Vietnam visa & immigration services for expats, families and employers
Vietnam does not grant one document that lets you live and work here — it grants a chain of them, each one conditional on the last. We hold that chain together, from the first labour approval to the cancellation on the day you leave.
Immigration to Vietnam is sequential. There is no single permission that covers living and working here: the right to be employed is decided first, the visa is issued on the strength of that decision, and the residence card is issued on the strength of the visa. The order matters more than the speed of any one application, because no step can begin until the one before it has produced its document.
Asia Relocation Vietnam works both sides of that chain. Two separate administrations are involved and they do not share a file: the labour administration — the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs — decides whether a foreign national may be employed and issues the work permit or the confirmation of exemption, while the Vietnam Immigration Department issues the visa, the residence card, and the permits that govern leaving the country and coming back. A document that satisfies one is not automatically enough for the other.
We work with two very different sets of people, and we say so plainly because they need opposite things. Some are still deciding: an employer weighing a posting, a family that wants to see the country before committing, an investor assessing a structure. Others are already here, and their question is narrower and more urgent — a card that expires next month, an employer that has restructured, a transfer between provinces, or a departure that has to be closed out properly.
Immigration rarely travels alone either. The lease has to line up with the residence card and the shipment with the start date, so our Vietnam relocation and moving teams sit inside the same country structure and plan against the same calendar. If you have not yet settled on a country at all, our regional visa & immigration overview is the better place to start.
Eight situations, and the route each one takes
Start from where you actually are rather than from a category name. We identify the route, tell you which documents it depends on, and file them in the order the authorities expect.
Working for a Vietnamese employer
The employment route opens on the labour side, not the immigration side: approval to hire a foreign national, then the work permit itself, assembled from proof of employment, educational certificates, a health certificate and criminal record checks. Only once that exists does the employer apply for the LD working visa — the LD1 variant where the role is exempt from a permit, LD2 where it is not. We build both files from one consistent set of documents so they cannot contradict each other.
Settling in for the long term
Extending a visa over and over is not a strategy, it is a recurring interruption. The temporary resident card is the instrument for people who intend to stay: it is applied for with a valid passport, the visa or work permit behind it, and proof of where you live in Vietnam. We assess whether your status supports it, file it with the Immigration Department, and put the renewal date in the diary the day it is issued.
Business trips, meetings and short missions
Negotiations, supplier audits, board meetings, a week of site inspections — commercial travel belongs on the DN business visa rather than on a leisure entry, and the distinction is one that gets examined. We prepare the sponsorship and the entry approval in advance, so the trip does not rest on a decision taken at the counter on the day.
Investing in a Vietnamese company
The DT investor visa is built on an investment that already exists, not on one that is planned: the file is assembled from the business registration certificate, the investment licence and proof of the capital actually contributed. We review how the investment is structured before anything is filed, and handle renewal and extension as the business develops.
Joining a Vietnamese spouse or family
The spouse and marriage visa rests on the relationship rather than on an employer: marriage certificate, evidence of the relationship, proof of residence in Vietnam. It is also one of the situations where the work permit question changes shape entirely — read our guide to work permit exemptions in Vietnam before assuming you need one, then let us confirm it against your case.
Permanent residence and citizenship
For residents whose life is now here, the permanent resident card is assessed on residency history, employment and family ties, and applied for with proof of long-term residence in the country. Citizenship is a separate and considerably heavier process, not the next tick on the same list. We will tell you which of the two your situation genuinely supports, including when the answer is neither yet.
Coming to look before you commit
Some of the best decisions start with a trip that commits to nothing: seeing the schools, the offices and the neighbourhoods with your own eyes. The DL visa for temporary visitors covers short stays of that kind. If an electronic entry is enough for what you have planned, our guide to Vietnam's e-visa portal sets out that route — and we will say so rather than open a file you do not need.
Already in Vietnam — or leaving it
Renewals, extensions, transfers of arrival endorsements, and the two documents that govern movement in and out: the exit and re-entry permit for residents who need to travel while their card is valid, and residence card cancellation when the posting ends or the status changes. The chain has to be unwound as deliberately as it was built.
