Work Permit in Hanoi for Foreigners (2026)

A work permit in Hanoi is the document that allows a foreign national to work legally for an employer based in Vietnam’s capital. It is issued by the Hanoi People’s Committee through the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs (Sở Nội vụ) — no longer the former Department of Labour (DOLISA) — under the Labour Code 2019 and Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, in force since 7 August 2025. Under the current rules your employer files one application, the statutory processing time is 10 working days, and the permit is valid for up to 2 years. In practice, legalizing your degree, obtaining a criminal record certificate and passing the health check take far longer than the filing itself — which is where most Hanoi (Ha Noi) applications stall. This 2026 guide explains who needs a permit, the conditions and documents, where to submit, fees and timelines, exemptions, penalties, the link to your LĐ visa and temporary residence card, and how Nam Son Law’s work permit lawyers can support you.

Who needs a work permit in Hanoi?

Every foreign national who performs work in Hanoi for a Vietnamese company, a foreign-invested enterprise, a branch or representative office, an NGO or any other organization needs a work permit — or an official confirmation that they are exempt — before starting work. Article 151 of the Labour Code 2019 applies this rule regardless of your nationality, your salary, or how short the assignment is.

The requirement covers the situations most expats in Hanoi are actually in:

• Employees hired locally under a Vietnamese labour contract — engineers, finance managers, marketing leads, teachers at language centres and international schools.
• Staff posted to Hanoi by a parent company abroad, even if they stay on the foreign payroll.
• Foreigners sent by a foreign contractor or supplier to perform services in Hanoi, such as technicians commissioning imported machinery.
• Directors, general directors and other managers appointed to run a Hanoi company, unless they qualify for the capital-contribution exemption described in section 6.

The legal duty to apply lies with the employer, not with you: a foreigner cannot file for a work permit in their own name. The scale of the system is significant — according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Vietnam had about 161,992 foreign workers at the end of 2024, of whom 149,195 were subject to work permits, with the largest groups coming from China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Hanoi and its surrounding industrial provinces are among the main destinations, so the Hanoi authority processes a steady flow of applications and reviews them closely.

What are the conditions to qualify for a work permit in Hanoi?

To qualify for a work permit in Hanoi you must (1) be at least 18 years old with full legal capacity, (2) be medically fit for the job, (3) hold the qualifications and experience of a manager, executive director, expert or technical worker as defined in Decree 219/2025, (4) have no criminal conviction and not be under criminal prosecution in Vietnam or abroad, and (5) be sponsored by an employer whose need to use foreign labour is accepted by the Hanoi authority — a step that is now built into the same application (Labour Code Article 151; Decree 219/2025 Articles 3 and 18).

The position category is where applications succeed or fail. Your degree, your experience letters and the job title on the application form must all describe the same person doing the same job; a mismatch is the most common reason the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs asks for supplementary documents.

How does Decree 219/2025 define expert, manager, executive director and technical worker?

Decree 219/2025 lowered the experience thresholds that applied under the old Decree 152/2020: an expert now needs two years of relevant experience instead of three, and a technical worker needs two years (or three without formal training) instead of three (or five). The four categories are defined as follows.

Which documents are required for a work permit in Hanoi?

Under Article 18 of Decree 219/2025, a Hanoi work permit application consists of the employer’s application form (Form No. 03), your health certificate, criminal record certificate, proof of your position category, a copy of your passport, photos, and the employer’s legal documents. Anything issued outside Vietnam must be legalized and translated into Vietnamese before it goes into the file.

How do you apply for a work permit in Hanoi step by step?

Since Decree 219/2025, the old two-step process — demand approval first, work permit second — has become a single application. Your employer files Form No. 03 with the supporting documents no earlier than 60 days and no later than 10 days before your planned start date, and the Hanoi authority must issue the permit within 10 working days of receiving a complete file or explain any refusal in writing. The full journey from first document to permit in hand looks like this.

