Documents and procedures for establishing a representative office of a foreign company

What are the documents and procedures for establishing a representative office of a foreign company in Vietnam? What conditions are required? fdiinvietnam.com will guide you in this article.

Enterprises have the right to establish representative offices domestically and abroad. But is the procedure for establishing a representative office for foreign traders in Vietnam as simple and quick as that of Vietnamese enterprises? Many customers are still unclear and confused about this procedure, so let’s find out the specific process of establishing a representative office for foreign traders in this article with fdiinvietnam.com!

What is a foreign company representative office in Vietnam?

The Enterprise Law 2020 clearly stipulates: A representative office is one of three forms of dependent units of an enterprise, in addition to branches and business locations, operating under the authorization of the company, representing the company in transactions, marketing consulting and contacting customers.

Representative offices do not have a business function to generate profit, so often before investing in Vietnam, foreign enterprises will choose to open a representative office for the purpose of promotion, finding customers, researching the market and representing the company to transact with customers to promote business opportunities related to the company’s field of operation.

Conditions for opening a representative office of a foreign company in Vietnam

Foreign traders or foreign companies wishing to open a representative office in Vietnam must meet the following conditions:

1. Foreign traders are allowed to establish representative offices in Vietnam according to international treaties to which Vietnam is a member; 
2. A foreign trader may only establish one representative office or branch with the same name within the same province or city;
3. The functions of representative offices of foreign traders in Vietnam must comply with international treaties (ITC) to which Vietnam is a member. In case the registration of representative office activities is not in accordance with the commitments of the ITC or the foreign trader is not from a country or territory participating in the ITC to which Vietnam is a member, the establishment of a representative office in Vietnam by a foreign trader must seek the opinion and approval of the Ministry or specialized ministerial-level agency.
4. The name of the representative office includes the phrase “Representative office” + the name of the enterprise – written in letters of the Vietnamese alphabet, the letters F, J, Z, W, numbers and symbols. The name of the representative office must be written or posted at the registered office of the representative office.

Procedures for establishing a representative office for foreign companies in Vietnam

1. Documents for establishing a representative office of a foreign company in Vietnam

Note:

In case the business registration certificate of a foreign trader stipulates a term of operation, the term must be at least 1 year from the date of submission of the application for a license to establish a representative office in Vietnam.

Documents issued or certified by foreign agencies must be consularized according to Vietnamese law and translated into Vietnamese.

Copies of documents must be notarized in accordance with Vietnamese law.

2. Submit application 

After preparing a complete set of documents and valid papers as above, submit the application to the Department of Industry and Trade of the province or city where the representative office is registered.

In case the representative office is registered to be located in an industrial park, export processing zone, economic zone, or high-tech zone, the enterprise shall submit its application to the Management Board of that industrial park, export processing zone, economic zone, or high-tech zone.

3. Get results

After 3 working days from the date of application submission, the licensing authority will review the application content and request additional information if the application is incomplete or invalid. During the application processing process, the request for additional information will be notified a maximum of 1 time per application.

Within 7 working days from the date of submission of the application, the competent authority shall issue a notice of approval or refusal to grant a license to establish a representative office for a foreign trader. In case of refusal to grant a license, a written notice must be given stating the reasons for refusal.

In addition, if the content of the request to establish a representative office for a foreign trader in Vietnam is not yet regulated in specialized legal documents, the licensing authority will send a written request for comments from the specialized management ministry within 3 working days.

• The specialized management ministry will give written feedback on approving or refusing to grant a license to establish a representative office within 5 working days from the date of receipt of the request for comments;
• The licensing authority shall notify the foreign trader of whether or not to grant a license to establish a representative office within 5 working days after receiving the Ministry’s response. In case of refusal to grant a license, a written notice must be given stating the reasons for refusal.

The license of a representative office of a foreign trader in Vietnam has a maximum term of 5 years but does not exceed the remaining term of the business registration certificate or other equivalent documents of the foreign trader if such documents have provisions on the term of operation.

Service of establishing representative office for foreign company of fdiinvietnam.com

If investors are in need of opening a representative office in Vietnam to promote investment, they can refer to:

Some questions about procedures for establishing a representative office of a foreign company

Call us at  0978 578 866 (North)  –  033 9962 333 (Central)  –  033 9962 333 (South)  for support.