Experience Letter for Vietnam Work Permit: What It Must Prove
If you are applying for a Vietnamese work permit as an expert, your experience letter carries real weight: it proves the years of experience Vietnam’s rules demand. This post covers what Decree 219/2025/ND-CP asks for, how to check the wording before anything is stamped, and why the letter now needs an MEA apostille rather than a Vietnam Embassy stamp.
Experience letter for a Vietnam work permit: quick answer
Experience letter for Vietnam work permit purposes means the written confirmation of your years of work that Vietnam’s Decree 219/2025/ND-CP requires from expert applicants. The decree, in effect since 7 August 2025, treats as an expert someone with a university degree or equivalent and at least 2 years of relevant experience, or 1 year in priority fields such as finance, science, technology, innovation and digital transformation.
The confirmation comes from your employer outside Vietnam, so for most Indian applicants it is an Indian experience letter. Foreign documents in the file must be legalised unless a treaty exempts them, then translated into Vietnamese and certified. Since 11 September 2026 India and Vietnam share the Apostille Convention, so the letter takes notary, SDM and MEA apostille in Delhi: Rs 1,000–1,500 all-inclusive.
What Decree 219/2025/ND-CP says about experience
Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, dated 7 August 2025 and published in Vietnam’s Official Gazette, sets the current rules for foreign workers. For experts, four points shape the letter:
| Who counts as an expert | A university degree or equivalent and at least 2 years of relevant work experience |
|---|---|
| Shorter route | A degree in the trained field and at least 1 year of relevant experience, in priority fields such as finance, science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation |
| Proof required | Written confirmation from your employer abroad of the number of years you worked |
| Experience already in Vietnam | A work permit or exemption confirmation issued earlier in Vietnam can be used as proof instead |
What an experience letter for Vietnam work permit files should state
The officer has to count your relevant years from the letter alone. A vague letter makes that hard, even when it is genuine.
Include
- Start and end dates for each role, with day and month, not just the year
- Your designation and a short description of the work
- Work that relates to the job you are taking in Vietnam
- The signatory’s name, designation and contact details
- Company letterhead, seal and signature
Avoid
- A line that only says you worked with the company for some years
- Dates that do not match your CV or the Vietnamese job offer
- A name spelt differently from your passport
- An unsigned download from an HR portal
- Handwritten changes to dates or titles
If your experience is spread across two or three Indian employers, you need a letter from each, and each is apostilled separately so the years add up on paper.
Why an experience letter for Vietnam work permit use needs an apostille
The decree requires foreign documents in a work permit file to be consularly legalised unless an international treaty or Vietnamese law exempts them. For India that exemption now exists. The Apostille Convention came into force for Vietnam on 11 September 2026, and the Embassy of Vietnam in New Delhi stopped legalising Indian public documents covered by it from that date.
A company letter becomes eligible for the apostille once a notary and the SDM in Delhi have authenticated it. INFINITYGRO arranges all three stages. For the stage-by-stage route and the checks the notary makes, see our guide to experience certificate apostille for Vietnam.
Vietnamese translation and certification
Under the decree, legalised documents must be translated into Vietnamese and the translation certified under Vietnamese law. Where a copy is submitted, it must first be certified against the original.
INFINITYGRO translates experience letters into Vietnamese after the apostille is fixed. Whether the certification is then done in Vietnam depends on your employer’s practice, so confirm with them before ordering. See our translation services.
Where the letter fits in the full work permit file
The experience letter sits beside your degree, criminal record certificate, health certificate, photographs and passport details. For the full list, read our Vietnam work permit papers guide; the degree itself is covered in our degree process guide for Vietnam.
Experience letter for Vietnam work permit: fees and time
| MEA apostille, personal or educational document | Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per document, all-inclusive: notary, SDM attestation, the Rs 50 MEA fee and our service |
|---|---|
| Usual time | 2–3 working days in Delhi after the document reaches us |
| Courier | Extra, both ways |
| Translation | Quoted by language and page |
Each employer’s letter is a separate document, so letters from two companies cost twice the per-document price. There is no Vietnam Embassy fee.
FAQs: Experience Letter for Vietnam Work Permit: What It Must Prove
How many years of experience does a Vietnam work permit need?
Under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP an expert needs a university degree or equivalent and at least 2 years of relevant experience. In priority fields such as finance, science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, 1 year can be enough with a degree in the trained field.
Who must issue the experience confirmation?
The decree asks for written confirmation from your employer outside Vietnam about your years of work. For most Indian applicants that is the experience letter from the Indian company they worked for, on letterhead with a signature and seal.
I worked in Vietnam before. Do I still need an Indian letter?
Possibly not for those years. The decree allows a work permit or exemption confirmation issued earlier in Vietnam to serve as proof of experience. If part of your experience was in India, the Indian letter still covers that part.
Does the experience letter need the Vietnam Embassy stamp?
Not since 11 September 2026. Vietnam is now a party to the Apostille Convention, and the Vietnam Embassy in New Delhi no longer legalises Indian public documents covered by it. The MEA apostille, after notary and SDM, is enough.
What does it cost to legalise the letter?
Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per letter, all-inclusive: notary, SDM attestation, the Rs 50 MEA fee and our service. Courier is extra both ways. A Vietnamese translation is quoted by page once we see the letter.
My letter only gives the year I joined. Is that a problem?
It can be. The officer needs to count your relevant years, so full joining and leaving dates help. Ask your employer for a letter with exact dates before you send it to us. We cannot change the wording of a letter.
Should the translation be done in India or in Vietnam?
The decree requires a Vietnamese translation certified under Vietnamese law. Some employers have it certified in Vietnam; others accept a translation prepared earlier. Ask yours before ordering. INFINITYGRO translates into Vietnamese and quotes by page.
Can I courier the letter from another state?
Yes. Courier the original to our New Ashok Nagar office in Delhi with a passport copy. We do not offer home pickup. The apostilled letter comes back to you by Blue Dart or another secure courier.
Official sources
Get your experience letter ready for Vietnam
WhatsApp a photo of your experience letter and your employer’s checklist. We confirm the route, time and total in writing before you send anything.
Office: C – 5 A/2 New Ashok Nagar, Delhi – 110096 · Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM · office drop-off or courier, no home pickup
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Disclaimer: INFINITYGRO is a private document facilitation service, not a government office or embassy. Apostilles and attestations are issued only by the Ministry of External Affairs and the embassies concerned; we do not issue, correct or verify certificates. Rules and fees can change, so check the requirements of the authority that will receive your document.
Last reviewed: October 2026