Can I work remotely in Vietnam on a tourist visa?

We want to be precise here, because this is the question people most often get a confident wrong answer to in both directions.

What the law says

Vietnam's immigration law lists visa categories by purpose. Work permits attach to the LD1 and LD2 visa categories, which require a Vietnamese employer or sponsor. There is no category for someone living in Vietnam while employed or freelancing for clients abroad. The e-visa is issued for tourism or short visits and does not include any work permission. So the literal answer is that remote work on an e-visa is not authorised, because nothing authorises it.

What the law does not say

It also does not define answering emails for a London client from a Da Nang cafe as "working in Vietnam" in the sense the Labour Code polices. Work permit rules under Decree 219/2025 (effective 7 August 2025, replacing Decrees 152/2020 and 70/2023) are built around Vietnamese employers: who may hire foreigners, how permits are issued within 10 working days, the 90-day-per-year exemption for short assignments. Enforcement follows the same logic. Reported cases involve foreigners teaching, running businesses or being paid by local companies without a permit. The penalty for working without a permit is VND 15 to 25 million for the worker plus deportation and a period of ineligibility to return, and VND 30 to 75 million for the employer.

How to read the grey zone

1. Working online for foreign clients on an e-visa is common, widely tolerated and not explicitly legal. Nobody can promise you it will stay that way.
2. Taking any Vietnamese client, teaching, or being paid into a Vietnamese account for local work moves you squarely into work-permit territory.
3. Visa status and tax status are separate: after 183 days in any 12-month period, or with a lease of 183 days or more, you are a tax resident whatever your visa says.

Routes that remove the ambiguity

An employer of record can hire you locally, sponsor an LD visa, obtain a work permit and a two-year temporary residence card. Investors from VND 3 billion get a DT3 visa and a three-year card. Both cost money and paperwork; both end the grey zone.

This page describes the rules as we verified them on 26 September 2026 and is not legal advice. The remote work chapter of our Vietnam visas guide goes deeper, a local immigration lawyer can review your specific situation, and our founders set out why Vietnam still has no dedicated nomad visa in is there a Vietnam digital nomad visa yet?