FOREIGNER CAN BUY HOUSE IN VIETNAM

On November 25th 2014, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has approved the Housing Act 2014. One of the most prominent new is that foreigner is entitled to purchase house in Vietnam.

Foreign objects (organization and foreign individual) can own houses in Vietnam are:

•          Overseas organizations and individuals investing in housing construction under projects in Vietnam according to the provisions of the Housing Law and related legal documents;
•         Enterprises with foreign investment capital, branch or representative offices of foreign enterprises, foreign investment funds and foreign bank branches are operating in Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as foreign organizations);
•         Foreign citizens are allowed to enter Vietnam.

Form of ownership housing foreigner in Vietnam

•          Investment in housing construction under the project in Vietnam according to the provisions of the Housing Law and related legislation;
•          Purchasing, leasing, donation or inheritance of commercial housing includes apartments and individual houses in the investment projects of housing construction. (Except for housing projects in the area of ensuring national defense and security as stipulated by the Government of Vietnam).

 Condition, right and obligation of foreigner when buy house in Vietnam

 For individuals and organization investing in housing construction under the project in Vietnam when own houses in Vietnam must satisfy the following conditions:

•          Have investment certificate
•          Have housing projects that are built in the project in accordance with the law on housing

For foreign organizations are enterprises with foreign investment capital, branch or representative offices of foreign enterprises, foreign investment funds and foreign bank branches are operating in Vietnam when buy house in Vietnam must satisfy the following conditions:

•          Have investment certificates or documents relating to the permit to operate in Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as investment certificate) issued by the competent State agencies of Vietnam.

For foreign individual buy house in Vietnam:

•         Allowed to enter Vietnam and are not entitled to the privileges and immunities of diplomatic and consular as stipulated by law.

For foreign organizations are enterprises with foreign investment capital, branch or representative offices of foreign enterprises, foreign investment funds and foreign bank branches are operating in Vietnam and individuals foreigners buy house in Vietnam can own house in Vietnam when:

•         Can only buy, leasing, donation, inheritance and owning not exceed 30% of the apartments in an apartment building; if the houses are individual houses including villas, semi-detached houses and located in an area with population equivalent to ward-level administrative, the allowed units that foreigners are permitted to buy, leasing, donation, inheritance and own are not exceed two hundred and fifty houses;
•         For foreign individuals, they shall be entitled to own house as agreed in the contract of sale, leasing, donation or inheritance of housing but not exceeding 50 years from the date of issuance of certificate of ownership and it can be extended according to the provisions of the Government if required; housing ownership period must also be specified in the certificate;
•        In case of foreign individual married to citizen of Vietnam or married to Vietnam citizen settled in foreign country, they can own the houses for a long and stable term. They also have the owner’s rights like Vietnam citizen;

For foreign organizations, they shall be entitled to own house as agreed in the contract of sale, leasing, donation or inheritance of housing but not exceeding the term specified in the certificate of ownership, including the extended time. The housing ownership period is calculated from the date of receipt of the certificate of ownership and specified in the certificate.

Legal Services

• Commercial
• Dispute Resolution
• Debt Recovery
• Employment
• Foreign Investment
• Intellectual Property
• International Trade and Taxes
• Infrastructure and Project
• Civil Matter

This publication is designed to provide updated information of legal matters, and does not constitute professional advice.

For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call +84 8 3520 2779.  To learn more about us, visit www.antlawyers.vn.

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Copyright and related rights in Viet Nam

Copyright is violated on a regular basis in the music, publishing and software industries. The law firm of ANT Lawyers offers client in protecting and enforcing copyrights and similar intellectual property rights as following:

• Enforce the copyright and related rights, including investigation, supervision, negotiation, mediation, lawsuit initiation to handle infringement in Vietnam and oversea.
• Advise legal matters of copyright and related rights in Vietnam and abroad;
• Conduct searches and provide information on copyright and related rights, advice measures to protect copyright and related rights in Vietnam and abroad;
• Complete the applications and file to register copyright and related rights;

For advice and specific details in each case, please contact us directly at ant@antlawyers.vn or call  +84 912 817 823. Visit our website: antlawyers.vn and let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam

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Dispute resolution practice at ANT Lawyers in Viet Nam

Our dispute resolution practice at ANT Lawyers helps our clients with the following:

Negotiation: reviewing relevant contracts and documents, advising possible courses of action and negotiating with relevant parties before initiating the legal proceeding.

Litigation and legal representation: representing clients before Vietnamese courts and other Vietnamese authorities.

Arbitration: advising on choice of arbitration, drafting arbitration clause, and representing clients for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.

Alternative proceedings: certain alternatives may be available for dispute resolution in Vietnam.

Please contact us for inquiries through email ant@antlawyers.vn, call our office at +84 4 3520 2779 or talk to our partner directly at  + 84 912 817 823.

Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.

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DEBT RECOVERY SERVICE IN VIETNAM

Debt recovery is always a big problem for businesses and individuals. In order to promote the production process, the process of debt recovery is always one of the concerns with the business leaders.

One of the the appropriate method is the intervention of law. ANT Lawyers Co., Ltd is a leading legal consultancy in Vietnam, with a team of experienced lawyers and legal experts that have participated and solved many debt recovery cases for businesses and individuals.

