Birth Certificate registration in Vietnam

Many “American eagles” expressed their desire to invest and expand into Vietnam

After the Covid-19 pandemic with unremitting efforts, Vietnam has affirmed its capacity in all aspects with other countries, especially the capability to fight against Covid and quick return focus to business. Therefore, Vietnam is becoming an attractive investment destination for global investors including American companies. With the stable political situation, young and abundant human resources and commitment to investment facilitation from the Vietnam Government, it has become a great motivation for American investors to choose Vietnam as a safe and effective investment destination to expand business and set up company in Vietnam.

 

On the occasion of Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s business trip to attend the Special Summit to celebrate the 45th anniversary of ASEAN- America relations, many big American enterprises such as Intel, Apple and Google have shared their desire to expand the supply chain, cooperate in technology and move production to Vietnam by coordinating with Vietnamese enterprises that have suitable capability to participate. This is also considered a great opportunity for Vietnam to interact with the world’s leading advanced economy to improve its labor capacity and is a potential market for workers to learn and demonstrate their abilities.

Specifically, Apple wants the Vietnamese Government to continue to have preferential policies to encourage high-tech American enterprises to develop business and invest in Vietnam. On the other hand, Apple also affirmed that it will actively consider the Prime Minister’s proposal on increasing the number of domestic suppliers and raising the rate of using domestic services and goods higher in Apple products in the near future.

In addition, Intel also showed its interest in the Vietnamese market by emphasizing the very important role of Vietnam and Vietnamese factories in Intel’s production chain. Moreover, Intel also highly appreciates Vietnam’s infrastructure and human resources as potential conditions for technology enterprises to continue to expand their operations. Especially in today’s volatile world, Intel’s expansion of investment in Vietnam is a strategic solution.

Currently, Microsoft is working with Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications to deploy digital skills programs both private and public sector, and data science development in Vietnam. Accordingly, technology will help enhance transparency and trust, prevent and fight corruption. Vietnam has a young population, a dynamic country, ready to receive new technologies Microsoft wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in the fields of digital transformation, ensuring network security, helping Vietnam achieve the goal of reducing emissions to zero by 2050 and contribute to helping Vietnam build a green economy, digital economy, and sustainable development.

In addition, in order to attract foreign investment, the Prime Minister emphasized that the “sincerity, trust and responsibility” stance, “harmonious benefits, shared risks” between big American and Vietnamese enterprises will help the relationship between the parties is stable and good. In addition, to implement the commitments it has joined, Vietnam is continuing to build and perfect institutions suitable to Vietnam’s conditions and circumstances. Moreover, the development of strategic infrastructure such as digital transformation infrastructure, transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure, healthcare infrastructure… will also be the focus of completion to attract foreign investors to establish company inVietnam.

Besides, Vietnam continues to improve the open and stable business environment, and effectively handle administrative procedures. In particular, digital transformation will help reduce direct transactions, fight negativity, trouble, corruption, save time and costs for people and businesses. Therefore, Vietnamese businesses need to innovate in both capacity and organization to capture this opportunity well.

With highly professional staff and great experience in business in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers – Law firm in Vietnam would like to support you to establish company in Vietnam.

 

With economic opening policies, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam is an attractive destination for foreign investors. Accordingly, the number of foreign investors in Vietnam is constantly increasing. In order to create favorable conditions for individual investors with direct capital investment or representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam to live, work, Vietnam has policies, suitable for each type of investor in being granted temporary residence cards in Vietnam.

 

How to Invest, Do Business and Reside in Vietnam

Investors using visas, temporary residence cards under the investment category sponsored  by foreign investment companies and with the temporary residence card symbol DT, are divided into three types of temporary residence cards as follows: (i) DT1 – Issued to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with a contributed capital of VND 100 billion (USD 4.5 mil) or more or investing in industries, professions eligible for investment incentives, geographical areas with investment incentives decided by the Government; (ii) DT2 – Issued to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with a contributed capital of between VND 50 billion (USD 2.3 mil) and under VND 100 billion or investing in industries, trades to encourage development investment decided by the Government; (iii) DT3 – Issued to foreign investors in Vietnam and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with capital contribution from VND 03 billion (USD 136k) to less than VND 50 billion. Temporary residence cards with a specific term for investors and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam are as follows: Temporary residence cards with symbol DT1 have a term of not more than 10 years; Temporary residence card with symbol DT2 is valid for no more than 05 years; Temporary residence card with symbol DT3 is valid for no more than 03 years. In case foreign investors and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam with a contributed capital of less than VND 03 billion, they will not be granted a temporary residence card, instead they will apply for a signed visa DT4 which is valid for no more than 12 months.

