Why not to expand, outsource or export from Vietnam ? The country is one of the trade leaders in SEA with a great economic growth over the last 5 years and its strength has been confirmed with the actions during the global pandemic.
Vietnam is also known as a peaceful location with easy affordable, vibrant city life bustling with young energy and good food. As a SME owner, expanding and relocating to Vietnam can bring a lot of new opportunities for APAC expansions.
Despite the country’s tough history, Vietnam is slowly growing and developing its name in the international market. Nevertheless, there are challenges to overcome if you wish to do some market entry, send foreign workers from your team or even hire locally Vietnamese staff.
Following those basics, this article will be a review of the most common things you have to be aware of before applying to go and relocate to Vietnam. This article is a summary of this guide about relocation.
Political stability in Vietnam
The country has suffered at the hand of wars and domination from the major powers of the world. But the country now holds a socialist status with a stable political government and reforms that favor people to join government activities and help let the nation build strength steadily. The economy of the country is very much dominated by businesses owned by the state itself.
The government has made several attempts to improve economic liberty for international collaborations. Privatization has been improved and adapted to international standards. 432 state owned sectors were considered for privatization in early 2014 with good job offerings for the well-educated locals as well as expats.
Language Barrier for expats
Vietnamese is one of the toughest languages to learn. Oftentimes the visitors or new residents may try to talk to the locals and suffer in the end for misinterpreting what they say. Young Vietnamese people in big cities tend to be able to communicate well in English due to certain improvement in the education system.
English teachers from Western countries are welcomed in the nation as the demands are high. This being said, the country is preparing for its international transformation to become a global citizen.
Visa categories
There are various categories for visas that a person can obtain in Vietnam for different purposes:
Tourist visa
It provides a single entry permit for one month which can be extended by paying a small fee while a person stays in the country on temporary residence.
Business visa
Business visas are considered not easy to obtain. The Vietnamese immigration department is responsible to handle the matter with regards to the one-year business visa which can be renewed by employers or other sponsorships. One can also get a business visa that can stay active for a period of 90 days.
Diplomatic or official visa
This involves foreign missions or governments issuing a letter to allow permanent residence without having to pay fees for visa.
Work permit and resident cards
Business visas do not provide certainty of long-term work and employment in Vietnam. For this, the government has provided work permits that allow a person to work here for long term without having to face the trouble of going through the entire process to extend their stay in the country.
Relocating to Vietnam
Foreign companies may consider and benchmark different countries and mid-term opportunities before relocating to Asia. Nevertheless, besides the pitfalls and things to be aware of, there are a lot of upcoming opportunities for SMEs and big corporations who want to turn their focus to Asia and especially Vietnam.
Relocating a part of your team to do some market entry, sourcing, market study is a great way to put the first foot inside the country. The relocation of your employees can be smooth with early preparations.
Movetoasia, a business partner of PR Newswire Asia is recommending different relocation services in Vietnam such as this expat and local relocation company to help foreigners to relocate and expand their businesses to Vietnam.
