Penalties on Working Without Work Permit in Vietnam

Vietnam has become an attractive destination for foreigner investors due to the impressive development of socio – economic in recent years. This is such a good opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to get cooperation in business with foreign partners.

To take advantage of the opportunities to be the pioneer and market share, many of them have demand in employees with good skills and qualifications. To meet these requirements, more and more companies hire foreign workers for specific positions which might lack of human resources within Vietnam territory.

According to Labor Code 2012, the employer wishing to recruit the foreign workers has to explain their labor demand to the People’s Committee of provinces and obtain written approval from this agency. Pursuant to this written approval, the employer shall submit the application for the work permit to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the province where the planned working place of such foreign workers is located.

Work permit in Vietnam

A foreign citizen wishing to work in Vietnam must fully meet the following conditions:

Possessing full civil act capacity;

Possessing technical and professional qualifications and skills and health appropriate to the work requirement;

Not being a criminal or subject to penal liability examination according to Vietnamese and foreign laws;

Possessing a work permit granted by a competent Vietnamese state agency, except the cases specified in Labor Code.

Therefore, based on regulations of the Labor Code of Vietnam, except for the foreign citizens exempted from work permit i.e. investor of company established in Vietnam, all of cases the foreign citizens wishing to work in Vietnam shall be subject to work permit application. A foreign employee shall produce his/her work permit when carrying out immigration procedures or upon request of a competent state agency.

In case foreign citizens who do not belong to work permit exemption being found working in Vietnam without work permit, that person shall be considered violation of the law of Vietnam. In addition, the employer that uses the violated employee without work permit shall be punished accordingly.

According to Decree No. 95/2013/ND-CP amendments to the government’s Decree No. 95/2013/ND-CP dated August 22, 2013 on Penalties for administrative violations against regulations on employment, social insurance, social insurance, and Vietnamese guest workers:

i) Foreign citizen that working without work permits, except for the cases in which the work permit is exempt shall be expelled.

ii) Employers who employ foreign workers in Vietnam without work permits or certificates of exemption from work permits, or employ foreign workers using expired work permits shall be implied:

a. A fine from VND 30,000,000 to VND 45,000,000 if the violation involves 01 – 10 workers;

b. A fine From VND 45,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 if the violation involves 11 – 20 workers;

c. A fine From VND 60,000,000 to VND 75,000,000 if the violation involves more than 20 workers;

Additional penalty: The employer who commits the violation mentioned herein shall have its operation suspended for 1 – 3 months.

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