The application file for applying for a temporary residence card to a foreign investor must be documents proving the status of the sponsoring agency, organization, individual; documents proving the relationship between the investor and the sponsoring agency, organization or individual; information of the sponsored investor; relevant document information to determine the type of temporary residence card issued to investors; and declarations in accordance with the law.

If foreign investors and representatives of foreign organizations investing in Vietnam wishing to stay in Vietnam, they need to apply for a temporary residence card according to the conditions, documents, procedures of Vietnamese law. It is important to consult with immigration lawyers at ANT Lawyers – Law firm in Vietnam for effective solutions.

 

Since 2021, the UKVFTA Agreement is the Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA) had been come into force.

 

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After the UKVFTA Agreement is signed, some goods in Vietnam, when exported to the UK market, if they meet the conditions, will enjoy tariff preferences from the Agreement, this is a good opportunity to Vietnamese goods are imported to the UK market.

In 2019, the UK imports mainly from Vietnam garment products. In which, the 10 largest garment products exported to the UK include: suits, jackets, blazers for women or girls, outerwear, gowns for women or girl; Jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, men’s or girls’ blouses, shirts and blouses, and other bras. Vietnamese garments entering the UK had to compete with those of other countries with tariff reduction schemes/agreements with the UK such as Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Cambodia, however, after UKVFTA takes effect, garment products from Vietnam will enjoy equivalent tariff benefits, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of textile and garment products from Vietnam.

Previously, with a double-digit export turnover for many consecutive years, Vietnam currently ranks 2nd in the world in footwear exports. Footwear export turnover of Vietnam continuously increased in the period 2010 – 2019, from 5.1 billion USD in 2010 increased by more than 3.5 times, reaching 18.3 billion USD in 2019.

Despite ranking 2nd in the world, Vietnam’s footwear exports account for only 8% of global exports. The UK market is a footwear export market with great potential but very competitive. However, compared to competitors such as China, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Germany, in 2019, Vietnam is still subject to the 2nd highest tariff among the 15 most footwear exporting countries to the UK, with average tax of 6.7%. Since the UKVFTA Agreement is implemented, the tax rate will be reduced according to the schedule and will be down to 0% depending on each item, thereby helping Vietnam’s footwear products to compete with products of other countries.

Besides, the seafood product is Vietnam’s key export industry, we have the advantage of both experience, production capacity and abundant supply. Import demand for seafood products of the UK is quite large, about 4.4 billion USD/year, in which the export value of Vietnam accounts for only about 6.7%. The main seafood export markets to the UK are: China, Ireland, Sweden …

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the trend of consumption and import from the UK. Consumers find seafood products that are easy to consume at home, easy to store, easy to process, convenient and with average low prices. Vietnamese frozen pangasius is a great advantage and a bright spot for the seafood industry to export to the UK today, as a leading supplier with the possible price and processing process of many Vietnamese enterprises is accepted by EU and UK market.

However, in order to bring Vietnamese products into the UK market, Vietnamese goods need to meet high standards of quality, aesthetics, hygiene and environment at competitive prices, ensuring the standards of origin, to be able to take the best use of the incentives provided by the Agreement. In addition, the choice of using the British pound or USD in negotiating and signing commercial contracts requires the company to closely monitor the exchange rate fluctuation between the British pound and the USD, from which to consider, and sign economic contracts that are most beneficial to their businesses.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is equally important as choosing the right products to export to the UK market to compete. It is suggested to undertake the research for the reputation of the company and each shareholders being corporate or individual, obtain public information of the company, and undertake background check for key personnel to access potential risks for cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, save time and costs in business.

 

The Vietnam Prime Minister ‘s trip to the United Kingdom on October 31, 2021 is a meaningful trip for Vietnam, especially, during the period when the country’s economy is in the process of recovering from the pandemic. The Prime Minister’s trip has realized many important goals with many activities both on multilateral forums and bilateral contacts, combining meetings with the Vietnamese community and businesses.

