Procedures for foreign investors to establish firms in VN

Question (Adeyemi Oluwabamidele, Lagos, Nigeria): What are requirements and formalities for foreigners to set up firms in Việt Nam?

Answer (MPI): The Vietnamese State encourages overseas organizations and individuals to invest in Việt Nam in accordance with its current laws, such as the Law on Investment adopted by the National Assembly on November 21, 2005 and the Government’s Decree 108/2006/NĐ-CP ratified on September 22, 2006 on the implementation of the Law on Investment. Accordingly, any foreign investor interested in initially investing in Việt Nam is obliged to present their investment projects and fulfill procedures of investment registration or verification at competent State agencies, so as to acquire investment certificates. Under Article 50 of the Law on Investment, the investment certificate is also the business registration certificate.

To set up a company in Việt Nam, a foreign investor has to take the following steps:

- Adopting a type of investment as regulated in Article 21 of the Law on Investment and Article 5 of Decree 108/2006/NĐ-CP;

- Drafting records and fulfilling procedures of investment registration (Article 46 of the Law on Investment; Article 44 of Decree 108/2006/NĐ-CP) then submitting them to competent agencies (Article 40, Decree 108/2006/NĐ-CP);

- The approval and issuance of the investment certificates is legalized in Articles 37-39 of Decree 108/2006/NĐ-CP.

Foreign investors can refer to instructions on setting up an enterprise in Hà Nội by accessing to http://vietnam.investway.info published by the MPI and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.