A work permit extension in Vietnam is filed by the employer, not by the employee, and adds up to 2 more years to a foreign national's permit. It can be done only once (Article 155 of the Labour Code; Article 29 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP). The file goes in at least 10 days and no more than 45 days before the permit expires, either at the Public Administrative Service Centre of the province where the employee works or online through the National Public Service Portal, and the authority then has 10 working days from receipt of a complete file (Article 28(1) and (3); Article 6(1)).
Many guides call this a work permit renewal in Vietnam; the decree's term is extension, and it is not the same as applying for a new permit. The two time limits above do not line up. The filing deadline counts days (the decree does not say working days, so read them as calendar days); the processing time counts working days. File on the last permitted day and the decision will almost certainly arrive after the permit has expired, and Decree 219 contains no rule letting the employee keep working on an expired permit while the extension is pending. This guide follows the calendar: when to file, what to collect, where to file, when an extension is not available and a new permit is needed, and what to do once the extension is granted. For the basic concept, see the handbook entry what is a work permit in Vietnam; for exempt staff, see our guide to work permit exemption.
Decree 219 replaced the foreign-worker rules of Decree 152/2020/ND-CP on 7 August 2025 (Article 35). Guides on work permit renewal in Vietnam that still mention a 5-to-45-day window, "Form 11/PLI", a separate labour-demand approval letter or filing with the provincial labour department describe the old rules. The Ministry of Home Affairs is preparing a decree to replace Decree 219 (its answer published on 10 October 2026; an answer of 23 August 2026 described a draft amending decree); as of 18 October 2026 we have not seen it issued.
Work permit extension in Vietnam: how many days before expiry?#
The filing window for a work permit extension in Vietnam is 35 days wide: no earlier than 45 days and no later than 10 days before the expiry date printed on the permit (Article 28(1)). A file submitted outside it may be refused at intake. The 10 working days run from receipt of a "complete" file (Article 28(3)), so if the authority asks for more documents, our reading is that the clock restarts once the file is complete.
Illustration. A finance director's permit expires on Thursday 31 December 2026. The window runs from 16 November 2026 (45 days before) to 21 December 2026 (10 days before); the decree does not say how to count the first and last day, so leave a day or two of margin at both ends.
- Complete file submitted on 21 December: counting from the next day (Article 147(3) of the Civil Code) and skipping weekends and the 1 January holiday, the tenth working day is 5 January 2027, five days after the permit expired.
- Complete file submitted on 16 November: the decision is due by 30 November 2026, leaving a month to deal with any request for more documents.
So when should you extend a work permit in Vietnam? Our practical recommendation is to file 45 to 30 days before expiry, and at the very start of the window if the expiry date falls near the Lunar New Year holiday. That is advice, not a requirement of the decree.
Work permit extension in Vietnam: a preparation calendar#
To extend a work permit in Vietnam without a gap, most of the work has to be done before the window opens. Counting back from the expiry date (day E):
| When | Task | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| About E − 90 days | Confirm the permit can still be extended (never extended before; same employer, position and working form). Check the passport: the file needs a valid passport, and a temporary residence card must expire at least 30 days before the passport | Labour Code Article 155; Decree 219 Articles 20, 23, 27; Immigration Law Article 38(1) |
| About E − 75 days | For assignees, intra-company transferees and service suppliers: get a new assignment letter or contract from the foreign side, apostille or legalise it, translate and certify | Decree 219 Article 27(6) and Article 5; Decree 293/2026/ND-CP Articles 25 to 27 |
| About E − 60 days | Health check at a qualified clinic in Vietnam (a foreign certificate is accepted only under a mutual recognition treaty or agreement and within 12 months of issue) | Decree 219 Article 27(2) |
| At least 5 days before filing | For staff on a labour contract (including with a diplomatic mission or foreign organisation) and staff on bidding packages or projects: advertise the position to Vietnamese candidates and keep the notice | Form 03, section II |
| E − 45 to E − 30 days | File (recommended); the hard deadline is E − 10 | Decree 219 Article 28(1) |
| Before work continues after E | Sign a new written labour contract (working forms a and m); apply for a new temporary residence card | Decree 219 Article 28(4); Immigration Law Article 37, Article 38(6) |
The recruitment notice is the step that many guides on work permit extension in Vietnam leave out. Section II of Form 03, which applies "to grant and extension of work permits" for working forms (a), (i) and (m) of Article 2(1) of Decree 219, has the employer confirm that it advertised the position to Vietnamese workers under Article 11(1) of the Labour Code at least 5 days before filing, stating the job, working form, place, term and qualifications, could not recruit locally, and attaches the notice. The form does not say where the notice must be published; keep dated evidence of it.
