Long-term residence in Vietnam in 2026

Current as of July 2026. Sources: Vietnam Immigration Department and English-language legal guides (Emerhub, Vietnam Briefing, 2025–2026). Immigration rules change often — confirm the details before you file.

Disclaimer: this is general information, not legal advice. Vietnamese immigration law changes regularly — before filing, consult a licensed lawyer or contact the Vietnam Immigration Department.

Does Vietnam actually have permanent residency?

Short answer: not the way most Western countries do. There is no golden-passport scheme, no "buy a visa and settle forever" product. If a website promises you Vietnamese permanent residence for a fee and a form, be careful — what they usually mean is a temporary card.

The status you will actually live on is the Temporary Residence Card (TRC, thẻ tạm trú). It is a plastic card, valid 1 to 10 years, that replaces your visa: no extensions, no counting days, no visa runs while it is live. It is tied to a reason — a job, a company, a Vietnamese spouse — and you renew it when it runs out.

True permanent residence (PRC, thẻ thường trú) does exist, but it is rare. It is mostly for spouses of Vietnamese citizens, recognised specialists, and people who have already lived here for years on a TRC. For most foreigners, the honest endpoint is a TRC you keep renewing — and that is fine, because a renewed TRC gives you almost everything a resident needs.

TRC vs PRC vs citizenship — the three levels

People conflate these three, and the confusion costs money. Here is how they actually stack up, from the status you can get this year to the one almost nobody gets.

The takeaway: aim for a TRC, treat a PRC as a bonus once you have lived here a few years, and forget about citizenship unless you are ready to give up your current passport. Vietnam does not recognise dual nationality, so naturalisation is a one-way door most expats never walk through.

Which route fits you — the honest version

There is no single "best" route. The right one depends on what you already have: a job, a spouse, or capital. Read the ground that matches your situation and skip the rest.

• You have a job offer in Vietnam — go the work route (LD card). Your employer sponsors you; it is the most common path.
• You are married to a Vietnamese citizen — the marriage route (TT card) is the simplest and cheapest, and it shortens the road to a PRC.
• You freelance or run an online business — most people in this spot open a small Vietnamese company for a DT investor card. It is the usual workaround for remote workers, but it comes with real accounting duties.
• You just want to buy an apartment and live here — property alone gives you nothing. You still need one of the grounds above.

Residence through work

Employment is the most common route to a card. Sign a contract with a Vietnamese employer for 12 months or more, and the company acts as your sponsor. Plenty of foreigners who freelance in Vietnam take exactly this path, signing through a local company that agrees to employ them on paper.

In outline: the employer gets you a work permit (giấy phép lao động) through the labour department, you get an LD work visa on that basis, then you file for the LD-category TRC. The card runs up to two years and renews with the job. Some roles skip the work permit entirely — company directors, intra-company transfers, and short technical assignments.

The full sequence, with processing times and the exact forms, is in our TRC guide. The one thing worth knowing up front: when the job ends, so does the card. You get roughly two weeks to line up a new sponsor or leave.

Residence through business and investment

The second common route is opening a company. Put in the charter capital, get an investor DT card, and you have both legal status and a business you can run. It suits entrepreneurs and remote workers who cannot get a local job contract — and, at the top end, it is the fastest realistic path toward permanent residence.

The DT card comes in four tiers, and the size of your capital sets both the tier and the term:

For most people the realistic tier is DT3 (3 billion VND, ~$120,000 in registered capital, up to a 3-year card). Note the catch at the bottom: under 3 billion VND you land in DT4, which is a yearly visa with no residence card at all — you renew it every twelve months.

The company-setup steps, the licences (IRC and business registration) and the lawyer costs are laid out in our TRC guide. Budget for a lawyer here — a slip in the company paperwork can cost you months.

Residence through marriage to a Vietnamese citizen

Marriage to a Vietnamese citizen is the simplest way to a card. The TT card runs up to three years, your spouse is the sponsor, and it shortens the path to citizenship from five years to three. It also helps at the top: a foreign spouse of a Vietnamese citizen is one of the few categories a PRC is actually written for.

The requirements are light: a registered marriage (in Vietnam, or abroad and legalised), a passport valid at least 13 months, and the spouse's sponsor declaration. The trade-off is time. A marriage-based card takes around six months — longer than work or business — because the authorities check that the marriage is genuine. And if the marriage ends, so does the card. The full document list and forms are in our TRC guide.

Golden Visa — what is actually real in 2026

You will read a lot about Vietnam's "Golden Visa" and a headline figure of $70,000. Here is the reality check: as of mid-2026 the programme is not live. It was announced in 2025, but there is still no enacted law and no application process, and the investment thresholds under discussion have drifted well above that early number.

