Foreign businesses (FBs) wishing to establish representative offices (ROs) and branches in Vietnam are recommended to take notice of statutory conditions, dossier components, orders, procedures, and required tasks.

Representative office

Conditions:

●    FBs are established or registered as legal businesses in compliance with the law of such country;

●    Having operated for no less than 1 year since the legal establishment or valid business registration in the countries of origin.

Once the abovementioned conditions are met, FBs may compile a dossier of application for a license, which shall be filed with the Department of Industry and Trade. Such dossier consists of the following documents:

●    Request form signed by the competent representative of the FB;

●    Copy of the FB’s consular legalized Business Registration Certificate or other documents of equivalent value. In case where such documents prescribe a period of the FB’s operation, the remaining time must be at least 1 year;

●    Audited financial reports or other alternative documents proving the real existence and operation of the FB in the most recent fiscal year;

The copies of Business Registration Certificate, financial reports, and other alternative documents mentioned before must be translated into Vietnamese and consular legalized.

●    Copy of Corporate Charter in case of FBs being economic organizations;

●    Copy of the RO’s location lease contract;

●    Copy of the head of RO’s passport (applied to foreign nationals) or identity card (applied to Vietnamese citizens).

Within 15 days from the date of receipt of sufficient and valid dossier, the Department of Industry and Trade shall complete the appraisal and grant the License for Establishment of Representative Office.  

Branch

Conditions:

●    FBs are established or registered as legal businesses in compliance with the law of such country;

●    Having operated for no less than 5 years since the legal establishment or valid business registration.

When the aforementioned conditions are fully satisfied, FBs shall submit a dossier to the Department of Industry and Trade, which comprises the materials specified as follows:

●    Request form signed by the competent representative of the FB;

●    Copy of the Charter of the Branch, in which the scope of authorization of the Branch’s head is stated.

●    Copy of the FB’s consular legalized Business Registration Certificate or other documents of equivalent value. In case where such documents prescribe a period of the FB’s operation, the remaining time must be at least 3 years;

●    Audited financial reports or other alternative documents proving the real existence and operation of the FB in the most recent fiscal year;

The copies of Charter of the Branch, Business Registration Certificate, financial reports, and other alternative documents mentioned before must be translated into Vietnamese and consular legalized.

●    Copy of the branch’s location lease contract;

●    Copy of the Branch head’s passport (applied to foreign nationals) or identity card (applied to Vietnamese citizens).

The Department of Industry and Trade shall complete the appraisal and grant the License for Establishment of Branch within 15 days from the date of receipt of sufficient and valid dossier.

Within the period of 45 days since the license granting date, ROs and branches are required to carry out the following tasks:

●    Operation notification: posted on 03 consecutive issues of newspapers or online newspapers that are legally published in Vietnam.

●    ROs shall officially come into operation and report to the Department of Trade about the opening at the registered place.

●    Branches shall officially be active and report to the Ministry and Department of Industry and Trade where the Branches are located about the opening at the registered place.

It is essential to note that the above regulations shall not apply to ROs and branches of foreign invested enterprises set up in Vietnam.

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