Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers (revised) 2026, No. 22/2026/QH16

LAW
AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE LAW ON VIETNAMESE GUEST WORKERS

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 203/2025/QH15;

The National Assembly hereby promulgates the Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of the Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers No. 69/2020/QH14, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under Law No. 16/2023/QH15 and Law No. 142/2025/QH15.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers

1. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 3 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Clause 6 as follows:

“6. Database on Vietnamese guest workers means a collection of data and information on Vietnamese guest workers, enterprises, non-business units, organizations and individuals sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers.”;

b) To add Clauses 7 and 8 after Clause 6 as follows:

“7. Direct recruitment means the process whereby a Vietnamese enterprise providing the service of sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers that has been granted a license for provision of the service of sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers (below referred to as the license) independently carries out, or coordinates with a worker-receiving foreign partner in organizing, the preliminary selection, assessment and selection of workers who satisfy requirements, without using a third party or authorizing another organization or individual to carry out such activities.

8. Allowing another person to use the license means an act whereby a Vietnamese enterprise providing the service of sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers that has been granted a license allows another enterprise, organization or individual to use such license in any form to carry out part or all of the activities of providing the service of sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers in the name of the licensed enterprise.”.

2. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 4 as follows:

“1. To prioritize the sending of trained and technically qualified workers abroad as guest workers in order to increase their income, access to modern technologies and management, and improve their skills, foreign-language proficiency, labor discipline and industrial working style.

To strengthen the connection of employment information between returning workers and the domestic labor market in order to promote and effectively utilize professionally skilled human resources who have worked abroad.

To offer Vietnamese guest workers performing specific professions, occupations or jobs with technical expertise or professions, occupations or jobs in fields prioritized for development by the State, special mechanisms and policies for working abroad and for attracting and effectively utilizing such human resources after their return, in conformity with socio-economic conditions in each period and in accordance with regulations of the Government.”.

3. To amend and supplement Point g, Clause 1, Article 6 as follow:

“g) To be not required to pay double social insurance premiums or personal income tax in Vietnam and the host country if Vietnam and such country have acceded to an agreement on social insurance containing provisions on avoidance of double social insurance premium payment, or agreement on double taxation avoidance;”.

4. To amend and supplement a number of clauses of Article 7 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Clause 1 as follows:

“1. Enticing, inducing, promising, providing false information, deceptively advertising or counseling, or using other tricks to deceive workers; fraudulently appropriating workers’ property; abusing the sending of workers abroad for the purpose of organizing illegal exit from the country, trafficking in persons, exploiting workers or practicing forced labor, or committing other illegal acts.”;

b) To amend and supplement Clause 9 as follows:

“9. a) Collecting service charges and other amounts from workers in contravention of this Law.”;

c) To amend and supplement Clause 11 as follows:

“11. Going abroad as guest workers, or organizing the recruitment or preparation of worker sources, or sending Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers in infringement of the national security, social order and safety, social morality or health of workers and the community or without permission of the host country.”;

d) To amend and supplement the first paragraph and Point a, Clause 12 as follows:

“12. Going abroad to work, or organizing the recruitment or preparation of human sources, or sending Vietnamese workers abroad for:

a) Massage jobs;”;

dd) To amend and supplement the first paragraph and Point a, Clause 13 as follows:

“13. Going abroad to work, or organizing the recruitment or preparation of worker sources, or sending Vietnamese workers to:

a) Areas affected by armed conflicts or areas to which a competent Vietnamese agency has advised against travel or recommended restricted travel;”.

5. To amend and supplement Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 9 as follows:

“1. Finding and developing overseas labor markets; signing and implementing contracts and agreements on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad as guest workers.

2. Providing information, advertising, and providing counseling on overseas job opportunities.

3. Preparing worker sources and recruiting workers; supporting or directly carrying out procedures for workers to work abroad.”.

6. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 10 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point d, Clause 1 as follows:

“d) It has professional staff who satisfy the conditions prescribed by the Government;”;

b) To add Clause 1a after Clause 1 as follows:

“1a. The at-law representative of an enterprise whose license has been revoked in any of the cases specified at Point a, d or dd, Clause 2, Article 16 of this Law may not, for 5 years from the date of issuance of the license revocation decision, act as the at-law representative of an enterprise granted a license. An enterprise whose license has been revoked in any of the cases specified at Point a, d or dd, Clause 2, Article 16 of this Law may not, for 5 years from the date of issuance of the license revocation decision, be granted a license.”;

c) To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. The Government shall detail this Article; and prescribe the contents, forms, and licensing fees, dossiers, order and procedures for issuance, modification, re-issuance, announcement and posting of licenses.”.

