What rights do foreigners working in Vietnam often overlook when they leave their jobs?

In reality, many foreigners leaving their jobs in Vietnam often focus on completing visa procedures, terminating employment contracts, or preparing to return home, forgetting to check their legal and financial rights related to their previous employment. Some believe that because they only worked in Vietnam for a short time, they won't have significant rights. Others think that when their employment contract ends, all rights automatically cease.

Therefore, many foreign workers only discover after leaving Vietnam that they have missed out on benefits related to social insurance, wages, allowances, or unfulfilled obligations from their former company.

1. Social Insurance Benefits Are a Commonly Overlooked Issue

According to the 2024 Social Insurance Law and related regulations, foreign workers who are required to participate in mandatory social insurance in Vietnam can claim social insurance benefits as stipulated by current law.

Many people are unaware they have participated in social insurance.

In reality, many foreign workers are unaware that their company has registered them for social insurance throughout their employment. Some only discover this when checking their payslips or reviewing their records before leaving their job.

Furthermore, many believe that only Vietnamese citizens are eligible for social insurance, so they completely fail to check their social insurance data before leaving the country.

Failure to Check Social Insurance Closing Status

Another common problem is that employees leave their jobs without checking whether the company has completed the social insurance closing procedures.

In some cases, companies are slow to process termination documents or have not fully updated the data on the system, causing difficulties for employees when claiming benefits later.

2. Many people overlook outstanding payments.

Unused annual leave pay

In some cases, employees leave their jobs without reviewing their remaining annual leave days according to their employment contract or company regulations. In reality, this is a payment that many people overlook, focusing only on the contract termination date and departure schedule.

Bonuses, allowances, or reimbursements

Some companies have policies for project bonuses, housing support, reimbursement of travel expenses, or other allowances that have not been fully settled at the time of termination. If employees do not carefully review their contract termination documents, these payments are sometimes easily overlooked.

3. Labor records and legal documents are also very important.

Many foreign workers, after leaving their jobs, often do not keep their labor records because they think they will no longer need them after leaving Vietnam.

However, in reality, documents such as labor contracts, termination notices, payslips, or social insurance data are sometimes very important if there is a need to process financial benefits or review legal records later.

Data can easily become inaccurate after many years.

In some cases, workers change their passports, nationality, or residency information after leaving Vietnam, making it more difficult to verify old data. Furthermore, if they have worked for multiple companies with different social insurance numbers, the process of reviewing benefits can be more complicated than expected.

The former company may no longer be operating.

Some foreign workers only begin checking their entitlements years after leaving Vietnam, only to discover that their former company has dissolved or ceased operations. At this point, retrieving records or verifying data often takes significantly longer than if the process were handled immediately upon leaving.

Foreign workers in Vietnam often overlook important entitlements such as social insurance, annual leave pay, labor data, or outstanding payments if they don't thoroughly review their records before departure. In reality, many issues are only discovered after the worker has left Vietnam, making the process more complicated and time-consuming.

This is why foreign workers should proactively check all their labor records and financial entitlements before leaving their job to avoid any potential problems later on.

For cases requiring review of labor records, verification of social insurance data, or assistance in processing procedures for foreigners in Vietnam, DEDICA provides consultation tailored to each specific situation.

Contact DEDICA Law Firm for expert legal advice!

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