Long-Term Stay Options in Vietnam for Foreigners: Visas and Residency Paths

Vietnam does not offer a retirement or digital nomad visa. Legal long-term stays for most foreigners are built around the Temporary Residence Card (TRC), which requires a qualifying purpose and sponsorship from a Vietnamese entity or national.

How Long-Term Legal Status in Vietnam Is Typically Obtained

1. Confirm your qualifying category: employment, registered investment, or family relationship with a Vietnamese national
2. Secure sponsorship from an employer, registered company, or Vietnamese spouse
3. Obtain or convert to a visa that matches your TRC-eligible category
4. Prepare your full document file, including certified translations and legalisation
5. Submit the TRC application at the provincial Immigration Department (Cục Quản lý xuất nhập cảnh) where you live
6. Collect the TRC after processing, officially 5 working days from a complete file

> This guide reflects immigration rules and processing practices as understood in April 2026. Requirements can change without advance notice. Verify current requirements directly with the Vietnam Department of Immigration (Cục Quản lý xuất nhập cảnh) before proceeding.

Vietnam has no passive retirement visa, no income-based residency, and no digital nomad visa. Legal long-term presence here is tied to a qualifying purpose: employment, company ownership, investment, marriage to a Vietnamese national, or approved organisational work.

The options that do exist are well-defined. This guide covers the main long-stay visa and TRC routes available to foreigners in Vietnam. It does not cover the work permit application process in detail or short-term visa options. For the full work permit and LD2 visa process, see the short-stay to labour TRC guide. For spouse-based residency, see the TT visa and TRC guide.

Who Typically Uses These Routes

Vietnam's long-stay immigration system is designed for people with a clear reason to be here. The main profiles include:

• Employed foreigners working for a Vietnamese or foreign-invested company with a valid work permit
• Investors and business owners with a capital contribution in a Vietnamese-registered company
• Spouses and dependants of Vietnamese nationals or foreigners holding valid long-stay status
• NGO and diplomatic staff sponsored by approved organisations

Remote workers and freelancers often hold business visas (DN1/DN2) but have no dedicated visa category. Their legal standing is commonly discussed in expat communities as a grey area, since they typically lack formal employment contracts with Vietnamese entities. This guide is not aimed at short-stay visitors or those planning to stay indefinitely without any qualifying relationship, employer, or investment.

Key Facts at a Glance

The Main Long-Stay Routes Explained

Temporary Residence Card (TRC)

The TRC is the closest thing Vietnam has to long-term residency. It replaces the need for a visa stamp and lets holders enter and exit Vietnam freely during its validity without separate visa extensions.

Who qualifies under the law: Under amended Article 36 of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners (Law 23/2023/QH15), TRC-eligible categories include LĐ1, LĐ2, ĐT1, ĐT2, ĐT3, TT, NN1, NN2, LV1, LV2, LS, DH, PV1, and UĐ1/UĐ2. The law covers a broad range of qualifying purposes, not just employment and family.

How it works in practice: Practitioner sources report that as of early 2026, immigration authorities have been issuing TRCs most readily to LĐ2 (work permit) and TT (family) visa holders. Applicants holding other visa types, such as DN1, VR, or an e-visa, commonly need to complete a visa purpose change (chuyển đổi mục đích) before their TRC application can proceed. This step adds roughly two weeks. Investors applying under ĐT1–ĐT3 categories can apply for investor-category TRCs directly with the required investment documentation.

The TRC is applied for at the provincial Immigration Department (Cục Quản lý xuất nhập cảnh) in the city where the applicant lives.

Work Permits and Employment-Based Visas

Foreign nationals working in Vietnam legally need both a work permit and a corresponding visa or TRC. Since March 2025, work permit processing has moved from DOLISA to the Department of Home Affairs (Sở Nội vụ) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bộ Nội vụ), following Decree 25/2025/NĐ-CP. Local office names may still vary during the transition.

Employers start the work permit process, not the employee. The employer must show that the role cannot be filled by a qualified Vietnamese national. Once the work permit is issued, the employee can apply for the LĐ2 visa or proceed to a TRC.

Investor and Business-Based Stay

Foreigners who hold a contributing ownership stake in a Vietnamese-registered company can apply for a long-stay visa and TRC tied to their investor status. Investor categories are defined by capital contribution under the current Investment Law:

• ĐT1: charter capital of VND 100 billion or more (about USD 4 million). TRC valid up to 10 years.
• ĐT2: VND 50 billion to under VND 100 billion, or investment in priority sectors. TRC valid up to 5 years.
• ĐT3: VND 3 billion to under VND 50 billion. TRC valid up to 3 years.
• ĐT4: under VND 3 billion. Eligible for a 12-month visa only, not a TRC.

Capital amounts are specified in VND under the Investment Law. USD equivalents above are approximate and shift with exchange rates.

Business visa holders (DN1 or DN2) can stay up to 12 months per entry under some approvals, but they do not have the same stability as TRC holders. Many small business owners operate on DN visas with periodic renewals.

Spouse and Family-Based Residency

Foreigners married to Vietnamese nationals can apply for a TT-category visa and then a TRC based on the family relationship. The Vietnamese spouse acts as the sponsor and must provide a confirmed marriage registration. A TT-based TRC is valid for up to 3 years.

One common issue: marriages registered abroad must be recorded (ghi chú kết hôn) with Vietnamese civil authorities before they are accepted for immigration purposes. This step is often missed and causes delays. See the [foreign marriage recognition guide] for the full process.