We will:

– Study the case to find the legal basis and debt data that should be handled;

– Assess the payment capability of the debtor to creditor;

– Represent the client to exposure debtor to negotiate, persuade and require debt repayment;

– Advice and instruct customer the most beneficial solutions in accordance with the law;

– Implement civil proceedings, economic proceedings or criminal proceedings against law enforcement agencies, depending on the type of entity and the nature of the transactions arising overdue debts;

In case of debt recovery through litigation, we will help customer:

– Draft petition and other papers relating to the recovery of debt;

– Represent client (individuals and organizations) to submit the petition to the Court and the competent authorities to recover the debt as stipulated by law;

– Appoint attorney to participate in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of clients (individuals and organizations) at the Court at all levels;

– Represent client (individuals and organizations) to participate in judgment enforcement

If you need help in addressing debt recovery and litigation issues, please either email us at ant@antlawyers.vn or call to our office at: +84 8 35202779.

Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.

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HOW PATENT ATTORNEY IN VIETNAM COULD HELP?

At ANT Lawyers, we provide Patent attorneys in Vietnam with specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice in Vietnam.

The inventors may obtain a patent in Vietnam without the assistance of a patent lawyer if they wish. However, this is almost full of risks. Ignoring the complexity of filing the registration application, the primary concern is whether an inexperienced inventor can write an application which satisfies rules as the requirement of Vietnam Intellectual Property law.

It can be said that Vietnam intellectual property law and procedure on patent registration are complex. That’s why valuable legal rights can easily be lost if the patent application and prosecution of that application are not handled carefully and precisely by one skilled in such matters. Companies that file lots of patent applications use patent attorneys for a reason that you almost certainly will get a better patent if it is done by a patent attorney.

If the inventor does not work with a patent attorney, some of dangers may occur in registering patent in Vietnam as following:

• Failure in providing enough file for patent registration;
• Making inaccurate statement such as incorrect description;
• Wasting time because the documents is not valid;
• Loss of patent right because of other patents;
• Loss of capability on exploiting economic from patent right;

With the above – mentioned risks, patent registration in Vietnam with the assistance of the patent attorney seem to be an effective way to ensure the client’s right.  The patent attorney in Vietnam may help clients obtain patent quickly. The inventor also save time to focus on their core specialization if they use patent filing service.

The patent attorney assist clients as following:

• Advise about the procedure for registration prior submitting application;
• Compile all forms related to patent registration procedure;
• Prepare for registration dossier and conduct the registration;
• Subscribe to the application already filed and report to clients on the status of the application;
• Inform, advise and handle mission or refusal of Patent Agency;
• Get Patent and hand over to clients after receiving patent from patent Agency;
• Consult clients about the use of the invention, rights and obligations related to invention after successful registration.

All things become easy, convenient and safe if you get the assistance from a patent attorney in patent registration.

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DISPUTE SETTLEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

In international trade, when drafting international contracts, the parties usually focus on the terms of payment and expense but little attention to terms of dispute settlement. Thus, the parties should be aware that the disagreements and disputes can arise at any time. Therefore, in the process of concluding an international economic agreement, the parties should note the provisions on the selection methods of dispute settlement if a dispute occurs. Currently, there are 4 dispute resolution methods in international trade as follows: negotiation, mediation, commercial arbitration and court.

• Negotiation

Negotiation is a settlement method which is usually applied in international dispute settlement. In particular, the parties discuss together, struggle, compromise and agree to settle the dispute. The result of the negotiation is that the dispute could be resolve or not. Negotiation is conducted in two ways: The two parties directly meet each other to discuss and deal or one party submit complaint to the other party and the other party answers the complaint.

• Mediation

Mediation is the method of resolving dispute between the parties through the role of a third party. Mediation can be accomplished by two ways: One is that the parties agree with each other about mediation, the mediator will be designated and conduct the mediation without following any rules of mediation. The second way is that the parties agree to conduct the mediation under rules of a professional organization or one specific arbitration institution, such as mediation rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

• Commercial arbitration.

Arbitration is a method of dispute settlement arising in trade activities that are agreed between the parties and carried out according to the order and proceedings. Presently, there are kinds of arbitration such as: ad hoc arbitration and permanent arbitration.

• Court.

The 3 dispute settlement methods above are voluntary in nature. They are different from the dispute settlement in accordance with judicial procedures at court. The settlement of dispute by court is to resolve dispute through the activities of the State tribunals. Therefore, litigants in the dispute are often considered as a final solution to protect their legitimate interests. Especially, when there is a conflict, the parties will choose the form of trade negotiation or mediation rather than commercial arbitration or court.

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PROPOSED TO REDUCE CORPORATE INCOME TAX TO 15 – 17%

The Ministry of Finance is drafting a report submitting to the Government on the implementation of Resolution 35/2016 of the Government on a number of solutions to remove difficulties and tax obstacles for small and medium enterprises.

Accordingly, the Ministry is expected to submit two plans to prepare for comments of the Parliament at the 2ndSession (October 2016). In which, there are two options. Option 1 is applying the general tax rate of 17% from January 1st 2016 until the end of 2020 for small and medium enterprises. Option 2 is applying the general tax rate of 15% from January 1st 2016 to 2020. The general tax rate which is currently applied is 20%.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance also proposed the plan to reduce the corporate income tax for newly established start-up businesses with investment projects in the fields of preference or in underdeveloped areas, rural areas: applying tax rate of 10% in 15 years; tax exemption for 4 years and reduce 50% of the tax payable in the next 9 years for new projects.

Concerning the handling of the tax debt, deferred payment and fines, the Ministry of Finance proposed debt relief but must ensure equality among economic sectors, non-discrimination; remove the deferred payment for cases caused by force majeure that does not have the money to pay tax; remove tax debt, deferred payment and fines for companies that were dissolved, bankruptcy, business individuals are dead or missing.

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