How to Submit a Work Permit Application Through the National Public Service Portal?

Are you preparing to submit a work permit application online for a foreign employee working in Vietnam, but are not sure where the dossier goes after you send it? This article briefly explains the electronic transaction process under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, so you can understand the main steps.

If you are not yet sure whether your case requires a work permit, you can first refer to who is considered a foreign employee working in Vietnam before submitting your application.

📋 What Does Submitting a Work Permit Application Online Mean?

Under Article 6 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, employers submit dossiers requesting the issuance, re-issuance, and extension of work permits and certificates confirming that a foreign employee is not required to obtain a work permit online via the National Public Service Portal (Cổng Dịch vụ công quốc gia).

This is a regulation on electronic transactions for procedures related to foreign employees. In this case, the employer is the party that submits the dossier, rather than the foreign employee submitting it directly.

After online submission, the National Public Service Portal will forward the dossier, in accordance with the law on handling administrative procedures through the one-stop and interlinked one-stop mechanisms at the one-stop department and the National Public Service Portal, to the competent authority responsible for issuing, re-issuing, and extending work permits.

🔄 Which Authority Receives the Application?

The competent authority for issuing, re-issuing, extending, and revoking work permits is the Provincial People’s Committee (Ủy ban nhân dân cấp tỉnh) where the employer has its headquarters, branch, representative office, or business location in the locality where the foreign employee is expected to work.

If a foreign employee works for an employer in multiple provinces and centrally-run cities, the Provincial People’s Committee where the employer has its head office is competent to issue, re-issue, extend, and revoke the work permit.

The Provincial People’s Committee may decide to delegate authority to a competent authority to carry out the issuance, re-issuance, extension, and revocation of work permits in accordance with the law.

🗂️ What Documents Should You Prepare Before Submitting Online?

Submitting online does not replace preparing a complete dossier. Employers must still prepare the dossier in accordance with Article 18 of Decree 219/2025/ND-CP.

You can view the detailed list of documents in what documents are needed for a work permit application.

Some documents that are often of particular concern are a health check certificate, a valid passport, and a judicial record certificate (Phiếu lý lịch tư pháp). You can learn more in health check, passport, and other documents for a work permit application.

• ☐ The employer’s written report explaining the need to use foreign labour and requesting the issuance of a work permit, using Form No. 03 (Mẫu số 03)
• ☐ A health check certificate issued by a medical facility qualified to issue it, except where the results have already been connected and shared on the system as prescribed
• ☐ A valid passport
• ☐ A judicial record certificate or a written confirmation issued no more than 6 months from the date of issuance to the date of dossier submission, except where interlinked processing is carried out as prescribed
• ☐ 02 colour photos sized 4 cm x 6 cm, with a white background, facing straight ahead, head uncovered, and no glasses
• ☐ Documents proving the foreign employee’s form of work
• ☐ Documents proving that the foreign employee is a manager, executive director, expert, or skilled worker as prescribed in Article 19 of the Decree

Foreign documents in the dossier must be consularly legalised, except where exempted under an international treaty, the principle of reciprocity, or the law. Consularly legalised documents must be translated into Vietnamese and certified as prescribed.

💻 Steps for Submitting Online Under Article 6

For a standard work permit issuance procedure, the electronic transaction process is regulated as consisting of the following two main steps:

1. The employer submits the dossier online via the National Public Service Portal. Dossiers requesting the issuance, re-issuance, and extension of work permits are submitted online via the Portal.
2. The National Public Service Portal forwards the dossier to the competent authority. The forwarding of the dossier is carried out in accordance with the regulations on the one-stop and interlinked one-stop mechanisms at the one-stop department and the National Public Service Portal.

After the dossier is forwarded, the competent authority will appraise and process it in the order prescribed in Article 22 of the Decree.

Deadline for Submitting the Dossier Before the Expected Start Date

Under Article 22, within 60 days but no less than 10 days before the date the foreign employee is expected to start work, the employer submits the dossier requesting the issuance of a work permit.

Article 22 also prescribes other submission methods, such as submitting directly, via public postal service, via a service provider, or via authorisation, to the Public Administrative Service Centre in the locality where the foreign employee is expected to work. When choosing to submit online, employers should pay attention to this timeframe to avoid submitting too early or too late.

🪪 When You Also Request a Judicial Record Certificate

Decree 219/2025/ND-CP has a separate provision for cases where a foreign employer requests a work permit together with a judicial record certificate, under the authorisation of the foreign employee, in online form.

The implementation process includes the following steps:

1. The employer submits the dossier requesting the issuance of a work permit together with the dossier requesting the issuance of a judicial record certificate via the National Public Service Portal.
2. The National Public Service Portal forwards the dossier to the competent authority for issuing work permits and to the competent police authority for issuing judicial record certificates.
3. The competent police authority appraises the dossier, accepts it if the dossier is valid, or requests additional information or corrections if the dossier is incomplete, or returns it if the dossier is invalid. The result, an electronic judicial record certificate, is sent to the competent authority for issuing work permits.
4. The competent authority for issuing work permits appraises the dossier and returns the work permit result together with the judicial record certificate in electronic form to the employer.

The processing time for the combined procedure of issuing a judicial record certificate together with a work permit is the total processing time for issuing the judicial record certificate and issuing the work permit.

⏱️ How Long Does Processing Take After Submitting Online?

Under Article 22, within 10 working days from the date of receiving a complete dossier requesting the issuance of a work permit, the competent authority considers and approves the need and issues the work permit using Form No. 04 (Mẫu số 04).

In cases where the need to use a foreign employee is not approved or a work permit is not issued, the competent authority must provide a written response stating the reasons within 03 working days from the date of receiving a complete dossier.

⚠️ Gentle Reminders Before You Submit

• ☐ Check whether the information on the foreign employee, job position, form of work, and work location is consistent throughout the dossier
• ☐ Check the validity of the health check certificate, passport, and judicial record certificate or written confirmation
• ☐ Check whether foreign documents have been consularly legalised, translated, and certified as prescribed
• ☐ Keep the receipt, dossier code, or tracking information after submitting online so you can easily check the progress
• ☐ Follow up on any requests for additional information or corrections if the competent authority asks, especially in cases involving the interlinked issuance of a judicial record certificate

Preparing carefully from the start will help the online work permit application process run more smoothly and reduce the risk of having to supplement documents.

If you and your family are living and working in Vietnam and need to learn more about related procedures, please proactively check your contract terms and documents, and contact the competent authority or a consulting provider for specific guidance for your case. You can also contact us via the website paa.vn or by phone at 0347674755 for further information.