DO FOREIGNERS WORKING IN VIETNAM WHO ALREADY HAVE A TEMPORARY RESIDENCE CARD SHALL DECLARE THEIR TEMPORARY RESIDENCE?

For foreigners to legally work in Vietnam, having a visa is one of the mandatory elements, because a visa is a document issued by a competent authority of Vietnam to a foreigner to grant entry into Vietnam. In essence, a temporary residence card, as defined by the Law, is a document issued by an immigration authority (or a competent authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to a foreigner who is permitted to reside in Vietnam for a period of time and is also a valid document instead of a visa. The question now is, do foreigners working in Vietnam who already have a temporary residence card shall declare the temporary residence? The answer is yes. 

Even if you have a temporary residence card, the declaration of temporary residence is still an obligation to perform because it plays an important role in some administrative procedures (such as extension of a work permit) as well as ensuring the management of the state authorities. In case of failure to declare, a fine of between VND 4,000,000 and 6,000,000 may be imposed on violating individuals and the fine will be doubled on organizations. 

Foreign workers temporarily residing in Vietnam must declare their temporary residence, but these people will not directly make the declaration, but the declaration will be made through the manager of the lodging establishment. Lodging establishments are the temporary residence of foreign workers in the territory of Vietnam, including lodging establishments for tourists, guesthouses, housing areas, medical facilities, private houses or other lodging establishments defined by Law. 

The procedure for declaring temporary residence is carried out as follows:

* In case of declaration on the website: 

The declarant shall access the website of the Immigration Office of the provincial-level Police Department where the lodging is located, and provide the required information to obtain the declaration account. After obtaining the account, the declarant logs into the account to declare temporary residence information (as soon as the foreigners come to register for temporary residence). After entering the required information, the declarant checks, amends, supplements and confirms to save the information. 

* In case of temporary residence declaration by temporary residence declaration form: 

The declarant shall contact the commune-level police department to be provided with a declaration form, record information and directly transfer this form to the police station of the commune where the lodging establishment is located within 12 hours (or 24 hours for with remote areas) from the time the foreigners come to register for temporary residence. This form can be sent by fax in advance or notified by phone to the commune-level police department before transferring it.