7. To amend and supplement a number of points and clauses of Article 17 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point c Clause 2 as follows:

“c) It has professional staff who satisfy the conditions prescribed by the Government;”;

b) To amend and supplement Clause 6 as follows:

“6. The Government shall detail Point d, Clause 2 of this Article.”.

8. To amend and supplement Article 18 as follows:

“Article 18. Preparation of worker sources

1. A service enterprise shall actively prepare worker sources before registering a labor supply contract based on its demands, receiving markets and the ability to enter into labor supply contracts.

2. A service enterprise shall prepare worker sources by carrying out one or more of the following activities:

a) Directly providing, or coordinating with functional organizations or units or socio-political organizations in providing, information and conducting dissemination activities for workers to serve the preparation of worker sources;

b) Organizing counseling and preliminary selection of workers;

c) Providing training or refresher training in occupational skills and foreign language for workers or, when necessary, entering into cooperation or partnership with education institutions in accordance with the law on education.

3. A service enterprise shall enter into a written agreement with a worker on the latter’s participation in worker source preparation, which must contain the following contents: fees for occupational skills and foreign language training or refresher training and other amounts payable (if any); expected market, sector, profession, occupation, recruitment criteria and recruitment period; commitment to prioritizing the recruitment of workers who have participated in worker source preparation; and responsibilities of the parties where a worker is not selected by the worker-receiving foreign partner or terminates his/her participation in worker source preparation before the prescribed time.

A service enterprise may collect fees for occupational skills and foreign-language training or refresher training only after a worker has been selected by the worker-receiving foreign partner and has entered into a contract on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad.

4. A service enterprise shall notify in writing the commune-level People’s Committee of the locality where it organizes worker source preparation activities and update information in the database on Vietnamese guest workers at least 3 days before commencing worker source preparation.

5. The commune-level People’s Committee shall publicize received notices of worker source preparation and monitor worker source preparation activities in its locality; and, upon detecting that an organization or individual carries out worker source preparation activities inconsistently with the notified contents or commits another violation of law, handle the violation according to its competence or refer it to a competent agency in accordance with law.

6. The Minister of Home Affairs shall prescribe the contents and form of the written notice of worker source preparation.”.

9. To amend and supplement Article 21 as follows:

“Article 21. Contracts on sending of Vietnamese workers abroad

1. Contract on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad is a written agreement between a service enterprise and a worker on the sending of the Vietnamese worker abroad as a guest worker and must contain the following principal contents:

a) Rights and obligations of each party, which must conform to the approved contents of the registered labor supply contract;

b) The service charge collected from the worker and other amounts collected by the service enterprise from the worker (if any);

c) Deposit (if any);

d) Conditions for unilateral termination of the contract;

dd) Settlement of contractual disputes and compensation for damage.

2. The Minister of Home Affairs shall prescribe the form of contracts on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad and the amounts that service enterprises may collect from workers.”.

10. To amend and supplement a number of points of Clause 2, Article 26 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Points a and b as follows:

“a) To comply with regulations on announcement and posting of licenses as prescribed by the Government; Clause 1 of Article 16, and Articles 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 28 and 29, of this Law;

“b) To post on its website and update on the database on Vietnamese guest workers within 5 days from the date of changes in information on its at-law representative; professional staff; head office address, branches, business locations, and physical foundations serving pre-departure orientation education activities for workers; decisions assigning tasks to its branches; to post and update on its website adequate and accurate information on the number, recruitment criteria, working conditions, interests and obligations of workers under the labor supply contract; information on worker source preparation activities and other information as prescribed by relevant laws;”;

b) To amend and supplement Points dd and e as follows:

“dd) To make a written commitment to an exit-awaiting time limit for a recruited worker, which is 180 days from the date he/she is recruited; if failing to fulfill such commitment, to pay compensation as agreed upon and refund the service charge already paid by the worker and other amounts paid by the worker, after deducting amounts already expended, except force majeure events or otherwise agreed upon by the two parties.

The Minister of Home Affairs shall prescribe the time limit for paying compensation and refunding amounts to workers;

e) To manage, and protect the lawful rights and interests of, workers it has sent abroad in conformity with the approved labor supply contract; to have an overseas representative to support workers and settle arising matters related to them in accordance with regulations of the Minister of Home Affairs; to provide information and reports to competent state agencies and Vietnamese representative missions abroad immediately after receiving information on incidents affecting workers’ lives, health, or lawful rights and interests, or on emergencies related to security or safety in the receiving locality; and to provide counseling and support for workers in accessing legal aid services when they need legal assistance;”.

11. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 29 as follows:

“2. From the date the court issues a ruling on opening of bankruptcy procedures, the concerned service enterprise may neither enter into labor supply contracts nor organize worker source preparation or recruitment of new workers for sending abroad. Contracts of sending Vietnamese workers abroad that have been concluded shall continue to be performed under the supervision in accordance with the law on recovery and bankruptcy.”.

12. To amend and supplement Clauses 2 and 3, Article 30 as follows:

“2. Having a plan on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad in accordance with the laws of Vietnam and the host country and sending a notice to the People’s Committee of the province where the enterprise or its branch is headquartered as specified in Article 31 of this Law.

3. Only sending the Vietnamese workers who entered into labor contracts with the enterprise that has won or received the contract to work at overseas works or projects under such awarded or received contract.”.

13. To amend and supplement Article 31 as follows:

“Article 31. Notices of enterprises winning or receiving contracts to execute overseas works or projects on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad

1. A Vietnamese enterprise winning or receiving a contract to execute an overseas work or project shall provide written notice of its plan on sending Vietnamese workers abroad to the People’s Committees of the province where the enterprise or its branch is headquartered.

2. The Government shall prescribe the method and time limit for providing notice, contents of plans on sending Vietnamese workers abroad, and the responsibility to update information and data on workers.”.

14. To amend and supplement Clause 8, Article 32 as follows:

“8. To make reports upon completion of overseas contracts and make extraordinary reports at the request of People’s Committees of provinces where the enterprises’ head offices or branches are located.”.

15. To amend and supplement Clauses 1 and 2, Article 33 as follows:

“1. Possessing an offshore investment registration certificate, except where the project is not required to carry out procedures for grant of an offshore investment registration certificate in accordance with the law on investment.

2. Having a plan on sending Vietnamese workers abroad in accordance with the laws of Vietnam and the host country and sending a notice to the People’s Committee of the province where the enterprise or its branch is headquartered, or where the individual permanently resides as specified in Article 34 of this Law.”.

16. To amend and supplement Article 34 as follows:

“Article 34. Notices of Vietnamese organizations and individuals making offshore investment on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad

1. A Vietnamese organization or individual making offshore investment shall provide written notice of its plan on sending Vietnamese workers abroad to the People’s Committees of the province where the enterprise or its branch is headquartered, or where the individual permanently resides.

2. The Government shall prescribe the method and time limit for providing notice, contents of plans on sending Vietnamese workers abroad, and the responsibility to update information and data on workers.”.

17. To amend and supplement Clause 8, Article 35 as follows:

“8. To send annual or extraordinary reports on the sending of Vietnamese workers abroad under regulations of the Minister of Home Affairs to People’s Committees of provinces where the enterprises or their branches are headquartered, or where the individuals permanently reside.”.

18. To amend and supplement Article 39 as follows:

“Article 39. Registration of intern acceptance contracts

1. An enterprise sending Vietnamese workers abroad for occupational knowledge and skills training or improvement shall submit one dossier set to the specialized labor agency of the provincial-level People’s Committee of the locality where the enterprise’s head office is located, to register intern acceptance contracts.

2. The Government shall prescribe dossiers, methods, order and procedures for registering intern acceptance contracts.”.

19. To amend and supplement Point l, Clause 2, Article 41 as follows:

“l) To report on the sending of workers abroad for occupational knowledge and skills training or improvement to the specialized labor agency of the provincial-level People’s Committee of the locality where the enterprise’s head office is located in accordance with regulations of the Minister of Home Affairs;”.

20. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 42 as follows:

“3. It operates, as prescribed by law, for non-profit purposes and refrains from collecting service charges from workers in accordance with this Law.”.

21. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 1, Article 51 as follows:

“a) To be provided by specialized agencies in charge of labor of provincial-level People’s Committees and overseas Vietnamese representative missions with information on policies and laws on Vietnamese guest workers, and the contents of orientation education specified at Points a, d, g, h, i, k, l and m, Clause 1, Article 65 of this Law;”.

22. To amend and supplement Article 53 as follows:

“Article 53. Registration of directly signed labor contracts

1. A worker going abroad to work under a directly signed labor contract shall submit one dossier set to the specialized agencies in charge of labor of the provincial-level People’s Committee of the locality where the worker permanently resides for registration of the directly signed labor contract.

