Does Vietnam have a digital nomad visa?

Short answer

No — Vietnam does not have a general-purpose digital nomad visa equivalent to Thailand's DTV, Spain's nomad visa, or Portugal's D7 / D8, as of the last-reviewed date below.

What Vietnam has:

• Tourist e-visa up to 90 days (single or multiple entry).
• Visa-free entry 15–45 days for citizens of specific countries.
• Special visa-exemption categories (sometimes labelled UĐ1 / UĐ2) for invited specialists — not a general remote-worker route.
• Work permit + TRC for foreigners with a Vietnamese employer.
• Investor visa (DT1–DT4) for foreigners owning a Vietnamese company.
• Marriage visa (TT) for spouses of Vietnamese citizens.

For a typical foreign remote worker employed by a foreign company, none of those is a perfect fit.

Why this question gets confused

Two reasons.

1. Thailand's DTV. Thailand launched the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) in 2024 — five-year multi-entry, designed for remote workers and digital nomads. It is well-publicised. Articles online sometimes describe a "Vietnamese DTV" with similar characteristics. That is a mix-up. Vietnam did not launch the same visa.

2. Talent-visa discussion. Vietnamese authorities have discussed and partially introduced special visa-exemption categories for high-skill specialists, scientists and individuals making outstanding contributions to Vietnam. These are real categories — but they are narrow: invited specialists, recognised talent, not general remote workers. The Vietnamese terms UĐ1 / UĐ2 or miễn thị thực đặc biệt sometimes appear in policy documents.

The combination of these two threads has produced a lot of incorrect online content claiming "Vietnam has a 5-year digital talent visa for remote workers." We have not been able to corroborate this against official Vietnamese sources. Treat such claims as unverified.

What does this mean for an actual remote worker?

If you are, say, a London-based product designer employed by a Berlin company and you want to live in Đà NẵngĐà Nẵng (Da Nang)dah nangMajor coastal city in central Vietnam, known for its beaches, the Marble Mountains, and modern infrastructure. for six months, your options are:

The honest middle ground for six-to-twelve months is the e-visa cycle. Many remote workers do this. It works. It is a legal grey zone, because the e-visa is technically a tourist/business-meetings visa. Vietnam has historically been relaxed about it; that is not the same as formal authorisation to work.

What you must verify

• Your nationality's current visa-free / e-visa status at evisa.gov.vn.
• Tax residency consequences if you spend 183+ days in Vietnam in any 12-month rolling period.
• Whether your specific situation fits a special visa exemption by contacting the Vietnamese embassy in your country.
• Insurance — many policies exclude motorbike riding and long-stay; check the small print.

Tax warning

Spending 183+ days in Vietnam in any 12-month rolling period makes you a Vietnamese tax resident with worldwide-income reporting obligations. This applies regardless of which visa class you are on. See Vietnam tax residency.

What we wrote before — and corrected

An earlier version of this content described a "Vietnamese DTV / 5-year Digital Talent Visa" as a settled fact. That was incorrect; it conflated Thailand's DTV with Vietnam's situation. We rewrote the long-form page at /visa/dtv-five-year-visa and added this shorter reality-check page as the canonical answer to the question.

Official sources

• evisa.gov.vn — for short-stay applications.
• Vietnam Immigration Department.
• Your country's Vietnamese embassy — the authoritative answer for your specific case.

What this does NOT let you do

Even if you are lawfully in Vietnam on an e-visa or a visa-free entry, there are clear limits on what that status authorises:

• Take paid employment with a Vietnamese employer — that requires a work permit (LD visa category) issued through a licensed Vietnamese company; an e-visa does not substitute.
• Work for Vietnamese clients on a contract basis — freelance or B2B invoicing to Vietnamese entities may still require a business licence or work permit; you may need to verify the exact threshold with a qualified immigration agent.
• Stay beyond 90 days per entry without exiting — the e-visa cap is 90 days per entry; exceeding it without a valid extension or re-entry triggers overstay fines and potential bans.
• Claim tax-resident exemption automatically — spending 183+ days in any rolling 12-month period makes you a Vietnamese tax resident with worldwide-income obligations regardless of visa type; you may need to verify your specific position with a Vietnamese tax professional.
• Rely on informal "digital nomad" toleration as formal authorisation — Vietnam has historically been relaxed about e-visa cycling for remote workers, but that tolerance is not a written right and can change without notice.

Refer to the digital nomad reality check or the retirement reality check where remote work or retirement comes up — Vietnam has no confirmed general route for either.

Verify before acting. Visa rules change. Confirm with the Vietnamese embassy in your country or evisa.gov.vn before relying on any specific limitation here.

Related

• Vietnam visa overview
• DTV / 5-year visa long-form reality check
• E-visa guide
• Visa runs
• Work permit + TRC
• Investor visa

Not legal advice. Human review needed. Vietnamese visa rules change; verify with the official Vietnamese immigration department before acting.