Can a Foreigner Inherit an Apartment in Vietnam?

Min (name changed), a South Korean citizen, asked DEDICA:

"My father was Korean. He worked in Vietnam for many years and bought an apartment in a development in Ho Chi Minh City, with the title registered in his name. He recently passed away. I am his only son and I live in Seoul. Acquaintances tell me that foreigners cannot own housing in Vietnam, so I must sell the apartment quickly. Can I actually keep this apartment and hold the title, or am I forced to sell? And I can hardly arrange to stay in Vietnam for long."

DEDICA ADVISES The claim that "foreigners cannot own housing in Vietnam" is only half the picture, and it has nearly pushed you into selling, in haste, an asset you have every right to keep. For an apartment located within a commercial housing project, exactly the kind your father left behind, a foreign individual permitted to enter Vietnam like you can inherit it, hold the title and be granted a Certificate, rather than merely being "entitled to the value" as with land or a separate house outside any project. What you need to do is determine whether the apartment falls within that category, then carry out the procedure; all of it can be done from Korea through an authorized representative. Below are the legal grounds and the concrete steps.

Inheritance and ownership of an apartment by a foreigner

First, two things that are often conflated must be separated: the right to inherit and the right to hold the title. Your right to inherit does not depend on which country's passport you carry.

As a biological child of the deceased, you stand in the first line of heirs (Article 651, Civil Code 2015), with a share equal to the others in the same line, if any. Because the estate is real property in Vietnam, the exercise of inheritance rights follows Vietnamese law (Clause 2, Article 680, Civil Code 2015): Vietnamese law decides in what form you receive the apartment.

And this is what sets an apartment within a project sharply apart from land or a separate house. Foreigners cannot acquire land use rights, so with land or a house outside a project they are only "entitled to the value" (DEDICA analyzes that separately in its article on foreigners inheriting land). But housing within a commercial housing construction investment project follows a more open regime: a foreign individual permitted to enter Vietnam may inherit a commercial apartment within a project, outside areas requiring national defense and security protection (Point b, Clause 2, Article 17, Housing Law 2023), and in that case:

In other words, if you are permitted to enter Vietnam, the apartment sits within a commercial project outside national defense and security areas, and foreign ownership in the building has not yet exceeded 30% of the apartments (Article 19, Housing Law 2023), you may hold the title and be granted a Certificate just as your father was. One limit to bear in mind: a foreign individual may own for a maximum of 50 years, renewable once (Point c, Clause 2, Article 20); you inherit and continue within the term recorded on your father's Certificate.

Only when the apartment falls outside those conditions, for instance the 30% cap has been exceeded, it lies in a national defense and security area, or the heir himself is not permitted to enter Vietnam, does it shift to the "entitled to the value" mechanism:

"Entitled to the value" does not mean losing the share: you may, directly or through an authorized person, sell or donate the apartment to someone eligible to own it and receive in full the sum corresponding to your inherited share (Article 22, Housing Law 2023). DEDICA quotes the above provisions from the consolidated text 79/VBHN-VPQH of 2026.

Steps to inherit the apartment while you are abroad

The procedure for heirs living abroad is by now a well-trodden path; what matters is doing it in the right order and handling the document steps that tend to snag early.

1. Determine which category the apartment falls into: whether the project lies outside national defense and security areas, whether foreign ownership in the building has already reached 30%, and the remaining ownership term on your father's Certificate. This step decides whether you hold the title or only receive the value.
2. Prepare the documents from Korea: a valid passport, documents proving the father-and-child relationship, and your father's death certificate. Documents issued by Korean authorities must be consularly legalized and translated with notarization into Vietnamese before they can be used in Vietnam.
3. Execute a power of attorney for a lawyer or representative in Vietnam, done at a Vietnamese diplomatic mission in Korea, or notarized in Korea and then consularly legalized. This is the key that spares you from returning to Vietnam.
4. Declare or agree on the division of the estate at a notarial practice organization (through your authorized representative), then transfer the title: a Certificate is granted to you if you are eligible to own, or it is sold or donated to receive the value if not. In the latter case, prepare the remittance document set from the outset (the notarized inheritance declaration, the transfer contract, tax and fee receipts) so the bank can remit the inheritance proceeds abroad.

If a family member has left you an apartment in Vietnam, DEDICA can verify the legal status of the apartment and the project to determine whether you may hold the title or receive the value, then act under a power of attorney to declare the inheritance, transfer the title or sell, and handle the file to remit the proceeds abroad; you need not be present in Vietnam. Send DEDICA scanned copies of the apartment's Certificate and the death certificate for a lawyer to give a preliminary assessment of the way forward.

This content is for reference as of the date of publication; every case has its own facts (type of housing, the state of the project and the documents, the number of co-heirs, whether there is a will...). Please consult a DEDICA lawyer for advice tailored to your specific situation.