Work permit reissuance in Vietnam is available only while the permit is still valid, and only in the two groups of cases in Article 23 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP: the permit is lost or damaged beyond use; or the employee's name, nationality or passport number changes, or the employer changes its name while keeping the same identification number. The employer files a request on Form 03 with two photos, evidence of the change and the old permit; the authority decides within 3 working days, and the reissued permit runs only for the remaining term (Articles 24 to 26).
Every other change takes a different route. A new employer, a new job position or a new working form means a new permit, with a reduced file in the cases listed in Article 20. A new work location is not among those cases, and the Ministry of Home Affairs said on 10 October 2026 that it requires a permit application under Article 18. A permit close to expiry is extended. For those procedures, see our guides to the work permit application in Vietnam and work permit extension in Vietnam; for the basics, the handbook entry what is a work permit in Vietnam.
Work permit reissuance in Vietnam: the qualifying cases#
Article 23 is a closed list, and both clauses require a permit that is still valid:
- Lost, or damaged beyond use (clause 1).
- A change to one of these details on the permit: full name; nationality; passport number; the employer's name, provided the employer's identification number stays the same (clause 2).
The permit (Form 04) also shows the job position, field, working form, work locations and term. None of those is on the Article 23 list, so changing them is not a reissuance case. The permit records the passport number but not the passport's expiry date (item 5 of Form 04): a renewed passport triggers reissuance only if the new passport carries a new number.
An expired permit cannot be reissued. Decree 219 sets no deadline for filing after a loss or a passport change, and Article 24 does not ask for a police report on a lost work permit, although some older guides still mention both. We recommend filing as soon as the evidence is available, because a permit showing outdated personal details causes friction at residence card renewal and at labour inspections.
Work permit reissuance in Vietnam or a new permit? A decision table#
Before you reissue a work permit in Vietnam, check which column the change falls into. Decree 219 applies unless stated otherwise.
| Change | Procedure | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Valid permit lost | Reissue; old permit not required | Art. 23(1), 24(4) |
| Permit damaged beyond use | Reissue; hand in the damaged permit | Art. 23(1), 24(4) |
| New passport with a new number | Reissue | Art. 23(2) |
| Name change (marriage, civil status change abroad) | Reissue | Art. 23(2) |
| New nationality, or a dual national switching passports | Reissue (our reading: both nationality and passport number change) | Art. 23(2) |
| Employer renamed, same enterprise code (including a change of company type) | Reissue | Art. 23(2); Decree 168/2025/ND-CP Art. 8(2) |
| Move to another legal entity with a different code (group transfer, after a division, split or consolidation) | New permit; reduced file (no health certificate or criminal record certificate) if same position and field | Art. 20(1) |
| New position or working form, same employer | New permit, reduced file (no health certificate or criminal record certificate) | Art. 20(2) |
| Move to a work location not listed on the permit (office or factory move) | New permit under Article 18 (Ministry of Home Affairs, 10 October 2026); Article 20 does not cover this case | Art. 18, 23(2) |
| Additional work in another province, same employer | Notify that province at least 3 days ahead | Art. 22(5) |
| New job title, same position and field | Nothing (the permit does not show job titles) | Form 04; Ministry answer, 31 December 2025 |
| New legal representative, charter capital or business lines | Not on the permit; our reading is that nothing is needed | Form 04 |
| Permit near expiry, same role | Extension (once only), or a new permit if already extended | Art. 28; Art. 20(3) |
The middle column drives the timetable. A reissue takes 3 working days. A new permit must be filed between 60 and at least 10 days before the employee starts working under the new terms, and the authority then has 10 working days (Article 22(1) and (3)). Filing a new-permit case as a reissue risks a refusal and a compressed schedule for the new permit.
