Work permit exemption in Vietnam: notice only or a certificate?

A work permit exemption in Vietnam lets a foreign national work for a Vietnamese employer without a work permit. The cases are set out in Article 154 of the Labour Code and Article 7 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP; after removing overlaps there are 22 of them. Being exempt from a work permit does not mean nothing has to be filed. Depending on the case, the employer must either notify the provincial authority at least 3 working days before the start date, or obtain a certificate of work permit exemption. Getting this wrong is fined under Decree 283/2026/ND-CP, which replaced Decree 12/2022 on 10 September 2026.

What the law calls a work permit exemption in Vietnam#

Vietnamese law does not use the word "exemption": it speaks of foreign workers who are "not subject to a work permit" (Article 154 of the Labour Code, as consolidated on 12 February 2026). The document that proves it is the certificate of work permit exemption, Form 02 of Decree 219, which is bilingual and headed "Certification of exemption from work permit". Article 7 of Decree 219, in force since 7 August 2025, details Clauses 1, 2 and 9 of Article 154 and replaced the foreign worker rules of Decrees 152/2020 and 70/2023; Articles 8 and 9 decide which cases need a certificate and which only a notice. Clause 8a of Article 154, on high-quality digital technology workers, was added by Article 49(4) of Law 71/2025/QH15 and has applied since 1 January 2026.

The 22 cases of work permit exemption in Vietnam, by filing track#

The table groups the cases by what the employer has to file, not by the order of the articles. The grouping follows Article 9(4) of Decree 219 (the notice-only list) and Article 8(5) (the evidence for certificate cases).

Case	Filing	Legal basis	Condition to check
Owner or capital-contributing member of a limited liability company	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(2)	Capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more
Chair or member of the board of a joint stock company	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(3)	Capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more
Entering Vietnam to offer services for sale	Notice	Labour Code, Art. 154(4)	Less than 3 months
Entering Vietnam to deal with a complex technical or technology incident	Notice	Labour Code, Art. 154(5)	Less than 3 months; experts already in Vietnam cannot resolve it
Foreign lawyer	Notice	Labour Code, Art. 154(6)	Licensed to practise law in Vietnam
Foreigner married to a Vietnamese citizen	Notice	Labour Code, Art. 154(8)	Also living in Vietnam
Foreign journalist	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(5)	Accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Family member of a foreign mission member	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(8)	Allowed to work under a treaty
Person responsible for setting up a commercial presence	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(10)	—
Manager, executive director, expert or technical worker on short stays	Notice	Decree 219, Art. 7(13)(a)	Less than 90 days in total per calendar year
Head of a representative office or project, or the person chiefly responsible for an international organisation or foreign NGO	Certificate	Labour Code, Art. 154(3)	—
Cases under an international treaty to which Vietnam is a party	Certificate	Labour Code, Art. 154(7)	—
Consultants and experts on ODA-funded programmes and projects	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(4)	—
Teachers and managers sent to schools proposed by a foreign mission or an intergovernmental organisation	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(6)	—
Students and trainees on internships; cadets on Vietnamese ships	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(7)	—
Official passport holders working for State or political bodies	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(9)	—
Unpaid volunteers under a treaty	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(11)	—
Work under an international agreement signed by a central or provincial body	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(12)	—
Intra-company transferees	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(13)(b)	See the certificate section below
Confirmed by the Ministry of Education and Training (international programmes; heads of the schools above)	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(14)	—
Confirmed by a ministry or provincial People's Committee to work in finance, science, technology, innovation, digital transformation or other priority sectors	Certificate	Decree 219, Art. 7(15)	—
High-quality digital technology workers	No procedure specified yet	Labour Code, Art. 154(8a); criteria in Decree 353/2025/ND-CP	See the digital technology section below

Which work permit exemptions only need a notice?#

The ten notice cases of work permit exemption do not need a certificate. The employer must instead notify the authority where the worker will work at least 3 working days before the start date (Article 9(4) of Decree 219). The notice states the worker's full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, the name of the foreign employer, and the place and period of work. The decree prescribes no form; the competent authority is the provincial People's Committee where the employer's head office, branch, representative office or business location that the worker joins is located (Article 4). The Ministry of Home Affairs has publicly confirmed that short-stay workers and foreigners married to Vietnamese citizens are notice-only cases.

