From 2027, Vietnam pays Social Insurance and unemployment benefits through a VNeID social security account linked to an own-name payment account. What Decree 320/2026 and Plan 4146 mean for HR and foreign employees.
Foreign employees in Vietnam are outside unemployment insurance, but employers still owe them a 1% payment with salary. Legal basis, cap by region, key dates, a worked example and the effect on severance.
What a foreign investor must set up before the first payroll in Vietnam in 2026: Social Insurance contributions and caps, Personal Income Tax, the trade union fund, payslips, labour reports and severance pay.
If you paid compulsory Social Insurance while working in Vietnam, you can claim it back as a one-time lump sum
The Law on Social Insurance 2024 separated late payment from evasion. What each costs, where the line sits, and the three ordinary mistakes that put employers on the wrong side.
Decree 337/2025 and Circular 08/2026 put labour contracts on a national platform from 1 July 2026. What the identification code means for payroll, and the ten year retention rule.
Decree 356/2025 took effect on 1 January 2026 and regulates payroll vendors directly. What employers must do, and the five conditions to check before you sign.
Every statutory payroll deadline in Vietnam, updated October 2026. Insurance, Personal Income Tax, trade union fund and labour reporting, with what each miss costs.
Unclaimed contribution periods are preserved, not confiscated. What actually erodes the value is the record around them: the book, the employer, your identity documents and the adjustment coefficient. What survives and what quietly does not.
Three groups of foreign employees pay nothing into the Vietnamese pension fund and have nothing to claim on the way out. The rule that decides it, the exclusions in Decree 158/2025, and how to check your own position in an afternoon.
