Vietnam
Vietnam grants residence to people who have a Vietnamese employer, a Vietnamese family, or several million dollars. It does not grant residence to anyone else. That is not a gap in the system. It is the system.
Can you stay in Vietnam long term?
No, not on your own income. Vietnam has no digital nomad visa, no retirement visa, and no visa of any kind that can be obtained on the strength of foreign earnings. A remote worker with USD 200,000 in the bank and a remote worker with USD 2,000 qualify for exactly the same thing: a 90 day tourist e-visa.
There are three real doors. An employer who sponsors a work permit and an LD2 temporary residence card, renewable to a maximum of four years before the employer must file a fresh application. A Vietnamese citizen spouse or parent who sponsors a TT card, which after three years of continuous temporary residence can support a permanent residence application. Or VND 100 billion, about USD 3,820,000 in 2026, of contributed charter capital for a DT1 card.
Everyone else is a long-term tourist. Border runs to Cambodia, Laos or Thailand reset the 90 days but create no status, and repeated runs get refused at the border. Working remotely on a tourist visa is prohibited, and Vietnam has fined and deported people for it.
Permanent residence exists on paper. It is limited to four narrow categories, and employment is not one of them. Neither is investment, at any capital level. The 10 year DT1 card is a temporary residence card, not a step toward settlement.
Ways to move to Vietnam
| Your situation | Route to investigate | Quick read |
|---|---|---|
| Work remotely for a foreign employer | 90 day e-visa | No family · no settlement · USD 25 or 50 |
| Have a Vietnamese job offer | Work permit and LD2 card | Family via TT · switch-required · employer sponsored |
| Can invest USD 114,500 or more | DT investor visa | Family · discretionary · VND 3bn |
| Senior tech role at an approved employer | UD1 talent visa | Family · discretionary · no published threshold |
| Married to a Vietnamese citizen | Permanent residence | Family · direct · 3 years continuous TRC |
Read the quick read column before the programme name. The route that looks closest to your situation is often the one with the worst settlement answer.
The programmes
Work permit and LD2 temporary residence card. The ordinary employment route. The employer applies, the permit runs two years, and it can be extended once for two more. After that a new application is required. The permit is tied to the employer and the job title, so a promotion or an internal transfer usually means starting again. LD1 is not a better version of LD2. It is for people who are exempt from a work permit entirely.
DT investor visa. Four tiers from DT4 under VND 3 billion to DT1 at VND 100 billion. Only DT1, DT2 and DT3 come with a temporary residence card, and only DT1 reaches 10 years. DT4 is a 12 month visa with no card, which does not stop agents selling a “DT4 residence card” that does not exist. Capital must be contributed and registered as charter capital, not pledged, and not spent on shares or an apartment.
UD1 and UD2 talent visa. In force since 1 July 2026 and aimed at senior digital technology staff, researchers and investors at organisations inside the International Financial Centre. Five year visa, and a card of up to 10 years for IFC personnel. No published salary or capital threshold, and no published fee schedule. It requires a named sponsoring organisation, so it does nothing for a freelancer.
90 day e-visa. The de facto long stay for everyone the system excludes. USD 25 single entry or USD 50 multiple entry in 2026, about three working days, 90 days maximum. It cannot be extended inside Vietnam in the ordinary case. It carries no work rights and no residence credit.
Permanent residence card. The only genuine settlement outcome, and the narrowest. Sponsored by a Vietnamese citizen parent, spouse or child, with three years of continuous temporary residence, lawful residence and stable income. Investors do not qualify. Employees do not qualify. Practitioners report six to twelve months with no published service standard.
What Vietnam is bad at
Remote work, retirement, and settlement for anyone who is not family. The three largest groups of would-be residents are all pushed onto the same 90 day tourist visa. What is sold as a Vietnam retirement visa is a tourist visa plus an extension service, and the 2025 “golden visa” was a draft that was never enacted as a separate programme. The investor route is real but starts at USD 114,500 for a card that expires, and the headline 10 year card needs USD 3.8 million. Work permits are employer-tied, capped at two years plus one extension, and depend on consular-legalised degree certificates and criminal records that most applicants do not have ready. Permanent residence is a family and merit category, so a decade of lawful temporary residence counts for nothing unless you married into it.
Guides
- Work permit and LD2 card: the employer route, the two year cap, and why LD1 is not an upgrade
- DT investor visa: the four tiers, what counts as capital, and the DT4 card that does not exist
- UD1 and UD2 talent visa: the 2026 IFC route, what is published and what is not
- 90 day e-visa: the route most people actually use, and what it does not authorise
- Permanent residence: the four categories, the three year clock, and who fails
Sources
- Vietnam Immigration Department, visa and temporary residence procedures, 2026-10-22
- Government of Vietnam, Decree 219/2025/ND-CP on work permits, in force 7 August 2025
- Law 47/2014/QH13 on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners, as amended through Law 118/2025/QH15
- Vietnam Briefing and LuatVietnam, investor visa and golden visa analyses, used as secondary sources, 2026-10-22
Last updated 2026-10-22.