HOW TO OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT IN VIETNAM AS A FOREIGNER

Vietnam continues to attract FDI enterprises, foreign specialists and technology startups across Southeast Asia. For anyone living, working or investing here, opening a local bank account is the practical starting point, it is what lets you receive a salary, pay domestic bills, and settle invoices without relying on a foreign card.

The process itself is well defined. What catches most people out is not the law but the gap between the law and how individual banks apply it. This guide covers both.

Legal Framework for Account Ownership by International Clients

Foreign individuals and organisations have the right to open and operate payment accounts at Vietnamese banks and at foreign bank branches licensed in Vietnam. The governing rules are set by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), principally through Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN, as amended and supplemented by Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN.

For foreign investors, an account is more than a convenience, it is a legal precondition. Capital contributions to Vietnamese enterprises must flow through a Direct Investment Capital Account (DICA) or an Indirect Investment Capital Account (IICA), depending on the investment structure.

Account Categorization for Foreign Clients

A point worth being precise about: holding a foreign currency account does not eliminate exchange rate risk. It defers the conversion, which gives you control over timing. The exposure is still there until you convert.

Most foreign residents end up holding both: a VND account for daily life, and a foreign currency account if they receive income or capital from abroad.

• Foreign Currency Account: A payment account allowing account holders to hold, receive, and execute transactions in major foreign currencies such as USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, etc. This account type primarily serves to receive international investment capital, disburse cross-border trade, and mitigate exchange rate volatility risks.
• Vietnam Dong (VND) Account: A payment account utilizing the official currency of Vietnam (VND). It serves domestic transactions such as payroll processing, commercial invoice settlements, and integration with e-wallets and local payment gateways.

Detailed Comparison between Foreign Currency Account and VND Account:

Eligibility Criteria and Required Legal Documentation

To ensure a seamless account setup process, foreign applicants must satisfy strict customer due diligence standards.

Standard Eligibility Criteria

Under Article 11 of Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN (as amended by Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN), the individuals who may open a payment account are:

• Persons aged full 15 years or older who are not restricted in, or deprived of, civil act capacity under Vietnamese law.
• Persons under full 15 years of age, and persons restricted in or deprived of civil act capacity, who open an account through a legal representative.
• Persons with difficulties in cognition or in controlling their behaviour, who open an account through a guardian.

These rules apply identically to Vietnamese and foreign nationals. The difference for foreign clients lies entirely in which identity documents are accepted, not in who is eligible.

Note that “civil act capacity” is a specific concept under the Vietnamese Civil Code and is narrower than the general English phrase “legal capacity”. In practice, an adult foreign national with no court declaration against them meets this condition.

Standardized Document Package

Under Point c, Clause 2, Article 12 of Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN (as amended by Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN), a foreign individual must present one of the following two routes:

Route 1: Passport-based

• A passport, or another identity document issued by a competent foreign authority. Circular 25/2025 widened this beyond passports alone.
• If you reside in Vietnam: additionally an entry visa, a document valid in lieu of a visa, or proof of visa exemption. This requirement does not apply to non-residents.

Route 2: Electronic identity

• A Level-2 electronic identification account (VNeID), issued to eligible foreign nationals under Decree 69/2024/NĐ-CP on electronic identification and authentication. This substitutes for the passport and visa documents above rather than supplementing them.

Beyond identity documents, the bank will also require:

• An account opening application form on the bank’s own template, completed with the information listed in Article 14 of Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN: full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, position, phone number, passport number with date and place of issue and expiry date, visa number or number of the visa-equivalent document, registered address abroad and in Vietnam, resident or non-resident status, and tax identification number if you have one.
• Residence documents, where applicable: a Temporary Residence Card (TRC), a Permanent Residence Card (PRC), a valid visa, or proof of visa exemption. These are governed by the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam (Law No. 47/2014/QH13, as amended).
• Corporate or representative documents, for corporate accounts only: business or investment registration certificate, a valid power of attorney, and the representative’s identity documents.

A note on entry stamps

Circular 17/2024 does not require an entry stamp as such, the legal requirement is a valid visa, a visa-equivalent document, or proof of visa exemption. In practice, however, many bank branches will look for evidence of lawful entry in your passport.

This matters because you may not have a stamp at all. Travellers who enter through an automated gate, or who use the online arrival declaration, often find nothing stamped in the passport. If that applies to you, bring an alternative: your e-visa, your digital arrival confirmation, or your residence card. Any of these lets the branch verify lawful entry.

