To be able to invest abroad, investors need to meet some basic requirements such as having enough financial strength, experience in the investment field and business management skills. The process of investing abroad may have certain differences depending on the country or region. To simplify administrative procedures and establish requirements for investors when applying for a Foreign Investment Registration Certificate, also known as Vietnam My Foreign Investment License, please refer to the article “Procedures for applying for a foreign investment license”. “Continue to apply for an investment license abroad” below for more information when deciding to invest abroad.

1. How is foreign investment understood?

Foreign investment (also known as international investment) refers to an individual or organization that has capital and assets from one country invested in another to conduct its business with the goal of seeking profit, expanding its market, finding new sources of raw materials, or wanting to engage in production and business activities in another country. Currently, foreign investment takes two main forms:

• Investment in the form of direct investment: When organizing, individuals purchase or establish new companies, or establish branches, or joint ventures directly in other countries. This may involve owning or managing businesses or assets directly.
• Investment in indirect form: When an organization, individuals invest in stocks, bonds, or investment funds, relating to enterprises or projects in other countries that they do not directly control or manage.

Foreign investment will bring many economic benefits and development opportunities to investors, but this investment will also pose risks and challenges to investors.

2. What conditions must be met when registering to invest abroad?

When making overseas investments, the investor needs to meet certain conditions in accordance with current law to ensure that the business funds of the investor are in line with the purpose of controlling the outflow of Vietnamese money. The conditions for overseas investment are stipulated in Article 60 of the 2020 Investment Law, when investors have the need to invest abroad, they must meet the following conditions:

• Investor overseas investment activities shall be in accordance with the principle as stipulated in Article 51 of the Investment Law 2020
• Investment industries are not included in the list of sectors and occupations prohibiting overseas investment as stipulated in Article 53 of Investment 2020.  For conditional overseas investment industries, conditions for overseas investment should be met as stipulated in Article 54 of the Law on Investment in 2020;
• An investor (NPI) has a commitment to self-assemble foreign currencies or an NPI has a commitment to arrange foreign currencies for the performance of the authorized credit institution’s overseas investment activities;
• Investors need to make decisions on overseas investment;
• The investor has fulfilled his duty to pay taxes and must have the tax agency’s document confirming the investor’s tax payment (Note that the tax agency’s confirmation time must not exceed 3 months until the investment project dossier submission date).

3. Application for overseas investment license

Today, the demand for overseas investment by Vietnamese investors is increasing dramatically. When making overseas investments, an investment license is required. Dossiers of application for overseas investment licenses include:

• 01 Overseas investment registration form (Form B.I.1 Circular 25/2023/TT-MPI);
• For an investor who is an individual who needs to provide a copy of CCCD or passport; for an investor who is an institution who needs to provide a copy of GCND or other equivalent document to certify legal status
• Investment project proposal;
• The tax agency’s certificate has confirmed the investor’s performance of tax payment (NDPI) up to the time of submitting the investment project dossier;
• The document of the Commitment to self-balance foreign currency resources or the document of the credit institution authorized to commit foreign currency arrangement to the NPI;
• Confirmation of investment project location for projects: Energy project; Agricultural, fishery, processing, agricultural, forestry and fishery products; Investment project for construction and business of real estate, infrastructure; Investment project for survey, exploration, mining and processing of minerals; Investment project for production facilities and processing; processing, manufacturing; Documentation documents may be: Investment permit (GPPI) or document equivalent to the country receiving investment, in the GPI the content of determining the location and size of land use such as Land Allocation Decision, Land Lease of Authorized Agencies; Win-Win Contracts, Contracts or Land Lease Contracts, Land Lease Contracts, etc.;
• NPI’s decision to invest abroad
• For projects investing abroad in securities, banking, insurance, science and technology, the NPT submits documents of approval from the competent state agency for satisfying conditions of investment abroad as stipulated in the Law on Credit Institutions, the Law on Insurance Business, the Law on Securities, the Law on Science and Technology;
• Authorization document if authorizing another person to act on your behalf.

4. Procedures for applying for a foreign investment license in 2024

In order to be issued an investment certificate abroad, the NPI will follow these steps:

Step one: Investor (NPI) prepares dossiers in accordance with the regulations we have outlined above

Second step: the NPI submits a certificate of investment abroad to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI);

Step 3: The Ministry of Planning and Investment reviews licensing documents:

• During the period of 03 (three) working days after receiving investment project dossiers, the Ministry of Planning and Investment sent the dossiers and consulted other relevant state agencies.
• During the period of 15 (fifteen) working days after receiving investment project dossiers, the agency was consulted to assess the contents of its management authority.
• For projects requiring the Government to decide on investment policy, within 30 days from the date of receipt of investment project dossiers, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall conduct assessment and prepare an appraisal report to submit to the Prime Minister.
• For projects requiring the National Assembly to decide on investment policy: Ministry of Planning and Investment reports to the Prime Minister to establish a State Appraisal Council (within 5 days). Within 90 days, the State Assessment Council will organize an assessment and prepare an assessment report and the Government will send the Record of Decisions on Investment Policy abroad to the lead agency of the National Assembly (before the opening of the National Assembly session 60 days).

Step four: The competent State agency will issue overseas investment licenses to the NPI or if it refuses, it must have a document of refusal and specify the reasons for refusal.

Step five: Investors register foreign exchange transactions to transfer investment funds abroad:

After being issued a certificate of investment abroad, the NPI needs to carry out procedures to register foreign exchange transactions with the State Bank.

5. Fees for applying for a foreign investment license

Investors in Vietnam who wish to participate in overseas investment need to prepare sufficient documents and documents and also prepare for financial capacity to carry out investment procedures. One of the issues that investors are interested in is the investment license fee. When participating in capital investment, conducting business activities or establishing financial institutions abroad, NPIs may request investment licenses depending on specific investment cases at different costs.

Pursuant to Article 3 of the 2015 Law on Fees and Charges, the definition of fees and charges shall be as follows:

Fees are the amount of money that an organization or individual pays to the competent entities providing public services as stipulated in the List of Fees issued under the Law on Fees and Charges.
Fees are fixed amounts that an organization or individual must pay for the performance of an administrative service by the government specified in the published price tag attached to the Law on Fees and Charges.

Accordingly, there are no regulations on fees and charges when applying for overseas investment licenses, so the process of applying for overseas investment licenses in Vietnam will not occur.

Here, LUAT VA KE TOAN VIET MY firm has provided readers with articles on the topic “Procedures for applying for a foreign investment license” and our company provides licensing services to businesses and investors. If any customer needs you can contact us immediately for the fastest and most economical provision of legal services.

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