ISSUE 030122 – INSTRUCTION ON TEMPORARY RESIDENCE CARD APPLICATION FOR FOREIGNERS IN VIETNAM

Dear Valued Clients,

With Vietnam’s recent open-door policies, which call for preferential FDI capital, the number of foreign investors in Vietnam is constantly increasing. The 2014 Law on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam and the Amendment Law No. 51/2019/QH14 (the “Law”) have witnessed open and flexible regulations in the issuance of confirmation of temporary residence in order to create favorable conditions for direct foreign individual investors or representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam to reside and work in Vietnam. ENT would like to send you detailed instructions on temporary residence card application for foreigners in Vietnam.

Conditions for temporary residence card application

 Pursuant to the Law, there are two categories of temporary residence card application for foreigners in Vietnam, which is temporary residence permits and temporary card respectively. Accordingly, temporary residence permits shall be issued by the immigration unit by method of appending a seal in foreigners’ passports or separate visas according to Article 31[1] of the Law, which method is applied to foreigners without permanent residence cards or temporary residence cards or expired ones.

Temporary residence cards can be issued to the subjects specified in Article 36 of the Law[2] upon request. To be granted a temporary residence card, a foreign individual investor needs to acquire the following conditions:[3]

1.  Passports of foreign individual investors shall be honored for at least more than 01 year;

2.  Visas currently in use in Vietnam must have the symbols DT1, DT2; DT3;

3.  Investors applying for DT1, DT2, DT3 temporary residence cards must conduct investment in Vietnam and have documents proving their capital contribution, investment in Vietnamese enterprises (The documents can be Certificate of enterprise registration, Certificate of Investment registration or other documents showing capital contribution or investment as prescribed by law);

4.  Foreign investors must declare their temporary residence in accordance with current law.

Procedures for temporary residence card application

Step 1: Prepare application dossiers for temporary residence card

Dossiers for application of temporary residence cards shall include:

• • A written request of the agency, organization or individual that carries out the procedures for inviting or sponsoring;
  • Application form for temporary residence card with (Form NA8)[4];
  • Passport;
  • Certificate of enterprise registration/Certificate of investment registration of foreign investors duly issued by a competent Vietnamese state agency;
  • Documents proving foreign investors’ capital contribution or investment in Vietnamese enterprises; and
  • Certificate of temporary residence or declaration of online temporary residence registration[5].

Step 2: Submit application dossiers for temporary residence card

Agencies, organizations and individuals directly inviting or sponsoring shall submit application for issuance of temporary resident cards for foreigners specified in Article 36.1 (b) of the Law at immigration authorities where the inviting or sponsoring agencies or organizations are based or where the inviting or sponsoring individuals reside.[6]

The immigration authority shall receive the dossier and check the legality and content of the dossier. If the application is fully submitted and valid, the officer assigned to it shall receive the application, print and hand out a receipt, and schedule a date to return the temporary residence card. In the remaining case, the dossier-receiving officer shall guide the applicant to supplement the application information for completeness.

Step 3:  Get a temporary residence card

Within 05 working days, the immigration authority shall issue temporary residence cards to foreign investors in Vietnam.

Investors who come to receive the results shall provide the receipt, identity card or passport to the officer for inspection and comparison. In case the issuance of temporary residence card is available, the foreign investors shall be required to pay fees before receiving the temporary residence cards.

It is worth-noting that the validity period for foreigners’ temporary residence cards with symbols DT1, DT2, DT3 is regulated as follows:[7]

Temporary residence card with symbol DT1 is valid for no more than 10 years.

Temporary residence card with symbol DT2 is valid for no more than 05 years.

Temporary residence card with symbol DT3 is valid for no more than 03 years.

As usual, we hope you find this Legal Article helpful and look forward to working with you in the upcoming time.

Kind regards,

ENT Law LLC

The full version of this Legal Article can be found here.

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[1] According to Article 31.1 of the Law:

The immigration unit shall issue temporary residence permits to foreigners by appending a seal in their passports or separate visas with the following time limits:

a) The duration of the certificate of temporary residence is the same as the duration of the visa. If the duration of the visa is no longer than 15 days, the duration of the temporary residence permit shall be 15 days. If the visa symbol is ĐT or LĐ, the duration of the temporary residence permit shall not exceed 12 months, and the issuance of a temporary residence card shall be considered;

b) For the persons granted visa-free entry under international agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory, the duration of temporary residence permit shall comply with such international agreements, or shall be 30 days if it is not specified by the international agreements;

c) For the persons visa-free entry to a checkpoint economic zones, the duration of temporary residence permit shall be 15 days, and 30 days for those granted visa-free entry to special administrative – economic units.

d) The duration of temporary residence permits issued to nationals of the countries to which Vietnam grant visa-free entry shall be 15 days;

đ) Temporary residence permits shall not be issued to foreigners who have unexpired permanent residence cards or temporary residence cards.

[2] According to Article 36.1 of the Law:

Cases of issuance of temporary resident cards include:

a) Foreigners who are members of diplomatic missions, consular missions, representative offices of international organizations affiliated to United Nation, intergovernmental organizations in Vietnam and spouses, children under 18 years of age and helpers accompanying on missions;

b) Foreigners making entry on LV1, LV2, LS, DT1, DT2, DT3, NN1, NN2, DH, PV1, LD1, LD2 and TT visas.

[3] According to Article 37 of the Law.

[4] According to Circular No. 04/2015/TT-BCA regulations on specimen papers concerning Foreigners entering, leaving and residing in Vietnam.

[5] According to Article 37.1 of the Law.

[6] According to Article 37.2 (b) of the the Law.

[7] According to Article 38 of the Law.