If a branch insists on a physical stamp and you cannot produce one, ask them to escalate rather than accepting a refusal at the counter, this is a branch-level practice question, not a legal bar.

Why Banks Reject Applications The Law Would Allow

This is the part most guides leave out, and it is where most rejections actually happen.

Circular 17/2024 sets no minimum residency period. Nothing in the law says your visa must have six months left on it. But most commercial banks apply internal policies that do, commonly requiring a visa or residence card with somewhere between six and twelve months of remaining validity, as a risk-control measure.

The practical consequences:

• A three-month tourist visa will very often be declined, even though the law does not prohibit it.
• Requirements differ meaningfully between banks, and sometimes between branches of the same bank. If one declines you, another may not.
• Foreign bank branches (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Woori and others) tend to have clearer published criteria for foreign clients, though often with higher minimum balances.
• A work permit, employment contract or TRC substantially strengthens an application, even where none of them is formally listed as required.

If you are on a short-term visa, it is worth calling ahead and asking the branch directly about their remaining-validity threshold before you make the trip.

Step-by-Step Bank Account Opening Process in Vietnam

To ensure smooth verification, the standard operational workflow at commercial banks consists of 4 specific steps:

Step 1: Document Preparation and Submission

Assemble your original documents: passport or other foreign-issued identity document, plus visa, visa-equivalent document or proof of visa exemption if you reside in Vietnam, or alternatively your Level-2 VNeID electronic identity — together with the bank’s completed application form.

On legalisation and translation: Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN removed the consular legalisation requirement that previously applied to certain account-opening documents, continuing the direction set by Circular 03/2025/TT-NHNN for indirect investment accounts. Where legalisation is still required, it applies to documents issued by foreign authorities in a corporate context as company registration papers, powers of attorney, not to your passport.

For documents in a foreign language, the bank may agree with you on whether or not to translate them into Vietnamese. The bank remains responsible for confirming their content and for producing a certified, notarised or authenticated translation if a competent authority requests one. Confirm your specific bank’s current position before paying for translation you may not need.

Step 2: On-site Presentation and In-Person Identification

You attend a branch or transaction office. The bank checks your original documents, verifies your entry and residence status, and collects your biometric data.

Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN reinforced this: where an account is opened at the counter, the bank must meet the account holder face to face and match their biometric information. There is no way around this step for a first-time account.

Step 3: Application Review & Compliance Verification (AML/KYC)

This is the stage that determines the outcome. Under Article 15 of Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN, the bank must verify the legality, validity and consistency of everything you submitted, and carry out customer identification under anti-money laundering law.

Know Your Customer (KYC/CDD)

Banks collect and verify identification information under the Law on Anti-Money Laundering No. 14/2022/QH15, Decree 19/2023/NĐ-CP and Circular 09/2023/TT-NHNN: original identity documents, biometric data, occupation, residential addresses in Vietnam and abroad, resident or non-resident status, and the intended purpose and nature of the banking relationship.

Risk classification and enhanced due diligence (EDD)

Each client is scored by money laundering risk. For higher-risk clients, including foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs) and certain complex ownership structures, banks apply enhanced measures: approval at a higher management level, additional information on income, source of funds and beneficial ownership, and closer transaction monitoring.

Sanctions screening

Applications are screened against the blacklist maintained under anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation financing legislation, and against warning lists issued by the SBV and other competent authorities. Banks also operate frameworks aligned with international standards Vietnam participates in or references: the FATF 40 Recommendations, Vietnam’s membership of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), UN Security Council resolutions on targeted financial sanctions, and international conventions on transnational organised crime and terrorist financing. Banks with international correspondent relationships typically screen against the sanctions lists of relevant jurisdictions as well.

Outcomes

Under Clause 3, Article 15, the bank will either approve the application and move to signing, ask you to complete the file where information is incomplete or inconsistent, or decline and state the reasons. Where forged documents are found, or the applicant appears on the Blacklist, the bank reports to the competent authorities.

Step 4: Contract Signing & Service Activation

Upon approval, both parties sign the Payment Account Opening and Use Agreement. The bank retains specimen signatures/digital signatures, issues the account number, and provides e-banking access credentials.

Moving Money Into Vietnam Once The Account Is Open

Once the account exists, the next question is how to get funds into it from abroad efficiently.

You can of course receive an incoming transfer through the commercial banking system using SWIFT. Traditional transfers, though, tend to run into the same operational friction: correspondent fees accumulating across several layers, uncompetitive conversion rates, processing times of two to five business days, and little visibility into where the money is during the transfer.