 

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With this trip, the Prime Minister participated in 26 billion-dollar cooperation agreements between Vietnam and the UK. Many cooperation agreements of leading Vietnamese enterprises with British partners have just been signed. These cooperation agreements are expected, after being implemented, to bring many economic advantages as well as further promote the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Specifically, with the witness of the Prime Minister, Vietjet Air and Rolls-Royce Group signed an agreement to provide engines and engine services for the wide-body fleet with a total value of 400 million USD. With this agreement, Vietjet’s aircraft engines will be improved in terms of the lowest fuel consumption lifecycle and bring the highest economic efficiency to the aircraft.

In addition, Sovico Group and Oxford University signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate, finance investment in research and education development with a total value of £155 million. In which, the scholarship fund of 7.5 million pounds will be for students in Vietnam and other countries in the region. This is a potential and very valuable source of scholarships for Vietnamese students.

At the ceremony, Affinity Investment Fund and Vietnam’s HDBank also agreed to sign a sponsorship of 300 million USD for the program of sustainable development and combating climate change. This is a cooperation of great significance to the environment as well as showing deep concern for the current state of climate change.

Meanwhile, EMG Education Group signed a memorandum of understanding on comprehensive educational cooperation with Pearson Education Group; Vingroup and a representative of Raphael Labs Company (UK) signed an agreement on cooperation, development, investment, testing and technology transfer for the production of drugs to prevent Covid-19 and respiratory diseases. This agreement is expected to help the parties jointly promote research and find effective vaccine production technologies, contributing to quickly bringing socio-economic life back to normal.

In addition, T&T Group, a representative of Hanoi Medical University and a representative of Hipra Group (Spain) awarded an agreement on cooperation in building a vaccine research center in Vietnam and training human resources. This cooperation will help Vietnam have the opportunity to train human resources, access to advanced Spanish technology.

Moreover, in the recently signed agreements, there is a letter of intent to join the Coalition to reduce emissions through enhanced forestry finance; agreement on cooperation to develop action plans to strengthen linkages between higher education institutions between the two countries; memorandum of understanding on enhancing cooperation in education; agreement on cooperation in building human resource training programs for the Ministry of Planning and Investment and supporting start-ups; cooperation agreement on technology transfer on land management and related human resource training…in Vietnam.

It can be seen that this trip of the Prime Minister is not only an ordinary visit but also an opportunity for Vietnam to promote cooperation with bilateral partners, international organizations and multilateral partners other, seek opportunities to receive financial support, technology, and capacity building for the country.

ANT Lawyers – A Law Firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or services request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

Currently, with Vietnam’s investment attraction policies, annual foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam is constantly increasing, after Covid time. According to the report on foreign direct investment in nine months of 2021 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of September 20^th, 2021, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital to buy shares, purchase capital contribution (GVMCP) of foreign investors reached 22.15 billion USD, up 4.4% over the same period last year 2020. Realized capital of foreign investment projects is estimated at 13.28 billion USD, down 3.5% over the same period in 2020.

 

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However, when entering a new market, especially the business environment of a developing country like Vietnam, foreign company always have to be cautious and should undertake research investment environment and target company for M&A, or business cooperation carefully. Besides socio-cultural factors, the differences in political and legal factors are important issues. In particular, it is really necessary to study policies and legal regulations before investing in order to mitigate risks when operating in the Vietnam market.

Each country has its own policies and independent legal system to manage domestic company as well as foreign company. Therefore, when foreign investors wish to invest in Vietnam, they need to learn about legal policies that affect their expected business activities. Specifically, through the study of laws, economic policies… investors will identify constraints as well as incentives for their expected type of investment. Foreign investors will have more proactive preparation steps and have a basis to consider the benefits and potential risks when making an investment in Vietnam.

Firstly, on the legal system related to investment activities, Vietnam has a fairly complete but complex regulatory legal system. Due to too many types of legal documents being issued, overlapping, inconsistent and inconsistent jurisdictions are quite difficult obstacles for foreign investors when penetrating the Vietnamese market. Therefore, studying the regulatory is necessary and really a big challenge for foreign investors.

Specifically, for the investment, Vietnam law only allows foreign investors to do business in a number of industries that satisfy market access conditions. Therefore, foreign investors need to learn specific regulations on conditions of establishment, capital contribution, capital contribution ratio, etc. to have a plan to prepare capital, and to choose the type of investment in accordance with the regulations of Vietnam law and expected investment scale.

