EOR Vietnam for Korean companies

How does a Korean company hire employees in Vietnam through an EOR?

A Korean company hires in Vietnam through an EOR by letting a licensed Vietnam-registered company be the legal employer: that entity signs the Vietnamese labour contract, runs payroll in dong, files personal income tax and remits the compulsory insurance contributions, while the Korean company directs the person's day-to-day work. No Vietnamese subsidiary, branch or representative office is needed, so a team can start in weeks rather than the months an entity takes. If the model is new to you, start with what an EOR is in Vietnam and who the legal employer is, then weigh the benefits of using an EOR in Vietnam.

There are really two things a Korean company might want, and they are treated very differently in Vietnamese law. One is building a local team — hiring Vietnamese nationals (engineers, sales, support) who live and work in Vietnam. The other is posting your own Korean staff to Vietnam for a project or a new operation. The EOR carries the local team as ordinary Vietnamese employment; the posting is where the Vietnam–Korea agreements below change the arithmetic. The table sets the two side by side.

The Korea advantage: the Vietnam–Korea Social Security Agreement

Vietnam's first-ever bilateral social-security agreement is with the Republic of Korea, and it came into force on 1 January 2024 — the fact that sets Korea apart from most other countries hiring into Vietnam. A worker posted between the two countries can keep paying compulsory social insurance only in the sending country for up to 60 months, extendable by a further 36 months if they stay with the same employer — 96 months in all — and is exempt from the host country's compulsory contributions for that period.12 Vietnam Social Security explained how to apply it in Official Dispatch 862/BHXH-TST of 29 March 2024, which covers the coverage certificates that prove where someone is paying in and the suspension of Vietnamese compulsory contributions.1

In practice this means a Korean company sending its own employee to Vietnam can, with a valid certificate of coverage, keep that person in the Korean national pension and health system and avoid duplicate Vietnamese contributions for the detachment period. It does not reach a Vietnamese national you hire locally through an EOR — a local hire is ordinary Vietnamese employment and pays in here — and whether a specific Korean national qualifies depends on the posting relationship and the sending employer, which is a facts question. We keep the full mechanism, the certificate steps and the eligibility detail on the canonical page: read how Vietnam's social-security agreements work for a posted worker, and the general picture in social insurance in Vietnam.

No other major investor currently has this. A Japan–Vietnam agreement is only under negotiation — talks began in July 2025 and nothing is signed, ratified or in force as of October 2026 — and there is no agreement with the United States at all, so staff posted from those countries can still be charged in both systems.7 How a Japanese parent hires in Vietnam despite that gap, and uses the income-tax treaty it does have, is set out in EOR for Japanese companies in Vietnam.

Why this matters for Korean FDI and secondees

South Korea is Vietnam's largest source of foreign direct investment: cumulative registered capital passed US$92 billion across more than 10,000 projects, and Korea ranked as the biggest foreign investor as reported by the Government of Vietnam in May 2025.4 That footprint — electronics, semiconductors, components and the supply chains around them — brings a steady flow of Korean managers, engineers and technical experts on assignment, alongside the roughly 200,000 Korean nationals already working in the country.2

At that scale the social-security agreement is not a footnote; it is real money and real administration. A company standing up or expanding a Vietnamese operation can second experienced Korean staff for the critical first years without paying twice into pension and health, while hiring the surrounding local team through an EOR — one arrangement for the secondees' coverage, another for the Vietnamese payroll. It is the practical reason a China-plus-one or capacity-expansion move from Korea can run lean before any entity exists.

Do Korean employees need a work permit in Vietnam?

Yes. A Korean national working in Vietnam needs a work permit before they start, unless a specific exemption applies, and the rules sit in Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, in force since 7 August 2025. A work permit is valid for up to two years, tied to the assignment term, and can be extended once for up to two further years.9

Most posted Korean staff qualify under the “manager” or “expert” category — an expert needs a university degree plus two years' relevant experience, or one year in priority sectors such as technology and finance. With the permit, the employee is sponsored for a labour (LĐ) visa and a temporary residence card valid for up to two years, but never longer than the permit itself.9 A Vietnamese national hired locally needs none of this. We prepare the dossier, arrange the consular legalisation and file it; the full requirements are on the Vietnam work permit and work visa and residence card pages.

