Required documents for applying work permits for  foreigners in Vietnam

Work permit is a must for foreigners working in Vietnam for more than 3 months. Here are required documents to apply your Work Permit that you must prepare before entering Vietnam for working:

1/ Working experience certificate: issued by your former employers, original hard copy, shows that you have at least 3 years of working experience at the level of executive or higher. If it is issued outside of Vietnam, it must have consular legalization* in order to be used in Vietnam.

2/ Education degree: Bachelor or higher, photocopy. If it is issued outside of Vietnam, it must have consular legalization* in order to be used in Vietnam.

3/ Criminal record: issued within 6 months from your home country, original hard copy & it must have consular legalization* in order to be used in Vietnam.

Other required papers: Health check up certificate, portrait photos can be easily obtained in Vietnam.

*Procedure for consular legalization of foreign document used in Vietnam:

FOREIGN DOCUMENT

Step 1: Notarization

The documents issued by the competent bodies/organizations of foreign countries must be authenticated at a competent notary of the country where the documents were issued.

Step 2: Certified by foreign diplomatic body

The notarized documents must be certified by the competent diplomatic body of the country where the documents were issued, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (as in Hong Kong, USA), or a equivalent body such as the Consular Division - Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia Putrajaya of Malaysia, Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau of Japan or Singapore Academy of Law of Singapore for the signature and seal of the notary

Step 3: certified by Vietnamese diplomatic body, there are 2 options:

• Notarized documents must be certified by the competent diplomatic representative body of Vietnam locates in the country where the document is issued

• If the country has diplomatic body in Viet Nam, foreign documents may be certified by such body in Viet Nam.

​Step 4: Translation into Vietnamese

Foreign documents must be translated into Vietnamese and certified the translation by the Justice Division of any District People’ s Committee in Vietnam or notary service in Vietnam before being used in Vietnam.

=> Foreign document can be used in Vietnam.