Distinguishing Managers and Experts when applying for work permits for foreign workers in Vietnam

According to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs published by Lao Dong Newspaper on May 27^th, 2026, by the end of 2025, Vietnam had 162,858 foreign workers (“FWs”) working in the country, coming from approximately 110 countries and territories. Of which:[1]

155,088 people fall within the group required to hold a work permit, and 7,770 people are exempt from work permits.
By job position, Technical Workers account for the largest number with 85,951 people, followed by Experts with 44,342 people, Managers with 22,416 people, and Executive Directors with 10,149 people.
FWs in Vietnam come from approximately 110 countries and territories. Of these, workers of Chinese nationality account for the highest proportion at 31.1%, followed by the Republic of Korea at 18.5%, Taiwan (China) at 12.9%, and Japan at 9.5%.

In the context of increasingly deep international economic integration, the Vietnamese labor market is shifting toward diversifying its human resources, including the increasingly notable participation of FWs. Recruiting FWs helps enterprises gain access to specialized expertise, management experience, and advanced technology. At the same time, it promotes knowledge transfer and improves the quality of the domestic workforce.

Notably, Experts and Managers are also the two positions that many enterprises are interested in when recruiting FWs. However, these are also the two positions that enterprises easily confuse when assessing the nature of the work that a FW is expected to perform. This may affect the identification and collection of supporting documents to apply for a work permit (“WP”). The grant of a WP is carried out in accordance with Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP dated August 7^th, 2025, on foreign workers working in Vietnam (“Decree 219/2025/ND-CP”). If the position is not correctly identified and the dossier is not appropriately prepared, enterprises may face the risk of non-compliance with legal regulations and may be subject to administrative penalties.

Based on the above issue, this article focuses on analyzing the legal criteria for distinguishing the Manager and Expert positions. In addition, the article clarifies the requirements for supporting dossiers for each position. Accordingly, enterprises can identify the position that matches the nature of the FW’s work. Enterprises can also prepare a WP application dossier that complies with current legal regulations.

1. Job positions of foreign workers under current legal regulations:

Current law classifies the job positions of FWs into four groups. Under Article 3 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, these positions include:

Job position	Definition under legal regulations
Manager	A person who manages an enterprise as defined in Clause 24, Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises, or the head or deputy head of an agency or organization as prescribed by law.
Executive Director	A person falling within one of the following cases: 1. The head of a branch, representative office, or business location of an enterprise; 2. A person who heads and directly manages a field of an agency, organization, or enterprise and has at least 3 years of experience in a field appropriate to the job position that the foreign worker is expected to hold in Vietnam.
Expert	A person falling within one of the following cases: 1. Holding a university degree or higher, or equivalent, and having at least 2 years of work experience appropriate to the job position that the foreign worker is expected to hold in Vietnam; 2. Holding a university degree or higher in the field of training and having at least 1 year of experience appropriate to the job position that the foreign worker is expected to hold in Vietnam, for experts working in the fields of finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, or a priority field for socio-economic development identified by a ministry, a ministerial-level agency, or a provincial People’s Committee, or under a cooperation agreement of the Government of Vietnam.
Technical Worker	1. Having been trained for at least 1 year and having at least 2 years of experience appropriate to the job position that the foreign worker is expected to hold in Vietnam; 2. Having at least 3 years of work experience appropriate to the job position that the foreign worker is expected to hold in Vietnam.

Accordingly, the law sets out specific conditions for each job position of FWs. For a Manager, the main condition is tied to the title and management authority within the enterprise or organization. Meanwhile, an Expert is determined based on professional qualifications, work experience, and the nature of the work expected to be undertaken.

Given the above difference, when recruiting a FW for one of these two positions, enterprises need to note:

Regarding the job position: Does the FW’s expected work meet the legal criteria for the Manager or Expert position?
Regarding the supporting dossier: What documents need to be prepared to prove that the FW meets the conditions of the corresponding job position?

To clarify these issues, the following sections analyze each specific case in depth.

