We will examine your proposed business activities in Vietnam and advise you of the options available to you under Vietnamese investment regulations and WTO market access commitments made by Vietnam. Other than financial institutions, a foreign company cannot set up a branch office in Vietnam, but must operate via a local business entity, be it a company or a representative office.
We can assist you with the establishment of a representative office or a Vietnamese company, wholly or part foreign owned. The documentation may differ depending on local requirements. After an investment licence and a business registration certificate is issued for the representative office or Vietnamese company, we can assist you to register with the local tax bureaus and confirm the taxation basis or tax preferences.
Foreign investment into Vietnam is governed by the Common Investment Law (CIL), introduced in July 2006.
The process of applying for approval of an investment entity can be complicated. Preparing the application, leasing space in one of the free trade zones, and laying other groundwork can take several months. Once the application and the charter of the investment entity are filed with the appropriate Vietnamese authorities, the authorities will respond to the application with an approval, denial or a request for additional information.
A foreign assignee in Vietnam is required to apply for a business visa and a residence permit that can be up to five years under Article 44 of the CIL. We can assist your assignees to obtain these documents. Since the top rates of Vietnamese income taxes are rather high, planning an assignee's remuneration package is very important. All local staff can be hired direct. We can arrange for the recruitment of local staff and payroll administration.
Yes. Historically, the establishment of a Joint Venture has been the most common form of foreign investment in Vietnam, but now they are much less common, especially as the new Unified Enterprise Law that governs corporate structures now allows for mixed foreign and Vietnamese shareholdings. We are able to assist our clients in finding their local joint venture partners through our network of contacts.
We offer bespoke services relating to the identification of suitable tax advisers, lawyers, local partners, premises, factories, management, staff and expatriate housing. We can also provide professional corporate administration. We have the capacity to deliver a turn-key back office function for an operation in Vietnam. This service encompasses communication services, accounting and handling a broad range of commercial work including documentary credit services and managing an import or export operation.