Three changes that are often misfiled as reissuance#
New work location. Many guides, based on the old rules (Article 12 of Decree 152/2020/ND-CP as amended by Decree 70/2023/ND-CP), still list a change of work location as a reissuance case. Decree 219 does not: work location appears in the reissuance cases for an exemption certificate (Article 11(2)) but not in Article 23. Answering a company that had moved its factory and was told to apply for a new permit when it sought an extension (Government Electronic Newspaper, 10 October 2026), the Ministry of Home Affairs said a change of work location requires a work permit application under Article 18. The answer does not mention Article 20, which reduces the file only for three cases (a new employer in the same position and field; a new position or working form; continuing after an extension). Our reading is therefore that a location change uses the full Article 18 file, including a health certificate and criminal record certificate, which is more than a change of position requires. An office move needs its own permit timetable. Where only the address wording changed because of the 2025 reorganisation of administrative units and the employee still works in the same place, the decree is silent; our reading is that this is not a change of work location, but check with the authority that issued the permit.
New job title. The permit shows the position category (manager, executive director, expert or technical worker) and the field by level-3 occupation code, not the job title (item 7 of Form 04), as the Ministry confirmed on 31 December 2025. A new title within the same category and field needs nothing; moving from expert to executive director is a change of position and needs a new permit (Article 20(2)). Keep the labour contract consistent with the permit: a contract whose content does not match the permit causes the permit to lapse (Article 156(3) of the Labour Code).
Renamed employer or a different employer. An enterprise code stays with the enterprise for its whole life and is never given to another organisation (Article 8(2) of Decree 168/2025/ND-CP). A company that renames itself, including through a company conversion, keeps its code, so its foreign staff need reissuance. An employee who moves to a different legal entity, whether a group affiliate or the surviving company in a merger, has a new employer and needs a new permit under Article 20(1).
The file for work permit reissuance in Vietnam#
Article 24 lists four items:
- The employer's reissuance request on Form 03.
- Two 4 x 6 cm colour photos, white background, facing forward, bare-headed, no glasses.
- Evidence of the change, where details have changed.
- The current permit, unless it was lost (for a lost work permit, this item simply drops out).
There is no health certificate, criminal record certificate, passport copy or proof of position, unlike a first application (Article 18). Form 03 serves for grant, reissuance and extension, but section II (labour-demand report and the recruitment notice) applies only to grant and extension, and the education and work history items apply only to a grant. For a reissue, complete sections I and III and state the reason on the line provided in section III; for a lost permit, describe the circumstances there.
Article 24 does not specify the evidence. Our suggestion: for a new passport number, a copy of the new passport (plus the old one for comparison); for a name change, the passport in the new name or the foreign civil status document; for a new nationality, the new passport and any naturalisation papers; for a renamed employer, the enterprise registration certificate showing the new name and the unchanged code. Foreign documents must be consularly legalised unless exempt, then translated and certified (Article 5); since 11 September 2026, public documents with a valid apostille from a Convention state with treaty relations with Vietnam are exempt from legalisation (Article 25(2) and (3) and Article 34 of Decree 293/2026/ND-CP).
Permits issued under Decree 152 are reissued under Decree 219 (Article 34(1)); those showing the old working form "manager, executive director, expert, technical worker" are reissued under the form "transferred from an organisation abroad" (Article 34(3), Article 2(1)(h)). The decree does not say whether an assignment letter from the foreign side is then needed, so ask the receiving office.
Filing a work permit reissuance in Vietnam: where, how long, what it costs#
Where. The Public Administrative Service Centre of the province where the employee currently works, in person, by public post, through a service provider or an authorised agent (Article 25(1)), or online through the National Public Service Portal (Article 6(1)). The competent authority is the provincial People's Committee where the employee works; for one employer in several provinces, the province of the head office; provinces may delegate (Article 4(1) and (2)).
How long. 3 working days from receipt of a complete file; a refusal must be in writing with reasons (Article 25(3)).
Hanoi example. Under process QT-06 in Decision 861/QD-TTPVHCC of 17 June 2026, work permit reissuance (procedure 1.014200) is handled by commune and ward People's Committees under a delegation running from 20 June 2026 to 31 December 2028 (Decision 1052/QD-SNV), and can be filed in person, by post or fully online. The fee is VND 300,000 per permit, or nothing when filed online (Resolution 77/2025/NQ-HDND). Hanoi's document list waives the old permit for damaged permits as well as lost ones, which is broader than Article 24(4); bring the damaged permit if you still have it.
