On February 20 at 7am, Nguyen Thu Tuyen hurried to the one-stop-shop office of Thanh Xuan District to line up to get a form for the procedures to register her business to run extra classes. This was the third time she had visited the agency.

“At first, I came here at 9 am because I did not think that there were so many people coming to register business. I had to leave, because the office could only handle 25 applications in the morning,” Tuyen said.

On her second attempt, she arrived before the office had opened, but her application was rejected due to various errors, including inaccuracies in the application form (an uncertified copy of her ID, and a missing rental contract for the teaching venue). 

Surprised by the more complicated-than-expected procedures, she hired a service provider to expedite the legalization of her tutoring.

Having been a freelance teacher hosting small-scale classes, Tuyen initially didn’t think that she needed to make business registration, because her income from the classes ‘was inconsiderable".

However, with the issuance of Circular 29, she realized that the regulation on business registration also applies to individuals involved in tutoring. Consequently, she halted her classes to complete the business registration process.

She hoped the third attempt would bring success. The service provider reassured her that she would obtain a registration certificate after two trips to the district people’s committee and taxation sub-department to get tax codes. 

Hung, who provided service to Huyen, told VietNamNet that many teachers still cannot register their business because of problems in procedures.

“Teachers need to show a contract on renting premises for classes. Many of them show addresses of apartments, which are used as accommodations, not as offices or classes,” he explained.

He added that previously, one would get business registration after three days of dossier submission. But recently, it takes 4-5 days because of a high number of applications.

Also at Thanh Xuan district one-stop-shop agency, VietNamNet reporters met a man named Thien Minh from Cau Giay district who came to register the establishment of a business household.

Minh explained that his wife, a primary school teacher, ran extra classes in Thanh Xuan district. Under the newly released Circular 29, public school teachers are not allowed to register businesses, so to legalize his wife’s tutoring activities, he has to register for household business.

Minh carefully learned about the documents he needed to bring for business registration, including ID cards and house rental contract. However, he still failed to make registration.

“Officers told me that the name of business household is not lawful if referring to Article 88 of Decree 01, and I need to rename it. But I still don’t know why the name is not accepted,” he said.

In the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, hundreds of people have also come to the public administration service center to apply for private teaching.

In Vinh City of Nghe An province, according to the Department of Finance and Planning, about 300 households have submitted applications to establish a business for organizing tutoring sessions. In Ha Tinh City, applications had been made as of February 19.

Pham Ba Tuan in Ha Tinh told VietNamNet that he came to the agency to register a household business in his name, because his wife is a public school teacher. His dossier has been accepted and he has been told to come back after three days.

The Department of Finance and Planning under the Ha Tinh City People’s Committee reported that the number of applications for establishing tutoring businesses continues to increase daily.

"We started receiving applications on February 14, the day Circular 29 became effective. For any profession not prohibited by law and meeting the conditions for business, we accept applications and issue business registration certificates,” an official said. 

“As for other issues, regulations will be promulgated by other competent agencies,” he said.

"The permitting of operations or how these operations are conducted is decided by other competent authorities," said the leader from the Department of Finance and Planning in Ha Tinh City.

Prior to that, Nguyen Dinh Duong, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance and Planning in Buon Ma Thuot City reported that since December 2024, the department had issued over 300 business registration certificates for educational activities.

Thuy Nga - Thien Luong