Three points foreign-invested companies often ask about:

• How much capital makes an investor exempt from a work permit? VND 3 billion or more. An owner, member, chair or board member with a contribution below VND 3 billion still needs a work permit, under the form of work in Article 2(1)(l) of Decree 219. The decree does not say whether contributed or committed capital counts, so keep evidence that the capital has actually been paid in.
• Who can use the 90-day rule? Only the four positions defined in Article 3 of Decree 219: manager, executive director, expert and technical worker. The limit is the total time working in Vietnam, below 90 days between 1 January and 31 December. The old rule of "under 30 days, no more than 3 times a year" under Decree 152/2020 no longer exists.
• Working in several provinces? Where a certificate holder works for the same employer in another province, the employer must notify that province at least 3 working days in advance (Article 9(5)).

Which cases need a certificate of work permit exemption?#

The eleven certificate cases of work permit exemption need the certificate before work starts. Under Article 8 of Decree 219 the file contains:

1. An application on Form 01.
2. A health certificate, unless the results are already on the health information system; a foreign health certificate is accepted only under a mutual recognition treaty or agreement, and for 12 months from issue.
3. Two 4 x 6 cm colour photos on a white background, and a valid passport.
4. Evidence of the exempt case: a document from the competent authority, a sending letter with the agreement or treaty, or, for intra-company transferees, proof of the position, the foreign employer's sending letter and confirmation of at least 12 consecutive months of prior employment.

Unlike a work permit file, there is no criminal record certificate and no demand explanation on Form 03. Foreign documents still need consular legalisation, or an apostille where that applies (Article 5).

• Filing: between 60 days and at least 10 days before the planned start date, at the provincial Public Administration Service Centre or online (Articles 6 and 9(1)).
• Decision: within 5 working days of a complete file; a refusal must be given in writing with reasons within 3 working days (Article 9(3)).
• Term: follows the labour contract, sending letter or other ground in Article 21, up to 2 years (Article 10).
• Extension: once only, for up to 2 years, filed between 45 and 10 days before expiry (Articles 15 to 17).
• Re-issue: for loss or damage of a valid certificate, or a change of name, nationality, passport number, place of work, or the employer's name without a change of identification number; decided within 3 working days (Articles 11 to 14).

For intra-company transferees, check two conditions: the foreign company's commercial presence in Vietnam must fall within the 11 service sectors in Vietnam's WTO services schedule, and the worker must have been employed by the foreign company for at least 12 consecutive months (Article 7(13)(b)). Manufacturing investors should confirm the sector condition first; if it is not met, the transferee needs a work permit.

Digital technology workers: an exemption without a procedure#

Clause 8a of Article 154 exempts high-quality digital technology workers. The criteria are in Decree 353/2025/ND-CP. For a foreigner working directly in digital technology activities at a company, one route is an average income over the last 2 years of at least 3 times the GDP per capita of the developed country where they work, or 5 times for other countries (Article 6(2)(b) and (c)).

Decree 219/2025/ND-CP was issued before Clause 8a, so it places this case in neither track. In LexData's view this is not "nothing to do": keep a full file proving the criteria, which is also what the new preferential UD1 visa under Law 118/2025/QH15 requires from 1 July 2026, and ask the provincial authority in advance how it wants the case recorded.