So if you want long-stay investor status in Vietnam today, you do it through the ordinary DT card, not a Golden Visa. That means a real company and charter capital from about 3 billion VND (~$120,000), as above. Treat any agent selling you a live Golden Visa right now with suspicion — the product does not exist yet.

💬 "Vietnam does not have a golden visa as of 2026. The program was announced in 2025 and remains under government review, with no enacted legislation." — property-guide analysis, rumavi.com, 2026

What long-term residence costs

The government fee for the card itself is small; the real spread comes from which route you take and whether you use a lawyer.

USD figures are approximate, at roughly 25,000 VND to $1. Rates and fees move — confirm the current numbers before you budget. The full fee schedule and the translation/notary line items are in our TRC guide.

From a TRC to permanent residence

Once you have held a TRC continuously for three years — counted from your entry and exit stamps over the previous four years — you can apply for permanent residence. The PRC has no fixed expiry: it is reissued every ten years with updated biometrics, and it is not tied to a single employer or sponsor. That independence is the whole point of it.

Realistically, a PRC is within reach for a narrow set of people:

• Foreigners with a Vietnamese relative — a spouse, parent or child who is a citizen
• People recognised by the government for a contribution to the country
• Scientists and highly qualified specialists put forward by the relevant ministry
• Stateless people who have lived in Vietnam since 2000

You also need a stable income, a registered address and a clean record. The government fee is about $100, and the file takes up to four months to decide. For most expats without a Vietnamese spouse, though, the truth is blunt: you will renew a TRC rather than ever hold a PRC — and that works perfectly well for a long, settled life here.

Citizenship is a further step almost nobody takes, because Vietnam does not accept dual nationality. A Vietnamese passport would mean surrendering your current one, and the President personally signs off each case. In marriage cases it is theoretically three years to citizenship rather than five, but the number is academic for most.

A card versus living on visa runs

Not everyone bothers with a card. Plenty of people live in Vietnam by alternating visa-free entries and visa runs — a flight out and back every 45 to 90 days to reset the clock. It works, until it doesn't. Once you are here six months or more, a card pays for itself.

Since December 2025, overstay penalties have tightened, so drifting past your visa-free window is a worse gamble than it used to be. If you are staying more than half the year, the card is cheaper and safer.

What to expect, honestly

A few things the glossier guides leave out, so you go in with clear eyes.

• Approval is not guaranteed. Vietnam controls immigration tightly. Even a complete, correct file can be refused without a stated reason. A local lawyer ($500–2,000) does not remove that risk, but it lowers it a lot.
• Your card is only as stable as its ground. Lose the job, close the company or end the marriage, and the TRC goes with it. Build a plan B before you need one.
• The company route has a tail. A DT card through your own business means quarterly tax filings forever, even at zero revenue. Skip them and your tax code gets blocked, which then blocks your renewal.
• Paperwork is in Vietnamese. Every foreign document needs a certified translation, and the police-clearance apostille can only be done in your home country — get it before you fly.
• "Permanent" rarely means permanent. For most foreigners the realistic ceiling is a renewable TRC, not a PRC and certainly not a passport. That is not a failure; it is just how the system works.

💬 "A common trap is opening a company just for the card and never doing the accounting. Six months in, a notice arrives from the tax office." — from expat forums and duan.asia, 2026

FAQ — long-term residence in Vietnam

Does Vietnam offer permanent residency to foreigners?

Not the way most countries do. There is no buy-a-visa scheme. What you get is a Temporary Residence Card (1–10 years, tied to a reason), which you renew. A true Permanent Residence Card exists but is rare — realistic mainly for spouses of citizens or recognised specialists, after three years on a TRC.

Which route is easiest for me?

Spouse of a citizen? Marriage (TT). Have a job offer? Work (LD). Freelance or run a business? A company for an investor card (DT). Just want to buy property? That alone gives you nothing — you still need one of the grounds above.

Is the Golden Visa available yet?

No. It was announced in 2025 but is still a proposal in mid-2026 — no law, no live application, and thresholds under discussion have climbed above the early $70,000 headline. For now, investors use the ordinary DT card, from about $120,000 in charter capital.

What does it cost?

The card's government fee is $145–165. Work or marriage done yourself is $200–300 all in; through an agent, $500–2,500. The business route is far more: ~$120,000 capital plus $3,000–5,000 in fees. A PRC fee is about $100.

Can a retiree get residency?

There is no retirement visa. Retirees usually get a card through marriage to a Vietnamese citizen or by setting up a small company. Living on back-to-back e-Visas is possible but gives you no card and no residence.

Do you still need visa runs with a card?

No. A TRC or PRC gives unlimited entry and exit for the life of the card. Visa runs are only for people living on visa-free entry or an e-Visa.

Updated in July 2026. For the forms, filing and renewals, see our step-by-step TRC guide. Confirm the details with the Vietnam Immigration Department or a licensed lawyer before you file.