In addition, foreign investors also need to learn about the regulations on the organization of different types of businesses in Vietnam. It will be the basis for foreign investors to determine the level of capital contribution, rights and obligations when participating in investment. From there, foreign investors will have reasonable considerations and considerations in line with the investment plan, avoiding passive situations or the establishment and capital contribution not achieving the set goals before investing.

Second, about policies for foreign investors, investors need to study policies related to tax i.e. corporate income tax rates, tax rates for personal income taxes, and policies. avoid double taxation between Vietnam and other countries in order to comply with tax obligations and ensure its interests in the process of conducting investment in Vietnam.

Furthermore, to ensure cash flow transactions, foreign investors need to have an understanding of Vietnam’s foreign exchange policy. Understanding the bank’s foreign currency buying and selling policies will help foreign investors flexible in implementing project activities. Policies and regulatory understanding in international bidding or bidding or goods or service supply service for state owned company are also matter of concern.  Labor policy is also an information that foreign investors need to know to ensure that the recruitment and payment of salaries and benefits are consistent with the policies of the state. Economic and financial policies are regulated by the State in each period such as policy on funding or lending capital, tax policy of the State, economic policy on foreign relations, foreign policy.

Policies, laws and politics have a great influence on investment activities in Vietnam. Through legislation, the state institutionalizes economic undertakings and policies into law, with provisions that are universally binding for all business activities. The legal regulations and policies related to foreign investors in Vietnam are very complicated and changing over different periods. Therefore, before investing in Vietnam, investors need to learn, check the information and the authenticity of the information collected to ensure the authenticity and validity of those regulations and policies.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

ANT Lawyers – A Law Firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or services request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

On November 25^th, 2021, within the framework of Japan visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister – Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister met the President of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). During the meeting, the Prime Minister met leaders of many large Japanese corporations, businesses and banks and signed many investment cooperation agreements between Vietnam and Japan.

 

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The parties highly appreciated JETRO’s practical and effective contributions to Vietnam in recent years in promoting investment cooperation. In the 10 months of 2021, Japan ranked 3rd among countries making investments in Vietnam, with a total registered investment capital of nearly USD 3.4 billion. Up to now, Japan is the second largest investor in Vietnam with over USD 63.9 billion (accounting for 15.8% of total FDI investment).

Vietnam encourages Japanese businesses to invest and set up company in Vietnam, apply investment registration certificates in Vietnam, expand investment cooperation in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing industry, high-quality agriculture, information technology, smart cities, financial and banking services, and banking, innovation. The Government is committed to accompanying the business community, supporting and creating all favorable conditions for business investment activities on establishment of company in Vietnam, bringing about more benefits for the parties, contributing to bringing Vietnam-Japan relations to a new level.

During this visit, the two countries signed more than 40 cooperation agreements with a total investment value of more than USD 3 billion. In addition to investment commitments, during this visit, there were many cooperation agreements on human resource training or other environmental protection solutions signed between ministries, sectors and businesses.

In the meeting, the Prime Minister of Vietnam also met and discussed with leaders of Nippon Foundation, MUFG Group, INFRONEER Group, JBIC Bank, Idemitsu Group and Mizuho Bank on market development, business, human resource training.

The Prime Minister shared with the difficulties of Japanese businesses in Vietnam over the past time, he said that Vietnam has changed to a safe and flexible adaptation, effectively controlling the epidemic. The competent authorities at all levels must discuss with businesses and citizen to deploy solutions appropriate to the situation, bring life back to normal, both open production and business, and effectively prevent epidemics. Vietnam also suggested that Japanese businesses corporate with Vietnamese in epidemic prevention and control, continue to contribute to improving institutions, training human resources, investing in hard and soft infrastructure, and cooperating in areas such as: climate change response, digital economy, green economy, circular economy…

In addition, to ensure investment and trade, Vietnam is expected to start reopening international flights in early December, including flights to Japan. This will make it easier for Japanese investors to make investment, market surveys, and deploy their investment projects.

By the visit, Vietnam wishes to further develop cooperation in investment, human resources and diplomacy with Japan, thereby creating favorable conditions for investors of the two countries to expand their business, form company in Vietnam and contribute to national economic development.

ANT Lawyers – Law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.