Documents for a work permit extension in Vietnam#
Article 27 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP lists the documents for a work permit extension in Vietnam:
- The employer's report explaining its need for foreign labour and requesting the extension, on Form 03 (the same form as for a new permit).
- A health certificate, unless the results are already shared on the national medical information system or health database.
- Two 4 x 6 cm colour photos, white background, facing forward, bare-headed, no glasses.
- The current, unexpired work permit.
- A valid passport.
- Evidence of the working form, except for employees on a labour contract (Article 2(1)(a)): the foreign employer's assignment letter (intra-company transfer or other assignment), the service contract (contractual service supplier), the assignment letter with the underlying contract or agreement, or proof of manager status for owners, members and board members whose capital contribution is below VND 3 billion (Article 27(6), cross-referring to Article 18(6)).
Compared with a first application (Article 18), the extension file has no criminal record certificate and no proof of position under Article 19, such as degrees or experience letters. Decree 219 also has no separate article on "conditions for extension" of the kind Decree 152 had; in practice, the permit must be unexpired, the file must be within the window, and the authority approves the labour demand at the same time as it extends the permit (Article 28(3)).
The Ministry of Home Affairs published this procedure twice in 2026. Decision 346/QD-BNV of 24 March 2026 (procedure code 1.014201) added proof of position for all four job categories, although Article 27 does not require it. Decision 526/QD-BNV of 13 May 2026 republished the procedure; we have not been able to read its full text, but the Hanoi internal process that cites it (Decision 861/QD-TTPVHCC of 17 June 2026) no longer asks for proof of position and lets the employer skip photos and copies of the permit and passport where the authority can retrieve them from shared databases. Keep the appointment decision and the legalised degree from the first application to hand in case the receiving office asks.
Foreign documents must be consularly legalised unless exempt, then translated into Vietnamese and certified (Article 5). From 11 September 2026, public documents carrying a valid apostille from a Convention state that has treaty relations with Vietnam are exempt from legalisation, and Vietnamese authorities may not ask for further consular certification or legalisation, except in the refusal cases of Article 26 (Article 25(2) and (3) of Decree 293/2026/ND-CP); the translation must still be notarised or certified (Article 27(1)). An assignment letter signed by the parent company is a private document, not a "public document" as defined in Article 3(3), so our reading is that it normally needs to be notarised in the home country before it can be apostilled.
Filing a work permit extension in Vietnam online: authority and fees#
Authority. The provincial People's Committee where the employer has the head office, branch, representative office or business location at which the employee works; for an employee working for one employer in several provinces, the province of the head office (Article 4(1)). Provinces may delegate (Article 4(2)). In Hanoi, extensions have been delegated to commune and ward People's Committees from 20 June 2026 to 31 December 2028 (Decision 1052/QD-SNV, as cited in Decision 861/QD-TTPVHCC).
How to file. In person, by public postal service, through a service provider or an authorised agent at the Public Administrative Service Centre (Article 28(1)), or online through the National Public Service Portal (Article 6(1)). Decision 346/QD-BNV classifies the procedure as fully online; search for code 1.014201 on dichvucong.gov.vn and choose online delivery of the result in section 5 of Form 03.
Fees are set by each provincial People's Council (procedure 1.014201, Decision 346/QD-BNV); Decree 219 sets no amount. Hanoi charges VND 300,000 per permit, or nothing when the file is submitted online (Resolution 77/2025/NQ-HDND, as cited in Decision 861/QD-TTPVHCC). Check the local resolution elsewhere.
Members of the International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang do not file the labour-demand report or a recruitment notice when extending; the Centre's executive body decides within 3 working days, and permits may run for up to 10 years (Article 4, Article 8(1) and (2) and Article 9 of Decree 325/2025/ND-CP).
When a work permit extension in Vietnam is not available#
A work permit extension in Vietnam covers one situation only: same employer, same position and working form, a permit that is still valid and has never been extended. Everything else takes a different route:
| Situation | Correct procedure | Basis (Decree 219 unless stated) |
|---|---|---|
| Already extended once; employee stays in the same position and field | New work permit with a reduced file: Form 03, health certificate, passport, photos, working-form evidence, copy of the old permit, proof for managers and executive directors; no criminal record | Labour Code Article 155; Article 20(3) |
| Moving to another employer, same position and field | New work permit, reduced file | Article 20(1) |
| New position or working form with the same employer | New work permit | Article 20(2) |
| Move to a work location not listed on the permit, same employer | New work permit under Article 18; a change of work location is not a reissuance case (Ministry of Home Affairs answer, 10 October 2026) | Article 18, Article 23(2) |
| New name, nationality or passport number; employer renamed without a new identification number; permit lost or damaged | Reissue within 3 working days, for the remaining term | Article 23, Article 25(3), Article 26 |
| Same employer, work in another province | Notify that province at least 3 days ahead | Article 22(5) |
| Permit never extended and already expired, or under 10 days left and nothing filed | Our reading: new work permit with the full Article 18 file (earlier permits can replace experience evidence under Article 19), filed 60 to 10 days before the intended restart; the decree has no specific rule for this case, so check with the receiving office first | Article 28(1), Article 22(1) |
Three points that are easy to miss:
- Permits issued under Decree 152 remain valid to expiry and are extended under Decree 219 (Article 34(1)); a permit issued for the old working form "manager, executive director, expert, technical worker" is extended under the "transferred from an organisation abroad" form (Article 34(3)), so an assignment letter is needed. A permit already extended once under the old rules cannot be extended again, because the one-extension limit is in the Labour Code.
- Has it been extended before? In the permit number on Form 04, the third group shows the type: 1 new, 2 extension, 3 reissue (for example 01.25.1.000.001), and item 8 "Status of work permit" says new, reissued or extended. This applies only to permits issued on the Decree 219 form.
- Passport renewed just before the window. A new passport number is a reissue case (Article 23(2)). The decree does not say whether a reissue and an extension can be combined; ask the receiving office, or complete the reissue before the window opens.
The extended term follows one of the bases in Article 21 (the expected labour contract, the assignment letter and so on), capped at 2 years (Article 29). If the assignment letter covers only 8 more months, the permit is extended for 8 months and the single extension is used up.
After the extension: labour contract and residence card#
For employees on a labour contract (Article 2(1)(a) and (m)), the parties must sign a written contract before work continues after the extension, and send a copy to the authority if asked (Article 28(4)). The contract may not run longer than the permit, and the parties may sign several fixed-term contracts in a row (Labour Code Article 151(2)).
The temporary residence card is a separate procedure. LD1 and LD2 cards are valid for up to 2 years; an expired card is replaced by a new one rather than extended (Article 38(5) and (6) of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners), and the immigration authority decides within 5 working days (Article 37). Our reading is that the extended work permit is the document proving the purpose of stay in that file, so the card application usually has to wait for the extension decision, which is another reason not to file late. Social insurance continues if the new contract runs for 12 months or more; see social insurance for foreign employees.
Expired work permit: what happens if the extension is late?#
- The permit lapses (Labour Code Article 156(1)) and the labour contract terminates (Article 34(12)). To continue, the employer obtains a new permit and signs a new contract; for the termination steps see terminating an employment contract.
- Fines under Article 13 of Decree 283/2026/ND-CP, in force since 10 September 2026 and replacing Decree 12/2022/ND-CP (Article 66(1) and (4)). An employer using a foreign employee whose permit has expired is fined VND 60 to 90 million for 1 to 10 employees, VND 90 to 120 million for 11 to 20 and VND 120 to 150 million for 21 or more (Article 13(5) states the amounts for individuals; companies, branches and representative offices pay double under Article 7(1) and (2)(b)). The employee who works on an expired permit is fined VND 15 to 25 million (Article 13(3)(b)) and may be deported (Article 13(6)(b); Labour Code Article 153(2)).
- Return of the permit. Article 30(1) of Decree 219 cross-refers only to clauses 2 to 7 of Article 156, so expiry of the term (clause 1) is not itself on the list of cases where the employer must collect and return the permit within 15 days. But the labour contract usually ends on the same day as the permit (Labour Code Article 151(2)), and termination of the contract is clause 2; the decree does not address this overlap, so the cautious course is to return the permit within 15 days anyway (Article 31(1)). If the employee leaves before the expiry date, the duty clearly applies; missing it costs a company VND 10 to 20 million per employee, up to VND 150 million (Article 13(2)(b) of Decree 283).
There is no grace period for an expired work permit: the employee should stop working after the expiry date until a new permit is issued, which is why the extension date belongs in the HR calendar from the day the permit is granted.
Extending a certificate of work permit exemption#
Holders of a certificate of exemption (for example intra-company transferees in the 11 WTO service sectors) file in the same 10-to-45-day window, but the procedure is lighter (Articles 15 to 17 of Decree 219): a request on Form 01 (no labour-demand report, so no recruitment notice), a health certificate, the unexpired certificate, the passport and evidence that the exemption still applies; a decision within 5 working days; one extension of up to 2 years. After that, our reading is that the employer applies for a new certificate under Articles 8 and 9. Staff who only need a prior notice (such as members contributing VND 3 billion or more) have nothing to extend; when the notified working period ends, the cautious course is to notify again under Article 9(4).
For any work permit extension in Vietnam, our work permit service includes a renewal calendar for each permit, deciding whether a case is an extension or a new permit, preparing the file and filing it online or at the service centre through to the result.
