Office and Business License

Representative Office

Representative offices are dependent units of foreign traders or tourist enterprises which are established under Vietnamese law in order to seek or promote opportunities for commercial or tourist activities, but are are not allowed to directly engage in profit making business.

The cost of setting up a Representative Office is typically around US $700 to $1000 which includes:

Obtaining the initial license
Finding premise for your office
Obtaining the operational license
Initial tax declare & registration
Representative office stamp registration

The following will usually be charged at cost or cost plus 5%:

Translation fee approx. US $0.5 to US $1 per page
Notarization at foreign embassy approx. US $50 one time (varies according to embassy).
Notarization at Vietnam Overseas Affair Ministry approx US $25 per document.
Fee for initial license 1 million VND (approx US $70)
Fee for stamp from 280,000 VND (US $20) to 450,000 VND (US $30)
Typically the total cost of these extra items is US $350 to $500

More about representative offices

Branch Office

Branches are independent units of foreign traders or tourist enterprises which are established under Vietnamese law to conduct commercial or tourist activities in Vietnam for direct profit making purposes.

A foreign trader or foreign tourist enterprise may establish one branch in Vietnam to deal in goods and/or services on the list of goods and services approved by the Vietnamese government.

The cost of setting up a Branch Office is typically around US $1250 which includes:

Obtaining the initial license
Initial tax declare & registration
Branch office stamp registration

The following will be usually charged at cost or cost pls 5%:

Translation fee approx. US $0.5 to US $1 per page
Notarization at foreign embassy approx. US $30 one time (varies according to embassy).
Notarization at Vietnam Overseas Affair Ministry approx US $10 per document.
Fee for initial license 1 million VND (approx US $70)
Fee for stamp from 280,000 VND (US $19) to 450,000 VND (US $30)
Typically the total cost of these extra items is US $300 to $450