/2025 contained no dedicated provision on employer responsibilities. Decree 393 imposes additional duties on employers14.
The first concerns recruitment. Before applying for a work permit for an employee on a labour contract, the employer must have advertised the position to Vietnamese candidates at least five working days before filing, stating the position and field of work, working form, location, term, qualifications and experience. General directors and directors named in the business registration are exempt15. What is new is the consequence: the foreign employee actually hired must match the notice on each of these points and must not fall below its requirements16. A notice drafted loosely, or after the candidate has been chosen, now creates direct compliance risk.
The second is a prohibition on leasing out foreign employees. Employers must use foreign employees to directly meet their own needs and must not lease them to others17.
The third is periodic reporting. Employers must report on their foreign employees by 5 June and 5 December each year, and whenever their use of foreign employees changes, unless the information is already in the national database18.
On renewals, extension applications may now be filed up to 90 days before expiry and are decided within five working days19. However, a permit can still be extended only once. Each foreign employee therefore runs on a cycle of about four years, after which a new application is required, together with a new recruitment notice for employees on labour contracts20.
What this means for the market for foreign talent
We assess that the market will move at two speeds. Senior executives, strategic technology specialists, AI talent and academics gain a faster and more predictable path into Vietnam. The pressure falls on the middle tier, in particular technical specialists in manufacturing FDI, where electronics, components and relocated supply chains rely heavily on technicians seconded from parent and sister companies. We expect groups to move these technicians into one of three channels: requalification as experts, transfer within the group under a work permit, or local employment. Each carries different costs in recruitment, social insurance and expatriate packages.
Staffing, employer of record and shared service models will come under pressure. Arrangements in which one entity hires a foreign employee who then works for another now sit uneasily with the prohibition on leasing out foreign employees. We expect a move towards direct hiring by the entity that actually uses the employee, or properly documented service contracts under which the provider delivers a service rather than supplies labour.
Compliance costs will move from the application to the life of the permit. Paperwork at the outset is lighter, but reporting, notifications and new permits for changes of field are heavier. Businesses with multiple sites, such as retail chains, contractors and manufacturers with several plants, will feel this most.
Enforcement will increasingly be driven by data. The national foreign employee database, which is to be connected with immigration and judicial records data, will make it easier to detect a mismatch between what a permit says and what an employee actually does.
Transition and sanctions
Existing permits remain valid until they expire, and applications filed before 5 December 2026 continue to be processed under Decree 219/202521. Depending on the case, filing early or waiting for the new rules may be the better choice.
Under Decree 283/2026, fines are set for individuals and doubled for organisations22. An enterprise employing foreign employees without a valid permit faces fines of up to VND 150 million, and using them outside the content of their permits is fined per employee. A foreign employee working without a permit may be fined and expelled23.
Recommendation
Before 5 December 2026, employers should (i) build a register of every foreign employee covering status, position, field of work, locations and expiry dates; (ii) choose the right route for technical workers currently on intracompany status; (iii) review staffing, employer of record and secondment arrangements against the prohibition on leasing out; (iv) track short term visits against the 90 day cap; (v) align recruitment notices with the intended hire; and (vi) diarise the reporting deadlines and a renewal calendar.
Decree 393 rewards employers that treat work permits as an ongoing governance matter rather than a one time filing. The shift is from obtaining the permit to managing it.
The above is provided as a general legal update and does not constitute advice on any specific matter.