One chain, two administrations, no shortcuts
This is the part newcomers most often get wrong, and it is not a matter of paperwork preference — each document is physically required to produce the next one. Understanding the order is what turns an unpredictable process into a plannable one.
1 · It starts on the employer's side
Before your name reaches an immigration form, the employer has to be cleared to hire a foreign national and then obtain the work permit — or a confirmation that the role is exempt from one. Both decisions belong to the labour administration, not to immigration, and both sit upstream of everything else.
2 · The permit unlocks the visa
The LD working visa is applied for at the Vietnam Immigration Department once the work permit or the exemption certificate exists — a certified copy of it forms part of the visa file. The visa is granted on the strength of the labour decision, which is exactly why a delay upstream moves every date downstream with it.
3 · The visa unlocks the residence card
A temporary resident card is applied for with the visa or work permit behind it, plus proof of where you actually live in Vietnam. It is what converts a run of short extensions into one stable status, and for most long-stay residents it is the document the whole exercise was aiming at.
4 · And the chain has to be unwound
Leaving is regulated as well. Travelling abroad while resident calls for an exit and re-entry permit; leaving for good calls for the residence card to be cancelled, with proof of departure or of the change in status. Both are filed with the Immigration Department, and both are far easier to complete before the move than after it.
Accountable, in-house, and honest about what we cannot control
One structure, not a chain of subcontractors
Immigration, home search, coordination and moving are run by our own teams. Nothing central to your file is handed to a broker whose methods we do not set and whose delays we cannot answer for.
A single point of responsibility
One named coordinator for the whole file, whether you are the employee living it or the HR director accountable for it. No handovers between departments, and one person who can tell you where things actually stand.
Both administrations, one team
The labour side and the immigration side are prepared together rather than by two providers discovering each other mid-process. It is the difference between a sequence that is managed and one that is merely observed.
Fixed-scope pricing
You approve the route and the cost before we start. We quote the services your case genuinely requires — nothing open-ended, and nothing added once the file is already moving.
Dates tracked, not remembered
Permits, visas and residence cards all expire on their own schedules. We record every date at issue and start the renewal early, because an expiry noticed late is a problem with no elegant solution.
Discipline over improvisation
Moving to Vietnam is not about transporting belongings; it is about managing complexity, expectations and regulatory requirements with discipline. That conviction shapes how we run a file — documents ready before they are asked for, and no promise made on a rule we have not verified.
From eligibility check to a file that stays compliant
Eligibility assessment
We establish which route your situation actually supports and what the employer's obligations are, before a single form is filled in. Where a case is borderline, we say so.
Documents, legalisation and translation
Papers issued abroad generally have to be consularly legalised, translated into Vietnamese and notarised. We list exactly what is needed and start this first, because it is the part no one can accelerate.
Filing and follow-up
Submission to the labour administration and to the Immigration Department, in the order they expect, with regular updates and direct follow-up rather than silence until a decision lands.
Compliance after approval
The residence card, the renewals, the exit and re-entry permit when you travel, and the cancellation when the posting ends. Approval is a milestone, not the end of the file.
Vietnam immigration FAQ
Which comes first in Vietnam — the work permit or the visa?
How far ahead should an employer start the process?
What if the role is exempt from a work permit?
I already have a visa. Do I still need a residence card?
Can I travel out of Vietnam while I hold a residence card?
What has to be done when we leave Vietnam for good?
Can you handle several employees at once for a company?
How often do the immigration rules change?
Visa & immigration guides for Vietnam
Vietnam Work Permit Exemptions 2026 | Decree 219 – 2026 update
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Vietnam e-visa Portal : For International Visitors
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Office Relocation from Vietnam to Australia 101
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Vietnam Economic Outlook 2026: GDP Trends & FDI Growth
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Tet in Vietnam 2026 | What Expats Should Know Before the Lunar New Year
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5 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Moving Expert for Your Corporate Relocation
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How to Choose a Moving Company in Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam Guide
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Moving from Vietnam to Australia – The best advices
Read →Planning a move to Vietnam — or already living here?
Tell us where you are in the chain: a role being offered, a card about to expire, a team to bring in, or a departure to close out. We will confirm the route, the documents it depends on and a fixed quote.
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