2. Case 01. Identifying a foreign worker as a Manager:

When an enterprise identifies a FW as a Manager, as analyzed in Section 1, the enterprise needs to consider the “management” element within the enterprise, agency, or organization under the relevant laws. Specifically, the conditions and supporting documents are prescribed in Clause 1, Article 3, Clause 1, Article 19 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP and Clause 24, Article 4 of the 2020 Law on Enterprises as follows:

	For enterprises	For other agencies and organizations
Conditions to be met	A person who manages a private enterprise or manages a company, including the owner of a private enterprise, a general partner, the Chairperson of the Members’ Council, a member of the Members’ Council, the Company President, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, a member of the Board of Directors, the Director or General Director, and an individual holding another management title as prescribed in the company charter.	The head or deputy head of an agency or organization as prescribed by law.
Documents proving that the conditions are met	– The company charter; and – Documents proving that the person is a Manager, or an appointment or assignment document for Manager positions.	The establishment license of the agency or organization, or an appointment or assignment document for the head or deputy head of the agency or organization.
Notes	– Enterprises need to review the company charter and internal documents to determine whether the FW has management authority consistent with legal regulations. – Depending on whether the FW’s Manager position is a title listed in the regulations or another title (for example: Deputy Director, Head of a branch), the enterprise may rely on the company charter, the corresponding appointment document, and/or the Enterprise Registration Certificate (“ERC”), and the Branch Operation Registration Certificate to prepare an appropriate supporting dossier, avoiding omissions or the provision of unnecessary documents. – Enterprises also need to carefully review whether the contents of these documents are consistent with the Manager position. + Where the charter has appropriate provisions, the FW is validly appointed or assigned under a document with corresponding content, and/or the ERC records the FW as the legal representative concurrently holding a management title, the enterprise may consider using these documents to prove the Manager position when applying for a WP. + Where the charter does not yet have appropriate content, the enterprise needs to consider amending and supplementing it to ensure it is consistent with the job position. + Where appropriate appointments or assignment documents are not yet available, the enterprise needs to note the need to supplement them. + Where the state authority takes the ERC into account: If the ERC does not yet reflect appropriate content, the enterprise may have to carry out registration-change procedures under the laws on enterprises to supplement the FW’s information on the business registration system. – However, in practice, the acceptance of the dossier still depends on the views of the competent state authority in each locality and at different times. Accordingly, the competent authority may hold a different view and may require the enterprise to supplement or adjust the components of the dossier.	– Agencies and organizations need to base themselves on the legal regulations governing their operations and their actual organizational structure to determine the Manager position. – Agencies and organizations need to review the establishment license, internal regulations, and appointment or assignment documents to assess whether these documents contain content proving that the FW meets the conditions for the Manager position.

Accordingly, when identifying a Manager position, enterprises need to check the following four issues:

How do the sector-specific laws (the Law on Enterprises, and the laws governing the operations of agencies and organizations) and related regulations define the Manager title? Do these titles meet the Manager criteria under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP?
Is the Manager title reflected in any legal normative document or legal paper?
How do the internal documents of the enterprise, agency, or organization (for example, the company charter) record this Manager title?
Has the enterprise, agency, or organization issued an appointment or assignment decision for the FW to assume the management position?

From there, the enterprise, agency, or organization can collect appropriate documents to carry out the WP application procedure. However, as mentioned, it should be noted that the acceptance of the dossier in practice still depends on the views of the competent state authority.

3. Case 02. Identifying a foreign worker as an Expert:

Unlike the Manager position, when identifying a FW as an Expert, the enterprise needs to consider three factors at the same time: (i) the proven professional qualifications; (ii) the actual work experience; and (iii) the relationship between these two factors and the job position expected in Vietnam.

3.1. Cases meeting the Expert conditions:

a. Ordinary case:

For the ordinary case, the FW needs to have a university degree, certificate, or graduation certificate at university level or higher, or equivalent, without being limited to a specific field of training. In addition, the FW needs to meet the work experience conditions under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP.