Documents You Will Need

Official TRC File (per MPS Public Service Procedure)

The Ministry of Public Security's published procedure lists the following core items for a TRC application:

• 2 photos, size 2×3 cm (for the paper form) or 3×4 cm (for the online application)
• Valid passport
• Proof of TRC-eligible status (work permit, investment certificate, marriage registration, or organisational sponsorship)
• Completed NA8 form (TRC application)
• NA6 or NA7 sponsorship form from the sponsoring entity

Documents Often Needed in Earlier or Related Steps

These are not part of the official TRC file itself, but applicants commonly need them during upstream processes:

• Criminal background check from country of origin — required for the work permit application (handled by the labor authority), not the TRC itself
• Health certificate — required for certain work permit categories, not a standard TRC filing item
• Company registration documents — needed for investor-category applications
• Marriage certificate, translated and legalised — needed for TT-category applications
• Work permit with at least 12 months remaining validity — for employment-based applications

Translation and Legalisation

All foreign-language documents must be translated into Vietnamese by a certified translator and notarised. Foreign public documents currently require consular legalisation unless a specific exemption applies. Vietnam's accession to the Hague Apostille Convention takes effect on 11 September 2026. Until that date, apostille is not yet accepted as a substitute for consular legalisation.

Passport Validity Rule

The legal rule is that a TRC's validity must be at least 30 days shorter than the remaining passport validity (Article 38). In practice, this means most applicants need about 13 months of passport validity remaining for common TRC durations of one to two years.

Processing Time and Costs

The official processing time is 5 working days from receipt of a complete file at the provincial Immigration Department. Practitioner sources report up to 10 working days in some offices or for complex cases.

That figure covers only the final TRC processing step. Files are often returned once for corrections before acceptance. Common reasons include photo size problems, translations that were not notarised, or a lease not in the required format. When you include document preparation, any required visa purpose change, and potential corrections, a realistic planning range in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi is 3–6 weeks total.

Official TRC Fees (Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC, effective April 1, 2026)

These are government fees only. Most first-time applicants also pay for translation, notarisation, and a visa agent or legal service to prepare the file. Agent costs vary widely by provider and case complexity.

Confirm current fees and document requirements directly with the Vietnam Department of Immigration (Cục Quản lý xuất nhập cảnh) before submitting, as these can change.

What the Process Actually Looks Like

Most employed foreigners go through this sequence: the employer applies for the work permit at the Department of Home Affairs → work permit issued → employee enters Vietnam on or converts to an LĐ2 visa → employee applies for TRC at the provincial Immigration Department.

The visa category matters at the TRC application stage. If you arrived on a DN1 business visa, a VR visa, or an e-visa before your work permit was issued, a visa purpose change (chuyển đổi mục đích) to LĐ2 is commonly required before the TRC application can proceed. This adds roughly two weeks. Entering on an LĐ2 visa from the start avoids this step.

Community reports suggest that e-visa holders without a clear sponsor sometimes face additional difficulty with the purpose change, since e-visas are issued without sponsor documentation. This is not a universal block, but applicants on e-visas should be prepared for extra scrutiny.

After the visa category is sorted, a common pattern: the file gets returned once before acceptance. Officers check photo specifications, notarisation, and document formatting closely. Agents who know the preferences of a specific office can reduce this back-and-forth.

Practical Tips and What Applicants Commonly Experience

Get your entry visa right before you arrive. If arriving for employment, entering on an LĐ2 visa avoids the purpose-change step and saves about two weeks. Many applicants learn this only at the TRC submission window.

E-visas and tourist visas are entry tools, not residency tools. The Vietnamese e-visa (available to most nationalities for up to 90 days) is useful for arriving and getting settled. It is not a route to long-term legal status on its own.

Language matters. Most Immigration Department offices operate in Vietnamese. Having an employer representative or agent present at submission is genuinely helpful, not just convenient.

Office and Regional Differences

The Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi immigration offices process the highest volume of foreign applicants and tend to have more settled (if unofficial) procedures. Expat reports suggest that the Hanoi office can be stricter on sponsorship consistency during visa purpose changes.

Smaller provincial offices may take longer and occasionally require documents not listed in the standard MPS procedure. Confirm with the specific office serving your area before submitting.

Community-Reported Problems

The most commonly reported problems across expat forums and practitioner sources:

• Files returned for photo size or format issues, particularly when the wrong size is submitted for the paper vs. online form
• Translations rejected because the notarisation was done by a firm not recognised by the local office
• Delays when the work permit and visa purpose change overlap, creating gaps that complicate the TRC timeline
• Confusion between the TRC application and the work permit renewal, which are separate processes handled by different authorities

Key Sources

• Ministry of Public Security — TRC public service procedure page (Thủ tục cấp thẻ tạm trú cho người nước ngoài)
• Law 47/2014/QH13 on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam, as amended by Law 51/2019/QH14 and Law 23/2023/QH15
• Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC (Ministry of Finance, effective April 1, 2026) — fee schedule for exit, entry, transit, and residence
• Decree 25/2025/NĐ-CP — transfer of work permit authority from MOLISA to Ministry of Home Affairs
• Fragomen alert, February 2026 — processing practice update on TRC issuance by visa category
• HCCH notification, January 2026 — Vietnam accession to the Apostille Convention (effective September 11, 2026)