Quarterly Vietnam HR & Payroll Updates in October 2023.

Each quarter, Acclime Vietnam releases our Quarterly HR & Payroll Updates focusing on relevant legislation, regulations, and changes released in the previous quarter, Official Letters released by Vietnam Authorities, together with reminders for key dates for implementation of HR & Payroll changes coming into effect or upcoming reporting obligations to authorities.

Continuing support for employees whose jobs are impacted due to reductions in purchase orders of businesses until the end of 2023

On 25 August 2023, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour issued Decision 7785/QD-TLD (Decision 7785) amending Decision 6696/QD-TLD regulating the implementation of policies to support Trade Union members and employees, who have working hours reduced, or labour contracts terminated due to reductions in purchase orders of businesses from 1 April to 31 December 2023.

Accordingly, employees who are entitled to the support under this Decision include Trade Union members and employees working under labour contracts at enterprises that pay Trade Union fees before 1 April 2023, who:

1. Have working hours reduced or ceased working from 1 April to 31 December 2023 due to a reduction in purchase orders.
2. Have labour contracts suspended or are laid off without pay from 1 April to 31 December 2023 due to a reduction in purchase orders.
3. Have labour contracts terminated from 1 April to 31 December 2023 due to a reduction in purchase orders but are not eligible for claiming unemployment benefits.

Specific conditions to be entitled to the support are detailed in Article 6 of the Decision. The one-time support amounts remain, ranging from 1 to 3 VND million per person, for Trade Union members depending on the subject. For those who are not Trade Union members, the supporting amount is 70%. The deadline for receiving applications is 31 January 2024.

Decision 7785/QD-TLD took effect from 25 August 2023.

Increases to Social Insurance benefits from 1 July 2023

On 29 June 2023, the Government issued Decree 42/2023/ND-CP on adjustments to pensions, Social Insurance (SI) allowances and monthly allowances.

In particular,

• An increase of 12.5% – 20.8% for pensions, SI allowances and monthly allowances for periods from 1 July 2023
• For individuals receiving pensions, SI benefits or monthly allowances, after adjusting according to item (i), where their benefits are still lower than 3 million VND per month, they are entitled to a further increase of 300,000 VND per month if benefits are lower than 2.7 million VND per month and an increase to reach 3 million VND per month if their benefits are from 2.7 to 3 million VND per month.

Decree 42/2023/ND-CP took effect on 14 August 2023.

Settlement of Social Insurance benefits for employees of organisations/units that do not fully pay Social Insurance contributions

On 21 June 2023, Vietnam Social Insurance issued Official Letter 1880/BHXH-CSXH on the implementation of SI benefits (pensions, one-time Social Insurance claims, etc.) for employees of organisations/units that do not fully pay SI (including bankrupt units).

Notable points of the Official Letter include:

For one-time SI claims:

One-time SI benefits will be settled upon the receipt of SI premiums. Where unpaid SI amounts are compensated afterwards by employers or other financial sources, and employees request for a lump-sum SI benefits for the additional period, the additional benefits will be calculated upon the new benefit rate for the total contribution period after offsetting the previous benefits the employees received.

For pensions:

Employees that reach the pension age and have paid SI premiums for a period from 10 years to less than 20 years (excluding the time when SI premiums were not paid), they can choose to voluntary pay SI premiums one time for the missing years to qualify for the monthly pension.

Electronic visas for citizens of all countries and territories from 15 August 2023

On 14 August 2023, the Government issued Resolution 127/NQ-CP to amend the issuance of electronic visas.

Accordingly, electronic visas are new available to be issued to citizens of all countries and territories from 15 August 2023. The list of international border gates that allow foreigners to enter and exit using electronic visas include 13 air border gates, 16 road border gates and 13 border gates as detailed in the Resolution.

Changes in immigration regulations under Law 23/2023/QH15, taking effect from 15 August 2023

On 24 June 2023, the National Assembly released the Law 23/2023/QH15 amending and supplementing several articles of the Law on Entry and Exit of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam.

Accordingly, several immigration regulations are amended and supplemented as follows:

1. Supplementing “place of birth” information on immigration documents
2. Regulating the form of submitting documents online to apply for an ordinary passport, reporting the loss of an ordinary passport, and restoring the validity of an ordinary passport
3. The electronic visa term is increased up to 3 months (90 days), valid for single or multiple entries
   Note: Visa duration is calculated in days for visas with a term of less than 1 year to ensure consistency
4. Removing the requirement that the remaining validity of a passport is from 6 months or more to be eligible to exit the country
5. Increasing the temporary residence period up to 45 days for citizens of countries that are unilaterally exempted from visas by Vietnam and are considered for visa issuance and temporary residence extension according to other provisions of the Law
6. Adding regulations to cancel the validity of the passport where it has been more than 12 months from the date the authorities promise to return the passport, but the citizen has not received the passport without any written notice of the reason
7. Adding responsibilities of accommodation facilities and obligations of foreigners to present passports and valid documents of residence in Vietnam to accommodation facilities for temporary residence declaration according to regulations
8. Temporary residence for foreigners is declared online or offline via temporary residence declaration form, which is submitted to local police authorities

This Law took effect from 15 August 2023.

Amendments to regulations on foreign employees working in Vietnam from 18 September 2023

On 18 September 2023, the Vietnamese Government issued Decree 70/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of Decree 152/2020/ND-CP regulating foreign employees working in Vietnam, and the recruitment and management of Vietnamese employees working for organisations and individuals in Vietnam.

Accordingly, notable amendments for expatriates working in Vietnam include:

1. Revise the criteria for Expert, CEO, and Technical Labour positions.
2. Update the templates for expatriate usage reports.
3. Eliminate the regulation that waives the Work Permit Exemption application for foreign individuals having Vietnamese spouses.
4. Adjust certain aspects of the application and procedures for new Work Permit grants, renewals, and re-issuances.

Decree 70/2023/ND-CP took effect on 18 September 2023.

Reminder of upcoming periodical reports in Quarter 4, 2023 and early January 2024

For more information on HR & Payroll Updates and other compliance requirements for businesses operating in Vietnam, follow our monthly releases on the website and social media channels at vietnam.acclime.com.