Accordingly, the FW can prove experience with one of two types of documents. First, a written confirmation from a foreign employer of at least 02 years of work experience appropriate to the position expected in Vietnam. Second, a previously issued WP or certificate of exemption from WP in Vietnam, with a term of at least 02 years and recording a job position appropriate to the expected position. In both cases, the enterprise needs to compare the position and scope of work stated in the document with the position expected in Vietnam. The enterprise also needs to check the term stated in the confirmation or the WP.

b. Cases subject to specific experience requirements:

Decree 219/2025/ND-CP provides for certain cases with separate conditions on qualifications and experience. For example, a FW holding a university degree, certificate, or graduation certificate at university level or higher, or equivalent, in the field of training and working in the fields of finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation, or a priority field for socio-economic development may fall within the case where a requirement of at least 01 year of experience applies. This condition applies only if the FW fully meets the corresponding conditions. In particular, the priority fields for socio-economic development must be reflected in documents of a ministry, a ministerial-level agency, or a provincial People’s Committee, or under a cooperation agreement of the Government of Vietnam.

Therefore, before applying the specific experience condition, the enterprise needs to accurately determine the legal basis for applying the priority development fields and occupations. The 01-year experience threshold should not be automatically applied to every FW holding a university degree in a corresponding professional field.

c. Some cases of specific fields of training/occupations:

In addition to the above cases, determining the conditions for certain groups of FWs also requires consideration of the corresponding sector-specific regulations:

Group of cases	Documents or conditions to note
Artists, coaches, athletes	Certificates of achievements, degrees, and experience as guided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Aviation personnel, aircraft maintenance personnel, seafarers	Licenses, certificates, or professional qualification certificates as prescribed for each subject. Where issued by a competent foreign authority, they must be recognized by a competent Vietnamese authority as guided by the Minister of Construction.
Education and training experts	Documents proving the standard qualifications under the education laws or the relevant organization and operation regulations. Example: A foreign teacher at a foreign language center must hold a college degree in foreign language pedagogy or higher, or a college degree in a foreign language or higher together with an appropriate foreign language teaching training certificate, or a college degree or higher, a foreign language proficiency certificate at level 5 or higher, and an appropriate foreign language teaching training certificate.[2]
Other specific occupations	Documents proving expert status as guided by the relevant managing ministry or sector.

3.2. How are the “term of the experience confirmation document” and “appropriate experience” determined?

a. Determining the length of experience:

In the course of preparing the dossier, enterprises usually consider two groups of documents to prove a FW’s experience: (1) A confirmation document from the foreign employer for whom the FW previously worked; and (2) A WP/certificate of exemption from WP previously issued in Vietnam.

Accordingly, the FW needs to contact the foreign employer to issue an experience confirmation document that clearly states the number of years of experience. If the working period is recorded by day, month, and year, the start date and end date should be clearly stated to facilitate determining the total length of experience.

For a WP or certificate of exemption from WP previously issued in Vietnam, the enterprise needs to check the term and the job position recorded on the document. It should be noted that the maximum term of these documents is 02 years. Not every document has a full 02-year term. Therefore, enterprises should not automatically treat the fact that a FW was previously granted a WP as sufficient grounds to prove 02 years of experience.

Where an existing type of document does not show the required length of experience, the enterprise may consider submitting both types of documents above to verify the experience.

b. Assessing the appropriateness between experience and the expected job position:

A FW with many years of experience does not necessarily meet the conditions if the work previously performed is not appropriate to the position expected in Vietnam. For example, experience in personnel management, resource allocation, or overall operational management is not automatically equivalent to professional experience in a specific field.

The title at a foreign enterprise also does not necessarily have to be exactly the same as the title expected in Vietnam. For example, a person who previously held the title of human resources director abroad may be proposed for the position of human resources manager in Vietnam. The condition is that the dossier proves that this person directly performed professional work in an appropriate field.

When assessing the appropriateness of experience, enterprises should focus on three issues:

Job position and actual job content: In what title and position did the FW perform which tasks, in what field, and at what level of expertise?
Duration and continuity of experience: Do the documents contain sufficient information to determine that the working period meets the applicable requirement?
Relationship with the position in Vietnam: Is the accumulated experience directly related to the expected job?