Is there a tax treaty between Korea and Vietnam?

Yes. Korea and Vietnam have a double-taxation-avoidance agreement that was signed on 20 May 1994 and has been in force since 1994 — one of the more than 80 tax treaties Vietnam has signed.5 A tax treaty is separate from the social-security agreement: the treaty decides which country may tax each type of income (business profits, dividends, interest, royalties, employment income) and relieves double taxation, while the social-security agreement decides which country's compulsory insurance a posted worker pays into. A Korean company can rely on both because Korea has both with Vietnam.

Treaty relief is never automatic. Since Circular 95/2026/TT-BTC, which took effect on 1 July 2026 and replaced the long-standing Circular 205/2013, relief must be claimed with a tax-residency certificate and supporting evidence, and the tax authority can look past the paperwork to the real economic substance before allowing a benefit.6 The detail, including how the treaty interacts with Vietnamese residence and the 183-day test, is on the double tax treaties in Vietnam page.

Does hiring through an EOR remove permanent-establishment risk?

Not by itself. Engaging staff through a Vietnamese EOR puts a licensed local entity in the employer's seat, which keeps the arrangement as ordinary local employment and helps — but it does not, on its own, remove the risk that the Korean parent is treated as having a taxable “permanent establishment” in Vietnam.8 If the person in Vietnam habitually negotiates or concludes contracts that bind the Korean company — a dependent-agent permanent establishment — or the facts show the parent is really carrying on business here, the tax authority can assert a permanent establishment and corporate-tax exposure, subject to the Korea–Vietnam treaty's own permanent-establishment article.8

Since 1 July 2026 the authorities also look harder at economic substance, so this is a genuinely fact- and treaty-specific grey area as of October 2026. The safe pattern is to keep deal-making authority and client-facing commitment with the Korean company and confine the in-country role to support and delivery. The mechanism, the dependent-agent trigger and the tax cost are set out under permanent-establishment risk in Vietnam — take Vietnamese tax advice and never assume an EOR eliminates it. The role most exposed to this is a sales rep or country manager; the role-level playbook is in hiring commercial and country-manager roles in Vietnam.

How EOR Vietnam serves Korean buyers

EOR Vietnam is a Vietnam-focused EOR. For a Korean company we hire your worker through a Vietnam-registered employing entity and handle the labour contract, payroll in dong, social, health and unemployment insurance, personal-income-tax withholding, onboarding and offboarding, and work-permit support for Korean nationals who need one. Where a Korean national is posted under the social-security agreement, we work to the certificate-of-coverage position rather than duplicating contributions, and we say plainly when a case needs Vietnamese or Korean specialist advice.

Our service fee is a flat US$149 per employee per month for Vietnamese nationals — the same fee regardless of salary, seniority, role, location in Vietnam or headcount, as of October 2026, and not a percentage of payroll. Korean and other foreign nationals who need a Vietnamese work permit are quoted separately, because the permit, visa and residence-card handling differs from case to case. There are no setup, onboarding, offboarding, contract or payslip fees, and no hidden fees. A security deposit equal to two months of the employee's employment cost — gross salary plus the statutory employer contributions — is held for the duration of the engagement and returned at the end, less any unpaid amounts.

Everything else is passed through at cost, as an employment cost rather than our fee: gross salary, the roughly 23.5% statutory employer contributions, and any statutory or agreed employment payments. Each written quote names the employing entity and the legal structure and shows the statutory on-cost separately from the fee, priced in VND — see what an EOR actually costs in Vietnam. Service is delivered in English through a single contact, info@eorvietnam.vn. For the payroll, tax and work-permit detail behind all of this, browse our Vietnam employer guides. If you are still comparing providers, apply the method in how to choose the best EOR in Vietnam to us as well, and when you are ready, request a costed EOR Vietnam quote.