Vietnam sets no minimum years for emigrants’ social insurance lump sum
Edward Nguyen
The sum is 1.5 months of average insured monthly pay for each year before 2014 and 2 months from 2014, and the years paid out cannot count towards a later social insurance benefit.
A Vietnamese citizen who has ceased to participate in social insurance and leaves to settle abroad can take a lump sum under Article 70(1)(b) of Law 41/2024/QH15, in force since 1 July 2025, whatever the number of years paid. The years paid out cannot be counted towards any later social insurance benefit (Article 5(3)).
What Article 70 gives an emigrant, and what it asks
Article 70(1) pays a lump sum to a citizen in the compulsory scheme who has ceased to participate and applies for it, in six cases. Two carry a test of years: retirement age with under 15 years paid (point a), and, for people with contribution time before 1 July 2025, 12 months outside both schemes with under 20 years paid (point đ).
Leaving to settle abroad (point b) carries neither. A person with 22 years paid who is under retirement age has no route under points a or đ, and still has one under point b.
A person who also qualifies for a pension, which needs 15 years in the compulsory scheme and the retirement age (Article 64(1)(a)), may choose the pension instead (Article 70(6)). Someone who takes neither can reserve the contribution time (Article 71). The voluntary scheme has the same ground and the same choice (Article 102(1)(b) and (5)).
What it pays, and how fast
- 1.5 months of average insured monthly pay for each year paid before 2014, and 2 months for each year from 2014; for under one year, what was paid in, capped at 2 months of that average (Article 70(3)).
- Where the employer set the pay, the average runs over the whole contribution period, after each year’s insured pay is revalued by a consumer-price coefficient (Articles 72(2) and 73(2); Decree 158/2025/NĐ-CP, Articles 15(7) and 16).
- State-budget support for voluntary contributions is left out of the sum for this ground (Article 70(3)).
- The reference date is the day the agency issues its decision (Article 70(5)). The agency has 7 working days from a complete file to settle it or to reply in writing with reasons (Article 79(3)); Articles 70, 78 and 79 specify no separate ground of refusal beyond failing the eligibility or dossier rules.
What cannot be undone
Article 5(3) provides that contribution time already counted for a lump sum is not counted as time on which any social insurance benefit is based. Taking the sum therefore ends the use of those years for a pension or any other benefit. Vietnam Social Security describes the 2024 Law as designed to encourage reservation of contribution time over a lump sum.
A person already drawing a pension who leaves to settle may instead take a one-off sum (Article 76): 1.5 months of pension for each year paid before 2014 and 2 months for each year from 2014, less 0.5 month for each month already drawn, and never less than 3 months.
Who holds an account: employees and enterprise managers
Article 2(1)(a) makes employees on labour contracts subjects of compulsory insurance. Article 2(1)(i) and (n) do the same for the managers of enterprises, and the elected managers of cooperatives, whether paid (point i) or unpaid (point n); Decree 158/2025, Article 3(1), applies the scheme to both points.
Article 70(1) applies only to someone who has ceased to participate. While Decree 158/2025 details how cessation is checked for point đ (Article 14(1)(b)), the decree pages read contain no provision detailing point b.
The papers that prove settlement: the Law’s list and the agency’s page
For this ground Article 78(2) adds to the file a copy of the competent authority’s confirmation of release of Vietnamese nationality, or a Vietnamese translation, certified or notarised, of one of four documents. The two limbs are joined by “or”, so on its face release of nationality is not a condition of the lump sum; release and foreign naturalisation are covered in an earlier piece on the nationality law.
| Document | Article 78(2) of the Law | Vietnam Social Security procedure page, read 5 November 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | a foreign passport | a foreign passport |
| Visa | a visa confirming permission to enter to settle abroad | a visa confirming permission to enter for the reason of settling abroad |
| Residence card | a long-term permanent residence card | a permanent or residence card, or papers confirming such residence, with a term of 5 years or more |
| Naturalisation under way | not named | papers confirming that an application for foreign nationality is under way |
| Other | other lawful papers showing settlement abroad, as Government rules provide | not listed |
The procedure page still names Law 58/2014/QH13 and Resolution 93/2015/QH13 among its legal bases; Article 140(2) of the Law ended both on 1 July 2025. Its issue-date field is empty. The Ministry of Finance listed the procedure among those amended under the 2024 Law in Decision 2270/QĐ-BTC of 19 August 2026, whose annex was not read.
Decree 158/2025 details only point đ of Article 70(1) (Article 14), and no provision defining the other lawful papers of point d turned up in the decree pages read. Which list a counter applies is therefore not established, and neither the Law nor the agency page names an investor-route residence permit.
A bill would move dossier rules to decrees
The Government’s bill to amend the Law is before the National Assembly in a session planned for 17 October to 20 November 2026. As reported, the Minister of Home Affairs told the Assembly on 21 October that it repeals the Law’s provisions on dossiers and procedures and leaves them to Government decrees, from 1 March 2027 as proposed.
A deputy, reported by the Assembly’s own newspaper, said the Law’s dossier provisions would lapse on that date and asked for a transitional rule. The bill has not passed.
Whether Article 78 is among the provisions repealed was not read in the bill’s text. Article 5(7) applies the law in force when a benefit is taken; the texts read do not say how a file pending on 1 March 2027 would be treated if the bill passes as proposed.
Treaties
Article 8(4) provides for treaties that count periods in Vietnam and abroad. The one bilateral social insurance agreement found is with Korea, in force from 1 January 2024: it covers pension and survivor benefits and adds periods in both countries for the pension. No second agreement turned up in two searches.
What this means for an enterprise manager or a family leaving
- An enterprise manager is a participant even without pay (Article 2(1)(n)), and Article 70(1) asks that participation has ceased.
- A family member with an employment record faces a choice between the lump sum, a pension where eligible, and reserving the time; paid-out years cannot be counted later.
- The proof of settlement is a foreign document. Whether a particular investor permit meets the Law’s “long-term permanent residence card” or the page’s 5-year test is not established.
What is known, what is not, and what comes next
| Known | Not known | Next date |
|---|---|---|
| Point b of Article 70(1) has no years test; the amount is by year of contribution; paid-out years cannot be recounted | Which list of papers applies at a counter; whether the bill repeals Article 78; what happens to a file pending on 1 March 2027 | 20 November 2026, planned end of the Assembly’s session; 1 March 2027, proposed effective date of the bill |
The tax treatment of the lump sum, in Vietnam or abroad, and whether it counts as an asset formed in Vietnam under the settlement-transfer rules, were not examined.
The annex to Decision 2270/QĐ-BTC, the text of the bill and Decree 158/2025 beyond pages 2 to 3, 10 and 12 to 18 were not read, and whether a file can be lodged from abroad or through a representative was not established.
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