Guide to Hiring and Paying Remote Employees in Vietnam

Vietnam is one of Asia’s most sought-after markets for building remote teams. Here, you’ll find engineers who’ve built scalable apps, designers fluent in Figma and cross-platform UX, and project managers who can sync global teams across time zones. But behind the robust talent pipeline lies a legal and cultural framework that many foreign employers still overlook. 

If you are looking to set up a remote team in Vietnam, this guide walks you through the essentials from legally hiring & paying your employees to managing contributions and taxes in order to stay compliant with local laws.

Why Foreign Companies Are Setting up Their Remote Teams in Vietnam

A vast majority of Vietnam’s young workforce is remote-ready because of the infrastructure that’s already in place.

Top universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Danang have formal pipelines into the private sector, with graduates entering outsourcing firms, tech startups, and foreign-backed companies straight out of school. Many are already trained on international tools like HubSpot, GA4, Shopify, and GitHub, not just local platforms.

Moreover, government-backed initiatives like the National Digital Transformation Program have also pushed IT upskilling and cross-border collaboration, particularly in areas like fintech, AI, and business process outsourcing (BPO), says Alfred Tolentino, Head of Recruitment at Recruitgo. 

As a result, employers hiring in Vietnam often skip basic training as these candidates arrive with real project experience and familiarity with global collaboration. Roles in demand include: 

• Full-stack engineers with production experience in React, Laravel, Node.js
• AI and ML engineers moving from research to application
• Performance marketers trained on global budgets, not just local reach
• BPO-trained CX agents who can handle multi-region SLAs
• Finance and ops specialists familiar with cross-border reporting tools

Key Considerations When Building Your Remote Team in Vietnam

Before you start short-listing candidates, it’s crucial to understand the full picture of Vietnam’s hiring system. You’ll need to be clear on a few things right from the start– who the legal employer is, what kind of contract is being offered, and what taxes or contributions are triggered as a result. 

The following section walks you through key factors every employer should consider before making their first offer.

1. Choose the Right Hiring Model– EOR, Entity, or Contractor?

Every hiring route comes with different levels of responsibilities and commitment. Under Vietnam’s Labor Code 2019 (Article 13) what matters goes beyond your contract titles. The law looks at your working relationships instead. 

Before bringing anyone on board, you should decide whether your remote hire will be an employee, managed through a third-party employer, or engaged independently. Here’s how each model works:

• Local entity employment: If your company is already registered in Vietnam, you can hire directly. This route gives you full control, but also full liability– meaning you’ll need to set up local payroll, make mandatory monthly contributions to the Social Insurance Fund, and file with the tax authorities.
• Employer of Record (EOR): When you don’t have a legal presence, you cannot employ locally. The only alternative is to engage with third party hiring models like an EOR, who becomes your team’s legal employer. You still manage their daily output, but the EOR handles the backend legalities– worker contracts, compliance, insurance, and payroll obligations.
• Freelancer/Contractor agreement: You can engage local subcontractors without a local entity, provided they remain truly independent. This means they’re setting their own hours, using their own tools, and working under a service contract (more on this below).

2. When Flexible Roles Become Legal Employment

Just because someone’s working remotely or under a freelance or subcontractor agreement doesn’t mean they’re not your legal employee. Under Article 13 of the Labor Code, a worker is considered an employee when they perform a job under your direction, in exchange for a salary. This includes:

• Giving the person regular tasks or deadlines
• Involving them in recurring internal calls or reporting
• Using your tools or platforms for daily operations
• Paying them on a fixed monthly schedule

This is where many foreign companies slip up. They treat long-term remote contributors as “freelancers,” only to get flagged for misclassification during audits or employee disputes, and trigger significant penalties.

RecruitGo helps you avoid these risks from the start. We evaluate how your remote team actually works and put the right contracts, registrations, and filings in place– whether you’re hiring full-time or on a project basis.

3. Salary Must Be Paid in VND, Even for Remote Roles

Under Decree 70/2014/NĐ-CP, salaries under Vietnamese employment contracts must be paid in Vietnamese Dong (VND). This applies even if your company is overseas or the employee works remotely. The core rule is: when they live and work in Vietnam, payment must be made in local currency through a licensed Vietnamese bank.

You can peg the salary to a USD rate in the contract for clarity, but the actual transfer must happen in VND. Only foreign contractors living and working outside Vietnam can legally be paid in other currencies.

4. Understand Your Tax and Social Insurance Liabilities

Once a full-time employment contract is in place, you’re responsible for tax filings and social insurance, not just salaries. Under the Law on Personal Income Tax (2007) and the Law on Social Insurance (2014), here’s what you’re expected to contribute:

• Personal Income Tax (PIT): Withheld monthly at progressive rates from 5% to 35%, depending on income.
• Social Insurance: 17.5% of gross salary (employer contribution)
• Health Insurance: 3%
• Unemployment Insurance: 1%

On top of this, employees contribute an additional 10.5% from their gross salary, which must be withheld and paid on their behalf. These contributions go to the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) system and are mandatory for all eligible employees.

RecruitGo helps you stay ahead of these obligations with payroll tools like the Gross-to-Net Calculator, and comprehensive payroll services that handles all remittances, reports, and filings on your behalf.

5. Clarify Probation, Contracts, and Offer Terms

Probation periods are optional but when included, they must be formalized in written agreement (or included within the main contract). As outlined in Article 27 of the Labor Code (2019), Vietnam allows only one probation period per role, and the rules are firm:

• 30 days for general roles
• 60 days for technical or professional roles
• Minimum salary during probation: 85% of the full rate

You cannot extend, reset, or issue a new probation contract for the same position. Doing so is considered a violation and often flagged as bad-faith hiring, especially if it appears to delay full benefits or wage entitlements.

