Starting a business in Vietnam can be easy, only if you know how to do it!

As many companies start relocating to Vietnam from China and other neighboring countries to avoid the China-U.S. trade war and lower operating costs, or even entrepreneurs opening brand new businesses and live here, Vietnam has become a safe and attractive destination for foreign investors. Below are the steps that help you open a company and do business successfully in Vietnam.

Specify the type of industry your Vietnam company will operate under

It is important to know the type of industry the business is in, which should be listed in your articles of incorporation. In Vietnam, there are my industries that do not allow foreign nationals to own companies or conduct business in.

Restricted industries foreign nationals cannot do business in Vietnam:

• Service of inspection and certification of transport vehicles.
• Blasting services throughout the territory of Vietnam and its region.
• Signal jammer-Cell phone jammer.
• Notary services.
• Judicial expertise services Law on Judicial Assessment.
• Industrial property assessment service Circular.
• Industrial property representation services.
• Broadcasting services.
• Paid radio and television services.
• Sales and repair of combat gears, hunting rifles.
• Producing and trading all kinds of fireworks, including fireworks.
• Trading in explosive precursors.
• Trading in industrial explosives, including destruction.
• Transmission and dispatching of the national electricity system.
• Manufacture of gold bars, the export of raw gold, and import of raw gold for the production of piece gold.
• Import and demolition of used seagoing vessels.
• Service providing assurance of flight operations.
• Pipeline transportation services.
• Managing and operating airports and airfields that play an important role in national defense and security.
• Service of setting up, operating, maintaining and maintaining maritime signs, water zones, waters, public maritime channels and navigational routes.
• Service of surveying water areas, waters, public navigational channels and maritime routes in service of publication of notices to mariners.
• Maritime notification service.
• Regulatory services to ensure maritime safety in water areas, waters and public navigational channels.
• Service of survey, construction and issuance of water charts, seaports, navigational channels and maritime routes; developing and distributing marine documents and publications.
• Maritime electronic information service.
• Providing flight assurance services.
• Service of sending workers abroad to work.
• Import of tobacco products for WTO trade.
• Lottery business

Do Market Research

Business entrepreneurs should do their market research as a ground start and see what opportunities they can find. Ideally, spending about 6 months in Vietnam exploring the business landscape is one of the key factors to success. Alternatively, you can always reach out to us, as Duong Global has help many companies successfully open a business in Vietnam, we will put you in the right direction. Furthermore, the next initial step is to identify whether the intended business name is available for your company to use. In order to find out whether your intended company name is available, you would need to go to dangkykinhdoanh.gov.vn, enter your company’s name in the Find Business Name search box. If no company name appears, most of the time, you can use the name you have entered. However, we recommend that you should hire a legal team to do a comprehensive research to make sure you can legally use that name.

Choose The Right Business Entity

There are 6 business entities to choose from in Vietnam: Limited Liability Company, Joint Venture Company; Free Zone Company; Branches; Public Limited Company and Representative office. In order to help you understand each type of entity easier, please check out our video “HOW to Open a Business in Vietnam | Easy Guide”.

Your business entity should be selected based on your particular business needs, whether you will be the only investor or whether you have different partners getting shares in the business.

Apply For Business Licenses

After the articles of incorporation are signed, you need to apply for a business license. There are 2 kinds of business licenses in Vietnam, the Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) and the Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC). We recommend you take legal advice from a business lawyer to know which business certificate you should apply for. We have also discussed the procedures of applying the IRC and ERC in the video that was mentioned above, so make sure you check it out.

The Type Of Visa You Will Need (Vietnam Visas)

Foreign citizens who will enter Vietnam for business purposes can apply for a Tourist/Business Visa (also known as a Vietnam DN Visa). The Vietnam Business Visa is a short-term visa, issued to those who will be working with a company in Vietnam, attending a meeting/negotiation, signing a contract, etc, but who do not have a work permit. This type of visa is issued for a maximum of 12 months, for single or multiple entries. You can work in Vietnam under a Business Visa, as long as the duration of work does not exceed 90 days per year. If you’re going to be working for longer than three months, you have to apply for a Work Permit (Work Visa). You can apply for your Business Visa through 3 main ways:

• At an Embassy or Consulate of Vietnam in your country.
• On arrival, at one of the eligible international airports in Vietnam.
• Online, through the Vietnam Immigration Portal.

For the Vietnam Investment Visa, the Investor (ĐT) visa for Vietnam is a type of visa granted to foreign investors in Vietnam and foreign lawyers practicing in Vietnam. According to the “Law No. 51/2019/QH14” of Vietnam, the Investor Visa is categorized into:

“ĐT1 – to be granted to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with capital contribution of at least VND 100 billion, or investing in the business fields and areas of investment incentives decided by the Vietnam Government.

ĐT2 – to be granted to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with capital contribution of VND50 – under VND 100 billion, or investing in the business fields of investment encouragement decided by the Vietnam Government.

ĐT3 – to be granted to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with capital contribution of VND3 – under VND 50 billion.

ĐT4 – to be granted to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with capital contribution of less than VND3 billion.”

To conclude, in order for you to open a business in Vietnam, it is important to take identify which business industries, entity, registrations and visas suit the best for your needs.