Before 2024, a foreign investor establishing a company in Vietnam had to clear four windows: the Department of Planning & Investment (Investment Registration Certificate, IRC), the Business Registration Office (Enterprise Registration Certificate, ERC), tax authorities (tax code), and the Department of Labor (work permits). The process took 30-60 working days.
The consolidated single-window model
Since July 2024, the first three procedures are consolidated through a single portal: dichvucong.dangkykinhdoanh.gov.vn. The investor submits one application; the system routes it to three agencies internally; the results return together. Processing time is now 15-25 working days for most non-conditional business lines.
Standard application package
Minimum filing package: (1) investment application — Form 1A; (2) legal-status documents of the investor (consularised); (3) two years of financial statements or a bank balance confirmation; (4) project proposal — Vietnamese and English versions; (5) site-lease contract; (6) written commitment of investment capital.
Conditional sectors: still on a separate track
Some sectors still require investment-policy approval before registration — including real estate, banking, insurance, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, education, and healthcare. For these, the single-window flow handles business registration only; the policy-approval step still goes to the Provincial People's Committee or the Prime Minister.
Single window means a single point of filing — not a single point of approval.
Notable 2024 changes
Four practical points: (1) digitally signed electronic filings are now accepted in lieu of wet-ink originals — saving the DHL round-trip from abroad; (2) translations no longer require notarisation if produced by a Ministry-of-Justice-listed translation provider; (3) the deadline to cure missing documents drops from 10 to 5 working days; (4) the maximum foreign-ownership cap by sector is now published on the same portal — no separate schedule lookup required.
Recommendation: even with the simpler workflow, retain local counsel for conditional sectors and for any project above USD 30 million (which still requires National Assembly investment-policy approval under Article 31 of the Investment Law).