Long-Term Stay Options in Vietnam for Foreigners: Visas, TRC, and the 2026 Route

Vietnam does not offer a retirement visa, age-based residency, passive-income route, or digital nomad visa. Long-term legal stay rests on a Temporary Residence Card (TRC) tied to a qualifying purpose: employment, registered investment, family relationship with a Vietnamese national, or sponsored organisational work.

How Foreigners Reach Long-Term Legal Status in Vietnam

1. Confirm a qualifying purpose under Article 36 of the immigration law (work, investment, family, organisational role)
2. Secure sponsorship from a Vietnamese employer, registered company, spouse, or approved organisation
3. Enter on the matching long-stay visa code (LĐ2 for work, ĐT1 to ĐT3 for investment, TT for family). If you arrived on something else, convert before applying for the TRC
4. File the TRC at the provincial Immigration Department where you live, using forms NA6 or NA7, plus NA8
5. Pay the government fee, collect the TRC after the official 5 working days, and register VNeID
6. Renew the TRC alongside the underlying purpose document (work permit, IRC, or marriage record)

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

Vietnam runs one of the more rule-bound long-stay systems in Southeast Asia. Every legal path for staying past 90 days assumes a sponsor and a defined reason. That can be a job, a registered investment, a family tie, or an approved organisational role. There is no immigration category triggered by income, age, or property ownership alone.

This guide covers the long-stay visa categories that lead into a Temporary Residence Card or, in narrow cases, permanent residence. It does not cover short-stay tools such as the e-visa, DN1 or DN2 business visas, or visa runs, which are entry instruments rather than residency paths. For the labour-side process in detail, see the short-stay to labour TRC pathway. For family-based routes, see the TT visa and TRC guide for foreign spouses.

Who Long-Stay in Vietnam Is Designed For

Vietnam's long-stay system rewards a clear reason to be there. The clearest profiles are foreign workers employed by a Vietnamese or foreign-invested company, foreign investors with a registered capital contribution, foreign spouses or family members of Vietnamese citizens, and NGO or diplomatic staff sponsored by an approved organisation. Each profile has its own visa code and TRC ceiling, but they share the same backbone: a sponsor on the Vietnamese side.

People who do not fit these profiles often arrive expecting a route to exist and find that one does not. Retirees with a stable pension, freelancers who work for foreign clients, online business owners, and frequent travellers all sit outside the long-stay categories until they create one of the qualifying ties. Practitioner sources have observed remote workers using the e-visa and short business visas in rolling cycles, but this is an entry pattern rather than legal long-term residency. The same applies to anyone arriving without a Vietnamese employer, company, or family record in place.

Long-Term Stay Options for Foreigners in Vietnam at a Glance

A side-by-side view of the operational long-stay routes in 2026:

The investor capital figures are set in Vietnamese đồng (VND) under the immigration law. USD equivalents shift with the exchange rate. As a working reference, VND 3 billion sits around USD 120,000 at a market rate of roughly 25,000 VND to USD as of April 2026.

Why Sponsorship and Purpose Drive Every Long-Stay Path

The Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners (Law 47/2014/QH13, amended by Laws 51/2019/QH14 and 23/2023/QH15) treats long-stay status as a function of a defined purpose. Article 36 lists the visa codes eligible for a TRC, and each code maps back to a sponsor type: an employer, an investment licence, a Vietnamese family member, or an approved organisation.

This matters in two practical ways. The first is that a visa code is not interchangeable. Landing on an e-visa and then trying to apply for a TRC requires a formal change of purpose, not a re-classification at the counter. The second is that the sponsor remains the load-bearing party throughout the residency. If the employer's work permit lapses, the LĐ2 status no longer supports the TRC. See what to do when your Vietnam TRC is still valid but your work permit has expired if you are already in that situation. If the marriage record cannot be verified by Vietnamese civil authorities, the TT route does not open.

Practitioner sources updating in February 2026 reported a tightening at the issuance stage. TRCs are now being granted only to holders of LĐ2 (work) and TT (family) visas. Anyone on another visa type has to convert visa purpose before the TRC application can move forward. That practice update is the operational reality the four steps below have to plan around.

