Before you start

A Vietnamese employer or a company you own that can sponsor you
A passport valid at least 13 months beyond the intended card term
A criminal record check, legalised and translated, from your home country and from Vietnam if you have been here over six months
A degree certificate and employment references, legalised, for the expert category
A Hanoi address whose owner is willing to file the temporary residence declaration

Step-by-step

1
Enter on the right visa, and understand what it does not do
Vietnam's 90-day multiple-entry e-visa is convenient and is a visitor permission, not a right to work or reside. A business (DN) visa arranged by a sponsoring company is the normal bridge while the work permit is processed. Neither converts into residence by itself.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival
2
Get the temporary residence declaration filed at your ward
Circular 53/2016 puts the duty on the accommodation provider — hotel, serviced apartment or private landlord — to declare you to the ward police within 12 hours of arrival, 24 in remote areas. Most now file it through the provincial portal at hanoi.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn. Get a copy of the confirmation; it goes into every later dossier.
In personWho: Your landlord, with you chasingWithin 12 hours of moving in
3
Have your employer file the work permit under Decree 219/2025
Since 7 August 2025 the old two-step process — separate labour-demand approval then permit application — is a single filing submitted online through the National Public Service Portal, with a minimum ten-day lead time rather than fifteen. The employer files, not you. Check which of the fifteen exemption categories might apply to you before assuming a permit is needed at all.
Via employerWho: Your employerFile at least 10 days before the start date; allow 4–8 weeks in practice
4
Apply for the temporary residence card once the permit is in hand
The dossier goes to the Hanoi immigration office at 44 Phạm Ngọc Thạch: forms NA6 and NA8, the work permit, labour contract, company licence and seal specimen, 2×3 cm photos and the police residence confirmation. Issuance takes roughly five working days once the file is complete.
In personWho: Your employer, with you attending≈5 working days after filing
5
Re-declare every time you move, and before every renewal
A new address means a new temporary residence declaration at the new ward. So does a long absence in some wards' practice. Renewals of the TRC also need a current declaration, and a stale one is a common reason a renewal is bounced back a week before expiry.
In personWho: You and your landlordEach move
6
Watch the passport, not just the permit
The card is capped by both your work permit and your passport. If your passport has under two years left when you apply, the card is shortened to match and you pay the same fee for less time. Renewing the passport at your embassy in Hanoi first is usually the cheaper order of operations.
In personWho: YouBefore filing

Documents you’ll need

Passport valid 13+ months
Work permit or exemption confirmation, with 12+ months remaining
Labour contract
Forms NA6 and NA8
Two 2×3 cm photographs to Vietnamese specification
Employer's business licence and seal/signature specimen
Ward police confirmation of temporary residence

Things most newcomers don’t know

The twelve-hour ward police declaration is a real legal duty on your landlord, not a formality.

Foreigners in Vietnam are registered by whoever provides the accommodation, within twelve hours in an urban area, under Circular 53/2016. Hotels file automatically. Private Hanoi landlords in alley houses frequently do not, because they are unregistered as rental businesses and would rather not be visible. That confirmation is required for the residence card, for the bank and for every renewal, so a landlord who refuses it is a landlord you cannot legally live with.

Source: Immigration Department / Circular 53/2016

Decree 219/2025 quietly expanded work-permit exemptions from nine categories to fifteen.

Since August 2025 the exempt list includes owners or members contributing VND 3 billion or more of capital, people working under ninety days a year, and specialists in priority fields such as finance, science and technology and digital transformation. The expert qualification also dropped from three years of experience to two. Plenty of people are put through a full permit application their employer's HR team never checked they needed.

Source: Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP

Vietnam's golden visa has been announced repeatedly and is still not law.

A five- and ten-year residency scheme for investors and high-value residents was trailed from May 2025 and continues to appear in press coverage, but no legislation has been enacted and no draft has been published. What exists today is the ĐT investor visa scale, which is graded by capital contributed and only reaches long residence cards at the top tiers. Planning a move around the golden visa is planning around a press release.

Source: Immigration Department / legal press

Being in the capital genuinely helps when a case goes sideways.

The Immigration Department's headquarters, the labour ministry and your own embassy are all in Hanoi, so an ambiguous case, a document legalisation problem or a consular letter can be resolved in person in a morning. Residents of smaller cities routinely send documents to Hanoi anyway. It is one of the few purely administrative advantages the capital has over Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the 90-day e-visa is a residence permission or a bridge to one.
Letting the employer start the work permit late, then burning an exit run when the visa expires.
Renting from a landlord who will not file the ward police declaration.
Not checking whether one of Decree 219's fifteen exemption categories applies before doing the full application.
Applying for the residence card on a passport with under two years left and getting a shortened card at full price.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.