1. Collect and legalize your personal documents abroad. Degree, training certificates, experience letters and your home-country criminal record are legalized (or apostilled, where applicable) and translated into Vietnamese. Allow 3–6 weeks.
2. Complete the health check in Vietnam. Use a licensed hospital in Hanoi and ask for the work-permit format; results are typically issued within a few days.
3. Apply for a Vietnamese criminal record certificate if you have lived in Vietnam, through the National Public Service Portal or the Hanoi police records unit. Allow about 10–15 working days.
4. Your employer prepares Form No. 03. The job title, position category and workplace address must match your documents and the company’s registered activities.
5. File the application. Online through the National Public Service Portal (dichvucong.gov.vn) or in person via the Hanoi Public Administration Service Centre, paying the state fee.
6. Receive the work permit within 10 working days of a complete file. If the authority requests additional documents, the deadline counts from the day the complete file is received.
7. Sign your labour contract before your start date, then apply for your LĐ2 visa or temporary residence card (section 7).

Where do you submit a work permit application in Hanoi?

For most employers the receiving authority is the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs, acting for the Hanoi People’s Committee. Enterprises located inside Hanoi’s industrial parks and hi-tech parks file with the Hanoi Hi-Tech Parks and Industrial Zones Management Board instead, and since 20 June 2026 re-issuance, extension and exemption files for employers outside the parks have been delegated to ward and commune People’s Committees. Remember that Hanoi has had no districts since 1 July 2025 — the city now consists of 126 wards and communes, so all addresses use the new ward names.

How long does a Hanoi work permit take, and how much does it cost?

The statutory processing time for a new work permit in Hanoi is 10 working days, the state fee is 400,000 VND, and re-issuance costs 300,000 VND and takes 3 working days. Realistically, plan for 2 to 4 months from the day you start collecting documents to the day you hold the permit, because legalization and criminal record checks happen before the statutory clock starts.

The fees follow the Hanoi People’s Council’s Resolution 06/2020/NQ-HĐND, as amended by Resolution 13/2021/NQ-HĐND, and can change with a new resolution; the amounts above were checked in September 2026. Around the state fee sit the real costs of the process: the health check, criminal record certificates, consular legalization or apostille, and certified translations, which together usually run to several million VND depending on how many documents come from abroad.

A realistic timeline for a foreigner arriving in Hanoi with no documents prepared:

• Legalization and certified translation of foreign documents: 2–4 weeks, longer if the issuing country requires notarization and foreign-ministry authentication first.
• Home-country criminal record certificate: 1–6 weeks depending on the country.
• Vietnamese criminal record certificate: about 10–15 working days.
• Health check in Hanoi: a few days.
• Filing and issuance of the work permit: 10 working days.
• LĐ2 visa or temporary residence card afterwards: about 5 working days for the residence card once the immigration file is complete.

Who is exempt from a work permit, and how does the exemption confirmation work?

Being exempt from a work permit does not mean skipping the paperwork. Under Article 154 of the Labour Code and Article 7 of Decree 219/2025 there are 15 exemption cases, and in most of them your employer must still obtain a written confirmation that you are not subject to a work permit (giấy xác nhận không thuộc diện cấp giấy phép lao động), valid for up to 2 years. Only a few short-term cases are handled by a notice to the authority at least 3 working days before you start (Decree 219/2025, Article 9).

Two rules trip people up. First, the 90-day exemption is counted cumulatively from 1 January to 31 December, across every trip, so a 60-day project followed by a 40-day follow-up in the same year takes you over the limit. Second, the exemption confirmation is issued for a specific employer and position — change either, and your employer must apply again.

How does the work permit connect to your LĐ visa and temporary residence card?

The work permit comes first. Once issued, it becomes the legal basis for an LĐ2 visa (LĐ1 if you hold an exemption confirmation) and then for a temporary residence card (TRC) of up to 2 years, so you no longer renew visas every few months. The TRC can never run longer than the work permit or exemption confirmation it is based on.

