Vietnam Insights
FDI & Market Entry
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Office Lease Legal Review in Vietnam
Summary: An office lease in Vietnam is often signed under time pressure, before the legal and licensing implications are reviewed. But the lease directly affects company registration, tax registration, signage rights and day-to-day operations. This article sets out what foreign investors — including representative offices and service companies — should check before signing. By Attorney…
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HR Compliance for Foreign-Invested Companies in Vietnam
Summary: HR compliance in Vietnam is best understood as a management control system rather than paperwork. Labor contracts, internal labor regulations, social insurance, and termination procedures each carry legal requirements — and gaps in any of them create direct financial and reputational risk for the company. This article outlines what CFOs, HR Directors and Country…
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Work Permit and TRC for Foreign Managers in Vietnam
Summary: Employing a foreign manager in Vietnam requires more than obtaining a work permit. The work permit, temporary residence card (TRC), visa category, labor contract and the person’s actual day-to-day role all need to align. When they do not, the company — not just the individual — carries the compliance risk. This article sets out…
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Foreign Executive Legal Desk in Vietnam
Summary: Foreign CEOs, CFOs and Country Managers relocating to Vietnam typically deal with several overlapping legal issues at once — work permit, temporary residence card (TRC), labor contract, tax residency, signing authority and, often, family housing. Handling these separately, through different advisers at different times, creates gaps. This article outlines what a foreign executive’s legal…
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Company Setup in Vietnam for Foreign Investors
Summary: Foreign investors setting up a company in Vietnam often start with incorporation paperwork and treat licensing as a formality. In practice, business-line eligibility, foreign ownership limits, capital structure, office lease and post-licensing compliance all affect whether the entity can actually operate as planned. This article sets out what CEOs, CFOs and founders should review…
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Global Mobility Between Switzerland and Vietnam: Supporting Executive Relocation with Coordinated Legal and Immigration Advice
Executive Summary International expansion increasingly requires companies to move senior executives across jurisdictions. While relocating a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Country Manager may appear to be an HR exercise, it is, in reality, a multidisciplinary legal, tax and compliance project. In one recent engagement, ECOVIS Switzerland and ECOVIS Vietnam worked together to support the…
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Vietnam FDI After the DPI–Finance Ministry Merger: New IRC Codes, Dual Reporting Portals, and What to Do If the System Locked You Out
Summary: Vietnam’s 2025–2026 institutional reform merging the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) into the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and provincial DPI offices into provincial Finance Departments, has disrupted investment registration administration for all FDI companies. Old IRC project codes do not automatically map to new 10-digit identifiers in the MOF system. HCMC companies now…
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ERC Before IRC in Vietnam: Smart Market Entry Shortcut or Capital Freeze Trap?
Summary: Foreign investors who enter Vietnam by obtaining an ERC first (through capital contribution approval) and then applying for an IRC face three specific risks: business line rejection at the IRC stage that collapses the entire operating model; a financial capacity proof requirement using local DICA-verified accounts (not parent company funds); and a 90-day DICA…
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Transfer Pricing Readiness 2026: Key Changes to Related-Party Transactions in Vietnam
AI Summary: Vietnam’s Decree 255/2026/ND-CP, effective from 1 July 2026 and applicable from the 2026 corporate income tax period, replaces Decree 132/2020/ND-CP. For CEOs, CFOs and Group CFOs, the practical issue is not only transfer pricing documentation, but whether new related-party relationships may arise during the tax year through capital, financing, guarantee or management-control transactions.…
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Vietnam as a China+1 Manufacturing Base: Legal and Compliance FAQ
Summary: Vietnam is the most prominent China+1 manufacturing destination for MNCs and Chinese-background investors diversifying supply chains. Legal questions on Vietnam China+1 investment cover WFOE structure differences, rules of origin compliance under CPTPP and EVFTA, related-party customs valuation, supply chain contract structuring, and the difference between genuine Vietnam manufacturing and tariff circumvention. ECOVIS Vietnam Law…