4. Manager or Expert – Which option should the enterprise choose?

For enterprises, the core of the Manager position is that the individual must be a person who manages the enterprise as prescribed by the Law on Enterprises. Therefore, the fact that a FW is recorded as the legal representative on the ERC does not automatically mean that the person is eligible to be identified as a Manager, if the person does not hold a title such as: Chairperson of the Members’ Council, member of the Members’ Council, Company President, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, member of the Board of Directors, Director or General Director, or another individual recorded in the company charter[3]. If the conditions for the Manager position are not met, the enterprise needs to consider whether the individual meets the conditions for the Expert position.

One of the titles that often appears in both the Manager and Expert positions is Deputy Director. A Deputy Director is not a title of enterprise management unless it is recorded in the company charter, and the rights and obligations of this title must clearly reflect enterprise management authority. In practice, adding a management title to the company charter may affect the organizational structure and the internal delegation of authority. Therefore, enterprises should not amend the charter merely to meet WP requirements without assessing the related governance consequences. First, the enterprise should consider whether the individual meets the conditions for the Expert position as analyzed in Section 3. If this condition is not met and the enterprise needs to identify the individual as a Manager, the enterprise may consider amending the charter to record the Deputy Director title as a management title. The enterprise also needs to review and prepare the supporting documents as prescribed.

5. Recommended process for enterprises:

Enterprises should carry out the assessment following a process before deciding on the job position for which a WP is applied:

Step 1. Identify the actual functions of the foreign worker

The enterprise needs to clarify the main duties, scope of authority, and decision-making responsibilities, and review the job description and the intended labor contract.

Step 2. Review the governance structure and the enterprise’s documents

If the Manager option is being considered, the enterprise needs to check the charter, the ERC, and appointment decisions.

If the documents do not clearly show management status, the enterprise needs to assess whether there is a practical basis to supplement or adjust the charter.

Step 3. Review degrees and experience

If the Expert option is being considered, the enterprise needs to compare the degrees, field of training, working period, and prior job content with the position expected in Vietnam, as analyzed in Section 3.

Step 4. Check the set of documents that can be used

After identifying the feasible options, the enterprise should prepare a list of existing documents, documents to be supplemented, and inconsistencies to be resolved. The items to be reviewed include:

The validity of degrees, experience confirmations, the company charter, and enterprise documents;
The consistency of titles, working periods, fields of expertise, and expected duties;
The requirements for consular legalization, Apostille certification, and notarized translation into Vietnamese for foreign documents;
Other general documents of the WP application dossier under Article 18 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP.

In particular, the enterprise needs to assess both the content and the consistency among the documents. An individual document may be complete in form but still insufficient as proof if it contradicts the other documents.

6. Conclusion:

In summary, correctly identifying the nature of the job position and the actual functions of the FW, and whether they fit the Manager or Expert position, is the key issue. This determines the position for which the enterprise applies for the WP, the internal documents to be prepared, and the supporting documents to be submitted to state authorities. Making the correct determination from the outset, in line with the nature of the work, will help enterprises limit the risk of having to provide explanations when subject to inspection or examination, or, more seriously, the risk of administrative penalties.

^{[1] Lương Hạnh (2026). Việt Nam có 162.858 lao động nước ngoài đang làm việc [Vietnam has 162,858 foreign workers currently working]. Source accessed on 18/10/2026: Việt Nam có 162.858 lao động nước ngoài đang làm việc}

^{[2] Clause 5, Article 18 of Circular No. 21/2018/TT-BGDĐT}

^{[3] Clause 24, Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises No. 59/2020/QH14}

Submission date: September 20, 2026

Authors of post: Thu Le, Nguyen Tran, Au Huynh

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Disclaimers:

This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide any legal advice for any particular case. The legal provisions referenced in the content are in effect at the time of publication but may have expired at the time you read the content. We therefore advise that you always consult a professional consultant before applying any content.

For issues related to the content or intellectual property rights of the article, please email cs@apolatlegal.vn.

Apolat Legal is a law firm in Vietnam with experience and capacity to provide consulting services related to Employment and contact our team of lawyers in Vietnam via email info@apolatlegal.com.

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