You must have heard of the powerful tool bringing hundreds of advantages for foreigners living in Vietnam called the Vietnam Temporary Residence Card. So who are eligible for it? How to get a temporary residence card in Vietnam? Let’s check out with Vietnam-visa in the following post.

1. Benefits of Holding a Vietnam Temporary Residence Card

Vietnam temporary residence card, or Vietnam TRC, is a card issued for foreigners by the Vietnam Immigration Department, allowing them to reside in the country for a certain period of time up to 2 or 3 years. It can be also seen as a long term Vietnam visa that every expat wants to own one.

Benefits of holding a Vietnam TRC are clearly shown as below:

  • Holding a temporary residence card in Vietnam gives foreigners more chances to buy apartments or houses in the near future;
  • A temporary residence card for Vietnam can be considered as a Vietnam visa with a longer time so foreigners can stay in the country without extending or renewing their visa as long as their Vietnam TRC is valid, leading to time and cost-saving advantages;
  • The TRC can be very useful when foreigners carry out business procedures or get married to Vietnamese citizens, etc. without hassle.

2. Who are Eligible for a Vietnam Temporary Residence Card

The benefits of Vietnam TRC are so tremendous that no one can deny, but not everyone can be eligible for it. So who can apply for a Vietnam TRC?

  • Foreigners owning Vietnam work permits which are valid for at least 12 months at the time of applying for Vietnam TRC.
  • Foreigners who are members of diplomatic missions, consular offices, representative offices of international organizations affiliated to the United Nations, intergovernmental organizations in Vietnam as well as their spouses, children under the age of 18, housemaids who are accompanied by the term of office, are granted TRCs with symbol NG3.
  • Foreigners owning LV1, LV2, ĐT, NN1, NN2, DH, PV1, LD, TT visas are granted Vietnam TRCs with symbols similar to the symbols of their current Vietnam visa.

3. Required documents for getting a Temporary Residence Card in Vietnam

To submit an application for TRC in Vietnam, expats are required to prepare a list of papers as follows. Please be reminded that all documents must be in Vietnamese, so make sure to do consular legalization and notarization of all papers in foreign languages into the required language.

  • 01 written form for issuance of Vietnam TRC for the foreigner by the guarantor (Using Form NA6 for agencies/ organizations; and Form NA7 for individuals)
  • 01 Information form for TRC attached with photo 3x4cm (Form NA8)
  • Original and copy of passport
  • Copy of a valid Vietnam visa;
  • 02 3*4cm photos (01 photo to attach to the Form NA8, 01 photo is kept separately);
  • 01 copy of Business Registration Certificate of the guarantor;
  • Work permit; or
  • Work permit exemption certificate, together with the following documents:
    • Certificate of Investment or Business registration;
    • License for establishment of representative office, branch of the company
    • Certificate proving foreigner is a member of the Board of Directors of the company/ organization/ enterprise in Vietnam;
    • Birth certificate, marriage certificate, family household book, etc. if applying for TRC for the foreign husband, wife, child, etc.
  • Proof of temporary residence declaration or temporary residence certification in the local region with the seal of the Commune Police where you are residing;

4. How to get a Vietnam TRC

When all the documents are ready, the guarantors/ applicants bring them to submit directly at one of three offices of Vietnam Immigration Department:

  • Hanoi Immigration office: 44-46 Tran Phu, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
  • Danang Immigration office: 78 Le Loi, Thach Thang, Hai Chau, Da Nang
  • Ho Chi Minh City Immigration office: 196 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh city

Working hours:

  • Monday-Friday (Morning: 7am – 11h30am; Afternoon: 1h30pm – 5pm); and
  • Saturday (Morning time only)

It is highly advised that you contact the office you are going to submit your application in advance for details of time submission, or other related updates.

5. Processing time and types of Vietnam TRC

Normally it takes 5 working days to process the application from the time papers are fully received.

As mentioned before the symbols of the TRC will depend much on the current Vietnam visa you are having, and the validity of TRC will be divided into these kinds:

  • The validity of Vietnam TRC is at least 30 days shorter than the remaining duration of the original passport.
  • The temporary residence cards with the symbol ĐT1 are valid for no more than 10 years.
  • The temporary residence cards with the symbols NG3, LV1, LV2, LS, ĐT2 and DH are valid for no more than 05 years
  • The temporary residence cards with symbols NN1, NN2, ĐT3 and TT are valid for not more than 03 years.
  • The temporary residence cards with symbols LĐ1, LĐ2 and PV1 are valid for no more than 02 years.
  • The Vietnam TRC expired is considered for a new one.

Disclaimers: While we put an effort to ensure that the provided information is correct and up-to-date, there are probably changes of which we are unaware of.