Vietnam International Financial Centre: the incentives, who qualifies, and how to become a member step by step

What the VIFC is

The legal basis is Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly of 27 June 2025, in force since 1 September 2025, and eight Government decrees of 18 December 2025 (Nos. 323 to 330/2025/NĐ-CP) covering establishment, financial and tax policy, labour, land and environment, entry and residence, the arbitration centre, banking and foreign exchange, and the commodity exchange. The Centre was formally launched on 21 December 2025.

The VIFC is one legal entity with two locations, governed by the same rules (Decree 323/2025/NĐ-CP):

• Ho Chi Minh City, about 898 ha: Sài Gòn and Bến Thành wards and the Thủ Thiêm new urban area. Planned as a full financial ecosystem: capital raising, investment, payments, issuing and trading financial products, asset management, fintech and green finance.
• Da Nang, about 300 ha: several plots in An Hải and Hải Châu wards (including a building in Software Park No. 2) and about 282 ha of planned reclaimed land. Focused on innovation, digital technology and sustainable finance, with controlled testing of new models such as digital assets, digital payments, specialised trading platforms and supply chain finance.

Inside the Centre, the Resolution and its implementing rules apply first, and general Vietnamese law fills the gaps (Resolution 222, Art. 6(1)). For transactions with a foreign party, the parties may choose a foreign law, except that property is governed by the law of where it is located (Art. 6(2)). The working language is English, or English with a Vietnamese translation (Art. 7). Disputes can go to foreign or international arbitration, to the VIFC International Arbitration Centre (Decree 328/2025/NĐ-CP), or to the courts; if the parties agree in writing, a VIFC arbitration award is final and the right to ask a court to set it aside can be waived (Art. 30). A specialised court for the Centre was provided for by law in December 2025.

The incentives below are for VIFC members, not for every business located in the two cities. A member must have its head office inside the Centre's boundaries and keep it there for as long as it operates. Check the exact address against the boundary before you sign a lease.

Who can become a member

Members can be banks and foreign bank branches, securities companies, insurers and reinsurers, funds and asset managers, market infrastructure operators, fintech and digital asset businesses, advisory and support service providers, non-financial organisations and other entities the Government adds (Resolution 222, Art. 3(2)). An investor must set up a legal entity that becomes the member (Art. 10(3)). There are three ways in:

Every member receives a member identification code (Art. 10(7)) and must keep meeting the membership standards throughout its operations (Art. 12(5)). Membership can end at the member's request, if it no longer meets the standards, at a regulator's request after a violation, or when a sector licence is revoked. From the date membership ends, the VIFC incentives stop, but obligations that arose during membership remain.

The incentives, and who they are for

Priority sectors, as summarised from the appendix to Decree 323/2025: development of the Centre's infrastructure; green finance and ESG; commodities, commodity derivatives and international trade finance; fintech and innovation, including innovative startups; investment funds and asset management; and professional support services. Each location keeps its own list of businesses it prioritises. Check your exact activity against the appendix before you rely on the 10% rate.

For the salary exemption, Decree 324/2025, Art. 7(2)(c) refers to a university degree or a recognised international professional certificate, at least 5 years of relevant work, research or teaching experience, and management roles at financial centres, financial institutions, funds or multinational groups. Confirm with counsel which combination of criteria applies to each person before you promise net salaries.

For startups and the investors who back them

• Fintech and innovative startups are on the priority list, so a qualifying new project can reach the 10% for 30 years rate.
• Decree 324/2025 creates crowdfunding in the Centre. Only a licensed VIFC securities company may run a platform. A startup needs a Startup Certificate from the Executive Authority and may raise up to USD 700,000 in any 12 months. Investors can be members and foreign individuals and companies; shares bought this way are locked up for 6 months and cannot be transferred to Vietnamese investors outside the Centre.
• Gains from selling shares or capital in a VIFC member are free of personal income tax until the end of 2030, which matters for founders and angel investors planning an exit.
• Da Nang is meant for controlled testing of new financial models, including digital assets and digital payments.

Planning to raise capital through the Centre? The fundraising.vn toolkit helps Vietnamese startups prepare their pitch deck and data room before they meet investors.

