Legal & Investment Insights

An ecommerce license Vietnam application involves two distinct approvals that are frequently conflated: the business licence permitting a foreign-invested company to conduct e-commerce activity, and the registration or notification of the website or application itself with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Foreign founders also face payment, data and seller-verification obligations that sit outside the…

A retail license Vietnam regulators issue is separate from the business licence and is granted outlet by outlet. Foreign retail groups routinely underestimate this, plan a ten-store rollout on a single approval, and discover that each site carries its own application, its own lease requirement and, beyond the first, its own economic needs test. This…

A trading license Vietnam authorities call a business licence is the sub-licence that lets a foreign-invested company buy and sell goods in Vietnam. The enterprise registration certificate alone does not confer that right, and applying for it late is one of the most common reasons a launch slips by two or three months. This guide…

A wholly foreign owned enterprise Vietnam structure is available in most business lines, and it is the default we recommend wherever the sector permits it. Full ownership avoids the governance friction of a joint venture, keeps intellectual property under group control and simplifies eventual exit. The exceptions matter, though. This guide sets out when 100%…

The enterprise registration certificate Vietnam authorities issue is the document that brings a company into legal existence. For a foreign-invested company it is the second certificate in the licensing sequence, filed once the investment registration certificate has issued. The filing looks administrative but contains four decisions that are expensive to change later: the company name,…

Licensing a foreign-invested company means obtaining two certificates in sequence. IRC and ERC Vietnam procedures are frequently described as a single step, but they involve different authorities, different dossiers and different statutory clocks, and the second cannot begin until the first has issued. This guide sets out the seven steps we run for clients, with…

The DICA account Vietnam regime, formally the direct investment capital account, is the plumbing through which every foreign direct investment flows. Capital in, loans in, profit out and capital out all pass through it, and a payment routed elsewhere can block the corresponding outbound transfer for years. This guide sets out the six operating rules…

Total investment capital Vietnam and charter capital are different numbers doing different jobs, and confusing them is the most common structuring error we see in new foreign-invested companies. Total investment capital is the funding envelope for the project. Charter capital is the equity the owners commit to the company. Getting the split wrong constrains offshore…

WTO commitments Vietnam made on accession in 2007 remain the starting point for every foreign ownership question, but they are no longer the whole answer. Newer free trade agreements grant deeper access in several sectors, and domestic law sometimes opens lines that the schedule left closed. Investors who read only the WTO schedule routinely reach…

A branch of foreign company Vietnam structure is the only entry vehicle that lets an unincorporated foreign trader earn revenue in Vietnam without forming a local company. It is also the least available: branches are permitted only in a narrow band of sectors, and most manufacturing and trading groups will find the option closed to…