HOW TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM

Opening Representative office in Vietnam is one of the lawful forms for foreign investors to do business in Vietnam. The demand of opening the RO in Vietnam is increasing. The following article shall describe how to open representative office in Vietnam by analyzing conditions, required documents and the procedure

WHAT IS REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM (RO)?

According to Vietnam’s laws, a representative office (RO) is not permitted to perform any activities generating profit or any trade activities. The establishment of a RO is not considered as a legal commercial presence in Vietnam. For more detail, please refer to the scope of permissible activities of a RO: – Operating as liaison office. – Promoting the cooperation projects of foreign company in Vietnam. – Researching market to push up chances to purchase commodities, supply and consume commercial services of foreign businesses in Vietnam. – Supervising the implementation of foreign company’ contracts signed with Vietnamese partners or related to the Vietnamese market.

WHAT ARE ADVANTAGES OF OPENING REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM?

In spite of the limited operational scope, the establishment of representative office in Vietnam will provide the following advantages: – Easier to establish and register compared to a subsidiary company. – No requirement for minimum paid up capital and other legal requirements. – The representative office can decisively control the employees, manage the business and trading in Vietnam and can do many works other than liaison. – Regarding tax obligations, no taxes are applicable to RO’ s operations, besides the personal income tax payable by their staff.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM?

– Applying the License for the representative office:            25 working days – Applying for the seal of the representative office:              05 working days – Applying for the tax code of the representative office:      05 working days – Publication of the RO’s establishment:   5 days

WHAT ARE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM?

In order to open representative office in Vietnam, a license issued by a competent authority is required. In addition to the condition that the parent company must operate for at least 01 year in original country prior to setting up representative in Vietnam, the required documents for the application for obtaining such license include:

DOCUMENTS	Language
Corporate Charter or Memorandum and Articles of Association of EABS	English
Business License	English
Audited Financial Statement of EABS for the most recent year	English
Introduction of History of your company	English
Passport of person appointed to be Chief of Representative Office	English
Resume of person appointed to be Chief of Representative Office	English
Internal rule and organization of the representative office in Vietnam	English
In-principle Office Lease Contract for proposed Representative Office	English and Vietnamese
Documents for proving right of Lessor over to leased Office (Investment Certificate or Certificate of Business Registration of the Landlord, Construction Permit of the building)	Vietnamese

WHAT IS TERM OF LICENSE OF REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM?

The license shall be valid for five years and can be renewed. In such case of renewal, an application shall be submitted at least thirty days prior to the due date.

WHAT ARE ASL LAW’S SERVICES FOR OPENING REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN VIETNAM?

The establishment of the representative office in Vietnam will be conducted at the Department of Industry and Trade of Hanoi city (“HN DOIT”). ASL LAW‘s Service shall include the following works: – Preparing the checklist of necessary documents. – Drafting the documents of the application dossier for a License of the RO establishment. – Submitting the application dossier, following up the status and receiving the License. – Doing the post-licensing works including tax registration, seal registration and publication of the RO establishment. – Supporting for renting office in Vietnam. In case of doing business in Vietnam, you could contact ASL LAW the top tier Vietnam Law Firm for advice

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