Employer of Record in Vietnam
Hire full-time employees in Vietnam without setting up a company. Emerhub becomes the legal employer, running compliant contracts, payroll, and the social, health, and unemployment insurance, while you direct the work. From $49.99 per employee, per month.
Hire in Vietnam without opening a company
An employer of record is a licensed Vietnamese company that employs your team on your behalf. Emerhub signs the employment contract, runs payroll, registers and pays the social, health, and unemployment insurance, handles the trade union contribution and the PIT withholding, and meets the rest of what the Labor Code asks of an employer. Your team works for you exactly as they would otherwise. What changes is whose name the authorities see as the employer.
It solves a specific problem. As a foreign company, you can't put someone on a Vietnamese payroll without a local entity, and setting up a foreign-owned company runs into months of investment and enterprise registration before you can make a single hire. An employer of record removes that step. Emerhub already holds the entity and the registrations, so you can have someone employed and working here in about a week, and open your own company later if the team grows enough to justify it.
Employer of record vs. your own entity vs. contractors
Three ways to put a team on the ground in Vietnam, with different trade-offs in speed, risk, and cost. For most companies hiring their first few employees here, the employer of record is the one that gets people working fastest without taking on compliance exposure.
| Independent contractors | Your own entity | Emerhub EOR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Immediate, but exposed | Months: investment and enterprise registration | About a week |
| Compliance risk | High: misclassification triggers back-pay and penalties | Lower, once correctly run | Carried by Emerhub as the legal employer |
| HR & payroll | Handled by you, manually | Needs an in-house or outsourced local function | Fully managed, across all three insurance funds and tax |
| Local presence | None | Full entity and operating structure | None required; you hire under ours |
| Upfront cost | Low, with hidden exposure | High: licensing, capital, HR setup | A flat monthly fee per employee |
| Best for | Genuinely independent, short projects | Large or permanent teams at scale | Hiring full-time staff now, entity later |
What our Vietnam employer of record service covers
The split is clean: Emerhub takes every legal employment obligation, and you keep everything that makes the role yours. Vietnam's mandatory employer contributions, the social, health, and unemployment insurance plus the trade union fee, add around 23.5% on top of salary, and there's a near-universal Tet bonus to plan for even though it isn't statutory. The compliance side is the side we own.
Emerhub handles
- Compliant employment contracts under the Labor Code 2019
- Payroll processing, at or above the regional minimum wage
- Social, health, and unemployment insurance, employer and employee shares
- The 2% trade union contribution
- PIT withholding and the monthly tax filings
- Work permits and visas for any foreign hires, plus leave and holiday compliance
- Onboarding, offboarding, and statutory reporting
You keep
- The role, its scope, and who you hire
- Compensation decisions, including the Tet bonus
- Performance standards and reviews
- Day-to-day supervision and priorities
- Working hours and arrangements
- Team culture and direction
From first call to first payslip
When you already have the person, onboarding runs in about a week. When you need us to find them too, recruitment adds a couple of weeks at the front.
Initial consultationDay one
We map your hiring need: the role, the salary against local benchmarks, the start date, and whether you have a candidate or want us to source one. This is also where we flag anything in the role that Vietnamese labor law treats differently than you might expect.
Contracts and onboardingAbout a week
We draft a compliant Labor Code contract, register the employee with Vietnam Social Security for the social, health, and unemployment insurance, and onboard them under Emerhub as the legal employer. Your team member starts work for you while the paperwork sits correctly with us.
Payroll and benefitsEach cycle
We run payroll on schedule, remit the three insurance contributions and the trade union fee, withhold PIT, and administer leave and holidays. Your employee is paid accurately and on time, every cycle.
Tax filing and ongoing supportContinuous
We handle the tax filings and the statutory remittances, keep you current as rules change (the 2026 minimum wage rise, the new Social Insurance and Employment Laws), and stay reachable for both you and your employee. If the team grows into its own entity, we set that up and move everyone across.
What an employer of record in Vietnam costs
Our pricing is simple: 10% of the total monthly cost to employ someone, their salary plus the social, health, and unemployment insurance and the trade union contribution, with a floor of $49.99 and a ceiling of $250 per employee per month. Set a salary below to see the fee and the all-in monthly cost.
For estimate purposes only. Figures shift with exchange rates and current statutory rates, so talk to our team for an exact quote.