Elsewhere. Decree 219 sets no fee; each provincial People's Council does.
Term of a reissued permit and the one-extension rule#
A reissued permit runs for the original term minus the time already worked up to the reissuance request (Article 26). In effect, the expiry date does not move: work permit reissuance in Vietnam never lengthens a permit. The reissued permit carries type code 3 in its number and item 8 reads "Reissued (time no. ...)" (notes 1 and 6 to Form 04).
The one-extension limit sits in Article 155 of the Labour Code. Our reading is that reissuance is not an extension, so it does not use up the extension, but it does not restore one either if the original permit had already been extended. Keep copies of earlier permits to prove the history at the next extension or new application.
Illustration. An engineer's permit expires on 31 March 2027 and has never been extended. On 10 February 2027 she receives a new passport. The extension window runs from 14 February to 21 March 2027 (45 to 10 days before expiry, Article 28(1)). The decree does not say whether reissuance and extension can be combined; the safe course is to file the reissue at once, receive it within 3 working days, and then file the extension on the reissued permit with the new passport number.
After work permit reissuance in Vietnam: contract and residence card#
Decree 219 does not require a new labour contract after reissuance, unlike a grant or an extension (Article 22(4), Article 28(4)). Still, sign an annex updating the employer's name, the employee's name or passport number, so that contract and permit match (Article 156(3) of the Labour Code).
For a new passport, the permit is only half the job. The temporary residence card file includes the passport (Article 37(1)(c) of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam), and a card must expire at least 30 days before the passport (Article 38(1)). The law has no specific procedure for moving an existing card to a new passport; the sponsoring employer should ask the immigration office that issued the card as soon as the passport changes, and the employee should keep the old passport until this is resolved.
Penalties around work permit details#
Decree 283/2026/ND-CP, in force since 10 September 2026, has no separate offence of failing to apply for reissuance. The exposure lies in related offences (employer amounts below are for companies, branches and representative offices, which pay double the individual amounts in Article 13 under Article 7(1) and (2)(b)):
- Letting a foreign employee work in a way that does not match the permit: VND 10 to 20 million per employee, up to VND 150 million (Article 13(2)(a)). This is the main risk when the location or position changes without a new permit. Our reading is that the decree does not say whether this also covers a passport number that has simply not been updated.
- Working contrary to the permit also makes the permit lapse (Article 156(4) of the Labour Code); an employee using a lapsed permit faces VND 15 to 25 million (an individual fine, Article 13(3)(b)) and possible deportation (Article 13(6)(b)). The decree does not say whether the employer is then treated as using a worker without a permit under Article 13(5) (VND 60 to 90 million for 1 to 10 workers).
- Not notifying work in another province under Article 22(5): VND 2 to 6 million (Article 13(1)(c)).
The issuing authority may also revoke a permit where the employer or the employee did not comply with the rules on grant, reissuance or extension (Article 30(2) of Decree 219).
Reissuing an exemption certificate: what differs#
Staff who hold a certificate of exemption (see work permit exemption in Vietnam) follow a separate reissuance procedure with three differences:
| Work permit | Exemption certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | Lost, damaged; new name, nationality, passport number, employer name (same code) | The same, plus a change of work location (Art. 11(2)) |
| Request form | Form 03 | Form 01 (Art. 12) |
| Photos | Two 4 x 6 cm | Not required |
| Decision time and term | 3 working days; remaining term (Art. 25, 26) | 3 working days; remaining term (Art. 13, 14) |
So the same office move needs only a reissue for exempt staff but a new permit for permit holders; plan the two groups separately, and do not assume that work permit reissuance in Vietnam works the way it does for certificates.
Our service for a work permit in Vietnam for foreign employees covers reviewing each change in personal details, role or location to decide whether to reissue a work permit in Vietnam, apply for a new permit or extend, preparing the file and following it through to the result.
