NEWEST POLICY OF INVESTOR VISA VIETNAM - VALIDITY AND REQUIREMENTS 2020

Vietnam Investor Visa is one of the first things to care for foreigners who plan to set up his business or investment in Vietnam. Understand that, the Vietnamese government has been doing their best to improve the quality and convenience of this visa type, going along with Temporary Residence Card to extend investors’ stay in Vietnam up to 5 years. However, the New Immigration Law taking effect on July 1^st 2020 will have big impacts on foreign working individuals in Vietnam, especially for the foreign investors with their Vietnam Investor Visas.

VIETNAM INVESTOR VISA

Purpose

Vietnam Investor Visa is granted for foreign investors entering to invest in Vietnamese companies.

Process

The process for Vietnam Investor Visa must go through 02 steps:

The first step, have a business visa Approval Letter (Pre-Visa) sponsored by a company in Vietnam, issued by the Immigration Department in advance;
The second step, the applicant pick up the investment visa by themselves at the Vietnam’s international airports; Vietnamese Embassies/ Consulates overseas; or Vietnam’s international border crossings:

Getting Vietnam Investor Visa at office of Vietnam embassy/consulate: If you choose to receive the visa at the embassy or consulate, the Immigration Department will fax the approval letter to the Vietnamese embassy/consulate you mention in your application. Then, you can go to that embassy to get the visa.
Getting Vietnam Investor Visa on arrival: Foreigners can also apply to receive visa at the border gate or international airport in Vietnam where they arrive at. In this case, they must take a copy of approval letter along with their passport and stamping fees when they check in at the Immigration Checkpoint.

Please note that this is just the process of applying investor visa for those who have satisfied all the requirements. Some of these requirements can only be obtained in Vietnam. Therefore, for beginners investing in Viet Nam, they should obtain a business visa to come to Vietnam first, and then switch the visa type when they have enough supporting documents.

HIGHLIGHTS OF VIETNAM INVESTOR VISA UNDER THE NEW LAW

Before the Vietnam Investor Visa was only marked as ĐT Visa, from July 1^st 2020 it will be divided into 4 types: ĐT1; ĐT2; ĐT3; ĐT4 which depend on the value of their contributed investment. Their validity has also changed.
Under existing law, individuals are only able to receive investor visas or Temporary Residence Card where they personally invest in a Vietnamese company.

Under the new law, corporate investors will be able to nominate an individual to represent the corporate investor, and that individual will be able to receive business visas or Temporary Resident Cards for periods up to 10 years as the representative of that corporate investor.

VALIDITY OF VIETNAM INVESTOR VISA FROM 1^stJULY 2020

Before, the validity of Vietnam Investor Visa can be up to 12 months. Now under the change of the New Immigration Law taking effect on July 1^st 2020, validity of Vietnam investor visa is based on their visa types.

Visa Type	Subject	Validity period
ĐT1	For foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives for foreign organizations investing in Vietnam, with total investment capital of VND100 billion ($4.35 million) upwards, or investing into sectors and professions with incentives and geographical areas with priorities determined by the government.	10 years
ĐT2	For foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of such organizations investing in Vietnam, with total investment capital of between VND50 billion and VND100 billion ($2.17-$4.35 million), or investing into sectors and professions with encouragement determined by the government.	5 years
ĐT3	For foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of international organizations investing in Vietnam, with total capital of between VND3 billion and VND50 billion ($130,500-$2.17 million).	3 years
ĐT4	For foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives for foreign organizations investing in Vietnam, with total capital of less than VND3 billion ($130,500).	12 months