Vietnam's mandatory employer contributions add around 23.5% on top of gross salary, capped at 20× the base minimum wage, so for a typical Vietnamese salary the fee lands near $100 per employee. The calculator uses 2026 rates at roughly ₫25,400 to the dollar; we confirm exact figures on a quote. Salary and statutory costs are billed alongside the fee and passed through transparently, with no setup fee and no entity to register. It's the most affordable EOR pricing in the market.
Ready to hire in Vietnam?
Send us the role and the target salary, and we'll come back with the exact monthly cost and how soon we can have someone working for you.
Why companies pick Emerhub as their Vietnam EOR
In-house, in-country
We employ, pay, and support your team with our own Ho Chi Minh City staff, not a chain of third-party subcontractors. When something needs sorting with Vietnam Social Security or the tax office, it's our people doing it.
Backed by Emerhub since 2011
Emerhub has run market entry and HR across Asia for over a decade, and our Vietnam desk brings that same playbook to hiring and compliance here.
Onboard in about a week
Where a new entity takes months, your first hire under our EOR can be working in about a week, with the insurance registrations handled behind them.
Built for tech teams
Vietnam is one of the strongest engineering markets in the region, and a large share of the people we employ for clients are developers and technical staff working to overseas time zones.
A clear path to your own entity
When the team grows enough to justify a local company, we set it up and transfer your employees across, so the EOR is a bridge, not a dead end.
Predictable, competitive cost
A flat per-employee fee, 10% of the cost to employ and capped at $250, that stays well below the global platforms, with the statutory costs passed through transparently.
Vietnam EOR FAQs
The questions companies ask before hiring through an employer of record in Vietnam.
How much does an employer of record cost in Vietnam?
The fee is 10% of the total monthly cost to employ someone, their salary plus the social, health, and unemployment insurance and the trade union contribution, starting at $49.99 per employee and capped at $250 no matter how senior the hire. For a typical Vietnamese salary the fee lands near $100 per employee, and the cap keeps it predictable as salaries rise. The salary and statutory costs are billed alongside it and passed through transparently. There is no setup fee and no capital to put down, which is what makes an EOR far cheaper than registering a company for a small team.
How long does it take to onboard employees in Vietnam?
When you already have your candidate, onboarding through our EOR takes about a week: contract, insurance registration, and start. When you also want us to find the person, recruitment adds roughly two weeks at the front. Either way it is far faster than the months a foreign-owned entity needs before it can legally employ anyone.
Is an EOR cheaper than setting up an entity in Vietnam?
For a small team, almost always. An employer of record means no investment or enterprise registration, no charter capital to commit, no local HR or payroll function to build, and no ongoing entity compliance, just a per-employee monthly fee. A local company becomes the better economic choice once the team is large enough that the fixed costs of running it are spread thin, and at that point we can set it up and move your people into it.
What does your Vietnam EOR service cover?
Everything on the legal employment side: a compliant contract under the Labor Code 2019, payroll at or above the regional minimum wage, the social, health, and unemployment insurance, the 2% trade union contribution, PIT withholding, work permits and visas for any foreign hires, and leave and holiday compliance, plus onboarding, offboarding, and statutory reporting. You keep the role, the pay decisions, the performance management, and the day-to-day direction.
How is an EOR different from a BPO in Vietnam?
With a BPO, you buy an outcome and the provider's own employees deliver it, on their terms. With an employer of record, you choose the individuals, direct their work, and manage their performance; the EOR is only the legal employer, handling contracts, payroll, and compliance. The team is yours in everything but the paperwork, which is exactly the part most companies want off their plate.
Is using an employer of record legal in Vietnam?
Yes. You are employing people through a licensed local company that acts as the genuine employer and meets every obligation of the Labor Code: proper contracts, the three insurance funds, the trade union contribution, tax, and benefits. That is legitimate employment, with Emerhub carrying real employer responsibilities rather than simply supplying labor.
Can I manage my team's day-to-day work?
Yes, and that is the point of the model. You set the tasks, the priorities, the performance standards, and the working hours. Emerhub never directs the work; we handle the employment so you can run the team exactly as you would your own staff.
Does Vietnam require a 13th month or Tet bonus?
It isn't a legal requirement under the Labor Code, but the Tet bonus, paid around the Lunar New Year, is near-universal market practice and typically runs from one to three months of salary. Skipping it is a real attrition risk, since employees expect it and most local employers pay it. We model it into the total cost when we quote a role so the budget reflects how the market actually works.
Talk to our Ho Chi Minh City team
A free, no-obligation call: thirty minutes with our Ho Chi Minh City team to scope the role, model the cost on real numbers, and map a realistic start date for your first hire.
Sài Gòn, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam