Vietnam employer and EOR guides

EOR basics and comparisons

Deciding whether an EOR fits, and how it compares with the alternatives.

The basics

• EOR Vietnam (home) — hire without a local entity.
• What is an EOR in Vietnam — the model, and who employs the worker.
• Is EOR legal in Vietnam — the two lawful routes, and their limits.
• Benefits of an EOR — what it speeds up, and its limits.

EOR compared with other options

• EOR vs PEO — who signs the labour contract.
• EOR vs your own entity — when to incorporate instead.
• EOR vs a contractor — the misclassification risk and cost.
• EOR vs a staffing agency — placement versus ongoing employment.
• Top EOR providers: how to choose — the legal criteria, red flags and questions to ask.
• Switching EOR providers — moving across without a gap.
• Permanent-establishment risk — the taxable-presence exposure.

PEO and outsourcing

What “PEO”, co-employment, dispatch and payroll outsourcing can lawfully do in Vietnam.

• PEO in Vietnam — what a PEO really is here.
• Top PEO: how to choose — a scorecard, red flags and a provider snapshot.
• Is co-employment legal — no co-employment statute; one legal employer per contract.
• Labour outsourcing and dispatch — the licensed route and 12-month cap.
• Payroll and HR outsourcing — payroll without the employer role.

Payroll and tax

On top of gross salary a Vietnamese employer carries about 23.5% in statutory contributions and the employee 10.5% — as of October 2026.23 From 1 July 2026, employers withhold PIT monthly but declare it quarterly.4

• Vietnam payroll and employer costs — pay and the ~23.5% on-cost.
• Vietnam minimum wage 2026 — the four regional floors.
• Personal income tax 2026 — the five brackets and quarterly filing.
• Social insurance (BHXH) — the rates, the cap, who files.
• Social insurance for foreigners — what foreign employees pay.
• The 2% trade-union fee — what the employer pays, union or not.
• Tax-free allowances — allowances exempt from PIT, and caps.
• Tax residency: the 183-day rule — when worldwide income is taxed.
• Double tax treaties — how they prevent double taxation.
• 13th-month salary and Tet bonus — customary, not statutory.
• Employee stock options (ESOP) — granting equity, and its tax.

Leave and benefits

What people are owed in time off, and what the market adds.

• Employee benefits — the statutory floor, plus market expectations.
• Annual leave — the entitlement, and how it grows.
• Public holidays 2026 and 2027 — the paid holidays, including Tet.
• Maternity and paternity leave — the entitlements, and who pays.
• Sick leave — paid from the social-insurance fund.
• Female employee rights — the Labour Code's specific protections.

Contracts, discipline and exit

From signing a contract to ending one lawfully.

• Labour law and contracts — the two contract types and core rules.
• Electronic labour contracts — when e-signing is valid.
• Probation period — the limits, and the 85% pay floor.
• Internal labour regulations — the mandatory work rules, and registering them.
• Labour discipline — the four lawful measures, and the process.
• Terminating employees — lawful grounds, notice and documentation.
• Severance pay — how it is calculated, and the unemployment-insurance offset.

Working hours, safety and remote work

Working time, the safety duties owed, and remote work.

• Working hours and overtime — the caps, and overtime pay.
• Occupational safety and health — the duties, training and accident reporting.
• Mandatory health checks — the periodic checks employers must fund.
• Remote work — how telework fits the law.

Immigration and work authorisation

What a foreign national needs to work lawfully — and when no permit is needed.

• Work permits — the dossier, validity and renewal window.
• Work-permit exemptions — when no permit is required.
• Work visa and residence card — the visa and card that follow a permit.

Data protection and IP

Since 1 January 2026 the Personal Data Protection Law and its decree govern HR data in Vietnam.5 These guides cover that regime, lawful checks, and who owns what your team creates.

• PDPL and HR data — handling employee data and transfers abroad.
• Background checks — what pre-hire checks are lawful.
• IP ownership of employee work — who owns work product, and how to secure it.
• Non-compete agreements — how far a restraint will hold.

Hiring by role, industry and location

Guides for the teams companies most often build in Vietnam — by role, sector, city and home country.

• Hire developers — building a software team.
• Hire sales reps and country managers — commercial hires and commission.
• Hire English teachers — the work-permit path, degree and TEFL rules.
• BPO and call-centre teams — scaling shift-based teams compliantly.
• China+1 manufacturing teams — pre-entity hiring before a plant.
• Hire and pay contractors — engaging them without reclassification.
• EOR in Ho Chi Minh City — hiring in the south.
• EOR in Hanoi — hiring in the capital.
• EOR in Da Nang — hiring on the central coast.
• For US companies — what a US parent should know.
• For Korean companies — for a Korean parent.
• For Japanese companies — for a Japanese parent.

Cost and pricing

What a hire costs — always the EOR fee plus pass-through statutory costs, never one blended rate.

• EOR Vietnam cost and calculator — the fee, the on-costs, an estimate.
• PEO cost in Vietnam — how PEO pricing is structured.
• Vietnam salary guide — sourced ranges to benchmark an offer.

Compliance calendar, law changes and glossary

The deadlines, the 2026 changes, and a plain-English glossary that tie the rest together.

• HR compliance calendar 2026–2027 — the deadlines, by month.
• What changed in 2026 — the changes to act on.
• HR and employment glossary — the terms, in plain English.

How EOR Vietnam uses these guides

These guides are the reference we work from as your employer of record. EOR Vietnam hires your worker through a Vietnam-registered entity and handles the contract, payroll, statutory insurance, PIT withholding, onboarding, offboarding and work-permit support — the topics above, handled rather than explained.

Our service fee is a flat US$149 per employee per month for Vietnamese nationals, the same regardless of salary, seniority, role, city or headcount, as of October 2026; it is not a percentage of payroll. Foreign hires who need a work permit are quoted separately, because the permit, visa and residence-card handling differs case by 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 engagement and returned at the end, less any unpaid amounts. Everything else — salary, the roughly 23.5% statutory contributions, and any statutory or agreed employment payments — is passed through at cost. See the cost and pricing guides, or request a costed quote.