Step by step: from first check to claiming the incentives

1. 1

   Check that your activity fits the Centre

   Write down what the entity will actually do and compare it with the member categories in Resolution 222, Art. 3(2) and the priority list in the appendix to Decree 323/2025. The answer decides two things: whether you can be a member at all, and whether a new project gets 10% for 30 years or 15% for 15 years. Then choose the location: Ho Chi Minh City for the full financial ecosystem, Da Nang for digital and testing-led models.

2. 2

   Choose your gateway

   Most businesses register. Fortune Global 500 groups and top-10 domestic financial institutions may use the faster recognition route. Banks, securities and insurance companies, and exchanges go through their own licensing, which may also need approval from the State Bank, the State Securities Commission or the Ministry of Finance. In its first phase the online system covers organisations outside finance and banking.

3. 3

   Secure a head office inside the boundary

   Membership requires a head office in the Centre for as long as you operate. Get a lease offer for an address you have checked against the boundary of the Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang location.

4. 4

   Prepare the dossier

   For registration: a written request and an explanation, on the Executive Authority's forms, showing financial capacity, reputation and fit with the Centre's direction (Decree 324/2025, Art. 4(2)). For recognition: evidence that you meet the Art. 10(2) criteria. The Executive Authorities have issued a standard set of forms (20 for businesses). Expect to provide group legal documents, audited financial statements, a multi-year business plan, a governance and compliance outline, and the CVs of managers. English is accepted.

5. 5

   File on the VIFC portal

   The membership registration system opened on 17 August 2026 on the VIFC portal. Dossiers can also be filed in person or by post. The certificate is due within 7 working days for registration or 5 for recognition, or you receive a written refusal with reasons. Keep your member identification code.

6. 6

   Set up the legal entity and the rest of the licensing

   The investor must set up a legal entity that is the member (Resolution 222, Art. 10(3)). Public guidance on how membership fits with the ordinary investment and enterprise registration route was still incomplete in 2026: ask the Executive Authority and counsel whether you also need an IRC and an ERC, and in which order. For the ordinary route, use the Route Finder with location "International Financial Centre"; projects in the Centre may also choose the special investment procedure.

7. 7

   Open the accounts and bring in capital

   Open a foreign-currency account at a VIFC member bank for capital, loans and profit transfers, and set up reporting. Decide early whether to report under IFRS.

8. 8

   Bring in your team

   Apply for work permits or exemption confirmations (up to 10 years) and UĐ1 or UĐ2 visas or residence cards through the Centre's agencies. Prepare a list of staff who may qualify for the salary tax exemption, with evidence of degrees and experience, for the member's proposal to the Executive Authority.

9. 9

   Claim the tax incentives

   Record income from the incentivised project separately from other income from day one. Apply the CIT rate and holiday in your returns and annual finalisation, apply the personal income tax exemption in payroll once the staff are approved, and notify the duty-free import list before importing equipment.

10. 10

    Keep your membership in good standing

    Keep the head office in the Centre, update member information on the portal when it changes, and stay within the membership standards. Losing membership ends the VIFC incentives from that date.

Documents to prepare

• A one-page description of the business, matched to the member categories and the priority list.
• Legal documents of the investor and the group, and audited financial statements as evidence of financial capacity.
• A multi-year business plan, a governance, risk and compliance outline, and an IT and business continuity description for regulated activities.
• CVs and evidence of experience for managers and key staff.
• A lease offer for a head office inside the Centre's boundary.
• For recognition: evidence of Fortune Global 500 status or of the domestic top-10 ranking.

Common mistakes

• Assuming any office in central Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang qualifies: only addresses inside the Centre's boundaries do, and only for members.
• Planning on 10% for 30 years without checking that the activity is on the priority list and that the project counts as new.
• Promising staff tax-free salaries before they have been approved against the criteria.
• Treating membership as a replacement for sector licences: banking, securities, insurance and exchanges still need their own licence.
• Mixing incentivised and other income in the same accounts.

What is still open

The Centre is new and its rules were still being completed in 2026. In September 2026 businesses asked the authorities to stop repeating assessments that other regulators had already made and to clarify how existing licences carry over. The detailed member regulations, the forms and the online procedures are issued by the Executive Authorities and may change. Check the current position on the VIFC portal and with counsel before you file.