Official Letter 7873/BCT-KHTC: Ministry of Industry and Trade guides the identification of foreign intra-corporate transferees within the 11 WTO service sectors

On 30 September 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Official Letter No. 7873/BCT-KHTC to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, providing guidance on identifying foreign workers who are intra-corporate transferees within the 11 service sectors in Vietnam's Schedule of Specific Commitments in Services with the WTO.

The Official Letter restates the provisions of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP on the job positions of foreign workers (Article 3) and on intra-corporate transfer (Point b, Clause 13, Article 7). It also states that Vietnam's commitment on this matter covers only managers, executives and specialists, and it is accompanied by an Appendix listing the sub-sectors, with CPC codes, of the 11 service sectors.

1. Four job positions of foreign workers

The Official Letter restates Article 3 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP:

• Manager (Clause 1, Article 3): an enterprise manager as defined in Clause 24, Article 4 of the Law on Enterprises, or the head or deputy head of an agency or organization.
• Executive (Clause 2, Article 3): the head of a branch, representative office or business location of an enterprise; or a person who heads and directly runs a field of operation, with at least 3 years of relevant experience.
• Specialist (Clause 3, Article 3): holds a bachelor's degree or higher, or equivalent, and has at least 2 years of relevant work experience. For finance, science, technology, innovation, national digital transformation or priority fields, a bachelor's degree in the relevant major and at least 1 year of experience are sufficient.
• Technical worker (Clause 4, Article 3): has been trained for at least 1 year and has at least 2 years of relevant experience; or has at least 3 years of relevant experience.

2. What is "intra-corporate transfer"

Under Point b, Clause 13, Article 7 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP, this is a fixed-term transfer within a foreign enterprise, subject to three conditions:

• The foreign enterprise has established a commercial presence in Vietnam.
• The commercial presence falls within the 11 service sectors in Vietnam's Schedule of Commitments in Services with the WTO.
• The worker has been employed by the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months beforehand.

Commercial presence includes: foreign-invested economic organizations; representative offices and branches of foreign traders in Vietnam; and operating offices of foreign investors under business cooperation contracts.

3. The WTO commitment applies to three positions only

The most notable point is in Section 3 of the Official Letter: for intra-corporate transfer, Vietnam's commitment covers only managers, executives and specialists. Technical workers are not in this group.

The Official Letter does not spell out the consequences for technical workers. Enterprises should therefore be cautious when applying the work permit exemption under Point b, Clause 13, Article 7 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP to technical workers transferred within an enterprise, and should consult the local licensing authority in advance.

4. The eleven service sectors and the Appendix of sub-sectors

The eleven sectors are: business services; communication services; construction and related services; distribution services; educational services; environmental services; financial services; health and social services; tourism services; recreational, cultural and sporting services; and transport services.

The Appendix to the Official Letter lists the sub-sectors with CPC codes and exclusions. Some examples:

• Business services: legal services (CPC 861, with exclusions), accounting and auditing (CPC 862), taxation (CPC 863), computer services (CPC 841–845, 849), management consulting (CPC 865), services incidental to manufacturing (CPC 884, 885), maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment (CPC 633).
• Distribution: commission agents' services, wholesale, retail, franchising (CPC 8929).
• Tourism: hotel lodging (CPC 64110), food serving (CPC 642) and beverage serving (CPC 643), travel agencies and tour operators (CPC 7471).
• Transport: maritime transport (excluding domestic transport), internal waterways, rail, road, storage and warehousing (CPC 742), freight transport agency services (CPC 748).

The Official Letter is issued under the task assigned in Clause 4, Article 36 of Decree No. 219/2025/ND-CP. The Ministry of Industry and Trade requests the People's Committees of provinces and cities to study and implement it.

💡 Recommendations for enterprises

• Compare the business lines on the investment registration certificate and enterprise registration certificate against the sub-sectors and CPC codes in the Appendix, paying attention to the exclusions.
• Review the position of each foreign intra-corporate transferee: manager, executive, specialist or technical worker.
• For technical workers who are working or about to arrive as intra-corporate transferees, consult the local licensing authority early about the documents required.
• Prepare documents proving that the worker has been employed by the foreign enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months.

This newsletter is prepared by Crowe Vietnam for general information purposes only and does not constitute advice for any specific case. Enterprises should refer to the original legal instruments and consult professional advisors before applying the above to their particular circumstances.