Annual leave & time off · Vietnam
Annual leave in Vietnam
Employees in Vietnam get 12 working days of paid annual leave a year — 14 or 16 for younger, disabled or hazardous-work employees — plus one extra day per five years with the same employer. Leave is pro-rated in the first year, can be accumulated by agreement, and untaken days are paid out when the job ends.
US$149
per employee per month, flat, for Vietnamese nationals. No setup or hidden fees.
Get a quoteHow many days of annual leave do employees get in Vietnam?
An employee who has worked a full year in normal conditions is entitled to 12 working days of paid annual leave. That rises to 14 days for minors, employees with a disability, or those doing heavy, toxic or dangerous work, and to 16 days for especially heavy, toxic or dangerous work. The count is in working days, and the employer pays the normal wage for each day taken. These are statutory minimums — an employer may offer more but not less — and the 14- and 16-day bands follow the nature of the job, not the individual.1
| Working condition | Paid days / year |
|---|---|
| Normal conditions | 12 |
| Minors, employees with a disability, or heavy / toxic / dangerous work | 14 |
| Especially heavy / toxic / dangerous work | 16 |
Working days, under the Labour Code 2019, Art. 113. The seniority increment below is added on top. 1
Does annual leave increase with seniority in Vietnam?
Yes. Annual leave increases by one day for every five years of service with the same employer. The clock is tied to the employer, so the increment accrues only while the employee stays with the same legal employing entity.1 An employee on the 12-day base reaches 13 days after five full years and 14 after ten, stacking on whichever band (12, 14 or 16) applies to the job.
The increment resets when the legal employer changes: on switching EOR providers in Vietnam the new entity signs a fresh contract and, by law, the five-year clock restarts — part of the wider Vietnam labour-law framework. An employer may still credit earlier service as a contractual benefit. As employer of record, EOR Vietnam follows your company’s policy on prior service and applies the statutory rule where you have none.
How is annual leave calculated in the first year in Vietnam?
An employee who has worked less than 12 months gets annual leave in proportion to the time worked.1 The guiding decree sets the method: the full annual entitlement divided by 12, multiplied by the months actually worked — so a joiner on the 12-day band who starts on 1 July and works six months accrues six days (12 ÷ 12 × 6). A part-month counts as a whole month once the employee's working and paid-leave days reach at least half the normal working days.2
Can unused annual leave be carried over or paid out in Vietnam?
Two distinct mechanisms apply, and most summaries blur them. First, carry-over by agreement: the employee may agree with the employer to take annual leave in instalments, or to combine several years' leave into a single block over up to three years. The employer must set the leave timetable after consulting employees and give advance notice.1
Second, pay in lieu. The 2019 Labour Code cashes out untaken leave in only two situations — when employment is terminated or the job is lost.1 There is no general yearly cash-out for employees who stay on, which is why a clear leave schedule matters. The payout rate is the contract wage for the month before the contract ends.2 On exit it is settled with final wages and any severance pay due in Vietnam; see also terminating employees in Vietnam.
Tell us the role, salary and location and we will confirm the leave entitlement and accrual that apply, as part of a costed quote. Ask a question about annual leave.
What other statutory leave is there in Vietnam?
Annual leave sits alongside a short set of statutory personal-leave entitlements for life events, under Art. 115: three days of paid leave for the employee's own marriage, one day when their child marries, and three days on the death of a parent or parent-in-law, a spouse, or a child.1 There is also one day of unpaid leave for a grandparent's or sibling's death or a parent's or sibling's marriage, plus further unpaid leave by agreement — all on advance notice.1
| Event | Days | Paid? |
|---|---|---|
| Employee's own marriage | 3 | Paid |
| Marriage of the employee's child | 1 | Paid |
| Death of a parent / parent-in-law, spouse, or child | 3 | Paid |
| Death of a grandparent or sibling; marriage of a parent or sibling | 1 | Unpaid |
On advance notice to the employer. Further unpaid leave may be agreed with the employer. 1
These days are distinct from the social-insurance-funded leave for illness and parenthood, which the state fund pays. Statutory sick leave in Vietnam and maternity and paternity leave run on their own rules; the employee benefits in Vietnam overview shows how they fit together.
Are public holidays part of annual leave in Vietnam?
No — paid public holidays are separate and do not come out of the annual-leave allowance. As of October 2026 there are 12 paid public-holiday days a year: the 11 set by the Labour Code (five of them for the Lunar New Year, or Tết) plus Vietnam Culture Day on 24 November, made a permanent paid holiday by Resolution 28/2026/QH16. Foreign employees additionally get one traditional new-year day and one national day of their own country.13
Headline "seven-day Tết" breaks usually bundle in weekends and make-up days rather than adding statutory days; the dates, day-swaps and full calendar are on the dedicated Vietnam public holidays page.
How does EOR Vietnam track and administer leave?
As the legal employer of record, EOR Vietnam carries the whole leave obligation for your hire: tracking accrual, applying the correct 12-, 14- or 16-day band, adding the seniority increment at each five-year mark, pro-rating the first and final years, keeping the leave schedule and administering the Art. 115 marriage and bereavement days.1 When an engagement ends, we calculate and pay out any untaken annual leave in the final settlement, so you never carry an unquantified leave liability.1
Leave administration is part of the service, not an add-on. Our fee for a Vietnamese-national employee is a flat US$149 per employee per month — the same regardless of salary, role, location or headcount, with no setup, onboarding, offboarding, contract or payslip fees (as of October 2026); foreign nationals who need a Vietnamese work permit are quoted separately. A refundable security deposit equal to two months of the employee's employment cost is held for the engagement and returned at the end, less any unpaid amounts. Wages paid while an employee is on leave are part of salary, passed through at cost. For where leave sits in the total, see the EOR Vietnam cost breakdown, or read what an EOR in Vietnam is.
Related guides
Leave sits alongside pay, tax and compliance in the full set of Vietnam employer guides.
Vietnam public holidays
The 12 paid holidays for 2026, the Tết dates and the day-swaps.
Read → 02Employee benefits in Vietnam
How statutory leave, insurance and customary benefits fit together.
Read → 0313th-month salary & Tết bonus
What is customary, when it becomes binding, and how it is taxed.
Read →Questions people ask
How many days of annual leave do employees get in Vietnam?
Under normal conditions, 12 working days of paid annual leave a year, rising to 14 for minors, employees with a disability or heavy, toxic or dangerous work, and 16 for especially heavy, toxic or dangerous work (Labour Code 2019, Art. 113), plus one extra day per five years with the same employer.
Does annual leave increase with seniority in Vietnam?
Yes — annual leave rises by one day for every five years of service with the same employer (Labour Code 2019, Art. 114), so the 12-day base becomes 13 days after five years and 14 after ten. Because it is tied to the legal employer, the clock restarts if the employee moves to a new employing entity, unless the new employer’s policy credits earlier service.
Can unused annual leave be carried over or paid out in Vietnam?
Leave can be carried over by agreement — taken in instalments or combined into one block over up to three years (Labour Code 2019, Art. 113). Untaken leave is cashed out only on termination or job loss; the 2019 Code has no general yearly cash-out for staff who stay on. The payout uses the preceding month's wage (Decree 145/2020).
How is annual leave calculated in the first year in Vietnam?
For an employee who has worked less than 12 months, leave is pro-rated: the annual entitlement divided by 12, times the months actually worked (Decree 145/2020, Art. 66). A joiner on the 12-day band who works six months accrues six days. A part-month counts as whole once working and paid-leave days reach half the month.
How much marriage or bereavement leave is there in Vietnam?
Three days of fully-paid leave for the employee's own marriage, one paid day when their child marries, and three paid days on the death of a parent or parent-in-law, a spouse, or a child (Labour Code 2019, Art. 115). There is also one unpaid day for a grandparent's or sibling's death or a parent's or sibling's marriage — separate from annual leave.
Sources
- Labour Code 2019 (Law No. 45/2019/QH14), in force 1 January 2021 — paid public holidays and foreign-employee extra days (Art. 112); annual leave of 12/14/16 working days and first-year pro-rating (Art. 113.1–113.2), cash payment for untaken leave on termination or job loss (Art. 113.3) and the leave schedule and up-to-three-year accumulation by agreement (Art. 113.4); the one-day-per-five-years seniority increment (Art. 114); and paid marriage, child's-wedding and bereavement leave plus one day of unpaid leave (Art. 115). Labour Code 2019 (Law 45/2019/QH14) — accessed 3 October 2026.
- Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP, in force 1 February 2021 — the first-year pro-rata method for annual leave (Art. 66) and the payout rate for untaken leave, the contract wage of the month before termination (Art. 67). Decree 145/2020/ND-CP — accessed 3 October 2026.
- Resolution No. 28/2026/QH16, in force 1 July 2026 — Vietnam Culture Day (24 November) as a permanent paid public holiday, taking the total to 12 from 2026. Resolution 28/2026/QH16 (chinhphu.vn) — accessed 3 October 2026.