Step-by-Step From Sponsor to TRC

The path between the first decision and TRC collection breaks into four stages. Real timelines vary by category, but the order is the same.

Step 1 — Confirm Your Qualifying Purpose and Visa Category

The right starting point is the immigration code that matches the situation, not the sponsorship offer that came first. Workers with a job offer in Vietnam start at LĐ2. For English teachers, the work route also depends on school sponsorship, teaching certificates, and how the employer frames the role. See teaching English in Vietnam legally for the hiring-side checks before the work-permit stage.

Investors start at ĐT1, ĐT2, or ĐT3 depending on the capital tier. Foreign spouses start at TT. Sponsored organisational staff start at NN, LV, LS, DH, or PV depending on the inviting body. Investors below VND 3 billion in capital sit in ĐT4, which is a 12-month visa rather than a TRC route in practice.

For investors, the capital tier is the lever that decides the TRC ceiling. ĐT3 (VND 3 billion to under 50 billion) is the most common entry point for foreigners running a small business in Vietnam. The capital must be paid into a Vietnamese-registered company, not just committed on paper. For the route from arriving on an e-visa to running a small business under ĐT3, see the e-visa to DT investor visa pathway.

For foreign spouses, the marriage record is the qualifying document. A marriage registered in Vietnam works directly. A marriage registered abroad must be recorded with Vietnamese civil authorities (ghi chú kết hôn) before it is accepted by immigration. For the recording process, see the foreign marriage recognition guide.

Step 2 — Enter or Convert to the Right Visa Code

This is where the largest 2026 timeline change lives. Practitioner sources reported in early February 2026 that immigration offices are issuing TRCs only to holders of LĐ2 and TT visas. Anyone arriving on a DN1 or DN2 business visa, a VR visiting visa, or an e-visa now has to complete a formal change of visa purpose (chuyển đổi mục đích) before the TRC application can proceed. That conversion typically adds about two weeks to the overall timeline.

The cleanest approach is to enter on the right code from the start. Workers arriving on LĐ2, sponsored by an employer who already holds the work permit decision, skip the conversion step entirely. Foreign spouses can enter on a TT visa once the marriage is registered or recorded. Investors arriving to set up a company often have to live with the conversion step, since the IRC and capital contribution have to be in place first.

Step 3 — File the TRC at the Provincial Immigration Department

The TRC application is filed at the provincial Cục Quản lý xuất nhập cảnh in the city where the applicant lives. The official portal is xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn, and the published procedure lists three forms. NA6 is used by sponsoring agencies and organisations. NA7 is used by individuals filing in their own name. NA8 is the information form, attached with a 3×4 cm photo. Two photos are required overall, one glued to the form and one separate. A valid passport with at least 13 months remaining validity is the standard.

The official processing time is 5 working days from receipt of a complete file. Practitioner sources note that complex cases or files routed through a provincial office with lower foreign-applicant volume can extend to around 15 working days. Files are commonly returned once for corrections. The most frequent reasons are photo size mismatch between the paper and online forms, notarisation done by a firm not recognised by the local office, or a lease document in a non-standard format.

Step 4 — Register VNeID and Stay Compliant

VNeID is Vietnam's national digital identity platform, run by the Ministry of Public Security. Since 1 July 2025, it is required for a wide set of administrative procedures, including taxes, banking authentication, household-registration items, and several immigration-adjacent functions. Foreign nationals aged 6 and over who hold a TRC or PRC are eligible for both Level 1 and Level 2 accounts.

Level 1 can be applied for through the VNeID app. Level 2 requires an in-person appointment at the immigration agency or provincial public security office for biometric capture. Most foreign TRC holders find Level 2 worth the appointment, because that is the version that unlocks bank-link verification and stores the residence card inside the app. This step is not in the older long-stay overviews; it is now an operational reality of holding a TRC. For how the banking side connects to VNeID and visa type, see the banking for foreigners guide.

Documents You Will Need

The TRC file itself is short. The longer document burden sits upstream, in the work permit, marriage record, or investment registration that backs the TRC application.

Required for Every TRC File

Required by every applicant, from the published procedure:

• Form NA6 (sponsoring agency or organisation) or Form NA7 (individual application)
• Form NA8, the information form, with a 3×4 cm photo glued in place
• Valid passport with at least 13 months remaining validity. Article 38 sets a 30-day buffer between TRC validity and remaining passport validity
• Two photos, sized to the office's stated specification. Paper and online forms can call for 2×3 cm or 3×4 cm

A missing form NA8 photo or an out-of-spec passport is the most common reason a complete-looking file is rejected at the counter.

Conditional by Category

What changes is the proof of qualifying purpose:

• LĐ1 or LĐ2 (work): the work permit, or written confirmation of work permit exemption. Under Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, the work permit dossier and the criminal record certificate can now be submitted together via the National Public Service Portal (dichvucong.gov.vn).
• ĐT1, ĐT2, or ĐT3 (investment): the Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) and Enterprise Registration Certificate, plus capital-contribution evidence at the tier level being claimed.
• TT (family): the marriage certificate, with ghi chú kết hôn for foreign-registered marriages, plus the Vietnamese sponsor's identity documents.
• NN, LV, LS, DH, or PV: the written confirmation or invitation from the sponsoring agency or approved organisation.

For investors below VND 3 billion in capital, there is one historical detail worth knowing. The work permit exemption that ĐT1, ĐT2, and ĐT3 holders rely on does not extend to ĐT4 holders, who must obtain a work permit separately if they take an active employment role in their company. The exemption threshold (VND 3 billion in capital) originated under Decree 152/2020 and is widely understood to have carried into the current Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP regime. Confirm at the relevant provincial authority before assuming.

Translation, Notarisation, and the September 2026 Apostille Cutover

Foreign-language documents must be translated into Vietnamese by a certified translator and then notarised. The notary must be one the local Immigration Department recognises. This is one of the most common file-return triggers when an applicant uses an unfamiliar firm. Until 11 September 2026, foreign public documents (degrees, marriage certificates, criminal record certificates) must be consular-legalised at the Vietnamese embassy in the issuing country. Apostille is not yet accepted as a substitute.

From 11 September 2026, Vietnam's accession to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention enters into force. A single Apostille issued by the originating country will replace the consular legalisation chain for foreign public documents from member states. Vietnam has designated the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi and the Department of External Relations in Ho Chi Minh City as the competent authorities for issuing Apostilles on Vietnamese documents going abroad. Applicants with a TRC application straddling that date should plan their document collection around it. Legalising too early may not save time.

Processing Time and Government Costs

Vietnam's published rule is 5 working days from receipt of a complete file at the provincial Immigration Department. With document preparation, any visa purpose change, and one likely round of file corrections, plan for 3–6 weeks total in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

The fee schedule below comes from Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC, signed on 27 March 2026 and effective 1 April 2026. It replaces Circulars 25/2021 and 62/2023.

Holders of 3-year cards (TT, ĐT3) and 10-year cards (ĐT1) should confirm their fee line at submission, as the published schedule maps to specific durations. The permanent residence card costs USD 100 under the same Circular. These are government fees only. First-time applicants typically also pay for translation, notarisation, and a visa agent or law firm to prepare the file. Agent costs vary widely by provider and case complexity.

What Changed in 2025–2026 (and Why It Matters)

Between March 2025 and April 2026, the rules behind Vietnam's long-stay system shifted in five concrete ways. Most older articles on this topic still assume the previous regime, which is why they read as out of date.

The first is the labour authority shift. Decree 25/2025/NĐ-CP, effective 1 March 2025, transferred labour-management functions from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bộ Nội vụ). Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP followed on 7 August 2025 and now governs the foreign worker regime. It revoked Decrees 152/2020 and 70/2023 and assigned comprehensive work permit authority to provincial People's Committees. From 1 July 2025, work permit issuance, re-issuance, extension, and revocation sit at the provincial level. In Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the People's Committee has delegated this work to the Department of Home Affairs (Sở Nội vụ). Other provinces still route through DOLISA, with a national trend toward consolidation.