One thing to be clear about: the obligation to evidence the purpose of a transaction and the source of funds is mandatory under Vietnamese foreign exchange and anti-money laundering law, and it applies uniformly to every lawful remittance channel. A technology provider can help you prepare, digitise and manage that documentation systematically. It cannot reduce the compliance requirement itself, and you should treat any claim to the contrary with suspicion.

Why FinFan’s IRID Solution

Clients choose IRID not because traditional banking cannot move their money, but because they want a faster, more transparent route with documentation workflows that are standardised rather than reassembled by hand each time and real-time visibility through the IRID Portal.

• Speed: Digitised infrastructure enables near-instant or same-day cross-border processing, removing the multi-day wait typical of correspondent banking chains.
• Transparent cost and competitive rates: Cutting out layers of intermediary fees gives a clear cost structure and rates more favourable than standard commercial board rates.
• Automated reconciliation and standardised documentation: Transaction data is reconciled automatically and supporting documents are digitised and stored centrally, so compliance requirements are met faster and more accurately than by assembling paperwork per transfer.
• Centralised control: The IRID Portal lets finance teams track fund status in real time, generate reports, and allocate capital directly.

A note on our service model: FinFan operates as a technology and platform infrastructure provider. Holding and disbursement of funds is carried out by licensed financial institution partners, regulated under applicable law and international safety standards.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How long does approval take?

Counter processing typically takes 30 to 60 minutes if you bring complete and valid documents. Where deeper verification is needed, business registration checks, or risk screening that returns a match requiring review, approval can take one to three business days.

2. Do banks in Vietnam offer English-language service?

Yes. Most major commercial banks (Vietcombank, Techcombank, BIDV, ACB and others) and foreign bank branches (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Woori Bank and others) have English-speaking staff and multilingual mobile and internet banking platforms. Service quality varies more by branch than by bank, central branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are generally the most experienced with foreign clients.

3. Can a foreigner open an account entirely online through eKYC?

No. The process cannot currently be completed 100% online. Under the provisions on opening payment accounts by electronic means in Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN, individual foreign clients are not eligible to open a payment account entirely through electronic channels. Separately, for foreign nationals not using an electronic identity, biometric data must be collected in person.

You therefore need to attend a branch so the bank can verify your originals. What to bring:

• The bank’s account opening application form, completed with the information required under Article 14.
• Your original valid passport, or another identity document issued by a competent foreign authority.
• Residence documents, if you reside in Vietnam: entry visa, visa-equivalent document, proof of visa exemption, TRC or PRC.
• Alternatively, your Level-2 VNeID electronic identity, which substitutes for the identity and residence documents above under Article 12.
• Representative or corporate documents, if applicable.

Once the account is open, day-to-day banking is fully digital, the in-person requirement applies to the opening itself.

4. Can I send money from my Vietnamese VND account back to my home country?

Yes. You can purchase foreign currency using funds in your VND account and remit it abroad, provided you evidence a lawful source of income in Vietnam such as an employment contract, payslips, personal income tax receipts, or documentation of a lawful investment transfer. Banks apply this documentation requirement consistently, so keep these records from the start rather than reconstructing them later.

5. Which bank should I choose as a foreign national?

There is no single answer, but the trade-off is usually consistent. Large domestic banks offer the widest branch and ATM coverage and the lowest fees, with more variable English support. Foreign bank branches offer stronger English service and clearer criteria for foreign clients, but often require higher minimum balances. If your visa has limited validity remaining, call ahead, remaining-validity thresholds are the most common reason a foreign applicant is turned away.

Conclusion

Opening a bank account in Vietnam as a foreign national is straightforward once you meet the eligibility conditions and prepare the right documents. The legal requirements are clear and have become simpler under Circular 25/2025/TT-NHNN.

The friction that remains is largely at branch level: remaining visa validity, entry stamp expectations, and variation in how individual branches interpret their internal policies. Knowing where the law ends and bank policy begins is what turns a frustrating afternoon into a 45-minute appointment.

Contact FinFan today so our team will guide you to fast, secure financial solutions.

• Website: https://finfan.io
• Email: support@finfan.vn
• Phone: +84 2866.853.317

Disclaimer: The information in this article is provided for reference and general knowledge only and does not constitute legal, financial or investment advice. Legislation, State Bank of Vietnam regulations and the internal policies of individual commercial banks are subject to change. Readers should confirm current requirements directly with their bank, or consult a qualified legal adviser, before making financial decisions.