Step-by-Step: How to Build and Manage Remote Team in Vietnam

Once you’ve decided to expand into Vietnam, the next challenge is execution. On one hand, job seekers value transparency around pay, team structure, and professional growth. On the other, regulators expect you to understand how to classify workers, where to post roles, and when to register contracts. Here’s how RecruitGo guides clients through that process:

Step 1: Evaluate Scenarios that Require an Entity, EOR, or Contractors

Before we start drafting job posts and scheduling interviews, it’s worth taking a step back to ask the crucial questions: how will your remote team operate in practice? Do you need full oversight or just project-based input? Will you assign tasks directly and include them in team meetings?

These day-to-day details determine whether you need to hire through your entity, engage an EOR, or work with independent contractors. Here’s how each model fits into different hiring scenarios:

Step 2: Use Targeted Channels to Reach the Right Talent

Most professionals in Vietnam don’t rely on a single job board. Instead, they’re moving fluidly across hiring platforms, peer referrals, and messaging groups. This is especially true for remote-capable talent who are already familiar with global work styles. Here’s how we blend platform reach with cultural fit across all channels:

• Job Boards that Deliver: Platforms like VietnamWorks and TopCV offer wide reach across sectors, while TopDev remains a trusted space for tech roles. We localize every listing with clear responsibilities, salary ranges, and real employer details.
• Social Hiring That Feels Personal: Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are active community pools. We see stronger responses when outreach sounds more human and conversational than fully corporate.
• Referrals That Drive Action: Candidates juggling multiple offers will often consult former colleagues or trusted mentors. We track referral trends, candidate movement, and brand perception signals that influence your response rate.

Step 3: Refining Your Candidate’s Screening and Selection Flow

Top candidates, especially those with remote experience, expect clarity, speed, and fairness throughout the process. A disorganized or overly drawn-out hiring flow, therefore, is one of the fastest ways to lose talent. 

• Set Clear Stages: For mid-to-senior roles, 2 to 3 interview rounds are standard. Candidates want to know what’s next, who they’ll meet, and what’s being assessed. We help you clarify this flow and eliminate potential bottlenecks.
• Keep Tests Job-Relevant: Skill tests are common but only when they reflect the actual job. Think: writing copy, reviewing a line of code, or building a lightweight wireframe. We avoid speculative or unpaid work and so do the best candidates.
• Respect local compliance lines: Under Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law (24/2018/QH14), candidates cannot access internal company systems, client data, or backend tools without formal consent. In practice, trial assignments must be anonymized, self-contained, and temporary.

Step 4: Finalizing Your Contract and Payroll Setup

This final stretch is where many companies fall short. When you’re new to the market or scaling fast, it’s easy to stumble over local contracts, payroll in VND, or mandatory VSS registrations.

Delays in this stage mean you risk losing momentum and your new hire’s trust. RecruitGo keeps everything on track so your team can hit the ground running:

• Hiring through your own entity? We can setup a streamlined payroll system and handle VSS registration as well as your monthly compliance.
• Need a leaner model? As your EOR, we can onboard hires in under a week, issue compliant contracts, and manage all local obligations.
• Working with contractors? We’ll structure the arrangement to avoid reclassification risks down the line.

With us, the goal is simple: fast, compliant hiring with none of the administrative guesswork. Start building your remote team in Vietnam today. Our experts will streamline your setup from contracts to payroll– just fill out the form below to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring and Paying Employees in Vietnam

Yes, and it’s more common than you might think. If you don’t have a legal entity in Vietnam, you can still hire local employees using an Employer of Record (EOR) service like RecruitGo. We become the legal employer on paper, handling contracts, registrations, payroll, tax filings, and social insurance, while you manage the team’s day-to-day. It’s the fastest and safest way to hire locally without navigating incorporation.

If your team is on employment contracts, you’re responsible for paying salaries in VND, withholding personal income tax, and making monthly contributions to social, health, and unemployment insurance. 

The exact rates are mandated by law and can add roughly 21.5% to your monthly payroll costs. RecruitGo takes care of the entire payroll cycle for you– from gross-to-net calculations to government filings, helping you avoid any non-compliance.

Not when they’re living and working in Vietnam on a local contract. Vietnamese labor law requires that employees be paid in VND. 

If your worker negotiates a USD-based salary, you can reflect a pegged conversion in the contract for clarity but the actual payment must be made in Vietnamese Dong via a local bank. Paying in foreign currency is only legal when working with contractors who are physically based outside Vietnam.

Probation is standard practice in Vietnam and usually lasts 30 to 60 days, depending on the role. According to Article 26 of the Labor Code (2019):

• During this period, employees must be paid at least 85% of the full agreed salary.
• Roles not requiring college-level qualifications are capped at 30 days
• Professional, technical, and managerial positions can go up to 60 days

Under Vietnam’s Labor Code (2019) and Decree 145/2020/NĐ-CP, an individual is considered an employee if they work under your direction, during your assigned hours, using your tools or platforms, and are paid on a recurring schedule. That includes freelancers you:

• Give a company email address
• Add to recurring team meetings
• Ask to follow internal SOPs
• Assign work on a fixed weekly or monthly basis

Even if they sign a service agreement, these practices can trigger reclassification and costly penalties. Under Decree 28/2020/NĐ-CP, these can include:

• Fines up to VND 75 million for repeat or serious violations
• Retroactive registration with the Vietnam Social Security Fund
• Backdated PIT (Personal Income Tax) remittances