The second is process integration on the labour side. Under Decree 219/2025, the demand-for-foreign-worker report is now part of the work permit dossier rather than a separate filing. The dossier can be submitted through dichvucong.gov.vn together with a request for the criminal record certificate. The expert experience requirement has dropped to two years for those with a university degree, and new exemption categories cover finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, and prioritised socio-economic sectors.

The third is the TRC issuance practice update reported by practitioner sources in February 2026. TRCs are now being issued only to holders of LĐ2 and TT visas. Other visa categories must convert visa purpose first, adding about two weeks. This is not a law change; it is an operational tightening at the immigration office level.

The fourth is digital. VNeID, Vietnam's national digital identity, has been required for administrative procedures since 1 July 2025. TRC and PRC holders are eligible for both Level 1 and Level 2 accounts, and Level 2 in particular is becoming the operational identifier for tax, banking, and residence-related procedures.

The fifth is the apostille shift. Vietnam acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention on 31 December 2025, and the Convention enters into force on 11 September 2026. Foreign documents apostilled in member states will be accepted directly from that date.

Work permit validity remains up to two years and can be renewed once for up to two more, under Decree 219/2025. The Investment Law 2025 (Law 143/2025/QH15) took effect on 1 March 2026, with conditional-business-list provisions following on 1 July 2026. It modernises the FDI framework but does not change the visa-tier capital amounts that decide ĐT1 to ĐT4 classification.

Permanent Residence: Who Can Actually Get It

Permanent residence in Vietnam exists, but the eligibility list is short. Under Articles 39 and 40 of Law 47/2014/QH13, an applicant must fall into one of four categories. The first is a holder of a Vietnamese state award or honorary title for contributions to Vietnam's development and defence. The second is a scientist or expert currently holding a TRC and recommended by the relevant minister. The third is a foreigner sponsored by a parent, spouse, or child who is a Vietnamese citizen with permanent residence. The fourth is a stateless person continuously resident in Vietnam since before 2000.

Sponsored applicants must have continuously resided in Vietnam for at least three years. Article 40 adds two general conditions: a lawful place of habitation, and a stable income sufficient to support themselves. The decision rests with the Minister of Public Security, who has up to four months to decide on a complete file, extendable by up to two months for additional verification. The card itself costs USD 100 under Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC.

In practice, most long-term foreign residents in Vietnam stay on rolling TRCs rather than aim for permanent residence. The TRC system handles five-, ten-, and indefinite-stay scenarios well enough through renewal, and the PRC bar is high enough that family-sponsored applicants are still the largest practical group.

Practical Tips and What Applicants Commonly Experience

Office and Regional Variation

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi process the highest volume of foreign applicants and have the most settled internal procedures, even where those procedures are not all written down. Both have been the first to operationalise the People's Committee-to-Sở Nội vụ delegation for work permits. Both also run higher rates of document scrutiny on foreign-language items. Practitioner sources have noted that the Hanoi office can be stricter on sponsorship consistency during visa purpose changes.

Other provinces vary. Some still route work permits through DOLISA. Some have moved to centralised administrative service centres. A few smaller provincial offices occasionally request items not on the published TRC procedure list. Confirming with the specific office serving the applicant's residential address before filing is consistently better than relying on a national checklist.

Applicant-Reported Problems

The most common file-return triggers reported across practitioner sources and expat forums:

• Photo size or format mismatch, particularly when a 2×3 cm photo is submitted for an online form that expected 3×4 cm or vice versa
• Translation rejected because the notary firm is not recognised by the local immigration office
• Sponsor and applicant document inconsistency, especially during a visa purpose change from DN1 or e-visa to LĐ2
• Timing gaps between the work permit and the TRC, which can leave the applicant on an interim visa for longer than the planned conversion window

The pattern is more about local-office preference than about the law. Working with an agent or in-house corporate immigration team that knows the specific office's recent practice is the single biggest reducer of file-return cycles.

Key Sources

• Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP on Foreign Workers in Vietnam (issued 7 August 2025)
• Decree 25/2025/NĐ-CP on the functions and structure of the Ministry of Home Affairs
• Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC on entry, exit, transit, and residence fees (effective 1 April 2026)
• Investment Law 2025 (Law 143/2025/QH15), effective 1 March 2026
• Vietnam Immigration Department portal — xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn