Transportation Costs and Risk Exposure

Foreign investors may invest in the form of 100% capital to establish company in Vietnam, being limited liability company, joint stock company, partnership company.

Foreign investors that invest in Vietnam for the first time must have investment projects and fill in investment registration or examination procedures at state agencies in charge of investment in order to be granted investment registration certificates. Investment certificates shall concurrently be business registration certificates. Company with 100% foreign capital has founded and operated from the date of issuance of the investment certificate.

A project dossier for establishing company in Vietnam shall comprise:

Registration/Request for issuance of Investment Certificate;

A report on financial capability of the investor;

Draft of the company’s charter;

List of members of company;

Copy of the people’s identity card, passport or other lawful personal certification, for individual members;

Copy of the establishment decision, business registration certificate or other equivalent document, for member organizations;

Copies of the authorization document, the people’s identity card, passport or other lawful personal certification, for authorized representatives.

Copies of the business registration certificates of the foreign member organizations must be authenticated within three months before the date of submission of the business registration dossier by agencies where such organizations are registered;

Written authorization of the investor in case investor is organization and valid copy of the lawful personal certification of the authorized representative. Documents in foreign languages must be translated into Vietnamese, notarized and legalized;

The joint-venture contract or Business Cooperation Contract (BCC);

Other documents required by Vietnam law.

The establishment of a company in Vietnam would take from 30 days. The extra time might be needed in case the investment area is conditional or the State government needs to examine the investment project. Minimum capital, special licenses or other conditions might be required in certain investment projects.

The law on investment constantly changes which ANT Lawyers will monitor and provide relevant update.

How to Obtain Business Registration Certificate in Vietnam?

Every organization and individual wishing to set up a foreign owned company in Vietnam shall need to meet some specifics conditions as promulgated under the Law on Investment and Law on Enterprise. In specific areas being considered as conditional investment, the investor shall also need to consult with the law governing the area of investment. Once the investment registration certificate is completed, the investor has the obligation to apply for enterprise registration.

The procedure to register for a certificate of enterprise registration of a joint stock company or limited liability with two or more members are herein mentioned:

Dossiers:

i) Application form for enterprise registration

ii) The company’s charter.

iii) A list of founding shareholders and shareholders being foreign investors/ a list of capital contribution members.

iv) Valid copies of:

Copies of the ID card or other ID papers of founding shareholders and foreign investors/members being individuals; list of authorized representatives of foreign shareholders being organizations.

Decision on establishment, certificate of business registration, or an equivalent document of the organization and the letter of authorization; the ID card or other ID papers of the authorized representatives of founding shareholders and foreign investors being organizations.

If shareholders are foreign organizations, the copy of the certificate of business registration or an equivalent document must be notarized, legalized and authenticated.

The Certificate of Investment registration of the foreign investors as prescribed by the Law on Investment.

State Authority: Business registration office of the province where the enterprise’s headquarters is situated.

Period: within 03 working days from the full receipt of the dossiers

Result: Business registration office shall issue the certificate of enterprise registration or if the application is not satisfactory, business registration office shall inform the applicant of necessary revisions and supplementation to company.

In general, Vietnam government encourages foreign direct investment. If the investor faces challenges at state authority, whom do not issue notification or request of supplementation to the application for enterprise registration, the investor cold lodge a complaint as prescribed by regulations of law on complaints and denunciation to the state authority to protect its right in doing business and investment in Vietnam. A law firm in Vietnam with expertise in both business registration and dispute resolution could assist the investor in the process.

The enterprise is entitled to do business from the issuance date of the certificate of enterprise registration. For conditional business lines, enterprises are entitled to engage in conditional business lines if they satisfy all conditions and are capable to maintain fulfillment of such conditions throughout their operation.

Decree no.108/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No.78/2015/ND-CP effective from October 10th, 2018 has provided many new procedures of business registration.

The new decree stipulates clarification on some contents about the procedure on business registration, of which, the highlight are the procedures that do not to require the seal stamped on the dossier on business registration and that the power of attorney for a person whom establishes the company does not need notarization, authentication at Clause 1 and 2 of Article 1 Decree No. 108/2018/ND-CP. In the past, due to the lack of clarification on the above matters, some competent authorities require to affix the seal on the dossier of business registration and request the notarization of the power of attorney. These procedures created some troublesome in practice.

Another regulation that facilitate the business transaction is that previously enterprises can only set up business locations in the province or city under central authority where their head office or branch is located. It means that if an enterprise wishes to set up another business location where the office is located, it has to go through two procedures: setting up a branch first then setting up a business location. The procedure of setting up a branch is more complex more than the establishment of business locations. With the changes in the decree 108/2018/ND-CP, enterprises are allowed to set up business locations in other provinces or centrally-run cities where their head offices or branches are opened. The scope of work is simpler and more cost-effective, the transactions of the place of business are accounted for by the parent company, thereby reducing the workload for the accountant of the company.

The Law on investment 2021 has a lot of investment incentive policies in economic sectors in Vietnam for foreign investors.

Foreign investors that invest in Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular for the first time must have investment projects and fill in investment registration or examination procedures at state agencies in charge of investment in order to be granted Investment Registration Certificates (“IRC”) and Enterprise Registration Certificate (“ERC”). Company with 100% foreign capital has founded and operated from the date of issuance of the investment certificate.

The investor who wishes to apply for IRC in Hanoi, s/he need to have a possible project which is accepted by the Government (The Department of Planning and Investment of Hanoi City). The dossier on applying for IRC

For Investment Registration Certificate, the investor must prepare the dossier included:

i) An application form for execution of the investment project, including a commitment to incur all costs and risks if the project is not approved;

ii) A document about the investor’s legal status;

iii) Document(s) proving the financial capacity of the investor including at least one of the following documents: the investor’s financial statements for the last two years; commitment of a parent company to provide financial support; commitment of a financial institution to provide financial support; guarantee for the investor’s financial capacity; other document proving the investor’s financial capacity;

iv) Proposal for the investment project including the following main contents: investor or method of investor selection, investment objectives, investment scale, investment capital and plan for raising capital, location, duration and schedule of the investment project, information about the current use of land in the location of the project and proposed demand for land use (if any), demand for labor, proposal for investment incentives, impact and socio – economic efficiency of the project and preliminary assessment of environmental impact (if any) in accordance with regulations of law on environmental protection.

If the law on construction requires formulation of a pre-feasibility study report, the investor is entitled to submit the pre-feasibility study report instead of a proposal for the investment project.

v) If the project does not require the State to allocate or lease out land or to permit land repurposing, a copy of the document regarding the land use rights or other document identifying the right to use the location for execution of the investment project is required to be submitted;

vi) Contents of the explanation for the technology to be used in the investment project if the project requires appraisal and collection of opinions on the technology in accordance with the Law on Technology Transfer;

vii) The business cooperation contract if the investment project is executed under a business cooperation contract;

viii) Other documents relating to the investment project, and requirements on the eligibility and capacity of the investor in accordance with regulations of law (if any).

After having the project, the investor needs to apply for Enterprise Registration Certificate, the dossier included:

i) An application for enterprise registration;

ii) The enterprise’s charter;

iii) A list of members of a limited liability company with two or more members or a list of general partners;

iv) A notarized copy of identity card or valid passport of individual member;

v) A notarized copy of the Enterprise Registration Certificate of the organization’s member;

vi) A notarized copy of valid identity card or passport of the organization’s legal representative;

vii) The copy of Investment Registration Certificate.

The time for applying the investment project is 15 working days and the time for applying the company is 03 working days after the date of submitting the valid dossier.

Ho Chi Minh City offers many benefits for foreign companies to do business and invest.

The population of Ho Chi Minh City is of more than 10 million, earning a higher average income than other part of the country. Consumer retail has found Ho Chi Minh City as an attractive market for investment in retail shops, malls, introducing quality consumer goods to the local.

Ho Chi Minh City offers adequate infrastructure such as the Sai Gon port systems, deep seaport access from Vung Tau port systems, Tan Son Nhat international airport, and possible Long Thanh international airport project, Saigon railway station, the expressways, etc, connecting the city to neighbouring countries in the region and other part of the world. Through setting up factories in industrial zones, processing zones, local and international manufacturing companies could take advantage of high quality labor resources at reasonable cost and move the finished goods to final destinations in US, EU with reasonable lead-time and expenses. Consequently, the city has become leading industrial city of Vietnam, contributing more than 30% industrial production, 30% GPD and 30% national income to the country’s total.

Ho Chi Minh City is also a financial center, which the biggest stock exchange is located. Many corporations, and investment companies has chosen Ho Chi Minh City to set-up management and investment offices to search for opportunities, conduct Merger and Acquisitions and other business transactions, to leverage the annual growth of the country at more than 6%.

At the same time, the city government has been improving policies to support the removal of difficulties for foreign-invested enterprises investing in Vietnam through fixing administrative procedures to shorten the administrative process, saving time for investors, offering “one-stop” mechanism at the main state agencies.

Our professional consultants and lawyers have assisted a number of foreign companies and individuals to conduct transactions, set-up companies, make investment through M&A, and actively involve in the development of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the whole country.

The improvement in infrastructure system along with the preferential policies have stimulated investors to come to Phu Quoc to set-up company and do business.

Phu Quoc, an island in Kien Giang of Vietnam is in the top of three islands having tourism potential in Southeast Asia comparable to Phuket in Thailand and Bali in Indonesia. Phu Quoc has become a magnet for attracting huge investment flows from foreign investors in the area of real estate, entertainment, casinos, restaurant or food and beverage service business.

Phu Quoc has temperate weather throughout the year. There are also fresh and friendly forest – sea ecology and the modern transport system on the island with international airport and international hospital. Moreover, many infrastructure projects and international schools are under construction, which are necessary and favorable conditions to invite and attract investors to the Pearl Island for doing business.

Capital inflows to Phu Quoc have really exploded after the “knots” in investment were removed. The new airport went into operation that can welcome larger aircraft and serve more flights, in which there are more international direct flights from China, Singapore, Russia and Cambodia. The 51km long radial route on the island has been basically completed; the road around the island and the branch roads are also being deployed. The power grid was pulled from the mainland to the island, replacing the very high cost gasoline power in the past.

The real estate and tourism consultants all agree that Phu Quoc fully convergent elements of an attractive beach for tourist with year-round sunshine, many beautiful beaches such as Long Beach, Truong Beach, Khem Beach and immense virgin forest. Moreover, Phu Quoc has a strategic location with just 1-2 hours flight to the key tourism markets in Southeast Asia.

Both investment and tourism in Phu Quoc have entered the acceleration phase. By the end of July 2015, Phu Quoc has attracted nearly 200 investment projects, including 136 projects that are being implemented in the area of over 5,100 ha with total registered capitals of 6.5 billion USD. Just one part of those projects become reality then it will make Phu Quoc to become a leading tourist destination in Vietnam, ahead of Da Nang and Nha Trang, competing with the top destinations in the area as Phuket and Bali.

Some of the largest Vietnam corporations such as Vingroup, Sun Group, CEO Group, BIM Group are implementing the huge projects that could alter the appearance of the island. In which the giant in real estate sector – Vingroup has invested projects as: Vinpearl Resort on an area of 300 ha in Long Beach, the combining of golf course and safari zoo on an area of more than 2,000 ha, and the 80 ha commercial complex.

The improvement in infrastructure system along with the preferential business and legal environments i.e. favourable land rental rates, corporate income tax, exemption of visa for foreign tourists make Phu Quoc island of Kien Giang, Vietnam a new attractive place for investment.

ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam could offer service to set-up company in Phu Quoc through its affiliate office. We assist clients needing legal service in obtaining investment certificate, business registration, or other licensing procedures in Phu Quoc, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam.