Overseas Investment Certificate Application Services

24 February, 2026 44 Views

With the development of the economy and society, diplomatic relations between Vietnam and other countries are increasingly strengthened. Vietnamese individuals and enterprises are eager to bring their products to the international stage, expand consumption markets, broaden investment opportunities, and seek new prospects. Therefore, issues related to the procedure for obtaining an outbound investment registration certificate are currently receiving significant attention. Within the scope of this article, BKC LAW provides useful additional information on outbound investment activities as follows.

I. Forms of Outbound Investment and Conditional Investment Sectors

Pursuant to the Investment Law 2020, investors may choose one of the following forms of outbound investment:

Establishing an economic organization in accordance with the laws of the host country;
Investing in the form of contracts abroad;
Contributing capital, purchasing shares, or purchasing capital contributions in foreign economic organizations to participate in the management of such organizations;
Purchasing or selling securities, other valuable papers, or investing through securities investment funds or other intermediary financial institutions abroad;
Other forms of investment as permitted by the laws of the host country.

Note: For certain special sectors such as Banking, Insurance, Securities, Press, Radio, Television, or Real Estate Business, when an investor carries out outbound investment, it must satisfy corresponding conditions as prescribed by law.

II. Procedure for Obtaining an Outbound Investment Registration Certificate:

1. Determine whether the investment project requires investment policy approval?

Pursuant to Article 56 of the Investment Law 2020, determine whether the project falls under cases requiring investment policy approval by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister. Projects not under the authority of these two bodies are not required to obtain outbound investment policy approval.

Implementation timeline: Since investment policy approval involves the National Assembly and the Government, for projects under the National Assembly’s authority, the timeline depends on the dossier submission date and the National Assembly session schedule. For projects under the Prime Minister’s authority, the timeline is 100–120 days, excluding the time for establishing the State Appraisal Council.

2. Application for Outbound Investment Registration Certificate

– For investment projects requiring investment policy approval: The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall issue the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the investment policy approval document and the outbound investment decision as prescribed.

– For investment projects not requiring outbound investment policy approval:

Step 1: The investor declares information in the application dossier for issuance of the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate on the National Investment Information System and submits the dossier to the Ministry of Planning and Investment within the following 15 days.

Step 2: The Ministry of Planning and Investment checks the validity of the dossier. If the dossier is invalid or requires clarification, the Ministry shall notify the investor in writing within 05 working days from the date of receipt of the dossier.

In certain cases involving foreign currency transfers abroad equivalent to VND 20 billion or more, or projects related to conditional outbound investment sectors, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall seek opinions from specialized agencies.

Within 07 working days from the date of receipt of the consultation request, the consulted agencies shall provide written responses to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Step 3: Within 15 days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall issue the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate.

**Processing time:** Approximately 50–60 days, excluding the appraisal time by specialized agencies.

**Dossier for projects not requiring outbound investment policy approval includes:**

Application for outbound investment registration;
Documents proving the legal status of the investor;
Outbound investment decision as prescribed in Article 59 of the Investment Law;
Written commitment to self-balance foreign currency or a written commitment to arrange foreign currency for the investor issued by a permitted credit institution as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 60 of the Investment Law;
For investment projects in conditional outbound investment sectors, the investor shall submit the approval document from the competent state authority confirming compliance with outbound investment conditions as prescribed by relevant laws.

III. Post-Issuance Procedures After Obtaining the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate:

The investor registers an outbound direct investment capital account.
To transfer funds from Vietnam abroad, the investor must register foreign exchange transactions after obtaining the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate and the business license in the host country.
After obtaining the Outbound Investment Registration Certificate, the investor registers for an account to access the National Investment Portal to comply with the periodic reporting regime as prescribed.

IV. Outbound Investment Registration Certificate Application Service by BKC Law

With a team of experienced lawyers, solid legal knowledge, and excellent bilingual consultation capabilities, BKC LAW is confident in being one of the best legal partners in the market to support enterprises in obtaining outbound investment registration certificates with the most reasonable and transparent costs.

In addition, BKC LAW also provides the following services: