Health insurance in Vietnam: BHYT for foreigners.
Since 1 July 2025, the test for a foreign employee is a fixed-term contract of at least 12 months. Intra-company transferees and your family sit outside it.
In brief
Do foreigners in Vietnam have to join BHYT?
Foreign employees do, if their Vietnamese labour contract is fixed-term and at least 12 months long.
- The rule dates from 1 July 2025 (Law 51/2024/QH15). Intra-company transferees and people at retirement age are excluded.
- The contribution is 4.5% of monthly salary, two-thirds from the employer. BHYT pays through contracted facilities: 80% of covered costs for most people.
- Your family is not enrolled with you, and the work permit asks for a health certificate, not insurance.
Health insurance for foreigners in Vietnam: the four options.
BHYT, if your contract puts you in it, is the base. Most foreign households need something beside it, and the right thing depends on who it is for.
| Cover type | When to consider it | Before you choose |
|---|---|---|
| BHYT (compulsory) | You are an employee on a qualifying fixed-term contract of 12 months or more. | Confirm your employer has registered you, choose the initial facility deliberately, and learn the referral rules before you need them. |
| Vietnamese private health insurance | You will be treated mainly in Vietnam and want private hospitals. | Check the hospital network and direct billing, conditions you already have, renewal terms and any benefit abroad. |
| International health insurance | Family members outside BHYT, evacuation, treatment in Bangkok or Singapore, or further moves. | Check the area of cover, the evacuation destination and who approves it, and continuity if your next posting is elsewhere. |
| Travel insurance | Short assignments and the weeks before a contract starts. | Long-stay and residence exclusions. It is not a substitute for cover if you live in Vietnam. |
Start with who is in BHYT and who is not. The employee on a qualifying contract is; the family and the intra-company transferee are not, and nor, as we read the law, is a contract under 12 months. The private policy is sized for the people and the hospitals BHYT leaves out.
We read your contract, your family’s situation and any policy you already hold, then set out what BHYT gives you and what still needs covering, evacuation included.
BHYT for foreigners: the 12-month rule, in three steps.
Vietnam asks for a health check at the work permit and for BHYT through the payroll, and only if your contract qualifies.
The work permit asks for a health check, not a policy
Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP, in force 7 August 2025, requires a “giấy khám sức khỏe”: a health examination certificate issued within the previous 12 months by a qualified Vietnamese or foreign facility. It asks for no insurance. We found no insurance condition for entry visas either, but have not checked every category.
The employer enrols you, if your contract qualifies
Law 51/2024/QH15 rewrote Article 12 of the Health Insurance Law from 1 July 2025. A foreign employee is a compulsory participant when working “theo hợp đồng lao động xác định thời hạn có thời hạn từ đủ 12 tháng trở lên”: on a fixed-term labour contract of at least 12 months. Intra-company transferees, people at retirement age when the contract is signed, and anything a treaty provides otherwise are excluded. The contribution is 4.5% of monthly salary, two-thirds from the employer and one-third from the employee (Ministry of Health, on Decree 188/2025).
BHYT pays at the facility you register with
You register an initial facility and can change it in the first 15 days of each quarter. BHYT pays only through facilities that hold a BHYT contract, and most participants receive 80% of covered costs. Going elsewhere without a referral reduces what the fund pays.
Everything outside a qualifying contract, the family included, is cover you arrange yourself.
From the contract to the BHYT card, what to check when.
The contract term is the first fact to read: it decides whether BHYT applies at all.
| When | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Before you signread the contract term | Fixed-term, 12 months or more, with a Vietnamese employer: compulsory BHYT and social insurance. Intra-company transfer, or retirement age at signing: excluded by Art. 12(1)(c). Under 12 months: outside the foreign-employee rule as we read it; confirm with the employer or Vietnam Social Security, and plan your own cover from day one. |
| Work permit filethe health certificate | A health examination certificate no more than 12 months old goes in the dossier (Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP). It proves fitness for work; it insures nothing. |
| First payrollthe contribution starts | 4.5% of monthly salary: 3% from the employer and 1.5% from you (our arithmetic on the two-thirds and one-third). The salary counted is capped at 20 times the reference level, which the law ties to the base salary during the transition. The base salary rose to 2,530,000 VND a month from 1 July 2026 (Decree 161/2026/NĐ-CP); ask your employer which cap they apply. |
| With the cardregister a facility | Choose an initial facility at the primary or basic level. You can change it in the first 15 days of each quarter (Art. 26). Ask whether the hospitals you actually intend to use hold a BHYT contract. |
| For the familya separate question | Your enrolment does not cover your spouse or children. On the last official guidance we found, which predates the reform (VSS Phú Yên, 2022), the household route needed household or temporary-residence registration. Ask your local Social Security office what applies now. |
| At contract endcover stops with it | Compulsory enrolment follows the labour contract. Arrange or renew private cover before the last month, not after. |
What BHYT pays, and where it stops.
BHYT is a contracted network, not an open policy. It pays at the facility you register with and at the law’s percentages: in full at the primary level, 80% for most participants elsewhere, less if you go without a referral.
It is also a scheme for the employee. Spouses and children are not enrolled through you, and intra-company transferees are outside the compulsory rule (contracts under 12 months too, as we read it).
The table sets out the law as amended from 1 July 2025, with the article for each line.
| Area | Position | The note that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign employee, fixed-term contract of 12 months or more | Compulsory BHYT | From 1 July 2025; excludes intra-company transferees, retirement age at signing and treaty cases. Law 51/2024/QH15, Art. 12(1)(c) |
| Contribution | 4.5% of monthly salary | Employer two-thirds, employee one-third; the law allows up to 6%. Ministry of Health on Decree 188/2025; Law 51/2024, Art. 13 |
| Contribution cap | 20 × the reference level | The reference level follows the base salary in the transition; base salary 2,530,000 VND a month from 1 July 2026. Law 51/2024, Art. 14(5); Decree 161/2026 |
| Care at the primary level | 100% of covered cost | Commune health stations, family-medicine facilities and similar. Law 51/2024, Art. 22(1)(c) |
| Most participants, at the proper facility | 80% of covered cost | Higher rates for listed priority groups. Law 51/2024, Art. 22(1)(e) |
| Self-referral | A reduced share | For example 40% of the benefit for inpatient care at the specialised level. Law 51/2024, Art. 22(4)(g) |
| Five years of continuous membership | 100% once the year’s co-payments pass 6 × the reference level | Within covered care. Law 51/2024, Art. 22(1)(d) |
| Spouse and children | Not covered by your enrolment | Household route: conditions after July 2025 not confirmed. VSS Phú Yên (2022) |
| Intra-company transferee | Not compulsory | Private cover carries everything. Law 51/2024, Art. 12(1)(c) |
| Work permit | A health certificate under 12 months old | No insurance requirement in the decree. Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP |
Which international hospitals hold a BHYT contract we have not confirmed: ask the hospital and your employer before you rely on it.
Four situations, four different checks.
The employee on a two-year contract
You are in compulsory BHYT and social insurance from the first payroll. Register an initial facility that is realistic for you, and keep private cover for your family and for the hospitals BHYT does not contract with.
The intra-company transferee
Excluded from compulsory BHYT by Art. 12(1)(c). Your home-country group plan or an international policy is the whole of your cover: check that it treats Vietnam as a residence, not a trip.
The consultant on a six-month contract
Under the 12-month threshold, so outside the compulsory rule as we read it; confirm with the employer or Vietnam Social Security. Price an international or local private policy for the whole stay, evacuation included.
The spouse and children
Not enrolled with the employee. Decide between the household BHYT route, if it is open to you, and private cover before you arrive.
Four ways this goes wrong, and all four are avoidable.
Trusting the “three months” rule
A Government Q&A from May 2024 and a provincial Social Security page from 2022 both say foreign workers join BHYT on contracts of three months or more. That was the rule in the 2020 consolidated law. Since 1 July 2025 the test for foreign employees is a fixed-term contract of at least 12 months, with transferees and retirement-age workers excluded.
Assuming the company plan is the family plan
Compulsory BHYT covers the employee. A spouse and children are not enrolled with you, and the household route had registration conditions on the last guidance we found. Settle the family’s cover before the move, not after the first fever.
Treating BHYT like an open-network insurer
BHYT pays through contracted facilities, at the facility you registered, at the law’s percentages: 80% for most participants. Self-referral is paid at a fraction of that, for example 40% of the benefit for inpatient care at a specialised-level facility. Whether the international hospital you have in mind takes BHYT is a question to ask, not assume.
Reading the work-permit health check as cover
The health certificate is an entry condition, valid for 12 months from issue. We found no insurance check in the work-permit rules or the visa rules we read, which is how people arrive in Vietnam with no cover at all.
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Health insurance expert
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Book with ChantalBHYT and health insurance for foreigners in Vietnam: your questions.
Do foreigners have to pay into BHYT in Vietnam?
Foreign employees do, if they work on a fixed-term Vietnamese labour contract of at least 12 months. That has been the rule since 1 July 2025 under Law 51/2024/QH15. Intra-company transferees and people already at retirement age when the contract is signed are excluded. Pages still quoting a three-month threshold describe the law before that reform.
How much is BHYT for a foreign employee?
4.5% of monthly salary. The employer pays two-thirds and the employee one-third, according to the Ministry of Health’s presentation of Decree 188/2025. The salary used is capped at 20 times the reference level, which the law ties to the base salary during the transition. The base salary rose to 2,530,000 VND a month from 1 July 2026.
Does Vietnam require health insurance for a visa or work permit?
The work permit asks for a health examination certificate issued within the previous 12 months, not an insurance policy (Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP). We found no insurance requirement for entry visas, but have not confirmed every category. Plan your cover as if nobody will ask.
Does my BHYT cover my family?
No. Compulsory BHYT covers the employee under the labour contract; a spouse or children need cover of their own. The household route is one option, but the last official guidance we found on foreigners using it predates the 2025 reform, so ask the local Social Security office. Private or international cover is the other.
Can I use BHYT at any hospital in Vietnam?
No. BHYT pays through facilities that hold a BHYT contract, starting with the facility you register as your initial point of care. Most participants receive 80% of covered costs, and going elsewhere without the required referral reduces what the fund pays. You can change your registered facility in the first 15 days of each quarter.
Where these facts come from.
Every claim on this page rests on Law 51/2024/QH15, the Ministry of Health, the Official Gazette, a provincial government portal and Vietnam Social Security, read on 13 October 2026. Two older official pages are listed because they still give the pre-reform three-month rule; they are the source of the confusion, not of our facts.
Where we rely on our own reading we say so: that contracts under 12 months fall outside the compulsory rule, and that the household route for families still needs registration. We print no new contribution cap, because we have not confirmed that the reference level moved with the base salary on 1 July 2026.
- Law No. 51/2024/QH15 amending the Law on Health Insurance (full text, Nghệ An provincial public-administration portal) — Art. 12(1)(c): foreign employees on contracts of 12 months or more, and the exclusions; Art. 13 (up to 6%); Art. 14(5) (20 × the reference level); Art. 22 (benefit levels); Art. 26 (facility registration); in force 1 July 2025; the reference level equals the base salary in the transition. Official republication; read 2026-10-13.
- Ministry of Health (Department of Health Insurance) — presentation of Decree 188/2025/NĐ-CP, 17 July 2025 — Employees: 4.5% of monthly salary, two-thirds employer and one-third employee. Hosted by the Khánh Hòa Department of Health; read 2026-10-13. The decree text itself was not read.
- Decree 219/2025/NĐ-CP on foreign workers (Official Gazette) — A health examination certificate no more than 12 months old in the work-permit dossier; in force 7 August 2025; no insurance requirement. Read 2026-10-13.
- Hà Tĩnh provincial government — Decree 161/2026/NĐ-CP, base salary from 1 July 2026 — Base salary 2,530,000 VND a month; decree dated 15 May 2026, effective 1 July 2026. Read 2026-10-13; the decree text itself was not read.
- Vietnam Social Security — social insurance for foreign workers (26 March 2025) — Compulsory social insurance for foreign workers on contracts of 12 months or more from 1 July 2025, with the same exclusions. Read 2026-10-13.
- Government Q&A portal — “Lao động nước ngoài có phải tham gia BHYT?” (28 May 2024) — Out of date: gives three months or more under the 2020 consolidated text. Cited as the source of the confusion, not as authority. Read 2026-10-13.
- Vietnam Social Security, Phú Yên — notes on health insurance for foreigners (2 August 2022) — Partly out of date: the household route for foreigners, needing household or temporary-residence registration. Predates the reform. Read 2026-10-13.
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