EOR Vietnam for US companies

How does a US company hire in Vietnam through an EOR?

Through an EOR, a US company can place a Vietnamese hire in days, rather than the one to three months a foreign-invested entity realistically takes to set up.1 No local company, charter capital or director is needed; you keep day-to-day direction and the EOR carries the legal-employer obligations.

The EOR is a Vietnam-registered company that directly employs the worker on a Vietnamese labour contract, withholds personal income tax, and pays the statutory employer contributions — about 23.5% of gross salary (social 17.5%, health 3%, unemployment 1%3 plus a 2% trade-union fee4) — then invoices you under a business-to-business service agreement.2 This is ordinary direct employment, not a special EOR law — see how an EOR works in Vietnam and its benefits and trade-offs, weigh it against your own Vietnamese entity, and read the full ~23.5% employer on-costs.

Is there a tax treaty between the US and Vietnam?

No. The US and Vietnam signed an income-tax treaty and protocol on 7 July 2015 — the first between them6 — and Vietnam ratified it, but the US Senate never gave its advice and consent, so it has never entered into force. As of October 2026 there is still no operative US–Vietnam tax treaty, which makes Vietnam unusual among major US trading partners.5 US taxpayers therefore rely on domestic Vietnamese rules and the US foreign tax credit, not treaty relief — and, the point that matters most below, there is no treaty permanent-establishment article to fall back on. The double-tax-treaty page covers the detail and the 2026 Circular 95/2026/TT-BTC change. A Japanese parent, by contrast, can claim relief under the Japan–Vietnam income-tax treaty in force since 1995 — see EOR Vietnam for Japanese companies.

Do US nationals pay social security twice when working in Vietnam?

They can: there is no social-security totalisation agreement between the US and Vietnam.5 Vietnam's first such agreement was with South Korea, in force only from 1 January 2024, so no earlier US one exists to assign coverage or credit periods.7 A US national on a Vietnamese contract of 12 months or more joins compulsory Vietnamese social and health insurance, but not unemployment insurance — roughly 9.5% employee and 20.5% employer.3 US Social Security generally follows the employer: it keeps applying to a US citizen working abroad for an American employer, or for a foreign affiliate covered by a voluntary agreement with the US Treasury.12 A US citizen employed only by a Vietnamese EOR entity usually falls outside it, so the double charge arises mainly when the person also stays on a US payroll, for example in a split-payroll secondment — confirm the position with a US tax adviser. A Vietnamese national hired through the EOR sits in the Vietnamese system alone. The foreign-employee social insurance page covers the detachment certificates and the leaver's one-time refund.

How does a US employer compare with a treaty-country employer?

South Korea has both instruments in force; the rows below are what a US employer cannot claim in Vietnam but a Korean one can.

What is the permanent-establishment risk for a US company in Vietnam?

A permanent establishment (PE) is a taxable business presence in Vietnam. For a company hiring through an EOR the trigger to watch is the dependent-agent PE: a person in Vietnam who habitually negotiates or concludes contracts binding the overseas company can cause the tax authority to treat it as doing business in Vietnam, even without an office.8 An EOR puts a licensed Vietnamese company in the employer's seat, which helps, but does not by itself rule out a PE for the US client — that turns on what the worker does and the relevant treaty.8

The missing treaty bites hardest here. An employer from a treaty country can argue there is no PE as that treaty defines it and claim protection under Circular 95/2026/TT-BTC;9 a US company has no such shield, so an asserted PE falls back on Vietnamese domestic law, collected mainly through the Foreign Contractor Tax, with a sharper economic-substance test since July 2026.9 The roles most likely to trigger it are sales reps and country managers — see hiring sales reps and country managers. Keep contracting authority offshore and the in-country role to delivery (the permanent-establishment page has the mechanism); take Vietnamese tax advice.

Does at-will employment exist in Vietnam?

No. Vietnam has no at-will employment. An employer can end a contract only on the specific grounds the Labour Code sets out, and must give statutory notice, so the US default of terminating at will, for any reason, does not hold here.2

Lawful employer-side termination runs on defined grounds — such as an employee's repeated failure to perform, prolonged illness, or five consecutive days' unexplained absence — with 45, 30 or 3 days' notice depending on the contract type (Labour Code 2019, Arts. 35–36). A dismissal without a valid ground and due process can be challenged, exposing the employer to reinstatement and back pay, and most lawful exits carry statutory severance of half a month's salary per year of service (Art. 46).2 Plan exits in advance — see terminating employees in Vietnam and the wider Vietnam labour-law rules. As legal employer, the EOR runs any termination to the Labour Code.

Can a US company use 1099-style contractors in Vietnam?

You can, but it is the highest-risk route. Vietnamese law tests the substance, not the label: an arrangement with paid work, wages and the hirer directing the worker is an employment relationship, whatever the document is called (Labour Code 2019, Art. 13).2

If a labour inspector reclassifies a contractor as an employee, it applies from the start of the engagement — with back-dated social, health and unemployment insurance (about 21.5% employer plus 10.5% employee of gross), back personal income tax and interest, plus a fine for failing to sign a required labour contract that is tiered by headcount, from VND 2–25 million for an individual engager and double that for a company.10 An EOR removes that exposure by employing the worker properly; weigh the two routes in EOR vs contractors in Vietnam.

Time zone, invoicing and US-side credits

Vietnam is UTC+7, so its working day overlaps the late US evening and early morning — good for asynchronous and overnight work, harder for live US-hours roles. For how Vietnamese law treats a fully remote or work-from-home team, and why there is no digital-nomad visa, see remote work in Vietnam. Wages must be paid in dong, so a compliant EOR runs payroll in VND and bills your funding currency; ask how the FX rate and any spread are set.2 A US citizen or green-card holder also stays taxable in the US on worldwide income; the foreign tax credit and the foreign earned income exclusion can relieve US tax on Vietnam-source wages, but the amounts and tests change yearly, so take US tax advice.11 An EOR handles the Vietnamese side, not your US return.

How EOR Vietnam works for US companies

EOR Vietnam is a Vietnam-focused employer of record with an English-language service and one contact, info@eorvietnam.vn. We employ your worker through a Vietnam-registered entity and handle the labour contract, payroll, social, health and unemployment insurance, PIT withholding, onboarding and offboarding; for foreign hires we also run the work-permit and residence-card dossier.

For a Vietnamese-national hire our fee is a flat US$149 per employee per month — the same regardless of salary, seniority, role, location or headcount, as of October 2026; it is not a percentage of payroll. The gross salary and the roughly 23.5% statutory employer contributions are passed through at cost. A refundable security deposit equal to two months of the employee's employment cost (gross salary plus statutory employer contributions) is held for the engagement and returned at the end, less any unpaid amounts. There are no setup, onboarding, offboarding, contract or payslip fees, and no hidden fees. Posting a US national (or other foreign national) who needs a Vietnamese work permit is quoted separately, because the permit, visa and residence handling differs case by case.

Every quote is priced in VND, names the employing entity and legal structure, and shows the statutory on-cost separately from our fee — see what an EOR costs in Vietnam, or request a costed quote. We do not give tax or legal advice.