Work permit penalties from 10 September 2026#

Work permit penalties are now set by Article 13 of Decree 283/2026/ND-CP; Decree 12/2022/ND-CP ceased to have effect (Article 66(4)). The amounts in Article 13 are for individuals (Article 13 is not among the exceptions in Article 7(1)); companies, branches and representative offices pay double (Article 7(1) and (2)). Article 13 states only the VND 75 million cap; the VND 150 million cap for a company is inferred from Article 7(1) and matches Article 24 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations (we checked Article 24 through an article on Thu Vien Phap Luat, not the original text of the Law). Individual rate first, company rate second:

• No notice, a late notice or an incomplete notice (notice-only cases; work in another province), Art. 13(1): VND 1-3 million; VND 2-6 million.
• Worker doing work that differs from the permit or certificate, Art. 13(2)(a): VND 5-10 million per worker, up to VND 75 million; VND 10-20 million per worker, up to VND 150 million.
• Failing to collect or to collect on time, or failing to return, a certificate (or work permit), Art. 13(2), points b, c, d and dd: the same amounts as the line above.
• Using a foreign worker with no work permit or certificate, or an expired one, Art. 13(5): VND 30-45 million (1-10 workers), 45-60 million (11-20), 60-75 million (21 or more); for a company VND 60-90 million, 90-120 million, 120-150 million.

A foreign worker working without a required permit or certificate is fined VND 15-25 million and deported (Article 13(3) and 13(6)(b)). Violations that ended before 10 September 2026 are still handled under Decree 12/2022 (Article 67). For a notice-only worker, forgetting the notice carries only the fine in Article 13(1), because the law does not require a certificate for that worker; a worker in the certificate group without a certificate is treated as working without valid papers.

Exempt from a work permit: what employers still have to manage#

• Visas and residence cards. An exemption is not a visa. The LD1 visa is issued to foreigners working in Vietnam who hold a certificate of exemption (Article 8(16) of the immigration law). For notice-only workers, the right visa has to be chosen case by case.
• Social insurance. A foreign employee on a fixed-term labour contract of 12 months or more must join compulsory social insurance whether or not they are exempt from a work permit, except intra-company transferees, workers who had reached retirement age when the contract was signed, and treaty cases (Article 2(2) of Law 41/2024/QH15).
• Keep the paperwork consistent. The actual position, place of work and employer must match the certificate; a mismatch is fined under Article 13(2) of Decree 283. The certificate is revoked when the worker works outside the content of the certificate, when the employer abroad notifies that the worker will not continue working in Vietnam, or when the employer stops operating; the employer must collect it and return it within 15 days from the date it ceases to be valid (Article 32(1), (2) and (3) and Article 33(1) of Decree 219). In the two remaining cases (non-compliance with the rules on issuing, re-issuing or extending the certificate; criminal prosecution of the worker), the issuing authority decides on revocation (Article 32(4) and (5); Article 33(2)). Article 32 does not list termination of the labour contract as a ground for revoking a certificate, unlike a work permit, which ceases to be valid when the contract ends (Article 156(2) of the Labour Code); the decree also does not say how a certificate is handled once the contract ends, so ask the issuing authority before acting. If the company plans a temporary business suspension, review its foreign staff's permits and certificates first.
• Personal data. Passports and health certificates are employee personal data, and health data is sensitive personal data under Vietnam's data protection law.

Are certificates issued under Decree 152 still valid?#

Yes, until they expire. Certificates issued under Decree 152/2020 (as amended by Decree 70/2023) or Decree 128/2025 remain valid for their term; any re-issue, extension or new certificate follows Decree 219 (Article 34(1) and (5)). Files lodged before 7 August 2025 are processed under the old rules (Article 34(2)).

Many guides still cite Decree 152; the main difference is that the provincial People's Committee is now the authority, through the Public Administration Service Centre, instead of the former Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. The Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting a decree to amend Decree 219. As of 30 September 2026 it has not been issued; we will update this article when it is.

Checklist before a foreign employee starts work#

1. Match the role to a position in Article 3 of Decree 219 and to the table of 22 cases above.
2. Notice only: send it at least 3 working days ahead and keep proof of sending; for short stays, keep a log of days worked in Vietnam during the calendar year.
3. Certificate: file between 60 and 10 days before the start date, start legalising foreign documents early, and diary the expiry date for extension.
4. Digital technology workers: keep evidence of the criteria and check with the provincial authority first. None of the above: apply for a work permit in Vietnam and check the employment contract.