In practice the Hanoi immigration office issues a residence card only when the work permit has at least 12 months of validity left; with less than that you receive an LĐ2 visa for the remaining period. The permit is also tied to one employer and one position: if you change jobs, the old permit — and the residence card based on it — no longer covers you, and the new employer must apply for a new permit before you start.

What are the penalties for working in Hanoi without a work permit?

Working in Hanoi without a valid work permit or exemption confirmation exposes you to a fine of 15–25 million VND and expulsion from Vietnam, while your employer faces fines of 30–75 million VND (doubled for organizations) and must end your employment. From 10 September 2026 these sanctions are governed by Decree 283/2026/NĐ-CP, which replaces Decree 12/2022/NĐ-CP as the penalty framework for labour violations.

Decree 283/2026/NĐ-CP, signed on 15 July 2026 and effective from 10 September 2026, keeps unlicensed foreign employment among the most serious labour violations and adds sanctions for late or incomplete notifications, for failing to return an expired or revoked permit within the 15-day deadline set by Decree 219/2025, and for using forged documents. The consequences reach beyond the fine: under Article 21 of the immigration law, a foreigner who has been expelled is refused entry to Vietnam for the following 3 years, and any residence card based on the lost permit is revoked.

How do you renew or re-issue a work permit in Hanoi?

A Hanoi work permit can be extended once, for up to 2 years, provided your employer files the extension between 45 and 10 days before it expires (Decree 219/2025, Article 29); once that single extension has run out, a completely new permit is required. Re-issuance — for a lost or damaged permit, or a change in your passport details — is a separate, faster procedure completed within 3 working days.

An extension file typically contains:

• The employer’s request for extension.
• The current work permit.
• A health certificate issued within the last 12 months.
• Updated employer documents and evidence that you continue to work in the same position — normally your labour contract.
• For employers outside the industrial parks, the file goes to the ward or commune People’s Committee (see section 4); park-based enterprises file with the Industrial Zones Management Board.

There is no grace period. A permit that expired yesterday is treated exactly like no permit, and your employer must return an expired or revoked permit to the issuing authority within 15 days — a duty that Decree 283/2026 now sanctions. If your role or employer changes rather than your permit expiring, an extension is not the right tool; the new employer applies for a new permit.

How can Nam Son Law support your work permit application in Hanoi?

Nam Son Law’s lawyers provide work permit legal support in Hanoi from eligibility check to residence card: we assess which position category fits your profile, review and organize your documents before they are legalized, prepare Form No. 03 with your employer, file and follow up with the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs or the Industrial Zones Management Board under a power of attorney, and then handle your LĐ2 visa or temporary residence card. The permit itself is always issued by the Hanoi authorities — our role is to make sure your file is complete, consistent and filed on time.

For employers, we also support group filings for several foreign hires, the exemption-confirmation route for transferees and investors, and the periodic reporting obligations on foreign labour. Nam Son Law Firm (Công ty Luật TNHH MTV Nam Sơn) is a licensed Vietnamese law firm with its head office in Ho Chi Minh City and branches and associates in Hanoi, Khánh Hòa and Quảng Ngãi, so a lawyer familiar with the Hanoi authorities handles your file.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Getting a work permit in Hanoi in 2026 is a clearer process than it was two years ago: one application under Decree 219/2025, a 10-working-day statutory deadline, a 400,000 VND state fee, and a single authority — the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs or, for industrial parks, the Industrial Zones Management Board. The difficulty has moved upstream, into the documents. A degree that is not legalized, an experience letter without dates, a criminal record certificate older than six months or a job title that does not match your category will cost you weeks, and working while you wait exposes you and your employer to fines and expulsion under Decree 283/2026.

If you would rather have a lawyer check the file before the Hanoi authority does, Nam Son Law’s work permit lawyers are ready to help — from the first document to your temporary residence card.