Remote work and long staysLàm việc từ xa

The visa landscape for long-stay remote workers

As of mid-2025, Vietnam offers no visa category specifically designed for digital nomads or location-independent workers. The visas most commonly used by long-stay foreigners are the e-visa (single or multiple entry, up to 90 days), the tourist visa, and the business visa (DL category). Some nationalities benefit from bilateral visa-exemption agreements that allow stays of 30 to 45 days without a visa.

The business visa permits attendance at meetings, conferences and business discussions with Vietnamese counterparts, but it does not authorise employment by a Vietnamese entity. It says nothing explicit about working remotely for a foreign employer, which is the legal grey area most nomads occupy. Vietnamese immigration law does not have a category that affirmatively permits this arrangement.

Visa runs — leaving and re-entering to reset a stay — have historically been used to extend time in the country. Authorities periodically tighten scrutiny of repeated short-stay entries, and the practical tolerance for this approach can change without formal announcement.

What the law says about working in Vietnam

Under Vietnamese labour law, a foreign national performing work in Vietnam for a Vietnamese employer requires a work permit issued by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, along with an appropriate visa or temporary residence card. Certain roles — chief representatives of foreign companies, for example — have their own permit categories.

Working remotely for a company registered entirely outside Vietnam, and receiving payment to a foreign bank account, is not explicitly addressed in most of this legislation, which was written with conventional employment in mind. The legal position is therefore genuinely ambiguous rather than clearly permitted. Vietnam Factbook does not interpret that ambiguity as permission, and readers should seek qualified legal advice specific to their nationality and circumstances before assuming any particular arrangement is lawful.

Running a business that generates revenue from Vietnamese customers, hiring local staff, or signing contracts with Vietnamese entities without establishing a legal entity would place a remote worker firmly inside Vietnamese commercial law and its associated requirements.

Cities remote workers tend to choose

Four cities account for the majority of long-stay remote workers. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly and still commonly called Saigon) has the largest coworking infrastructure, the most international flight connections, and a dense network of cafés and restaurants accustomed to laptop workers. It can be loud and hot year-round.

Hanoi, the capital, has a different character — older streets, cooler winters, a stronger café culture in certain districts such as Tây Hồ — and a growing number of coworking spaces. Da Nang is favoured by those who want beach proximity alongside a mid-sized city's relative calm; it lies close to the ancient town of Hoi An, which itself has a small but established remote-worker community. Da Lat, in the highlands of what is now Lâm Đồng province, attracts those who prefer a cooler climate and slower pace.

Smaller towns and rural areas can be rewarding but connectivity is less predictable, and coworking infrastructure is sparse or absent outside the main cities.

Internet infrastructure and reliability

Vietnam's fixed-line broadband and mobile data networks have expanded rapidly. In urban centres, fibre-to-the-building connections are common in apartments and coworking spaces, and speeds are generally adequate for video calls and cloud-based work. Providers include Viettel, VNPT and FPT Telecom.

Mobile data via 4G is widely available in cities and along major highways; 5G rollout is ongoing in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City but coverage maps change frequently and should be verified locally. In mountainous regions — the Ha Giang area, parts of the northwest — signal can be weak or absent for stretches.

Certain international websites and services are intermittently slow or inaccessible due to routing and content-filtering practices. VPN use is widespread among both foreign residents and Vietnamese internet users, though the legal framework around VPNs is not straightforwardly permissive. Video-conferencing platforms, cloud storage and major developer tools generally function without VPNs in cities, though performance varies.

Coworking spaces

Ho Chi Minh City has the densest concentration of coworking operators. International brands share the market with locally founded spaces; districts 1, 3 and Bình Thạnh have the highest density. Hanoi's coworking scene is concentrated in Hoàn Kiếm and Tây Hồ. Da Nang has a smaller but functional set of options, mostly near the beach and the Han River.

Membership structures vary from hot-desking by the hour or day to fixed-desk monthly contracts with locker access and meeting-room allowances. Most spaces in major cities offer reliable fibre internet with backup connections, air conditioning, printing, and some form of café or pantry. Prices vary by season, location and tier of membership — dedicated desks and private offices command a premium over hot-desking.

Beyond formal coworking, café culture in Vietnam — particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City — means that many independent cafés are accustomed to customers working for several hours. Etiquette around minimum spend and seat occupancy varies by venue and is rarely posted explicitly.

Tax residency and financial considerations

Tax obligations for foreign nationals in Vietnam are determined primarily by residency status. A person who spends 183 days or more in a calendar year in Vietnam, or who has a regular place of abode there, is generally treated as a tax resident and subject to Vietnamese personal income tax on worldwide income under the Law on Personal Income Tax. Non-residents are taxed on Vietnam-sourced income only.

The practical enforcement of tax obligations on foreign remote workers — particularly those paid abroad by foreign employers — varies and is not transparent. This does not mean obligations do not exist; it means that enforcement patterns are not reliably documented. A remote worker who crosses the 183-day threshold has a legal obligation to declare and pay tax regardless of whether anyone actively pursues them.

Double-taxation agreements (DTAs) exist between Vietnam and a number of countries; these determine whether tax paid in Vietnam can be offset against obligations in a home country, and vice versa. The list of DTA partners and their specific terms should be verified with a qualified tax adviser, as treaties are updated and their application to remote-work income is not always straightforward.

Longer-term residence options

Foreign nationals who wish to stay beyond what visas permit, without repeated border runs, have a limited set of formal options. Establishing or representing a legitimate business entity — a foreign-invested enterprise or a representative office — can provide a basis for a work permit and temporary residence card. This is a substantive legal and administrative process, not a formality.

Some remote workers marry Vietnamese nationals and obtain residence on that basis. Others work for companies with Vietnamese entities that can sponsor a work permit and visa. Without one of these anchors, long stays rely on visa categories not designed for the purpose.

The temporary residence card (thẻ tạm trú) issued alongside a valid work permit allows multi-year stays and removes the need for visa renewals during its validity. It is tied to the sponsoring entity; if employment ends, the card's basis lapses.

Vietnam Factbook will update this page as visa policy evolves. Readers are encouraged to consult official sources and legal professionals for decisions with significant personal or financial consequences.