Decree 51/2026/ND-CP amending Decree 143/2013/ND-CP on refund of scholarships and training expenses

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP of October 24, 2013 on refund of scholarships and training expenses

Pursuant to Law No. 63/2025/QH15 on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to Law No. 64/2025/QH15 on Promulgation of Legal Documents, which is amended and supplemented by Law No. 87/2025/QH15;

At the proposal of the Minister of Education and Training;

The Government promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP of October 24, 2013 on refund of scholarships and training expenses.

Article 1. To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2, Article 1

“b/ Learners may participate in domestic training programs funded by the state budget or under training schemes ordered by the Prime Minister using the state budget;”.

Article 2. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 7

“1. Within 120 (one hundred and twenty) days after receiving the competent state agency’s decision, the learner or his/her family in Vietnam shall fully repay the required refund.”

Article 3. To add Article 7a below Article 7

“Article 7a. Write-off or exemption of refund expenses

1. Cases in which learners are eligible for write-off or exemption of refund expenses:

a/ Write-off of refund expenses for learners who die or are declared dead by courts in accordance with law;

b/ Exemption of refund expenses in one of the following cases:

Learners are certified by competent health establishments as being physically unfit for work;

Learners have not yet completed the required working periods but are later decided by competent agencies to be transferred, rotated, seconded, or moved to other working positions;

Learners fail to comply with competent state agency’s transfer decisions due to objective or force majeure reasons. The state agencies competent to decide on the refund shall consider and decide on the exemption of refund expenses for such cases.

2. Competence and procedures for write-off or exemption of refund expenses:

a/ State agencies or heads of worker managing agencies competent to decide on the refund specified in Article 6 of Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP shall be competent to consider and decide on the write-off or exemption of refund expenses (below referred to as competent agencies);

b/ A dossier must comprise:

A written request for the write-off or exemption of the refund expense (made according to Form No. 01 provided in the Appendix to this Decree);

Copies of one of the documents proving the eligibility for write-off or exemption of the refund expense as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article: the paper of death notice or death paper or an extract of death issued by the competent state agency or a court ruling declaring the learner dead; a letter of confirmation from a competent domestic or foreign medical establishment on the learner's physical unfitness for work (foreign letters must be translated into Vietnamese); a decision on transfer, rotation, secondment or moving issued by the competent agency; document from a competent state agency certifying objective or force majeure reasons preventing the learner from complying with the transfer decision.

In case the competent agency may exploit the mentioned information from specialized databases or from other state agencies, the learner or his/her family shall not be required to provide the above documents but only information as a basis for data collation and retrieval;

c/ Order of implementation:

The agency competent to decide on the refund shall notify the learner or his/her family of the refund obligation. If being eligible for the write-off or exemption of the refund expense as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the learner or his/her family shall send 1 set of dossier as prescribed at Point b of this Clause by post, or in person, or online to the competent agency as prescribed at Point a of this Clause within 20 working days after the notice is issued.

Within 3 working days after receiving a dossier of request for write-off or exemption of the refund expense, if the dossier is invalid, the competent agency shall notify the learner or his/her family for dossier supplementation and completion under regulations.

Within 20 working days after receiving a valid dossier, the competent agency prescribed at Point a of this Clause shall consider and issue a decision on the write-off or exemption of the refund expense for the learner; in case the learner fails to meet the conditions for write-off or exemption, the competent agency shall issue a decision on refund of training expenses. The decision on write-off or exemption of refund expense, or the decision on refund of training expenses (made according to Form No. 02 provided in the Appendix to this Decree) shall be sent to the learner or his/her family and posted on the e-portal of the state agency competent to decide on refund of training expenses.

d/ Past 20 working days from the date of issuance of notification, if the learner or his/her family fails to provide documents or evidence, the competent agency shall issue a decision on refund of training expenses. The refund and recovery of the refund expenses must comply with Article 7 of Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP.”

Article 4. Implementation provisions

1. This Decree takes effect on March 26, 2026.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, and related agencies, organizations and individuals shall implement this Decree.

Article 5. Transitional provisions

1. Learners who must refund training expenses under decisions issued by competent state agencies before the effective date of this Decree shall comply with Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP.

2. From the effective date of this Decree, learners whose cases are being considered for refund expenses and for whom no decision on refund of training expenses has been issued by a competent agency shall be subject to Decree No. 143/2013/ND-CP and Articles 2 and 3 of this Decree.

On behalf of the Government

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

LE THANH LONG