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Foreign investors who intend to invest and conduct business in Vietnam must make sure they have a temporary residence period during their stay. For everyone’s information, we outline the procedure for extending a temporary residence card for foreign investors in accordance with the most recent legislation in Vietnam.
According to the Immigration Law 2019, a temporary residence card is a document confirming the time of residence of a foreigner in Vietnam instead of a Vietnam visa. Therefore, foreigners only need to ensure the validity of the visa or temporary residence card to temporarily reside in Vietnam.
Conditions for extending temporary residence cards for foreign investors in Vietnam
Formerly, foreign investors were given a long-term temporary residence card if they took part in the founding of an enterprise, contributed capital, or purchased shares in a Vietnamese company. This is considered a preferential regime to attract foreigners to invest in Vietnam. Foreign investors who invest a small amount of only a few hundred million VND can also apply for a 2-year temporary residence card.
However, due to the fact that this regulation makes it challenging to manage foreigners in Vietnam, it is also a means of avoiding the extension of some foreigners’ temporary resident status who come to the country without making legitimate investments. An example would be a foreign worker who is in Vietnam on a visa extension but does not wish to apply for a work permit. As a result, the 2019 Immigration Law amended the laws regulating the issuance of temporary residence cards to foreigners. The following criteria must currently be met before issuing temporary residence cards to foreigners:
First, foreigners must have the purpose of lawful long-term temporary residence in Vietnam, specifically:
- Foreign investors are investors named on the certificate of business registration, certificate of investment registration with an equity capital of more than 3 billion VND.
- Foreigners who are legal employees according to the term of the Work Permit or Certificate of non-work permit issuance.
- Foreigners whose spouses, fathers, mothers, and children are Vietnamese.
The second condition is that foreigners enter for the right purpose of long-term residence. The new Immigration Law stipulates the procedure for changing the purpose of temporary residence after entry, although in these cases when carrying out the procedures for granting temporary residence cards, businesses will still encounter certain problems.
The third condition is that foreigners when applying for a temporary residence card, must have a valid Vietnam visa and have declared their temporary residence at their current residence.
If the above three conditions are met, along with the correct implementation of the procedures for applying for a temporary residence card, the foreigner will be granted a long-term temporary residence card by the immigration agency.
ASL LAW is the top-tier Vietnam law firm for doing business in Vietnam. If you need any advice, please contact us for further information or collaboration.