2. The Government shall prescribe dossiers, order and procedures for registering directly signed labor contracts.”.

23. To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 1, Article 65 as follow:

“b) Basic knowledge about the laws of Vietnam and the host country; legal provisions on social insurance applicable to guest workers;”.

24. To amend and supplement a number of points of Clause 2, Article 70 as follows:

a) To amend and supplement Point b as follows:

“b) To build, manage, operate and update the database on Vietnamese guest workers; and provide guidance and organize the connection and sharing of such database;”;

b) To add Point d and Point dd after Point c as follows:

“d) To coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security in exchanging information and monitoring and managing Vietnamese guest workers; preventing, detecting and handling violations of law occurring in Vietnam or abroad in connection with activities of sending Vietnamese workers abroad, acts of taking advantage of such activities to organize or broker illegal exit, trafficking in persons, forced labor, fraud, or unlawful collection of money from workers, and other matters related to national security and social order and safety;

dd) To coordinate with the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs in implementing support policies for ethnic minority workers, workers residing in ethnic minority and mountainous areas or localities with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions who go abroad as guest workers, and in supporting their social reintegration and participation in the labor market after their return.”.

25. To replace a number of phrases in the following articles, clauses and points:

a) To replace the phrase “the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs” with the phrase “the Ministry of Home Affairs” in Clause 1, Article 8; Clauses 1 and 3, Article 16; Clause 4, Article 17; Clause 3, Article 19; Clauses 1, 3 and 4, Article 20; Clause 3, Article 22; Point c, Clause 2, and Point c, Clause 4, Article 23; Clause 2, Article 24; Clause 4, Article 25; Points m and n, Clause 2, Article 26; Point b, Clause 1, and Clauses 2 and 3, Article 28; Clause 1 and Points a and b, Clause 3, Article 29; Clause 4, Article 35; Clause 1, Article 42; Point b, Clause 1, and Points a and g, Clause 2, Article 43; Clause 3, Article 58; Clause 1, Article 60; Clause 3, Article 65; Clauses 1 and 2, Article 66; Clauses 2 and 3, Article 70; and Clause 2, Article 71;

b) To replace the phrase “the database system on Vietnamese guest workers” with the phrase “the database on Vietnamese guest workers” in Clause 4, Article 17; Point n, Clause 2, Article 26; Point d, Clause 2, Article 41; Point c, Clause 2, Article 43; Clause 1, Article 60; and Clause 4, Article 69;

c) To replace the phrase “certified” with the phrase “bearing the certified signature of the translator” at Point b, Clause 2, Article 20.

26. To remove a number of phrases from the following articles and clauses:

a) To remove the phrase “, government-attached agencies” from Clause 3, Article 2 and Clauses 2 and 3, Article 72;

b) To remove the phrase “, heads of government-attached agencies” from Clause 1, Article 42;

c) To remove the phrase “specified in Clause 2, Article 31 of this Law” from Clause 4, Article 32 and the phrase “specified in Clause 2, Article 34 of this Law” from Clause 4, Article 35.

27. To repeal Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 40.

Article 2. Effect

This Law takes effect from March 01, 2027.

Article 3. Transitional provisions

1. Service enterprises granted licenses before the effective date of this Law may continue operating under the granted licenses.

2. Dossiers of application for grant or re-grant of, or modification of information in, licenses, registration of intern acceptance contracts, and registration of directly signed labor contracts that have been received before the effective date of this Law shall continue to be processed in accordance with the Law on Vietnamese Guest Workers No. 69/2020/QH14, which had a number of articles amended and supplemented under Law No. 16/2023/QH15 and Law No. 142/2025/QH15 (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 69/2020/QH14), except the case specified at Point b, Clause 6, Article 1 of this Law.

3. Enterprises approved to prepare worker sources under Article 18 of Law No. 69/2020/QH14 before the effective date of this Law may continue carrying out the approved activities until completion thereof in accordance with the registered plans.

4. Directly signed labor contracts whose registration has been certified before the effective date of this Law may continue to be performed until their termination.

5. An enterprise that failed to fulfill its commitment regarding the exit-awaiting period before the effective date of this Law and has not yet paid compensation or made refunds under Point dd, Clause 2, Article 26 of Law No. 69/2020/QH14 shall pay compensation and make refunds in accordance with this Law.

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This Law was passed on August 24, 2026, by the XVI^th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 1^st extraordinary session.